-
FIRST CLASS DELIVERY
All books & gifts sent Royal Mail
-
Chat to us
We are here to help & answer any questions
-
Free CLICK & COLLECT
Local collection available
Transport
-
Fast Track
Pre-order this global history of high speed rail, from the railways' 'wisest, most detailed historian' (The Observer)'The greatest expert on British trains' GUARDIAN'The high priest of railway studies' LITERARY REVIEW'Our most eminent transport journalist' SPECTATOR'If you love the hum of the wheels and of history, then Christian Wolmar is your man' OBSERVERSleek, comfortable, accessible, and sustainable, high-speed rail is the future. Since Japan's Bullet Train first sped down the track in the sixties, it has become a global icon, as famous for its punctuality as for its speed.The French TGV, or Train à Grande Vitesse, established a template that was soon followed across Europe, in Italy, Germany and SpainBut with a remarkable 30,000 miles of track built in fewer than twenty years China has become the world leader.Now with lines built or planned in over twenty countries, high speed rail has changed the world and, faced with the environmental cost of cars and air travel, might help save it.Two countries, both pioneers of rail travel, have been conspicuously left behind, though. The UK, which before the Second World War built record-breaking high-speed trains, has just sixty-eight miles of high-speed line and the unfolding embarrassment of HS2, while the United States has no genuine high-speed line at all. How can this be?In Fast Track, Christian Wolmar, our leading railway writer, tells the story of the irresistible rise of high-speed rail around the world for the first time. From the magnificence of Britain's steam-engined Mallard to a 250 mile per hour future, this is a story of big personalities, bold decisions, cutting edge technology, and soaring ambition.All aboard!
£30.00
-
To the Sea by Train
THE TOP TEN SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Vividly conjures a lost age' FINANCIAL TIMES 'Hugely entertaining' EVENING STANDARD 'A feast of anecdotage' SUNDAY TIMES Throughout the twentieth century, the seaside service posters of Britain's railways promised fresh air and frivolity to millions of urban dwellers with the phrase: 'To the sea by train'. A staple of modern British life, the seaside getaway was intertwined with the train, in whose compartments holidaymakers were shunted from smog-choked cities to sandy coves. With his signature wit and anecdotal style, Andrew Martin captures an era defined by its railways: from the development of Brighton and Scarborough into pleasure resorts, and the introduction of bank holidays and two-day weekends, to the advent of cheap flights and the British coast's subsequent decline. Humorous and evocative, To the Sea by Train takes a charming tour through Britain's most beloved pastime. 'A standalone classic' COUNTRY LIFE 'Infectious' SPECTATOR
£11.99
-
£17.99
-
The Untold Railway Stories
A compendium of fascinating and evocative new writing on railway travel and history. Telling of little known journeys and uncovered histories on railway routes around the world - from the UK, Europe and Africa to North America, the Middle East and Asia. From Myanmar's highlands to the British Pennines, from slow travel between coffee plantations in Borneo to a cross-continent odyssey on African railways, from the pioneers of the American West to European trains in war, this is a new prism through which to explore human lives, and global landscapes, politics and history. The Untold Railway Stories is a testament to both the joy and impact of train travel - to the ambition and ingenuity, and also to destruction and sacrifice within its history - and is published to coincide with the 200th anniversary of first passenger railway line.
£22.00
-
Auto Biography
Mat Watson knows everything there is to know about cars. In his 25-year career as a motor journalist, he has driven and tested every vehicle under the sun, from engineering marvels such as the Bugatti Chiron and Ferrari F50, to the grand-touring stalwarts of highways and motorways the world over - Audis, Volvos, Fords, Fiats, Citroens, Mercedes and Teslas - to absolute crapheaps which should never have made it out of the factory gates. He has crawled into hundreds of boots, peered under thousands of bonnets, kicked tens of thousands of tyres, and has perfected a nose for what makes a beautiful, brilliant and, sometimes truly atrocious, car. In 'Auto Biography', his long-awaited first book, Mat presents his own 100% completely correct and highly opinionated guide to the world of cars.
£22.00
-
To the Sea by Train
A staple of modern British life, the seaside getaway was intertwined with the train, in whose compartments holidaymakers were shunted from smog-choked cities to sandy coves. With his signature wit and anecdotal style, Andrew Martin captures an era defined by its railways: from the development of Brighton and Scarborough into pleasure resorts, and the introduction of bank holidays and two-day weekends, to the advent of cheap flights and the British coast's subsequent decline. Humorous and evocative, 'To the Sea by Train' takes a charming tour through Britain's most beloved pastime.
£18.99
-
Mr Wilman's Motoring Adventure
Top Gear turned gloomy Sunday nights into celebratory Friday nights. It made household names of presenters Clarkson, Hammond and May, their unique chemistry and buddy movie antics proving irresistible to a vast global audience. With these three at the helm, Top Gear earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records as the most popular factual TV show on the planet. Then, a short while later, it was all gone. How did a thoroughly sensible little consumer advice programme on cars turn into a global phenomenon in the first place, though? How did it all go wrong? And how did they rise from the ashes as The Grand Tour, and go on to scale even greater heights? One man has all the answers. There from the beginning, Top Gear and The Grand Tour co-creator, and Jeremy's oldest friend, Andy Wilman, opens the bonnet on over twenty years of motoring mayhem.
£22.00
-
The Welsh Marches Railway
Formerly known as the North and West Route, the Welsh Marches Line runs for 95 miles from Newport to Shrewsbury. It is a vital rail passenger link between Wales, Northern England (to Manchester via Crewe) and the Midlands. It also connects North Wales and South Wales. The route sweeps through delightful countryside on the borderlands of England and Wales. It is unique in that it has one of the longest sections of railway line on the network in the UK that still uses the steam age Absolute Block method of signalling to control the trains, operated by mechanical signals from 16 consecutive signal boxes, the most continuous number of signal boxes anywhere on a stretch of line in the UK. It also has the distinction of operating the largest working mechanical signal box in the world, Shrewsbury's Severn Bridge Junction, located just outside Shrewsbury station.
£35.00
-
British Railways
Written by best-selling author Julian Holland, this is the story of British Railways.
£30.00
-
Stagecoach South Wales
Rare and previously unpublished images documenting Stagecoach's presence in South Wales, its depots, bus stations, routes and vehicles.
£15.99
-
Industrial Locomotives and Railways of Wales
Primarily utilising previously unpublished photographs, Gordon Edgar explores the industrial and minor railways of Wales.
£19.99
-
Railwaymen of the Western Valleys of Monmouthshire
This posthumously published book is an abridged version of a much larger manuscript prepared by the late Ralph M. Caple and is a railway social history of the Western Valley lines of Monmouthshire, drawn from newspaper accounts, magazine articles and oral history collected by the author.
£18.95
-
£40.00
-
A history of the Great Western Railway
New paperback edition - A narrative history of the most iconic railway company of the great age of steam.
£11.99
-
Edwards Coaches
A celebration of 100 years of Edwards Coaches, the largest family owned and independent public transport operator in South Wales.
£15.99
-
Fire and steam
'Fire and Steam' tells the dramatic story of the people and events that shaped the world's first railway network, one of the most impressive engineering achievements in history.
£25.00
-
Bradley's railway guide
In 1825 the Stockton & Darlington company strode into history with the opening of the world's first public steam railway. What the S&DR had pioneered soon picked up speed, transforming lives and landscapes, connecting far-flung corners of the nation and creating its own distinctive environments and working worlds. This ambitious and lavishly illustrated volume brings the story of Britain's railways to life, spanning two centuries of achievement and change. Full of colour and incident, it is an exhilarating journey through time and space, revisiting favourite themes and introducing unfamiliar stories and places.
£30.00
-
The changing rail scene in South Wales
South Wales has long been a popular destination for railway enthusiasts, and this book documents the many changes to the region's rail scene in the last thirty years.
£15.99
-
Formula One circuits from above
'Formula One Circuits From Above' gives the reader the perfect insight into what makes F1 the most exciting and dramatic of all forms of motorsport. The unique photography provided by Google Earth show each circuit's challenges and why only the very best drivers in the world can thrive in Formula One. Television cameras (even High Definition and 3D) flatten and foreshorten racetracks making them, if not featureless, then apparently undemanding. If you were to sit at the Eau Rouge section of Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, walk up to the Casino from the harbour at Monaco, or look out onto the desert at Sakhir, you would quickly realise that these are serious challenges - each entirely different from the other.
£30.00
-
Britain's Coastal Road Bridges
Illustrated with over a hundred colour photographs, this book is an fascinating guide to Britain's coastal road bridges.
£15.99
-
Theory test, practical test & Highway Code
This guide contains everything you need to know to help you pass your driving tests, featuring the official theory test revision questions and answers for car drivers from the DVSA.
£13.99
-
The Last Days of Welsh Steam
'The Last Years of Welsh Steam' presents the British Railways period using over 200 evocative colour and black and white images. The railways of Wales had a varied character, ranging from the heavy industry of the South to the rural Mid and North. The country was badly affected by the Beeching Report of the early 1960s which saw many lines and stations closed.
£22.50
-
Concorde
The definitive account of the rise and fall of the world's fastest plane from British Airways' former Chief Concorde Pilot.
£12.99
-
Railways of Wales in the 1960s
A wonderful collection of previously unpublished images looking at the railways and traction of Wales in the 1960s - during the last days of steam.
£14.99
You have seen 24 out of 77 products