Along Main Lines: The Great Routes and Trains of the Golden Age of Railways [Hardcover]

The author's heart has always been in the lesser railways that once made up a substantial part of the British network, but this book finds him taking a look at the main lines, although his interpretation of main line is somewhat wider than mine. The overall style of the book is similar to earlier books in the series by the same author. As such, it contains plenty of pictures with some in black-and-white and some in color, supported by useful and informative text, but does not delve deeply into any subject.

The book begins with a brief introduction followed by a chapter titled Mainline miscellany, covering streamlining, classic locos (steam, diesel and electric), carriage interiors, restaurant cars, sleeper trains, travel information, timetables, luggage and parcels, lineside guides, engineering, container traffic (which actually began in the twenties, though it didn`t really become popular until much later), air services (briefly operated by railway companies in the thirties), motorail, named trains and railway hotels. I particularly like the pieces on restaurant cars and sleeper trains. Their decline is inevitable, not least because the much faster trains these days mean there is less time to eat or sleep on the journey/ I used to like going from London to Scotland on a sleeper, which in those days was still slow enough to allow arrival in Montrose at a nice time. I always travelled first class to ensure a compartment to myself. I never travelled first class on normal trains otherwise unless first class carriages were designated for second class usage.

The author then devotes a chapter to each region (South west England, Southern England, Wales, Central England, Eastern England, Northern England, Scotland), with sections covering Train scenes, At the station (with title changed to London stations in the Southern England section), Famous places (one for each region), Tunnels bridges and viaducts, Goods trains , Locomotive sheds and Railway works. The train scenes show plenty of early diesels and the occasional electric or more recent diesel, as well as steam locomotives. We are particularly reminded in the goods trains feature of how much has changed, with pictures of mixed freight trains and marshalling yards, once so common but long since consigned to history.

The final chapter covers lost main lines, with particular emphasis on the Great Central, which gets ten pages. Apart from that line, the remainder of the chapter wasn't exactly what I expected, although some lines that might have been featured here are covered elsewhere in the book. The Waverley line from Carlisle to Edinburgh gets a brief mention at the start of the chapter but isn't otherwise covered. It has received plenty of coverage elsewhere and its partial re-opening will renew interest when that happens. As in the other chapters, the author's preference for secondary routes sometimes leads him to include these at the expense of bona-fide former main lines.

Despite the sometimes odd selections, this is another excellent book in an excellent series from Paul Atterbury. So successful has the series been that the publishers have already produced one compilation (An A - Z Railways: A Nostalgic Celebration of British Railway Heritage) and it seems that another compilation is to follow (Paul Atterbury's Lost Railway Journeys: Re-Discover 36 Lost Railway Routes), but I'll ignore those. I'll look forward instead to further books of original material, if they appear..

I have all of the books written by Paul Atterbury and this is as good as any. For those intereted in railway history this is a must

See other reviews for more details of the content, but this is a superb book and in my opinion the best yet from Paul Atterbury. The scope and quality of the images, text and layout is absolutely outstanding. Also, you will not find the errors and inaccuracies which litter similar books from other authors. My only disappointment is that I damaged the dust jacket in my haste to unpack it!