David Hindle's latest well illustrated book traces the evolution and complete history of the Preston to Longridge branch line from its official opening on 1 May 1840, to the last remaining segment of the branch in 1994. The first railways were crucial in expanding and transforming the social and economic prosperity of the country's towns and villages and this particular branch line was certainly no exception. The combined mineral and passenger line was only the second in the order of railw...

Growing up in Preston, with its eclectic range of transport, provided well-known local historian David John Hindle with the inspiration to write this book on the transport heritage of Preston. The book takes a retrospective look at the progress of transport in and around Preston, demonstrating how different forms of public transport and the local transport industry have made an immense contribution to the social and economic prosperity of the city. This includes British Leyland, the Dick, ...

In commemoration of Preston Guild 2012, David Hindle takes a journey into history to explore the social, cultural and economic background to Preston during the Industrial Revolution, primarily to see if life in Preston then lived up to the affectionate claim to be the 'good old days' and at the same time takes a nostalgic look at the foundations of the music hall industry. Charles Dickens visited Preston at the beginning of the infamous cotton famine in 1861. As usual Dickens's literary ey...

In February 1854, the great Victorian novelist Charles Dickens took the train from London’s Euston station to Preston and it is thought that what he saw on his arrival in the town inspired the novel Hard Times, published later that year. In this book, Preston historian David Hindle looks at aspects of life for the people in this booming industrial town, from the early port and the railways, which arrived in the town in the 1840s, and the conditions that so appalled Charles Dickens in the 1...

The development of the Avro Arrow was a remarkable Canadian achievement. Its mysterious cancellation in February 1959 prompted questions that have long gone unanswered. What role did the Central Intelligence Agency play in the scrapping of the project? Who in Canada's government was involved in that decision? What, if anything, did Canada get in return? Who ordered the blowtorching of all the prototypes? And did Arrow technology find its way into the American Stealth fighter/bomber program...

A facsimile edition of Bradshaw's fascinating guide to Europe's rail network.Bradshaw's descriptive railway handbook of Europe was originally published in 1913 and was the inspiration behind Michael Portillo's BBC television series 'Great Continental Railway Journeys'.It is divided into three sections: timetables for services covering the continent; short guides to the best places to see and to stay in each city; and a wealth of advertisements and ephemeral...

The Sunday Times BestsellerA glorious insight into Britain over the last 150 years – its history, landscape and people – from the window of Britain’s many and magnificent railway journeys.Inspired by George Bradshaw, a 19th-century cartographer who mapped Britain’s railways as they sprung up around him, Charlie Bunce and Michael Portillo take a journey along nine classic British railway routes and surround themselves with the history, the charm and the people at the heart o...

Travels with NPR host David Greene along the Trans-Siberian Railroad capture an overlooked, idiosyncratic Russia in the age of Putin.Far away from the trendy cafés, designer boutiques, and political protests and crackdowns in Moscow, the real Russia exists.Midnight in Siberia chronicles David Greene’s journey on the Trans-Siberian Railway, a 6,000-mile cross-country trip from Moscow to the Pacific port of Vladivostok. In quadruple-bunked cabins and...

On 15 April 2012, 100 years will have passed since the Royal Mail Steamer Titanic hit an iceberg and foundered in the North Atlantic with the loss of 1,503 lives. Had the disaster not occurred, what is now the best-known ship in the world would have lost the title of the largest liner within just two years. She was certainly not the fastest passenger ship of the time and can be considered a technological throwback, yet Titanic captures the imagination like no other. This b...

London's Underground is associated with a multitude of ghostly stories and sightings, particular stations and abandoned lines, many of which are in close proximity to burial sites from centuries ago. This chilling book reveals well-known and hitherto unpublished tales of spirits, spectres and other spooky occurrences on one of the oldest railway networks in the world. The stories of sightings include the ghost of an actress regularly witnessed on Aldywch Station a...

The Titanic is one of the most famous maritime disasters of all time, but did the Titanic really sink on the morning of 15 April 1912? Titanic's older sister, the nearly identical Olympic, was involved in a serious accident in September 1911 – an accident that may have made her a liability to her owners the White Star Line. Since 1912 rumours of a conspiracy to switch the two sisters in an elaborate insurance scam has always loomed behind the tragic story of the Titanic. C...

Commander Edward John Smith's career had been a remarkable example of how a man from a humble background could get far in the world. Born to a working-class family in the landlocked Staffordshire Potteries, he went to sea at the age of 17 and rose rapidly through the ranks of the merchant navy, serving first in sailing vessels and later in the new steamships of the White Star Line. By 1912, he as White Star's senior commander and regarded by many in the shipping world as t...