A newly discovered account of life in the trenches that challenges our perception of how British troops viewed the First World War.There is no shortage of personal accounts from the First World War. So why publish another memoir? The principal reason is the tone of enthusiasm, pride and excitement conveyed by its author, Private John Jackson.Jackson served on the Western Front from 1915 until the war's end; he was present at Loos in 1917, on the Somme in 19...

It is now some forty years since the term ‘Second Generation EMU’ entered rail industry parlance. The British Rail (BR) Class 313 heralded a new era back in 1976/77 with BR’s first order of suburban passenger trains with both a pantograph (for 25Kv AC) and shoegear (for 750V DC ‘third rail’). These units continue to see daily service both on north of London commuter services and on Sussex’s Coastway services. Since those early days, over forty classes of EMU have entered traffic throughout...

How many times have we heard the phrase ‘they don’t make them like they used to’? Whatever the merits or otherwise of applying such a comment to UK railway locomotives, the fact remains that there are many longstanding survivors from our railway past. Of course, we all know of the role played by preserved railways in the UK; they have secured a place in history for heritage diesel and electric locos as well as many steam examples. But a number of ageing locomotive classes still remain on r...

The two most westerly counties in England remain hugely popular for travellers looking for a break in the UK. Perhaps less well known is the fact that, against all the odds when faced by the Beeching Axe, a number of popular destinations can still be reached by today’s railway. From Barnstaple to Gunnislake, Exmouth to Falmouth, John Jackson explores the variety of lines and stations that remain on the railway map in the counties of Devon and Cornwall. With much of the area’s industry now ...

Since the railway’s TOPS coding system was introduced in the 1970s, much has changed in the railfreight sector, notably rail privatisation in the mid-1990s. This book documents the wide variety of wagons built in the twentieth century and around the millennium that remain in use or were so until recently.John Jackson sheds light on the assortment of letters and numbers these wagons carry, the UK wagon numbering systems in place today being complex and sometimes off-putting to the o...

The Midland Main Line (MML) links London’s St Pancras station to the East Midlands cities of Leicester, Derby and Nottingham. It then heads northwards through Chesterfield to Sheffield. Along the way, its southern section sees an extensive service of chiefly commuter services linking Bedford, Luton and St Albans both into the capital and south of it. Bedford also marks the northern end of existing electrification, although the route remains a candidate for this to be extended throughout. T...

This important stretch of railway line through the Midlands connects England’s second city with the strategically important railway centre of Derby. The area is served by local passenger services as well as forming part of the strategically important cross-country route linking Scotland and the North East of England with Bristol and the South West. However, it is the variety of freight traffic that draws the rail enthusiast to this area. The frequent passing of coal trains may have ceased,...

For many long-distance rail travellers, the county of Bedfordshire is a part of the UK passed at speed on an express heading north to south on either the Midland Main Line or East Coast Main Line. Less well known is that the county also boasts a short stretch of West Coast Main Line running in the area around Leighton Buzzard. In this book John Jackson takes a more detailed look at these services that speed through the county, as well as the more localised services provided at the seventee...

The last twenty years have seen an unprecedented rise in the use of secret courts or ‘closed material proceedings’ largely brought about in response to the need to protect intelligence sources in the fight against terrorism. This has called into question the commitment of legal systems to long-cherished principles of adversarial justice and due process. Foremost among the measures designed to minimise the prejudice caused to parties who have been excluded from such proceedings has been the...

One man's journey through the fabric of a nation in crisis. This book describes the events that led to the birth of the Spirit of America Foundation, a 501(c)(3). It carries a message to the people of this nation, built from World Trade Center steel and stone from the Pentagon, so that all future generations never forget the sacrifices made that day and the freedoms we lost. It also tells the story of how God puts people in the right place at the right time. All I can say about this journe...

The ubiquitous Class 66 locomotive first emerged onto the British freight scene in 1998, with many people getting their first close-up look at these engines at the Open Day at Toton in August that year. The twenty-fifth anniversary of the class in operation in Britain was celebrated in 2023. Since pioneer 66001 went on display at the, then, EWS-owned depot back in 1998, over 400 of these machines have seen service in Britain through all the major rail-freight operators. This book looks at ...

Take a look at East Anglia’s rail map and it’s obvious that one line dominates. The Great Eastern Main Line (GEML) from Norwich to London’s Liverpool Street runs broadly north to south through the region with Ipswich an important junction on its route through Suffolk and on to Essex and the capital. Passenger services on this ‘core’ London route remain in the control of Class 90 locomotives. So, East Anglia is one of the last bastions for UK loco-hauled passenger trains. Additionally, some...