Colin E. Mountford

A little covered area of railway operation except by occasional articles is comprehensibly explained by the author.Not only are British lines described but several foreign examples.Ten chapters explain the operation of the various types with plenty of diagrams and a wealth of photographs,including colour,which shows how long some of these lasted.To my mind a wonderful book covering a fascinating subject,and I strongly recommend it.

Before there were railway locomotives, there were rope-worked railways, with stationery engines hauling trucks. Some remained in service until living memory; the colliery systems of Co. Durham, or the Cromford & High Peak Railway in Derbyshire kept working into the late 1960s and early 1970s. This book is a comprehensive survey of the field, with many maps and photographs.