In the 1950s and early 1960s Ian Allan Publishing produced a number of 'abc' books on motor cars of the era - abc British Cars, abc Sports Cars, abc Continental Cars, abc Historic Cars and abc American Cars, as well as more general books on motoring - abc Spotting the Numberplate and abc British Roads. Many of these were produced annually and today provide a nostalgic window into an age when motoring first came into reach of the majority of the population and British car manufacturers still dominated. Three of these volumes from the 1950s are being reproduced in this facsimile abc of British Motor Cars 1950s - abc British Cars 1958, abc Sports Cars 1957 and abc British Roads (first published June 1956). All the British car manufacturers of 1957 are included with details of the individual car makes that each offered at the time, from the humble Ford Popular built at Dagenham and available to the purchaser for GBP413 17s 0d to the sporty new Triumph TR3, the plastic-bodied Jensen Interceptor, the Vauxhall Wyvern, the Humber Super Snipe, the Singer Gazelle and many others. So many of the manufacturers' names, such as Alvis, Humber, Singer and Sunbeam, have disappeared, leaving the manufacturing heartlands in Coventry and Birmingham devastated, but the luxury marques of Rolls Royce, Daimler and Bentley are still famous today. Along with abc British Roads, this interesting compilation provides a nostalgic glimpse of motoring in Britain in the 1950s and will bring back memories of childhood days for many readers.

In World War 2 the railways of Britain played a pivotal part in the ultimate defeat of Germany and its allies - as they had done in World War 1. Under centralised control, the war effort put a considerable strain upon the infrastructure, equipment and staff of the railway industry. Certain lines which might otherwise have closed, such as the Shropshire & Montgomery, found new roles as military bases and munition dumps were established. Other lines, such as the line from Didcot to Winchester, underwent considerable expansion in order to provide increased capacity. In order to make the railways more efficient a limited number of passenger services were either suspended or withdrawn completely; in many cases, these were never to be restored. This atlas is designed to provide a guide to the impact of the war on the railway industry, illustrating the evolution of the railway network during these years. The various lines are differentiated between those that had passenger services throughout the war, those lines that saw passenger services temporarily or permanently withdrawn, freight-only lines, routes opened during the war and lines that saw capacity increased.