Britain's Weirdest Railways
Weird in this case turns out to be a synonym for odd, strange, eccentric, unusual and distinctive. Robin Jones has cast his net wide, from Brunel's ill-fated broad gauge to James May's recent attempt to create the world's longest model railway in Devon.
Brunel also features in the story of his Atmospheric Railway, an idea ahead of its time which foundered because the technology was not good enough. The tour of the country also takes in the Brill tramway, Brighton's Volk's Electric Railway, potato railways in Lincolnshire, the Liverpool Overhead Railway and the narrow gauge Seaton Tramway.
Weird can, perhaps to applied to the double-sided engines of the Listowel and Ballybunion Railway in Ireland matched, perhaps, by the push-me-pull-you double Fairlies of the Festiniog Railway in Wales.
Curiously, there are, it seems, no strange railways in Scotland - perhaps the Scots are too practical! There's plenty of entertainment in the pages of this book which is copiously illustrated and represents excellent value.
Click on the cover image for a little Irish weirdness.
Mortons Media Group, 2009, 130 pages. Softback.