This book covers in pictures, the history and development of London's main terminal stations, looking at the stations through the lens of photographers from Victorian and Edwardian times through to the modern era. The main terminal stations in London have changed greatly in the last 150 years, this volume seeks through pictures to capture the spirit of those changes, showing the often interesting and colorful history of these great and often beautiful structures, that are an important part of our railway heritage.
An illustrated historical tour of London's 13 great railway termini, on a clockwise circuit from Paddington to Victoria. London's railway termini are among the most recognisable and familiar landmarks in the city. Famed for their bustling platforms and architectural innovation, they comprise a fascinating mixture of Neo-Gothic exuberance and purposeful modernity. Though each owes its existence to a long-extinct Victorian railway company, these stations continue to be central to London life, with millions of visitors passing through every year. This historical whistlestop tour takes you on a circuit of London's thirteen great railway termini, from Paddington, through King's Cross, to Victoria. Ranging from the earliest stations to the latest restorations and ongoing developments, this beautifully illustrated book examines both their legacy and their future.
West from Paddington is the essential companion for every traveller on First Great Western Railway. Packed with information on all the landmarks, railway history, geographical features and places of interest that can be seen from your window as your journey unfolds, this indispensable guide covers three great routes - Paddington to Bristol; Reading to Penzance and Swindon to Carmarthen. A route map for each section of the journey highlights the features described, and the book includes hundreds of specially commissioned colour photographs giving a 'traveller's-eye' view. Each entry indicates on which side of the train the place or item of interest described can be found. Written by lifelong railway enthusiast and Professor of Transport, Stuart Cole, and with a Foreword by pop impresario and railway devotee Pete Waterman OBE, West from Paddington will turn your journey into a voyage of discovery.
After the Second World War, the drive for the modernisation of Britain's railways ushered in a new breed of locomotive: the Diesel. Diesel-powered trains had been around for some time, but faced with a coal crisis and the Clean Air Act in the 1950s, it was seen as a part of the solution for British Rail. This beautifully illustrated book, written by an expert on rail history, charts the rise and decline of Britain's diesel-powered locomotives. It covers a period of great change and experimentation, where the iconic steam engines that had dominated for a century were replaced by a series of modern diesels including the ill-fated 'Westerns' and the more successful 'Deltics'.
Although the British government declared its neutrality during the American Civil War, London nevertheless became an important center of Confederate overseas operations. This work examines the extensive Confederate activities in London during the war, including diplomacy, propaganda, purchasing for the Army and Navy, spying, Cotton Loan, and various business associations; reflections of the Civil War in British art and literature; and the extent of British support for the South. Appendices cover London firms with Confederate links, pro-Confederate publications, Confederate music published in London, the Southern lobby in Parliament, the Southern Independence Association, and the British Jackson Monumental Fund. The work also includes a chronology of events and a gazetteer of Confederate sites in London.
Charlotte Brunsdon's illuminating study explores the variety of cinematic 'Londons' that appear in films made since 1945. Brunsdon traces the familiar ways that film-makers establish that a film is set in London, by use of recognisable landmarks and the city's shorthand iconography of red buses and black taxis, as well as the ways in which these icons are avoided. She looks at London weather – fog and rain – and everyday locations like the pub and the housing estate, while also examining the recurring patterns of representation associated with films set in the East and West Ends of London, from Spring in Park Lane (1948) to Mona Lisa (1986), and from Night and the City (1950) to From Hell (2001). Brunsdon provides a detailed analysis of a selection of films, exploring their contribution to the cinematic geography of London, and showing the ways in which feature films have responded to, and created, changing views of the city. She traces London's transformation from imperial capital to global city through the different ways in which the local is imagined in films ranging from Ealing comedies to Pressure (1974), as well as through the shifting imagery of the River Thames and the Docks. She addresses the role of cinematic genres such as horror and film noir in the constitution of the cinematic city, as well as the recurrence of figures such as the cockney, the gangster and the housewife. Challenging the view that London is not a particularly cinematic city, Brunsdon demonstrates that many London-set films offer their own meditation on the complex relationships between the cinema and the city.