Mysterious ghost stations forgotten beneath the cities of Paris and London; desolate grand rail hubs in the Pyrenean mountains; metro stations in China that terminate in a wasteland; Abandoned Train Stations looks at some of the thousands of disused station buildings, platforms, lines, tunnels, and rail yards left behind by modernity.
Organised by continent, this book takes the reader to every corner of the globe. Explore Canfranc International Railway Station, once a busy mountain hub of international travel between France and Spain; see the eerily empty platform at Kings Cross Thameslink, London, today a service tunnel following the station’s closure in the early 2000s; examine the grandiose Michigan Central Train Station in Detroit, an historic Amtrak rail depot, and once the tallest rail station in the world; marvel at the dusty, overgrown shell of Abkhazia’s once beautiful railway station in Psyrtskha, a physical legacy of the former Soviet era in the Caucasus; see the disused Tiwanaku train station, situated almost 4,000 metres above sea level in the Bolivian Andes; or learn about the fascinating Istvántelek Train Yard, in the Hungarian capital of Budapest, better known as the ‘Red Star train graveyard’ because of its many Soviet-era engine wrecks.
Illustrated with more than 200 photographs, Abandoned Train Stations provides a fascinating pictorial journey through the little-known remnants of rail transport infrastructure from every part of the world.
Abandoned Train Stations is a beautifully curated collection of photographs from abandoned and neglected railway stations edited by David Ross. Due out 13th Sept 2022 from Amber Books, it's 224 pages and will be available in hardcover format.
This is a beautiful collection of photographs, many of them full page and in colour. The entries are arranged geographically in chapters by region: Europe, Africa & the Middle East, Asia & the Pacific, North America, and South America & the Caribbean. Each entry is accompanied by a short caption giving tantalising glimpses into the history of these broken and abandoned places. Some of the most effective photos show nature reclaiming these spots and I really liked the ones showing earlier bustling transport centres inhabited only by wildlife and greenery.
The photographs are curated from stock photos (chiefly Shutterstock, Alamy, and Getty Images) and all are credited in the back of the book. Interesting and well done.
Four and a half stars. It would make a good selection for public and school library acquisition, as well as for transport enthusiasts. All of the destinations are identified geographically, so the ones available to the public could make an interesting sightseeing goal for especially interested fans of the subject.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes
