In the mid-nineteenth century, the great age of railway building, Charles Dickens could not but be aware of their transformative impact on society. So he wrote about it - to a remarkable extent. He wrote a classic ghost story, 'The Signalman'; in Dombey and Son about what is now the West Coast Main Line being carved through north London in great ravines. He wrote satirical pieces about railway catering - even back then; about the wonder of express train travel to the Channel ports; travel pieces about exploring America by train - and about being personally involved in the notorious Staplehurst train crash in Kent. Now, in the year of Dickens' 150th anniversary, Tony Williams, a distinguished Dickens scholar, collects all these railway writings into this volume.