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Great Days of the Country Railway, The Thomas & Whitehouse Dust Jacket 1986 2nd
The Great Days of the Country Railway Thomas & Whitehouse Dust Jacket 1986 2nd impression 208 pages Indexed
The total experience of the country railway in its colourful heyday is brought to life in this new book, almost entirely specially written hut including a uniquely rich range of ingredients. In addition to its ten main chapters, there are shorter studies in between, while in boxes and the extra outside column running throughout the book there is an enormous variety of anecdote, study and quotation. The very sounds and smells of the country railway, the busy interludes at wayside junctions between long silences, the events that brought special activity deep into the valley, the engines, carriages, single-line tokens and how they were exchanged, the stations and the men who operated them, the loads in the guards' vans, times of strife, oddities that survived into later generations . . . they are all here, along with an equally rich range of illustration. The specially-commissioned painting for the jacket shows two expresses on the West Highland line about to cross; colour photographs include rarities from different parts of the British Isles; over 130 black-and-white photographs capture the country railway in every mood and at many different times in history, though the emphasis is on the immediate post-war years that will still be fresh in many readers' memories, since the authors conclude that the Great Days - certainly the days of most frequent trains - were late in history. And there are track plans, reproductions of a variety of timetables, notices and other material.
The main authors are David St John Thomas and Patrick Whitehouse, whose partnership took The Great Western Railway: 150 Glorious Years into the bestselling lists. The format is the same, along with the same wide range of topics that made that book so popular. Both have written extensively on the country railway before, David St John Thomas's The Country Railway being among the most popular handful of railway titles ever published, but it is stressed that this book is totally new and different. Contributions are included from many other well-known writers: Gerry Hennes has a unique piece on the use of a tow-rope in a rural shunt; A. J. Powell's work includes a delightful recounting of summer Saturday pressure on the Midland & Great Northern Joint; Geoffrey Kichenside writes on single-line signaLLing and country rolling stock; David L. Smith recalls a highlight on the Glasgow & South Western, and there is much more. Material has been collected from the whole British Isles and, as with most top-class books, as much has had to be left out in the selection process (especially difficult has been the choice of Patrick Whitehouse's superbly-evocative photographs) as has been accommodated even in this generous and well-utilised format.
With its lively writing, wealth of anecdote and depth of perception, its fine array of colour and black-and-white illustrations, and many extra touches, The Great Days of the County Railway will surely be another of those rare classics of railway literature.
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