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Hamilton Ellis’s breakthrough in the writing of railway history came in 1947. The publisher Philip Unwin, himself something of a railway aficionado, was looking for a new kind of book for his firm, George Allen & Unwin, that would be an antidote to the prevailing dreariness of train travel in post-war austerity Britain: bright illustrations…

Our favourite publishers keep on putting out new books and we haven’t seen any of them since August. The Guvnor recently spent a happy afternoon on the phone to our supplier, discussing the new releases and ordering heaps of them. The supplier was to motor across with them today, and have a look at the new…

Our stock of the latest new books arrived safely this afternoon and the Guvnor has enjoyed arranging them on the centre table. He hadn’t quite finished when I took these pictures.           I’m looking forward to adding these to our web site listings. Although you won’t find them on the web site…

Last night, after the final train had left, a team of Network Rail construction workers laboured through the small hours to put the finishing touch on the new platform one canopy – the valance which makes an attractive finish to the canopy edge and provides a little extra protection from driving rain. It is very…

There is nothing like Statfold, this year there were sixteen engines in steam – so wherever you stood, wherever you waited there was always something going one – a great sense of highly-organised activity and a terrific atmosphere. This post is simply a catalogue of those sixteen engines (or would be – unfortunately I only…

By good fortune the Guvnor’s significant birthday fell on his day off, so we wheeled out our speedy motor and headed across the fens and along the north Norfolk coast to Wells. The weather was grey and indifferent, but we found a harbourside café for lunch and strolled along the quay. We even found the…