Rail Books

Canals and Railways of Wiltshire A network of inland waterways criss-cross the length and breadth of the country. Constructed in the late 18th cent...

Railways of Central Scotland: 40 Years of Change The last 40 years have witnessed wholesale upheaval in terms of motive power, rolling stock and in...

AC Electrics: 86, 87, 90 and DVTs Built in 1965–66, the 100 Class 86 electric locomotives worked passenger and freight trains on the newly electrif...

AC Electrics: 91, 92 and DVTs Following the electrification of the East Coast Main Line (ECML) between London King’s Cross and Edinburgh, 31 Class ...

Classes 20-27 Britain's Railways Series; By far the most reliable of the many types of early British Railways diesel locomotives, the Class 20s (or...

Class 37s, vol 2 The Class 37s have been in service for six decades and can still be seen in a variety of places. Most notable for the Class is the...

Railways Around York York’s railways are fascinating. The city has the high-speed East Coast Main Line, the cross-country main line to Sheffield an...

Class 56s and 58s Designed specifically for heavy freight operations in the UK, British Rail’s Class 56 was introduced in 1976–84. The first 30 of ...

Class 57s The Class 57 diesel locomotive was an outgrowth of the tremendously successful and iconic Class 47. Rebuilt from redundant Class 47s by B...

Heritage DMUs: The Final Years At the beginning of the privatisation era of Britain’s railways, there was a pause in new rolling stock deliveries. ...

Class 31s Perhaps overshadowed by more ‘exotic’ locomotives, the Class 31s played a significant part in British Railways’ Modernisation Plan. Inten...

Electrostar: Capital Commuter At the turn of the millennium, a large percentage of the passenger services around London and the south-east were ope...

Class 68s In 2009, Direct Rail Services (DRS) ordered a small fleet of locos designed to remain in service until at least 2036 to futureproof its c...

Railways of Asia: South Korea and Taiwan Since World War Two, South Korea and Taiwan have expanded their respective railway networks to add modern ...

London Underground: The Northern Line Identified in black on the London Underground map, the Northern line cuts north to south through the capital...

Rail Freight: Eastern England Between the Humber estuary, the gateway to the North Sea at the region’s northernmost point, and the port of Felixsto...

Rail Freight: London and the South East The last four decades have seen many changes in rail freight patterns, as small-scale operations requiring ...

British Rail Shunters: The Final Years By the beginning of the 1990s, the variety that once characterised British Rail’s (BR) shunter fleet had all...

Class 73s Built in the 1960s, the Class 73s were primarily used on the Southern Region, owing to their ability to operate from either a diesel engi...

British Rail Shunters: From Corporate Blue to Sectorisation The role of British Rail’s (BR) diesel shunters was increasingly threatened by the la...

Class 33s In 1960, the Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company built a class of 98 locomotives, later to be designated Class 33s. They were c...

Japan’s Railways: Kinki to Kyushu At the start of the Menji Era, Japan emerged from its years of self-imposed isolation and quickly modernised. Par...

Japan’s Railways: Hokkaido to Chubu Japan’s first railway opened between Tokyo and Yokohama in 1872. Its railways were nationalised in the early 19...