The Country Railway (Shire Library) - Tapa blanda

With over 200,000 of my own The Country Railway sold, I've often felt that it was the last word on the subject. But the excellent Shire Library's tightly-compressed series has covered the subject. And extremely well it has done so. The Shire books are only 64 pages including the index, but they are more than excellent introductions to the subject. The new The Country Railway is outstanding value at £6.99, and covers its subject surprisingly well in so limited a space. Illustrations are original and well-produced, there's a good human element, and much to learn. The cover shows a cattle market with trucks ready to load, and hardly an aspect of the subject is not covered in the text. There is even an enterprising list of places to visit, and a good bibliography which includes my title by the same name. Shire books have created an enviable reputation, and I've never been disappointed by one. The inside back cover is devoted to other titles that readers might like, showing something of the depth of the Shire Library. It really is an admirable institution, and one could do worse than get a list of the titles and purchase those of personal interest. --David St John Thomas, Journal of the Railway and Canal Historical Society (July 2014)

Britain's towns and cities were famously transformed in the nineteenth century by the coming of the railways, which turned around their fortunes and gave urban dwellers new opportunities to travel across the country. Yet the effect on the rural population was arguably far greater. While some of the initial trunk lines were designed to link major cities, the network of smaller cross-country and branch lines that followed opened up large tracts of previously remote countryside, providing new markets for agricultural produce and ending the isolation of many rural communities. Such was the pace of development during the Railway Mania period in fact, that by the end of the nineteenth century there were few areas of country not served by train. This book tells the story of these country railways from their golden age to their decline in the wake of nationalisation and the Beeching Report in the mid-twentieth century - and indeed current efforts to restore and preserve them.