Jack Simmons book is nothing less than an encyclopedia of Victorian railroad history presented in a narrative format. Using a thematic rather than chronological format, he addresses practically every aspect of the topic, from the machinery and use of railways to their representation in literature and their management of public relations. Within them he provides a clear overview of the people, places, and technologies that created and directed the development of Britain’s railroad network.

The author of over a half-dozen more specialized books on railroad history, Simmons brings an impressive breadth of knowledge to his topic. Much of this is clear from his writing, which with his confident and comfortable tone conveys an easy familiarity with his subject. Yet like an encyclopedia entry his coverage is often brief as he passes from subject to subject, leaving the reader wanting to learn more. This is especially true in terms of his illustrations, which while numerous are nowhere near sufficiently so for his text, leaving readers to track down pictures of the images and places he mentions for themselves.

None of this, however, detracts from the overall utility of this book. Well written and deeply researched, Simmons’s book is an excellent guide to understanding Victorian railroads and the role they played in the history of their time. Readers will find it an enlightening resource, one that they can enjoy from cover to cover or by selecting the chapters that sate specific needs. Either way, it is one that people interested in the subject will want to keep on their shelves for many years to come. ( )

This book complements Prof. Simmons' earlier books on the effects of the railway on Victorian Britain by looking at the way the Victorians themselves perceived the railway and its effects, good and bad. It's a very interesting and readable account, although perhaps not an ideal starting point if you're new to the subject, as Simmons does not waste much time on the more familiar material. Fanny Kemble's trip on the Rocket is dismissed in half a line; Dickens' railway accident experience gets only slightly more; Ruskin does not get a chance to fulminate about the Buxton to Matlock railway. Even the illustrations mostly manage to avoid the obvious (we do get Frith's "Railway Station", though) .

Simmons has managed to bring together a remarkable range of material, much of which I hadn't come across before, covering the whole of Great Britain (with a couple of minor excursions across the Irish Sea), and the whole period from the 1820s to 1914. This is a huge subject, but Simmons has the benefit of many years of research in the field and is able to select what is interesting and relevant from the mass of material available. He puts the material into context succinctly, and tests the Victorian writers' (often contradictory) perceptions against statistical data wherever it is available. He clearly did quite a bit of original research, for example in trying to estimate the development of excursion traffic, or the role of the railways in transporting daily commuters. And there are some interesting little inquiries into unexpected side-issues, like disentangling the roles of sabbatarianism from penny-pinching in the development of the British "railway Sunday".

Definitely well worth the effort for anyone who's interested in railways in 19th century Britain. ( )