A railway is not just a collection of machines, rails and buildings - it is also about people. This book is about some of these people. It tells of the wayward Bronte brother Branwell, and his extraordinary but short lived career as a station master. It recounts some little known episodes in the lives of the great railway engineers, including one conceming Isombard Brunel, whose barmy army of navvies took part in the last pitched battle to be seen on British soil. There are tales drawn from the diaries of the first railway police, by turns humorous and gripping. Much relate to railway's early days and describe the steep learning curve required of the world's first railwaymen as they engage with the novel technology. By turn the stories are funny, tragic and often surprising. One such involves John Graham, the world's first railway traffic superintendent, and how his daily journal catalogued the errors, omissions and ignorance of railwaymen and the general public, both unused to dealing with anything larger or faster than a horse and cart; a diary of hair-raising incidents that led to the introduction of basic safety controls such as signalling. There is heroism in the mix; the heroism of men such as 16 year old John Hackworth who led an expedition in winter across the snowy wastes of Russia to deliver the country's first steam locomotive to its purchaser, Tsar Nicholas I, fighting off packs of hungry wolves on the way. There are twenty stories in total and all highlight some aspect of the lives of railway people, with all their quirks, faults, mistakes, genius and enterprise. I hope the reader finds the stories informative as well as interesting. Much original research went into their production. Most of what appears was originally published in railway magazines such as Michael Blakemore's 'Backtrack' and some was also published in an earlier incamation of the book titled 'Those Railway People'.
- ISBN10 1785898809
- ISBN13 9781785898808
- Publish Date 28 January 2017 (first published 3 January 2012)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 26 May 2021
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Troubador Publishing
- Imprint Matador
- Format Paperback
- Pages 176
- Language English