Christian Wolmar books

The Subterranean Railway (2015)

I wish I could give this more stars. However, a third of the way through it dawned on me that however passionate the writer, any history of London Underground is never going to be that fascinating. He's passionate, there's no doubt about that. Indeed, I chose him as my first preference for Labour...

Fire and Steam: A New History of the Railways in Britain (2009)

Fire and Steam

This time the Big Four, together with London Transport, were taken under government control on 1 September 1939, two days before the outbreak of the war, and again they were run on behalf of the government by a Railway Executive Committee consisting of experienced railway managers. Private cars, ...

The Great Railroad Revolution

In the North, it was mainly good news. Apart from a few unlucky railroads with lines on the border that suffered war damage, the Northern railroads had not only escaped any direct consequences of the war but prospered, thanks to the increase in traffic that always results from conflict. At first,...