Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3110 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-13
• Binding: Hardcover
• 364 pages

David Dimbleby
`Christian Wolmar brings the era of railway mania alive: both the imagination and the daring that made it possible.'

Jon Snow
`A wonderful account of how our railways came to be.'

Rod Liddle, Sunday Times
'Marvellously informative... a book that has given me more pleasure than any I can remember in quite a while.'

Customer Reviews

The best short history of the railways available
An excellent book which gives a great insight to how railways came about and has a number of references to read about certain areas in more detail.
I have a couple of small gripes, which are that, as someone who had a keen ineterest in railways throughout the late 70s and 80s, there are 2 factual errors in the chapter on British Rail which are: 1) Jimmy Saville was the front man for 'This is the age of the train' campaign, not the 'We're getting there' one; and 2) He states that there were no rail closures from 1977, whereas there were 4 that I am aware of in the 80s (for the curious among you: Kilmacolm, Clayton West, Woodside - Sanderstead and Tunbridge Wells - Eridge).
These pedantic gripes aside: EXCELLENT!

The Orient express of railway books
As I have worked in the railway industry for 6 years I like to think I understand a lot about the railway but this book made me realise I know only a little. In this book Christian takes you though the social and political history of the railways in Great Britain beginning with how the first railway line began (Manchester & Liverpool) and continues right up until the railway that exists today. Every chapter provides you with history, facts and knowledge that will help the reader to understand the railway and how it became what we travel on in the 21st century. The book made me laugh , got be frustated, made me angry and very proud all at various points in the book and also kept me intrested all the way to the very last page. The book is not just for railway enthusiasts despite having bits of railway nostalgia here and there, in my opinion its should be read by every passenger who has ever travelled on the railway and i think it will help the reader to understand a industry that has done as much to shape 21st century Great Britain as any. On a personal level this book made me proud to say I work for the railway.

A fine social history
Before railways came to London there was a remarkably rural feel to the place; 20,000 cows lived in the city to provide it with milk. But the railway revolution - perhaps as important as the industrial revolution with which it went hand in hand - meant milk could be brought in quickly and easily from outside, making the cows redundant. This is but one example of the ways railways helped to shape modern Britain, and Christian Wolmar's book is as much about these social changes as about engines and navvies. It doesn't dwell on technical details; it is, instead, a fine overview of the significance of railways that even the most dedicated of motorists would do well to study.

The British rail period was, if anything, something of a golden age for Britain's railways; at least they operated as a system. The failure to improve services then and since stems from decades of political neglect, from both main parties. But the railways were never built with a strategic eye to what they could achieve or how best be managed. Victorian laissez-faire capitalism had aspects to commend it, but a spirit of cooperation was never part of the mindset, and duplication and redundancy was inevitable, as were cuts in later years.

Victorian railway engineers would be proud to know their achievements are still used by modern travellers, but it's ridiculous that 125mph trains have to crawl across the Tamar bridge outside Plymouth. That such ancient infrastructure is still essential to the network shows how far behind the railway curve Britain has slipped. Two decades ago Spain was saddled with an antiquated network and a mix of gauges, but has ploughed billions into new lines and trains so reliable that fares are refunded for a delay of just five minutes. Meanwhile, the only genuinely fast service in Britain runs to Paris. One justification for studying history is that if we don't know where we've come from, how can we know where we're going. This is especially true of the railways, and this book is a great place to start.

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