The English Railway Station

The railway station is one of England s most distinctive, characterful and best-loved building-types. Yet over the past century the nation s stations have often been overlooked or dismissed, and have suffered accordingly."

The perfect new gift from the bestselling author of Britain's 1000 Best Churches It is the scene for our hopeful beginnings and our intended ends, and the timeless experiences of coming and going, meeting, greeting and parting. It is an institution with its own rituals and priests, and a long-neglected aspect of Britain's architecture. And yet so little do we look at the railway station. Simon Jenkins has travelled the length and breadth of Great Britain, from Waterloo to Wemyss Bay, Betws-y-Coed to Beverley, to select his hundred best. Blending his usual insight and authority with his personal reflections and experiences - including his founding the Railway Heritage Trust - the foremost expert on our national heritage deftly reveals the history, geography, design and significance of each of these glories. Beautifully illustrated with colour photographs throughout, this joyous exploration of our social history shows the station's role in the national imagination; champions the engineers, architects and rival companies that made them possible; and tells the story behind the triumphs and follies of these very British creations. These are the marvellous, often undersung places that link our nation, celebrated like never before.

In the preface the authors describe their approach, 'In examining the social history of railway stations we were concerned to treat them not as inanimate objects, but as living, breathing places which, better than any other building type of the last 150 years, reflected the societies around them, public buildings which people used in all sorts of ways and whose significance they instantly recognized when depicted in the theatre, the cinema, paintings, photographs, poetry, novels, and travel works. For this reason we have chosen to allow other voices to tell part of the story, to illustrate through quotation the central, but often differing, role of the station in so many societies and so many lives.'They succeed triumphantly in this aim. After the introduction aptly called 'The Mystique of the Railway Station' there are fifteen absorbing chapters covering: The Station in Architecture (three chapters); The Station and Society; The Station in Politics; Class, Race, and Sex; Some Station Types; The Station in the Economy (two chapters); The Station as Place of Work; The Station in Wartime (two chapters); The Usual Offices; The Station in Painting and Poetry, Postcard and Poster; and The Station in Literature and Film. The scope is comprehensive, the achievement magnificent.'written with great enthusiasm . . . packed with rich detail. This is real social history.' Asa Briggs'full of good quotations, and (the authors) write with the infectious enthusiasm of addicts, captivated by the romance of railways' Times Literary Supplement'remarkable . . . the railway station in all its aspects' A. N. Wilson.

Built as part of the massive expansion of Great Britain's railway network during the nineteenth century, London's thirteen mainline railway stations are proud symbols of the nation's industrial and architectural heritage. Produced in association with The National Archives, and profusely illustrated with period photographs and diagrams, London Railway Stations tells the story of these iconic stations and of the people who created them and used them. Though built in an age of steam, smoke, gas lamps and horses, most retain features of their original design. This book will bring new light to these old buildings, and help you to see London's mainline stations through new eyes. Lavishly illustrated with black & white and some colour photographs.

This delightful and wide-ranging compendium' (Books and Bookmen) captures the mystique of railway stations by crossing the disciplines of history, literature, art, and architecture in a sweeping global survey unique in its scope.

An illustrated historical tour of London's 13 great railway termini, on a clockwise circuit from Paddington to Victoria. This beautifully illustrated book is a short history and guide to London's principal mainline railway stations, from the first to be opened (London Bridge, 1836) to the last of the Victorian termini (Marylebone, 1899). It follows the roller coaster fortunes of the stations in the twentieth century, which included the demolition of Euston and its great arch in the 1960s, the skilful renovation and reconstruction of Liverpool Street in the late 1980s, and the survival and restoration of St Pancras and its famous neo-gothic hotel. It also covers the recent and upcoming developments of the twenty-first century, including rebuilding work (London Bridge, completed in 2018), renovation/restoration projects (St Pancras, 2007) new works commencing for the HS2 terminal at Euston, and a major new interchange at Old Oak Common in west London due to open in 2022.

Ken Hoole was a noted authority on the railways of the north east of England. Ths, his wide-ranging account of the stations that served the passengers of the north-east's railway, is complemented by illustrations and photographs of both the bustling city stations and long closed country stops. The author has also provided a gazetteer listing all the stations of the NER, their opening and closing dates, and their attentant equipment. Appendices list wartime temporary closures and the later station openings of the LNER and BR.