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Crossword. For this issue, we are giving away three copies of Railway Day Trips, courtesy of HarperCollins ( www.harpercollins.co.uk).
“For as long as I can remember, I’ve enjoyed taking railway day trips. As a young child I went nearly everywhere by train and the smells, sounds and sights are still vivid in my mind,” writes author Julian Holland in his introduction.
With passenger numbers at their highest since the 1920s, and as Britain’s “love affair with the car and lorry seems to be on the wane”, he has aimed this book not just at die-hard railway enthusiasts, “but at a much wider audience who are now discovering the joy of leaving the car at home, sitting back, relaxing and watching Britain’s ever-changing landscape unfold instead of hurtling to oblivion, stressed out along our multi-lane highways”.
Railway Day Trips (paperback, 208 pages, retail price £14.99) focuses on 160 classic train journeys around Britain.
The book is separated into geographical sections, including one on day trips from London. Well-populated commuter routes such as Liverpool Street to Cambridge, King’s Cross to Peterborough and Paddington to Oxford therefore sit side-by-side with shorter and less-travelled lines such as Tunbridge Wells to Hever, Norwich to Dereham, and Preston to Colne.
Some of the country’s most picturesque lines - the likes of Skipton to Carlisle, Edinburgh to Berwick-upon-Tweed, Fort William to Mallaig and Penzance to St Ives - naturally feature, but all the routes covered share points of historical significance and interest.
Each individual journey includes a location map and route diagram, a description of the route, information on what you will pass along the way and highlights of what you will find at each destination, and practical tips on how to make the most of your journey.
Send your completed crossword and contact details to: R861 Crossword Competition, RAIL Magazine, Media House, Lynchwood, Peterborough Business Park, Peterborough PE2 6EA.
The first three correct answers