Mike Hitches: 13 books

Around Conwy From Old Photographs offers a captivating glimpse into the history of this area, providing the reader with a visual representation of Conwy's intriguing and chequered history. Drawing upon an eclectic collection of photographs, Mike Hitches presents the reader with an insight into the...

Bridlington has two stunning beaches of gleaming golden sands, with a picturesque, bustling harbour in the middle. The harbour is a hive of activity with fishing boats bringing in the day's catch, pleasure cruises along the heritage coast, speedboat rides across the bay and North Sea fishing expeditions...

The stretch of railway line between Hull and Bridlington forms part of northern England’s historic Yorkshire Coast Line (or the Hull to Scarborough line), which runs from Hull Paragon to Bridlington and Scarborough and is around 55 miles long. Since it was opened by the York & North Midland...

Steam Around Sheffield, the latest work by prolific railway author Mike Hitches, documents how Yorkshire's 'Steel City' and its environs were faithfully served by steam locomotion for many years. Sheffield, for so long the source of Britain's cutlery, has a rich railway history encompassing various...

The railway network within Birmingham has long been important for the movement of passengers and freight to serve the centre and its suburbs, and as the road network around Birmingham has become more congested, the railways in the city have, once more, taken on an important role. As the network declined...

Famous as a seaside holiday resort, Scarborough was believed to have been established by Norsemen around 966 ad, although the area had been attacked several times before the Norman Conquest. Indeed, a century later the King of Norway, Harold Hardrada, and his army waded ashore, burning and pillaging...

From humble beginnings, Wolverhampton grew to become a significant railway town. Its success hinged upon its industrial might, which attracted several train companies to the town all hoping to profit from the area's trade and prosperity. The railways were the scene of bitter enmity, devious schemes...

The Great Western Railway route from Paddington to Fishguard was the company's attempt to compete with the London & North Western Railway's Irish route between Euston and Holyhead and to compete for mail traffic to Dublin. While the GWR failed to take the mail contract for Dublin, the company...

A railway arrived on Anglesey in 1848, linking London and Dublin. It was the great railway engineer Robert Stephenson who ensured that the railway link to Ireland would run along the North Wales coast to Holyhead when he presented plans that overcame the engineering challenges associated with the...

Stronghold of the Romans, and later the Vikings, York was to become the powerbase of the infamous ‘Railway King’, George Hudson, whose empire would eventually extend from the far north of England to the south and south-west. Today, York is the home of the National Railway Museum where many old...

The traditional Yorkshire fishing town of Whitby was transformed by the development of the railways in the nineteenth century. Steam locomotion was crucial in attracting the Victorian holidaymakers who helped change the town's fortunes. Ideally situated at the crossing point of two railway routes,...

The north-east of England and the Middlesbrough area are the birthplace and cradle of modern railways. Collieries had been established in the North East since the Industrial Revolution and wagonways were constructed using horse power to transfer coal from pitheads to the coast for onward shipment...

Having been established as a seaside resort since the seventeenth century, Scarborough was an attractive destination for the new railways of the mid nineteenth century, and the town became part of George Hudson's empire by the late 1840s. However, the line through Scarborough was not the first line...