Christian Wolmar has written for every national newspaper and appears frequently on TV and radio as a commentator on transport issues. His previous books include the widely acclaimed The Subterranean Railway; Fire and Steam; Blood, Iron and Gold; Engines of War; The Great Railway Revolution; To the Edge of the World; Railways and the Raj; Cathedrals of Steam; and British Rail.

• Introduction: Why Railways? 1: The First Railway 2: Getting the Railway Habit 3: Joining Up Britain 4: Changing Britain 5: Railways Everywhere 6: The Big Companies: Great But Not Necessarily Good 7: The Agatha Christie Railway 8: Danger and Exploitation on the Tracks 9: Speeding to Danger 10: The Only Way to Get There 11: Fighting Together - Reluctantly 12: Compromise - The Big Four 13: And Then There Was One 14: An Undeserved Reputation 15: All Change

A marvellously informative, entertaining and rightly partisan book... that has given me more pleasure than any I can remember in quite a while.

Christian Wolmar has written for every national newspaper and appears frequently on TV and radio as a commentator on transport issues. His previous books include the widely acclaimed The Subterranean Railway; Fire and Steam; Blood, Iron and Gold; Engines of War; The Great Railway Revolution; To the Edge of the World; Railways and the Raj; Cathedrals of Steam; and British Rail.

• Introduction: Why Railways? 1: The First Railway 2: Getting the Railway Habit 3: Joining Up Britain 4: Changing Britain 5: Railways Everywhere 6: The Big Companies: Great But Not Necessarily Good 7: The Agatha Christie Railway 8: Danger and Exploitation on the Tracks 9: Speeding to Danger 10: The Only Way to Get There 11: Fighting Together - Reluctantly 12: Compromise - The Big Four 13: And Then There Was One 14: An Undeserved Reputation 15: All Change

A marvellously informative, entertaining and rightly partisan book... that has given me more pleasure than any I can remember in quite a while.

Christian Wolmar has written for every national newspaper and appears frequently on TV and radio as a commentator on transport issues. His previous books include the widely acclaimed The Subterranean Railway; Fire and Steam; Blood, Iron and Gold; Engines of War; The Great Railway Revolution; To the Edge of the World; Railways and the Raj; Cathedrals of Steam; and British Rail.

• Introduction: Why Railways? 1: The First Railway 2: Getting the Railway Habit 3: Joining Up Britain 4: Changing Britain 5: Railways Everywhere 6: The Big Companies: Great But Not Necessarily Good 7: The Agatha Christie Railway 8: Danger and Exploitation on the Tracks 9: Speeding to Danger 10: The Only Way to Get There 11: Fighting Together - Reluctantly 12: Compromise - The Big Four 13: And Then There Was One 14: An Undeserved Reputation 15: All Change

A marvellously informative, entertaining and rightly partisan book... that has given me more pleasure than any I can remember in quite a while.