Probably the best railway book in the world

The Railways - Nation, Network and People, by Simon Bradley, is well-written, entertaining and informative. I’m only on page 112, so I’ve still got another 500 to go but its already made quite an impression. At a few pages at a time, it should keep me amused for some time to come.

Here’s a taster [almost literally] on the demise of smoking on trains [p.111]. “Now, even the most lovingly accurate re-creation on the country’s preserved railways cannot bring back the sour smell of wet tobacco ash, smeared thinly in solution with other dirt over the linoleum flooring of a crowded second-class carriage on a rainy winter’s day; nor the grey-black deposit of carbonised tobacco particles inadvertently picked up when the shoulders of coats and jackets rubbed against the tainted condensation on single-glazed carriage windows”.

Certainly brings it all back for me.