In 1825 the Stockton & Darlington Railway began operations as the world's first public railway to be operated by steam. The first train, which opened the railway on 27 September, was drawn by the locomotive that became known as LOCOMOTION No.1.It is from this origin that all public railways the world over developed to become the driving force behind economic progress. The brief history that accompanied the locomotive's preservation in 1857 was both inadequ...

Robert Stephenson, the leading engineer of the mid-nineteenth century whose substantial public works brought about considerable social change is now the subject of this excellent new biography: Robert Stephenson - The Eminent Engineer. Stephenson's engineering practice was responsible for major railway building programmes in Britain and overseas. He oversaw the building of many bridges, particularly the innovative tubular bridges in North Wales and was influential in the development of Eng...

Books on railway history invariably start with the Stephenson's or with Richard Trevithick's locomotive of 1804., but the story begins much earlier with the development of steam engines for pumping out deep mines. Ken Gibbs, a retired engineer who served his apprenticeship in the Swindon Works of British Railways, takes a more practical approach to railway history, using its engineering developments to tell the story of the railways. From the first ideas to the development of better metals...

Discover the fascinating history of this coastal English city from its Medieval origins to its status today as a world-renowned cultural destination.In The Making of Liverpool, Mike Fletcher tells the story of this historic city and highlights the significant changes that have made it what it is today. It all begins with King John's 1207 charter and the construction of Liverpool castle to protect this new town. Liverpool's development throughout the medieva...

It has now been over a century since Frank Hornby invented a toy to amuse his sons and called it Meccano, coining a word which is now known all over the world.Hornby's vision of an educational toy became the basis of perhaps the most successful British toy business of the twentieth century. Meccano has amused generations of children, encouraging many to become successful engineers.Roger Marriott here explores the long history of Meccano, charting the develo...

'An extraordinary history' - Peter Ackroyd, The Times'A lively account of (Bazalgette's) magnificent achievements. . . graphically illustrated' - Hermione Hobhouse'Halliday is good on sanitary engineering and even better on cloaca, crud and putrefaction . . . (he) writes with the relish of one who savours his subject and has deeply researched it. . . splendidly illustrated' - Ruth Rendell...

The Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow & Bentley T-Series were a revolutionary step forward when launched in 1965. Here's the full story, including related coachbuilt cars & the Silver Wraith ll, Corniche & Camargue.

London's suburbs may stretch for well over 600 square miles, but in historical accounts of the capital they tend to take something of a back seat. In Greater London, historian Nick Barratt places them firmly centre stage, tracing their journey from hamlets and villages far out in the open countryside to fully fledged urban enclaves, simultaneously demonstrating the crucial role they have played in the creation of today's metropolis.Starting in the first century AD, he show...

“… This is a book for which lovers of the automobile have waited a long time: the most comprehensive text-and-picture history of the dual-purpose car since it came to life more than sixty years ago.As the authors of The Book of Sports Cars point out, “in the beginning they were all sports cars.” The automobile began its active life, whatever the intentions of its creators, as a new instrument of sport. Because the increasing demands of this sport imposed an ever-growing burden of te...

The first edition of British Canals was published in 1950 and was much admired as a pioneering work in transport history. Joseph Boughey, with the advice of Charles Hadfield, has previously revised and updated the perennially popular material to reflect more recent changes. For this ninth edition, Joseph Boughey discusses the many new discoveries and advances in the world of canals around Britain, inevitably focussing on the twentieth century to a far greater extent than i...

Steam railways have always captured the public’s imagination. Even from the first stirrings of the mineral lines in the early 1800s through to the heyday of the Railway Age, steam engines kept and continue to keep their fascination. The delight is that around the British Isles is a wide range of working, restored steam railways. Every size and type is represented and it is these railways that primarily feature in this book, providing a real, solid picture of life and transport as it was. T...

The enthralling Sunday Times-bestselling biography of the shepherd boy who changed the world with his revolutionary engineering and whose genius we still benefit from today**'**A biography of great verve … brings back to vivid life a man who should never have been forgotten' Andrew Marr'An evocative biography of Britain's greatest civil engineer … Glover catches the thrill of Telford's engineering quite bea...