Rail Operations Viewed From South Devon

South Devon, a thriving county with the sea, estuary and moorland for recreation, owes much of its success and vibrant economy to the railways that provide day return services, allowing people to travel freely to and from London and the North. Rail Operations Viewed From South Devon is a comprehensive exploration of the railways in and around South Devon, with chapters drawing on areas across the country such as Totnes, Carlisle and Bristol. Embracing a wide range of topics to help the reader understand how railway engineering reached its current state, this book aims to encourage discussion about the rail network as an entity. Chapters include the history of the sea and cliff issues associated with Dawlish, as well as how the Victorians built a congestion-free rail system around Bristol, with another chapter detailing the Cross Country timetables of 1925. This extensive insight into the railway also draws on the author’s personal experience of undertaking a rail tour to Carlisle and back to Totnes in 1999, following the re-privatisation of the rail network, in comparison to a previous excursion in 1961. Illustrated throughout with dozens of detailed maps and diagrams, as well as useful statistics, Rail Operations Viewed From South Devon will appeal to readers who are curious about railway history and the recent management of the rail networks.

The highs and lows of working as a Chartered Accountant in London and Devon. Garth Pedler realized he had a penchant for figures when, having been given a Bradshaw Railway Timetable in 1957, he found he enjoyed recasting railway branch line timetables to make them more efficient. Despite having a huge interest in the railways, he came to the conclusion that a career in railway management was not for him. Instead in 1964 he joined a firm of chartered accountants in the City of London. This book describes the still Dickensian setup he found there as well as some of the amusing incidents and clients he encountered at the firm. After one job move Garth joined Touche Ross & Co. While here he saw the first introduction of electronic calculators which removed the need to do most of the calculations in one’s head. After qualifying as a chartered accountant himself he started his own firm specializing in music clients. In 1980 Garth left London to take his firm to Devon where he worked from home until his eventual retirement. His business continued to prosper and reached a peak in 1984 when he took on 104 new clients, mainly through personal recommendation. He also developed an encyclopedic knowledge of tax law which lead to several amusing encounters with various tax inspectors. The book gives an enlightening view of a career largely spent in the pre-computerized age, and when interesting characters could still be found in the business world.

With rare and previously unpublished photographs of this interesting part of the Scottish rail scene.

This publication sets out the Government's response to the Committee's report (HC 574, session 2005-06 (ISBN 0215027590) on the eighth annual report by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office ('Human Rights Annual Report 2005', Cm. 6606, ISBN 0101660626). Issues discussed in the report include: the international legal framework and the work of international institutions; the war against terrorism and treatment of detainees in Guantanamo Bay, extraordinary rendition and the use of information derived from torture, the situation in Iraq and the trial of Saddam Hussein; the arms trade and military assistance, and corporate social responsibility. Amongst the Government's responses, it disagrees with the concerns the Committee raised over i) the fact that the Minister responsible for human rights issues is also the Minister of State for Trade, roles that the Committee found to be often contradictory; and ii) the decision to subsume human rights work into the more general category of sustainable development.