British Rail

You think you know British Rail.Stale sandwiches, inefficiency, and violent yellow carriages: we haven't looked kindly on the last of our state-owned organizations to be privatized.But through its 50-year lifetime, British Rail transformed our transport system, and for a time provided one of the fastest regular rail services in the world.Born into postwar austerity, impoverished, and exploited by a hostile press, British Rail became a punchline, dismissed and swept away by Conservative government. Now, Christian Wolmar provides a new perspective on public loss in a time of privatization. British Rail is ripe for a new history.
The authoritative and fascinating history of the rise and fall of the state-owned British Rail'Wolmar's book is impeccably organized and makes a fast, enjoyable read' THE TIMES Literary Supplement________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._______Praise for Christian Wolmar'Wolmar is the high priest of railway studies' Literary Review'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