Railroads category: 1183 books

This is the shocking true story behind the botched introduction of Automatic Half-Barrier level-crossings into Britain. January 1968 saw the convening of the first Parliamentary Court of Inquiry into a railway accident in Britain since the Tay Bridge Disaster nearly a century before. Why was...

This is an evocative selection of high quality colour views, each of which recaptures the lost age of Britain's branch lines and secondary railways, of which so many were axed following implementation of the 'Beeching Report' during the 1960s. Most importantly, the previously unpublished views...

In the mid-1950s there were rumours that the Northern line was to be upgraded from manual operation to an automated line. This involved twelve manned signal boxes with a total of forty-one signalmen, eventually reduced to thirteen signalmen after automation. Automating the Northern Line describes...

'There is probably no place in the British Isles that could offer a more attractive study to one interested in railway working on a small scale than the Isle of Wight'. P. C. Allen, 1928 At its height the Island had a network of 551/2 miles of line operated by a number of independent companies including...

At its peak in the 1920s Ireland had some 3,500 route miles of track, today it has less than half that amount. By the beginning of the twentieth century the list of companies included the Belfast & County Down Railway, the Cork, Bandon & South Coast Railway, the County Donegal Railway Joint...

ISAMBARD KINGDOM BRUNEL is famous for the engineering wonders he left behind - from the SS Great Britain to the delights of Paddington and Temple Meads stations, but much of what he designed has been lost. From the ships Great Western and Great Eastern to the majestic water towers of Crystal Palace,...

Waverley is Scotland’s largest railway station and covering an area of 25 acres it is the second largest mainline station in the UK after Waterloo. Unusually for such an important destination it is both a terminus and a through station. In the 1840s, three railway companies built stations at the...

The year of 1968 was a pivotal year in a period of great change and, with the march of so-called "progress" that included man being a matter of months away from walking on the moon, the time was up for steam. The first week of August was to see the closure of the final three depots - effectively...

The branch lines of Devon were particularly numerous and this second volume on the county covers Plymouth, west and north Devon. They vary from the Turnchapel and Yealmpton commuter lines, to the Exeter and Barnstaple branch, which for many years of its life was a main line, becoming a branch line...

Cherished, admired and frequently used as an excuse for lateness, the railways occupy a special place in our hearts. Trains are not just a practical mode of transport, but also a way of tracing our social history over the past 150 years, from technological progress and design to cultural change and the...

For over 150 years Britain's railways have relied on a system of semaphore signalling, but by 2020, all semaphore signals and lineside signal boxes will be gone. In his previous book, author Allen Jackson covered the GWR lines; here, he continues his journey by providing a pictorial record of the...

Running a railway is a complex business beset with drama. The operation of heavy equipment at speed, twenty-four hours a day, across the full length of the country and using extremely technical signaling, track and mechanical engineering is no mean feat and throws up a constant stream of challenges....

The industrial and minor railways of the former counties of Cumberland and Westmorland are neglected topics deserving of greater attention. West Cumberland has traditionally been a mining, steel-making and quarrying region, with some areas of rail-served industry surviving today. Standard and narrow...

The Witney Railway was opened from Yarnton Junction to Witney in 1861. The railway was single track throughout, with intermediate stations at Eynsham and South Leigh. In 1873, the East Gloucestershire Railway opened an extension from Witney to Fairford, and the two railways formed a single branch...