Tracing Lost Railways

The drastic railway closures of the 1960s led to the slow decay and re-purposing of hundreds of miles of railway infrastructure. Though these buildings and apparatus are now ghosts of their former selves, countless clues to our railway heritage still remain in the form of embankments, cuttings, tunnels, converted or tumbledown wayside buildings, and old railway furniture such as signal posts. Many disused routes are preserved in the form of cycle tracks and footpaths. This colourfully illustrated book helps you to decipher the fascinating features that remain today and to understand their original functions, demonstrating how old routes can be traced on maps, outlining their permanent stamp on the landscape, and teaching you how to form a mental picture of a line in its heyday.

From the great cathedral-like railways stations of the steam age to obscure lines built through spectacular landscapes to open up countries before the advent of motorised road transport, this book is a celebration of our lost railway heritage and the lines that can no longer be travelled. Through stunning images, Lost Railway Journeys from Around the World evokes the romance and drama of these journeys, taking the reader as close as they can possibly get to this lost world of dining cars, sleeping cars, station porters and international rail travel. Organised by continent, all of these routes have stories to tell and the lost journeys are captured in the old postcards and posters that accompany photographs drawn from collections and archives across the world.

Many readers will be familiar with Nigel Welbourn’s long running series of books, covering lost railways in Britain and Ireland. This new book Lost Railways of the World is the latest by this author on the subject of disused railways. The material for this volume has been collected and researched over a period of almost fifty years of world travel by the author. Informative text records the fortunes of the world’s lost railways and every country with significant disused railways is included. Lost railways are a unifying theme, being found throughout the world, from the hottest African desert to the coldest steppes of Russia. The book has a surprisingly British flavor as historically many railways throughout the world used British equipment and operating practices. On his first trip in the 1970s the author discovered British signaling equipment in Europe. In 2020 he discovered the same firms’ equipment in South America. The world’s top ten lost lines are listed, from the seven-mile-long sea bridge on a line that ran through the Florida Keys, to the rugged mountain splendor of the Khyber Pass Railway. Some of the oldest, largest, longest, most northerly, southerly, expensive, crookedest, steepest, highest, lowest and most notorious lost railways are included. Quirky and other unique tales from lost railways are included, such as the disappearing phantom bridge, a line destroyed by molten lava, to one that sank under the sea, another that conveyed giant turtles, to a memorial to a brave railway elephant. The author also visited remote areas of Argentina and provides more information on the mysterious disappearance of the ex-Lynton & Barnstaple Railway locomotive Lew. A large number of the 300 color illustrations have not been published before, maps and stories from around the world will delight not only the railway enthusiast, but appeal to a wider cadre of readers with an interest in nostalgia, history, geography and travel. To some the book will be an informative source of information, to others it is written in a way that highlights the most amazing lost railways in the world, but either way it is a fascinating and unique book.

A collection of nostalgic images, many previously unpublished, documenting railway locations that are now sadly gone.

Today's counties of South and West Yorkshire were among the first to witness the birth of the Railway Age. The need to link local mills, mines and quarries with their customers, both at home and overseas, soon led to a high density network. But this golden age was not to last. Competition from electric trams, lorries, buses and cars, plus a duplication of lines, began to take its toll. Lines began to close to passengers as early as 1917 and the decline continued through later decades. Fortunately, some have been preserved by enthusiastic societies and the reopened sections of track flourish, with passenger steam trains at weekends. One such line is the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, which has also proved popular with camera crews for films like The Railway Children, and episodes of Poirot and Last of the Summer Wine. Due in 4th October.

Many readers will be familiar with Nigel Welbourn’s long running series of books, covering lost railways in Britain and Ireland. This new book Lost Railways of the World is the latest by this author on the subject of disused railways. The material for this volume has been collected and researched over a period of almost fifty years of world travel by the author. Informative text records the fortunes of the world’s lost railways and every country with significant disused railways is included. Lost railways are a unifying theme, being found throughout the world, from the hottest African desert to the coldest steppes of Russia. The book has a surprisingly British flavor as historically many railways throughout the world used British equipment and operating practices. On his first trip in the 1970s the author discovered British signaling equipment in Europe. In 2020 he discovered the same firms’ equipment in South America. The world’s top ten lost lines are listed, from the seven-mile-long sea bridge on a line that ran through the Florida Keys, to the rugged mountain splendor of the Khyber Pass Railway. Some of the oldest, largest, longest, most northerly, southerly, expensive, crookedest, steepest, highest, lowest and most notorious lost railways are included. Quirky and other unique tales from lost railways are included, such as the disappearing phantom bridge, a line destroyed by molten lava, to one that sank under the sea, another that conveyed giant turtles, to a memorial to a brave railway elephant. The author also visited remote areas of Argentina and provides more information on the mysterious disappearance of the ex-Lynton & Barnstaple Railway locomotive Lew. A large number of the 300 color illustrations have not been published before, maps and stories from around the world will delight not only the railway enthusiast, but appeal to a wider cadre of readers with an interest in nostalgia, history, geography and travel. To some the book will be an informative source of information, to others it is written in a way that highlights the most amazing lost railways in the world, but either way it is a fascinating and unique book.

Presented in an illustrated format, this book traces the history of the area's railway lines from their opening in the 19th century and, in many cases, their closure in the 20th century.

The beautifully restored St Pancras Station is a magisterial example of Britain’s finest Victorian architecture. Like the viaducts at Belah and Crumlin, cathedral-like stations such as Nottingham Victoria and spectacular railway hotels like Glasgow St Enoch's, it stands proud as testament to Britain's architectural heritage. In this stunning book, John Minnis reveals Britain's finest railway architecture. From the most cavernous engine sheds, like Old Oak Common, through the eccentric country halts on the Tollesbury line and the gantries of the Liverpool Overhead Railway, to the soaring viaducts of Belah and Cumlin, Britain’s Lost Railways offers a sweeping celebration of our railway heritage. The selection of images and the removable facsimile memorabilia, including tickets, posters, timetables and maps, allows the reader to step into that past, serving as a testimony to an age of ingenuity and ambition when the pride we invested in our railways was reflected in the grandeur of the architecture we built for them.