{"product_id":"life-on-the-lines-9780861900121","title":"Life on the Lines","description":"\u003cp\u003eFor almost a century and a half, generations of British railwaymen spent their working lives, often struggling against all the odds, to keep the steam-powered arteries of the nation open. Engine cleaners in their teens laboured hard and long, learning and waiting for their time to climb the steps to the footplate. Drivers and firemen worked their great machines, sometimes struggling to achieve mastery over fire and steam. Guards rattled along at the end of loose-coupled goods trains, or dealt with the great British public in all its forms. Signalmen maintained their sentry watch on the system through air-raid, blizzard and fog. Station staff processed the traffic which was the life-blood of the railways. Drawing on conversations with railwaymen of the steam age, and on written accounts of their experiences, the author considers each of these groups in separate chapters, with a description of their duties and examples of their working experiences. In addition, the reasons behind the railwayman's initial decision to work on the railway are explored, and the unique relationship that existed on the footplate between driver and fire-man — sometimes good, sometimes intolerable — are treated as separate themes. Photographs illustrate the working environment of this world apart, and portray something of the character of the railwayman. The robust sense of humour of the railwayman reflected the often hard and sometimes dangerous nature of his job. Heroic moral and physical achievement and routine performance of duty were daily neighbours. Tragedy was never far away, lying in wait for the moment of forgetfulness, or brought about by some failure of equipment or quirk of nature. All these aspects of working life on the railway are considered in this sympathetic study of the railwaymen of Britain's steam age. Many of these men survive into the modern era on a shrunken system with better and safer working conditions. But the environment of the steam railway, with its challenges, hardships and dangers, has in the everyday, large-scale sense, gone for ever. This book celebrates the experiences and achievements of the steam railwaymen. We shall never see their like again.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHardback with dust jacket, 186 pages, black \u0026amp; white illustrations\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCondition: Very Good\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Moorland Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Secondhand (235)","offer_id":40581006688365,"sku":"9780861900121","price":6.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1910\/7111\/products\/9780861900121.jpg?v=1678789966","url":"https:\/\/rail-books.co.uk\/products\/life-on-the-lines-9780861900121","provider":"Rail Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}