Trains and railways: general interest

With the effects of the Beeching Axe beginning to be felt, British Railways employee Keith Widdowson set out to photograph as many scenes and locations as he could before they slipped away into the history books.

The South Wales Division was one of the three operating divisions of the Western Region.

Though British Rail had dispensed with steam locomotives by 1968, the greatest changes to the capital's railways occurred afterwards.

Since the 1860s trains have conveyed crushed limestone from Derbyshire to the soda ash and chemicals works in mid-Cheshire.

The Manningtree to Harwich railway branch linked the Great Eastern Main line to the ports of Harwich and, later, Harwich Parkeston Quay.

Bradford had the distinction of running its trolleybus system for over sixty years, being, along with Leeds, the first to operate in Britain.

Starting in the late 1970s when the High Speed Trains (HSTs) were first introduced on services out of London Paddington, this book covers approximately forty years of change to the railways of Berkshire.

To many, the narrow gauge belongs entirely to the past; to others it runs a poor second to the glamour and action of main line standard gauge steam.

R.

Glory Days: Western Region Steam Around London is a photographic tribute to the former Great Western Railway (GWR) in the post-war years up to the end of Western Region (WR) steam on 31 December 1965.

The 1955 Railway Modernisation Plan provided for the introduction of 2,500 new diesel locomotives, with initial orders for 171 examples, to replace steam locomotives on Britain's railways.

Following Eric Treacy's death in 1978, the demand for his books has increased.

The Black Country is an area immediately to the west of Birmingham heavily associated with the Industrial Revolution.

Hill's Tramroad was established in about 1817 by the Blaenavon ironmaster Thomas Hill to connect his ironworks with Llanfoist Wharf on the Brecknock & Abergavenny Canal.

The Peak District has always been a formidable barrier to transport links across it, particularly railways.

This book is a pictorial record of diesel-powered freight and passenger services throughout the area surrounding the North Wessex Downs.

The rapid disappearance of steam from British Railways in the late 1960s was a bitter blow for the thousands of railway enthusiasts who had been brought up with the sounds, smells and sheer excitement of steam power.

'In no other country in the world is there anything to match Britain's love affair with the steam train; nowhere else are there so many preserved railways keeping the magic of steam alive.

Between the two world wars there was a golden era of industrial design when the benefits of streamlining were realised, allowing for reduced wind resistance, faster transportation and a more efficient economy.

The Hall class 4-6-0, itself a development of the celebrated Saint class, represents the precursor of thousands of mixed traffic 4-6-0 engines that were built for Britain's railways and were the breadwinners in all types of work and conditions.

Return to the era when rail blue ruled supreme on the railways of Britain, when a wide variety of British-built trains operated from the highlands of Scotland, through the now vanished industrial north and midlands, through the Welsh valleys, across the suburban networks of the south-east, and through the picturesque West Country.

Across the country at numerous locations the government operated another railway, hidden from the public, behind high wire fences.

The Midland main line from London St Pancras to the north of England is one of Britain's most important trunk routes.

Coal and iron making first brought railways to what is now called South Yorkshire.

George and Robert Stephenson are well known names in the canon of railway history.

Since the dawn of the railways, away from the glamour of the main line express, thousands of miles of industrial railway moved raw materials and finished products.

The metre-gauge railways of South East Asia are a popular destination for railway enthusiasts from all over the world.

Rich in both ironstone and coal, the East Midlands historically enjoyed an intensive network of railways linking its major towns and cities, many of which are still in place.

The Chilterns consist of a band of chalk hills to the north-west of London stretching from Oxfordshire to Hertfordshire.

The 1950s and 1960s was a time of profound cultural and technological transformation.

Steam in East Anglia recalls the era when steam ruled the tracks and the railways conveyed passengers and goods, from the commuter lines of Tilbury and Southend to the rural tranquillity of north Norfolk.

Preserved (or heritage) railways have, in the majority of cases, at least one working steam locomotive and either a diesel unit or a diesel locomotive.

In 1968, Jimmy James was in his final year as a student at the University of Manchester and realised that steam, as a way of life, was coming to an end all around him.

Following on from their use in revenue-earning service, many vehicles (locomotives, carriages and freight wagons) are put to use within the departmental operating fleet, often being rebuilt for a specific purpose.

As the Rover's name suggests, the north of the area ranges from Cardiff and Bristol (close to the Severn) to Swindon and Cheltenham, then extends down to the Southampton area (on the Solent) with a coastal stretch from Portsmouth as far as Weymouth.

In this book, the author takes full advantage of the diversity on offer as a regular user of this rail ticket.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the history and heritage of Britain's railways were still plain to see - it was still recognisably the railway of steam locos, pick-up freight trains, isolated stations, parcels trains, semaphore signals and a timetable that hardly ever changed.

Selby was an important location from the earliest days of the railways, with the arrival of the Leeds & Selby Railway in 1934.

The unique, but sadly short-lived, Brighton & Rottingdean Seashore Electric Railway must have presented quite an amazing spectacle, even during those late Victorian days of engineering excellence.

It's an exciting time on Scotland's railways, with new trains meaning faster journey times.

The West of England Division stretched from Penzance in the west to Blackwell Summit at the top of the Lickey Incline to the north of Bromsgrove.

By the early years of the twentieth century, the development of rail transport in South Wales had produced an intricate network that owed its origins to several factors that came into play in the previous century, such as the demand for iron ore, limestone and high-quality Welsh anthracite coal, as well as the nineteenth-century expansion and development of rail-served Welsh Bristol Channel ports.

London's rail freight traffic is dictated by the geography of the city.

The Peak District area of England has yielded limestone products since around the time of the Romans and by 1794 the Peak Forest Tramway arrived to help transport products further afield.

Hungary offers the railway photographer a wealth of different trains to document; alongside the state railway operator MAV there are a number of private companies operating all over the country, such as GYSEV, Floyd and AWT.

Great Railway Journeys: London to Oxford and London to Cambridge is the fourth in Roger Mason's Great Railway Journeys series.

John Carlson takes a new look at the north-western rail scene.

Known as the gateway to the North, the East Coast Main Line, which runs from London to Edinburgh, passes through multiple counties on its more than 390-mile high-speed run to the North.

Elegance in Engineering showcases an interesting and diverse collection of British-built steam locomotives from all builders, for railways at home and abroad.

The 'British' period in the Middle East began with Lawrence of Arabia's attacks on the Hedjaz Railway in the First World War and the eventual defeat of the Ottoman Empire.