The Last Years of the Big Four
The Big Four Railways, the Great Western, London, Midland & Scottish, London & North Eastern and Southern were created in 1923 as a political response to the critical conditions facing Britain's railways at the end of World War One. Twenty-five years later they would be changed again, this time with nationalisation, following yet another period of world conflict. By the end of the 1930s, the companies had reached the pinnacle of main line services, and Britain's railways were leading the world. The heights to which they might have developed, had it not been for World War Two, is open to conjecture; but as the world steam speed record set by Mallard in 1938 and the LMS's development of Britain's most powerful express engine class both show, the potential for even greater things was there.
This book charts the progress of the mainline companies through their last decade, during which time 6 years were expended in total warfare. The railways became the life-blood of the nation, but were overworked, under funded and completely abused. From the build-up to war and rearmament (which included funding for the railways), through the embarkation of the British Expeditionary Force in September 1939, Dunkirk, the Blitz, and Operation Torch, then to D-Day and into peace, this book tells the story of a national transport system which gave its all. Emerging from this period of conflict, the Big Four were defeated in peace and became nationalised at the end of 1947. The account is related by two noted railway historians, Professor Alan Earnshaw (who has, amongst many other works written three books on Britain's Railways At War) and the author of 30 books on railway history, David Jenkinson, who is one of the country's leading experts on locomotives and rolling stock.
Hardback with dust jacket, 208 pages, black & white and colour photographs
Condition: Very Good
ISBN: 9780906899793
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