The Railways: Nation, Network and People - Hardcover

Bradley, Simon

4.14

287 ratings by Goodreads

9781846682094: The Railways: Nation, Network and People

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1846682096 ISBN 13: 9781846682094

Publisher: Profile Books, 2015

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Sunday Times History Book of the Year 2015
BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week
Shortlisted for the Longman History Today Book of the Year 2016

Britain's railways have been a vital part of national life for nearly 200 years. Transforming lives and landscapes, they have left their mark on everything from timekeeping to tourism. As a self-contained world governed by distinctive rules and traditions, the network also exerts a fascination all its own.

From the classical grandeur of Newcastle station to the ceaseless traffic of Clapham Junction, from the mysteries of Brunel's atmospheric railway to the lost routines of the great marshalling yards, Simon Bradley explores the world of Britain's railways, the evolution of the trains, and the changing experiences of passengers and workers. The Victorians' private compartments, railway rugs and footwarmers have made way for air-conditioned carriages with airline-type seating, but the railways remain a giant and diverse anthology of structures from every period, and parts of the system are the oldest in the world.

Using fresh research, keen observation and a wealth of cultural references, Bradley weaves from this network a remarkable story of technological achievement, of architecture and engineering, of shifting social classes and gender relations, of safety and crime, of tourism and the changing world of work. The Railways shows us that to travel through Britain by train is to journey through time as well as space.

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Product Description:

Britain's railways have been a vital part of national life for nearly 200 years. Transforming lives and landscapes, they have left their mark on everything from timekeeping to tourism. As a self-contained world governed by distinctive rules and traditions, the network also exerts a fascination all its own. From the classical grandeur of Newcastle station to the ceaseless traffic of Clapham Junction, from the mysteries of Brunel's atmospheric railway to the lost routines of the great marshalling yards, Simon Bradley explores the world of Britain's railways, the evolution of the trains, and the changing experiences of passengers and workers. The Victorians' private compartments, railway rugs and footwarmers have made way for air-conditioned carriages with airline-type seating, but the railways remain a giant and diverse anthology of structures from every period, and parts of the system are the oldest in the world. Using fresh research, keen observation and a wealth of cultural references, Bradley weaves from this network a remarkable story of technological achievement, of architecture and engineering, of shifting social classes and gender relations, of safety and crime, of tourism and the changing world of work. The Railways shows us that to travel through Britain by train is to journey through time as well as space. This hardback book has 645 pages and measures: 24 x 16 x 5cm.

Review:

Combining authority with intimacy, and technical grasp with humour and humanity, The Railways is by some distance the most ambitious and enriching book I have ever read on this subject. It is destined to become a classic of British social history. (David Kynaston)

Simon Bradley's The Railways is magisterial. It's both authoritative and absorbing. A first class journey. (Michael Palin 2015-07-01)

'A superbly crafted, lovingly assembled tribute to our railways ... the current, tattered state of our railways should in no way detract from Bradley's narrative. This is a first-class, entertaining analysis of a great, albeit troubled, institution that has now been given a history worthy of its national significance.' (Robin McKie The Observer 2015-10-18)

A magnificent story both intricate and gripping ... Bradley has mastered the detail without losing touch with the romance. (Matthew Parris Times 2015-12-12)

A magnificent study ... Simon Bradley is not an ideal, but the ideal railway historian ...
a rivetingly detailed technical history ... Masterly ... the joy of Bradley's book is that, by telling the story of railways, he has told the story of all of us British over the last 150 years. Turning the pages, we will cheer the ingenuity of the Victorians, curse the name of Beeching and Harold Macmillan, and recall the many moments of life - sobbing as one parted from a lover, delight as the train took us into new landscapes - in which the railways have played a central role. They made us what we are - both as a nation and as individuals, and this book is the classic, beautifully written, learned exposition of that glorious fact.

(AN Wilson Sunday Times 2015-09-27)

It is testament to Bradley's tremendous frame of reference that he is able to write with equal authority on both Branwell Bront� and Timothy Potter ...fascinating ... The entire book is written with a rare combination of easy-going style and Olympian knowledge ... Bradley is one of that happy band of writers who are interested in everything, and also - rarer still - capable of making everything interesting ... this book concertinas the present and the past, the real and the imagined, and, by doing so, turns what might have been Timothy Potter's trainspotter's guide into something much closer to a work of art. (Craig Brown Mail on Sunday 2015-09-13)

Yields a plethora of delightful anecdotes and arcane facts. Bradley has a fine eye for the telling details ... a rich history ... as a work on railways and social life in the last two centuries it is a treasure trove. (Jill Murdoch BBC Who Do You Think You Are magazine 2015-10-01)

Rich and revealing ... [Bradley's] special delight is in ferreting out the telling, often surprising detail that brings the great themes of his story alive ... a monumental work. (Tom Fort Daily Telegraph 2015-10-10)

A superb and challenging work of railway history, but it is also so much more ... It goes way beyond conventional, introverted, train-spottery literature and deals with some very unexpected themes ... Dr Bradley explodes many myths about the railways ... fascinating ... elegantly written, magisterial and utterly enthralling. (Gavin Stamp Country Life 2015-10-14)

Books of the Year 2015: Bradley's compendious yet rattling The Railways achieves magnificently a difficult double. Learned and deeply researched, it will not only impress railway buffs but tell even them a great deal they didn't know; yet this is also popular history, which will engage and entertain any lay reader remotely curious about train travel in Britain. (Matthew Parris Spectator 2015-11-19)

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