The Times All Aboard!: Remembering Britain’s Railways

This was a gift and the recipient thought it was great, as I didn’t really read it ( not being particularly interested in railways) I can’t say!

All good

Reading

An assortment of thumbnail sketches of the familiar and the less-well-known, without a tremendous amount of in-depth information - so, in fairness it avoids getting boringly academic.Interspersed are some personal anecdotes, not too many and not overdone.The picture selection is well chosen.Overall an enjoyable read which can be dipped into at leisure.

A well researched book.

Great book

When the first ebook reader was announced I had a little celebration because as a seafarer taking enough reading material with me on a six month trip was impossible. And, since then almost all of my reading has been in electronic format.Apart from a few select types of books. Old collectable books, histories and reference books, because no doubt at all, they are far better read and enjoyed in paper format. Easier to deal with too if they are technical manuals.And thus my reading is divided into two halves. Generally rubbish novels in electronic ink and books of some worth in paper format. For me this works out well enough and if I'm being honest my library shelves look a lot nicer filled with books such as this one than some sci-fi pulp. Ego at work there.And this book really is a lovely thing to hold and to read. Yes, I accept that for the genuine rail enthusiast there may be bits or references that could be argued with but for those of us who have an interest but not an all consuming one, this book is a beautiful one to read and to look at.As I said, I'm not a rail obsessive but despite having flown most of my life to work, driven and owned some genuinely fast and interesting cars and owning a number of motorbikes, without a doubt rail travel is my favourite way to move.There is something evocative about moving by train that somehow pulls my imagination back to times when the world was bigger and somehow simpler. Perhaps in many ways better although I also accept considerably more grim in other ways. Regardless, in times past trains evoked a sense of adventure and excitement at horizons not understood or seen. Even in the UK less than 70 years ago people did not see or know much about the UK let alone the world and thus every rail trip was a wonderful thing when going somewhere new.This book gives me some of that sense back. The stories, the information, the pictures and the photographs are fantastic. To sit somewhere comfortable with this book at hand is to find oneself in a different world. One where my grandfather was still alive and which I miss despite only catching a tiny bit of it.It's a beautifully presented book and to anyone with a passing interest in rail travel will enjoy. It would also be a great history book for anyone interested in British industrial history as well.

What a wonderful book. Such a joy to relax and read if you enjoy riding the rails and want to dip into the halcyon days of our railways. This is a light and enjoyable coffee table book written for the majority of people who might enjoy having a wide history of the railway in Britain. This is light reading for wide audience enjoyment and as such it hits the mark.The book itself is really nicely presented, lots of great photos and printed with real quality. If you have bought Times books before you will know that they are bound really well, print quality is top notch and will last as a good book should. And in this case the writing quality matches the product. Julian Holland obviously has a life of knowledge and passion for the railways of Britain and he writes with an informed joy that is a delight to read. He covers a wide range of topics, from the early heroes of the railways to famous engines, key figures of change like Dr Beeching and short pieces on more obscure lines. Lots of interesting stuff is in these pages and the light writing style avoids it getting overblown with the self-importance or obsession that is the lurking danger of fields such as rail history.This is not a book for the rail bore or obsessed train nerd. Do not buy this for someone who spends weekends finding new lines to ride or new engines to tick off, or who belongs to a rail preservation society or such. Undoubtedly this book will be anathema to them and it will not go into the detail that an eager and active enthusiast would crave. They may get small perverse please in picking over the bones of this coffee table book in anticipation of finding a few errors, and likely they will. However this is not a book for those folks.Nor is it a purchase for someone who has a similar book already. I doubt there will be much new in this that isn't covered by a similar wide reaching and high level 'greatest hits' of rail history.This is a book for someone who enjoys the railways but is not an enthusiast, who wants a nice looking book to pick and dip into to enjoy a few bits of information and accompanying photos and illustrations. If you buy it in that vein I doubt you will be disappointed and you would make a very good purchase.