Trains and railways: general interest

A fine collection of colour photographs from the 1950s and 1960s around the British Railways Southern Region.

During seven days in October 1829 world history was made and travel would never be the same again.

The Rail Rover ticket for Scotland in the 1970s and 1980s had the grandiose title 'Freedom of Scotland' - for the ever-growing group of diesel enthusiasts in the 1970s, it was a gift from the gods.

The Bluebell Railway was the premier preserved line in the thirty -year period covered in this book.

The LSWR was quite different to the other southern railways in that it covered not only Home Counties suburban traffic, but also the long reach out to Cornwall in competition with the Great Western Railway.

The SE&CR was born as an unholy alliance between two bitter rivals and, after it had buried the hatchets they had been throwing at one another, found success.

The Prince Regent first popularised Brighton as a pleasure destination in the eighteenth century, and the town acquired a reputation for pleasure for the masses after the coming of the railway.

Between 1980 and 2011 author Michael Patterson made some forty week-long journeys by train through Europe.

In the age of steam it seemed that every little boy had an ambition to be an engine driver - even the notoriously anti-railway Charles Dickens thought there was something alluring about the role.

Since the opening of the Channel Tunnel and its associated high-speed lines, it is now possible to travel by train from London to Paris in about two hours.

The first transcontinental railroad in the USA was completed in 1869.

Loadhaul, Mainline and Transrail were formed in 1994, when British Rail decided to concentrate its freight operations in the three companies.

A rare and enjoyable sight, double-headed trains are always guaranteed to delight any lineside enthusiast.

Dating back to 1965, Freightliner is still going strong today; a great success for rail freight.

Following on from Ayrshire Traction and Strathclyde Traction and covering virtually the whole of Scotland and encompassing locations from Wick in the north to the southern border, Colin Howat looks at the Scottish rail scene from 1974 until the present day, covering diesel locos from humble Class 08s to the latest Class 70s, examining DMU classes 101-221 and EMU classes 303-390, as well as electric locos from classes 81-92.

Long before Wyoming was officially part of the union, the Wyoming Territory played a crucial role in westward expansion of the United States as the first transcontinental railroad was built into the area by Union Pacific in 1862, bound for a meeting with Central Pacific in Utah in 1869.

The 1970s were a decade of consolidation for British Rail, at a time when the company was fighting against the rise in the use of motor transport, both for passengers and freight.

The North British Locomotive Company came into existence in 1903 as an amalgamation of three established Glasgow locomotive manufacturers: Dubs & Co.

The railway in 1980 had not changed much since the 1960s.

In 1987 British Rail decided it needed a new class of AC electric locomotive for use on the West Coast Main Line.

Germany, by its very location and size, is host to a vast number of different traction types.

When British Rail decided to electrify the West Coast Main Line north of Crewe towards Scotland, a new class of electric locomotive was needed to work these services.

Switzerland is set in the heart of Europe, and as such is host to a vast number of both passenger and freight workings, with locomotives from various different countries visiting.

Class 50s are probably among the best-loved diesel locomotives that have run on British Rail.

In 1978, when the country began a major modernisation programme, there were still 5,000 steam locomotives active on the Indian railway, including some dating from as far back as the early twentieth century and the nineteenth century.

Looking Back at Class 40 Locomotives is a full-colour photographic album depicting an iconic locomotive class in a variety of settings.

Italy is dominated by its national operator Trenitalia.

The 1960s is an iconic period in the history of the rail network in Great Britain; with Rationalisation in progress and the effects of the Beeching Report beginning to be felt, it was a tumultuous time for the nation's railways, and the area served by the Southern Region was no exception.

In the 1950s, British Railways set upon the Modernisation Plan, which would set out the way British Rail would operate in the future.

Mit der Erfindung der Freizeitparks erkundet der Leser eine spannende und gleichsam lehrreiche Reise durch die Geschichte von Freizeitparks.

With photographs dating back nearly forty years, John Dedman offers a fascinating selection of photographs of traction in the north-east of England.

The Class 08/09 was to become the main diesel shunter of the British Railways era.

Recording an iconic and important decade in the history of the Southern Region, Michael Hymans offers a unique year-by-year photographic record of the fascinating changes that took place.

With its size, France is home to a huge number of locomotives.

This is a portrait of a railway network that became beloved of the last generations lucky enough to experience mainline steam.

British Railways' Modernisation Plan of the 1950s started, sensibly, with small orders for a variety of diesel locomotives, intended for different purposes, from a range of manufacturers including its own workshops at Swindon and Derby.

The quarter-century after the Rainhill Trials was an exciting period of growth and experimentation on the railways.

Manchester was Britain's first railway city.

Being situated in the centre of the UK, the West Midlands have always been the hub of the railway network.

Many audacious and improbable schemes for new railways were dreamed up in the nineteenth century, but surely none matched the plan to link the Cromford Canal with the Peak Forest Canal at Whaley Bridge in Derbyshire using a series of rope-worked inclines.

The Woodhead Route from Manchester to Sheffield has achieved almost mythical status, not only thanks to the Woodhead Tunnels, but also because of the unique EM1 and EM2 electric locomotives.

Basingstoke and Salisbury are important rail centres on what was originally the London & South Western Railway, and later the Southern Railway and finally the South Western Section of the Southern Region.

The East Midlands is rich in railway history and heritage.

Steam's final fling was almost over.

The Midland & South Western Junction Railway was formed in 1884 by amalgamation of the Swindon, Marlborough & Andover and the Swindon & Cheltenham Extension railways.

The construction of the Merthyr, Tredegar & Abergavenny Railway was a remarkable engineering achievement.

Packed with rare and unpublished images, Sussex Steam takes the reader on a journey around picturesque Sussex and the steam trains that used to call it home.

Strathclyde Traction covers the former Strathclyde Region Council area of the west of Scotland, stretching from the southern end of the Western Highlands to the Southern Uplands, which was formed by merging the city of Glasgow with the counties of Ayr, Bute, Dumbarton, Lanark, Renfrew, Stirling and parts of Argyll.

Tyneside is widely acknowledged as the birthplace of the railway.

The Class 58s were introduced in 1983, and were a significant departure from normal build standards.