The rise and fall of the state-owned British Rail, from "the greatest expert on British trains" Christian Wolmar
You think you know British Rail.
Stale sandwiches, inefficiency, and violent yellow carriages- we haven't looked kindly on the last of our state-owned organizations to be privatized.
But through its 50-year lifetime, British Rail transformed our transport system, and for a time provided one of the fastest regular rail services in the world.
Born into postwar austerity, impoverished, and exploited by a hostile press, British Rail became a punchline, dismissed and swept away by Conservative government.
Now, Christian Wolmar provides a new perspective on public loss in a time of privatization. British Rail is ripe for a new history.
