Product information
The authoritative and fascinating history of the rise and fall of the state-owned British Rail.
You think you know British Rail.
But you don't know the whole story. From its creation after the Second World War, through its fifty-year lifetime, British Rail was an innovative powerhouse that transformed our transport system.Uniting disparate lines into a highly competent organisation - heralding 'The Age of the Train' - and, for a time, providing one of the fastest regular rail services in the world.
Born into post-war austerity, traumatised, impoverished and exploited by a hostile press, the state-owned railway was dismissed as a dinosaur unable to evolve, and swept away by a government hellbent on selling it off.
Now, award-winning writer Christian Wolmar provides a new perspective on national loss in a time of privatisation.
British Rail is ripe for a new history.
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Praise for Christian Wolmar
The greatest expert on British trains' Guardian'
Our most eminent transport journalist' Spectator'
If the world's railways have a laureate, it is surely Christian Wolmar' Boston Globe '
Christian Wolmar is in love with the railways. He writes constantly and passionately about them. He is their wisest, most detailed historian and a constant prophet of their rebirth . . . if you love the hum of the wheels and of history, then Christian Wolmar is your man' Observer
Hardback
Pages: 416
Dimensions: 240mm x 162mm x 38mm
Weight: 685g