{"product_id":"a-regional-history-of-the-railways-of-great-britain-volume-7-west-midlands-9780946537587","title":"A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain, Volume  7: West Midlands (1991 ed)","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis is the third (1991) revised edition, including coverage of further years of turbulent change in the West Midlands. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt the hub of this complex and fascinating region is, as ever, Birmingham, 'city of a thousand trades'. It is also BR's passenger hub for a large slice of territory and much of Britain's Inter-City network, which now includes Coventry-Leamington Spa, a single-track branch brought back from the cold. Other imaginative projects to win back passengers are the Birmingham Cross-City Line, built at a low cost of some £8m, and Birmingham International, a major new station also developed with the West Midlands PTE. Historically, in Birmingham and the Black Country, the traditional pattern of railway history was reversed: industry came first - railways later. The Industrial Revolution had long been cradled in Coalbrookdale, and Birmingham was well-established as Britain's second city and 'work-shop of the world' before they arrived. Eventually three major companies, the London \u0026amp; North Western, Great Western, and Midland, developed highly-individual and competitive systems and fought classical battles - as at Wolverhampton, where railway history was smeared with blood when a policeman wielded his cutlass to separate rioting navvies. The West Midlands defined in this volume has broader than generally-accepted boundaries, following the West Coast main line from Rugby through Crewe to Weaver Junction and embracing the Derbyshire Peak District and the Potteries. South and West of Birmingham the boundaries in this edition have been extended to incorporate the PTE network.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e Hardback with dust jacket, 320 Pages, black \u0026amp; white photographs, pull out map at rear\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCondition: Very Good\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"David St John Thomas","offers":[{"title":"Secondhand (313)","offer_id":32979524550765,"sku":"9780946537587","price":10.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1910\/7111\/products\/9780946537006.jpg?v=1630582303","url":"https:\/\/rail-books.co.uk\/products\/a-regional-history-of-the-railways-of-great-britain-volume-7-west-midlands-9780946537587","provider":"Rail Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}