Many will be familiar with this author's long running and best-selling Lost Lines series in which each of the 15 volumes covered specific parts of the country. In this completely new book, he takes an overview of what has been lost from a national perspective. The book spans a period from the first line lost to passengers, part of the Stockton & Darlington Railway in 1836, to the closure of the line from Spalding in March 1982. The journey between those two points encompasses a huge variety of closed lines, including those abandoned by the 'Big Four' post 1923 as well as those lost in the savage cuts of the Beeching era. The book includes details of both the largest and smallest stations which have been closed and intriguing perspectives on what remains of many lines and stations, from the largest structures to tiny relics of past glories. None of the book's 300 photographs have been published before and it includes a treasure trove of maps, tickets and other items of railway ephemera. This is a book which will delight not only railway enthusiasts but will appeal to a much wider cadre of readers who have an interest in the British countryside and in our transport and industrial heritage.
