A Pageant of British Steam

A Pageant of British Steam

Author: Geoff Swaine

Publisher: Casemate Publishers

ISBN: 9781526717597

Category: Transportation

Page: 136

View: 441

A Pageant of British Steam is a book honouring the position to which Britains Heritage Steam Railways has now arrived.Preservation has become the word for the achievements of the thousands of volunteers who have given up a mass of time to advance the saving of this section of Britains history. Most of these people are the likely descendants of our Industrial Revolution where the skills have never been forgotten.The book shows in fine color photography the wonderful selection of locomotives and rolling stock running on our preserved lines all across the country. Text highlights the historical background of railway history from the earliest times right through to the end of steam in the nineteen sixties.Geoff Swaine has emerged to be a leader in this field of photography, be it lineside or heritage working steam. His style is one of his own, where the subject leaps from the page, usually bathed in fine sunlight with blue sky above.Informative captions accompany every picture not only targeting the novice or newcomer to the subject, but the experienced rail enthusiast will also be pleased to learn a thing or two.This book strongly features the historical background as well as catching some of the people who now revel in dressing the part to prove their love of this enthralling and popular subject.

The Country Railway

The Country Railway

Author: Tim Bryan

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

ISBN: 9780747814252

Category: Transportation

Page: 64

View: 451

Britain's towns and cities were famously transformed in the nineteenth century by the coming of the railways, turning their fortunes around and giving urban dwellers new opportunities to travel across the country – yet the effect on the rural population was arguably far greater. Whilst some of the initial trunk lines were designed to link major cities, the network of smaller cross-country and branch lines that followed opened up large tracts of previously remote countryside, providing new markets for agricultural produce and ending the isolation of many rural communities, and such was the pace of development during the Railway Mania period that by the end of the nineteenth century there were few areas of country not served by train. This book tells the story of these railways from golden age to decline in the wake of nationalization and the Beeching Report in the mid-twentieth century – and indeed contemporary efforts to restore and preserve them.

Steam Trains and Jigsaw Puzzles

Steam Trains and Jigsaw Puzzles

Author: David Platt

Publisher: Author House

ISBN: 9781481786447

Category: Art

Page: 69

View: 315

Steam Trains and Jigsaw Puzzles strikes most people as an intriguing title. The origin is simple,however my trainspotting youth has been synchronized with a later interest in jigsaw puzzles. The result is expensive I have a collection of over 250 jigsaws depicting British steam railways. The conclusion is impossible there are over 500 steam railway jigsaw puzzles to collect and they are being supplemented annually. The Liverpool & Manchester Railway marked the arrival of the true passenger railway service in 1830 and presented jigsaw manufacturers with another subject on which to focus. Prior to this date the jigsaw experience, started by John Spilsbury in c1760, was restricted to subjects such as religion, geography, history, monarchs, the alphabet and art. Many characteristics combine to form the basis of nostalgic images buried indelibly in the minds of people who travelled in the steam railway age. Manufacturers have not been slow to tap into this nostalgia and produce jigsaws aimed at stirring those memories and inviting people to reflect on past experiences, good, bad or indifferent. Chad Valley, Victory, Good Companion,Falcon, Waddingtons and Arrow are just a few manufacturers who produced steam railway jigsaws in the past. Most of these companies are now a distant memory while others are in foreign ownership. Equally famous names such as Wentworth, Ravensburger (Germany), House of Puzzles, Gibsons, JR Puzzles and King Puzzles (Holland) continue the manufacturing tradition. Output is generally superb thanks to the efforts of fine railway artists such as Terence Cuneo, George Heiron, T. E. North, Don Breckon, John Austin, Barry Freeman and Malcolm Root. The book is aimed at anyone with an interest in jigsaw puzzles and at those enthusiasts and aficionados who refuse to allow those evocative memories of the Golden Age of Steam to die.