BRITAIN’S RAILWAYS IN WARTIME

BY ANTHONY LAMBERT • HISTORIC ENGLAND

Concise and informative volume covering a dense subject.

On the expensive side.

PRICE: £25 RATING:

Britain’s railways played a pivotal role in both the First and Second World Wars, whether it was moving troops, ammunition and supplies to the docks, or transporting vulnerable children from cities to the countryside to escape the worst of the Luftwaffe’s fearsome bombing campaign.

Naturally, the railways helped in many other areas too, and details of these operations, as well as what effect both conflicts had on the railways and the people that worked on them, are all recorded in this volume. As such, this is a detailed and lively account of how our railways made a massive contribution to the war effort, and makes for thoroughly engaging reading.

Telling the story of not one but two world wars and the many ways in which railways played a role is a tall order, and to do so in just over 200 pages might leave other books feeling a little on the light side, but here it feels as if nothing has been left out, and no stone unturned.

It is concise yet thorough, so full credit goes to its author Anthony Lambert for making this complex and dense subject engaging and informative.

That said, £25 is a bit steep for what is still a small format book. And yet, if you only buy one book about Britain’s railways in wartime, this is the one to go for.

Recommended. (TB)