The Making of a Railway, L. T. C. Rolt

L.T.C. Rolt's The Making of a Railway is a classic record of railway and engineering history, and the illustrated edition, now available for the first time in paperback, includes a unique set of photographs of the Great Central Railway, the last railway line to be built. 

The Great Central Railway built its line from Nottingham to London Marylebone between 1894 and 1899.  Throughout those five years, S.W.A. Newton, a Leicester photographer, made use of the wide variety of scenery and character provided by the construction, and later the operation, of the last main line to build up his extraordinary portfolio of photographs. Throughout these pictures, Newton shows exactly how a railway line was constructed (in all its aspects), and the men who built and ran it.  L.T.C. Rolt's description of the background and surrounding circumstances of this milestone in railway history and his commentaries provide the perfect complement to the pictures.