The 1980s were years of momentous change on Britain’s railways. At the dawn of the decade it was still possible to travel on a Sundays-only St Pancras to Manchester Piccadilly service that traversed the Woodhead route, or catch a Deltic-hauled express from York to London King’s Cross. The 1980 edition of Ian Allan’s Motive Power Combined Volume listed more than 3,700 diesel and electric locomotives. Slowly but surely over the following ten years, these familiar sights would begin to disapp...

Well-proportioned, versatile, aesthetic, durable – the English Electric Class 37, the great survivor of the modernisation-plan diesel fleet, deserves all of these accolades and more. Never as celebrated as the Deltics, never as idolised as the Westerns, always intended to be a workhorse; this is the locomotive that has, in many ways, surpassed its more illustrious peers as an example of all that is best in motive power design and engineering. This pictorial collection contains nearly 200 p...

The birth of the railway in the early 1830's revolutionized the way the world waged war. From armored engines with swiveling guns, to the practice of track sabotage, to the construction of tracks that crossed frozen Siberian lakes, the "iron road" facilitated conflict on a scale that was previously unimaginable. It not only made armies more mobile, but widened fighting fronts and increased the power and scale of available weaponry; a deadly combination.In Engines of War, C...

Blending automotive manufacturing and styling techniques with state-of-the-art diesel-electric technologies, General Motors’ Electro-Motive Division conceived and marketed America’s first commercially successful road diesels: the fabulous E-Units and F-Units. This illustrated companion to Voyageur Press’ Alco Locomotives (2009) and Baldwin Locomotives (2010) is the most comprehensive history of the most recognizable locomotives ever built. Beginning with 1937 debut of the...

Pacific, collectively a name applied to steam locomotives with a 4-6-2 wheel arrangement is perhaps more commonly associated with express passenger engines but that is not the whole story, there were also Pacific Tank Engines. The LNER is famously associated with their streamlined Gresley A4 Pacific locomotives and that most celebrated of locomotives, Flying Scotsman. The new build Pacific Tornado has raised the profile of the 4-6-2 type to even greater heights. The LMS produced powerful P...

Geoff Swaine has combined his passions for photography and railways in this new collection of images which covers some of Britain’s most celebrated heritage lines: The West Somerset Railway, the Bluebell Railway in Sussex, the North York Moors Railway, Didcot Railway Centre, the Mid-Hants Railway (Watercress Line), the Llangollen Railway in Wales, the Great Central Railway at Loughborough, the Severn Valley Railway, the North Norfolk Railway, the Kent & East Sussex Railway, the Gloucester ...

The London Underground Electric Train tells the story of the development of electric traction on the London Underground system. It combines technical knowledge, historical context and practical experiences, and covers the history of underground lines since the opening of the first deep-level underground rail system in the world in 1890: the City & South London Railway. The evolution of train design, including power, lighting, heating and design of the Underground cars is also covered along...

'Hard to put down ... truthful and opinionated, often funny but never predictable ... the finest travelling companion.' – Michael Portillo on BradshawA superb guide to Britain's villages, towns and connecting railways, dating from 1866. Unavailable for many years and much sought after, this classic guide book is now faithfully reissued for a new generation. Bradshaw's Railway Handbook was originally published in 1866 under the title Bradshaw's Handbook for Tourists in Great Britain...

Packed with extraordinary photos, illustrations, and historical facts, a celebration of the legendary Manhattan rail terminal's first century.Opened in February 1913, Grand Central Terminal—one of the country's great architectural monuments—helped create Midtown Manhattan. Over the next century, it evolved into an unofficial town square for New York. Today, it sits astride Park Avenue at 42nd Street in all its original splendor, attracting visitors by the thousands....

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. This railway oddity opened in 1831 and somehow survived almost unnoticed until 1967, when there was a flurry of publicity when it closed. The line weaved its way through some of the finest scenery in England and was dotted with crazy grad...

Two switch lights twinkled; one at the east, and one at the west end of the siding. For the rest all was blackness. Half way between the switch lights, snuggled close against the single-tracked main line, the station, little more than a shanty and too insignificant to boast a night operator, loomed up shadowy and indistinct. Away to the westward, like jagged points sticking up into the night and standing out in relief against the skyline, the Rockies reared their peaks. And the spell of th...

Hereford Locomotive Shed is the first in a series of in-depth studies to look closely at the changing engine allocations and operational responsibilities of motive power depots during the latter days of steam. In Herefords case this was a varied mixture of main line passenger, freight trip working, branch line passenger, station pilot duties and yard shunting. Unusually, the latter remained a steam preserve until months before depot closure in November 1964. Not forgotten are the depots sm...