'so good it almost transcends criticism' Journal of the Railway & Canal Historical Society '[probably] the most important book on railways in Britain ever published' Railway Modeller 'invaluable ...the kind of book any enthusiast should have always at his side for constant reference and enjoyable dipping into' The Times 'a classic work of reference and a book as rich and wide and various as its subject' Daily Telegraph Of all the products of the industrial revolution, none left its mark on the landscape of Britain, or changed the lives of the the British people more than the railway. The acclaimed Oxford Companion to British Railway History, now available in paperback, provides the whole picture as never before, in a remarkable blend of the familiar and the unexpected, ranging over the economic, social, cultural, political, and technical history of the railway from its 17th-century beginnings to the 1990s. In over 600 A-Z entries, fully cross-referenced and supported by bibliographies, maps, diagrams, tables, and illustrations, 88 distinguished contributors provide an illuminating and authoritative survey. At the back are maps of the railway network in 1922, showing company ownership. Other useful appendices include a listing of historical money values from 1825 to 1995, and the 1923 Grouping of Consitutent and Subsidiary Companies as listed in the First Schedule of the Railways Act, 1921.