Colin G. Maggs – författare

Do you remember collecting birds’ eggs and cigarette cards? Or the first appearances of wrapped sweets like Mars and Milky Way?The 1930s was a time of great progress, as engines took over from horses, and electric light from gas and oil. In the background, change was everywhere, with the Mallard speed record, the abdication of the King, and the increasing spectre of the impending Second World War. It was a time of home cooking, and day-trip holidays, when families kept chickens and children played with bows and arrows.This delightfully nostalgic book will take you right back to a different age, recalling what life was like for those growing up in the 1930s.

GWR, LMS, LNER and SR: these initials arouse memories of the Cornish Riviera Express, the streamlined Coronation Scot, the streamlined Coronation with its beaver tail, and the Southern Electrics, yet three of these companies only enjoyed a life of 25 years.Colin G. Maggs, one of the country’s leading railway historians, tells the story of how these Big Four companies came into being and their enormous success following the rundown of the railways during the First World War. The remarkable, if surprisingly brief, era of the Big Four saw great changes and achievements, including streamlining, speed records, electrification, diesel power, railway-owned buses and aircraft, and a real sense of cooperation between companies. The Story of the Big Four Railway Companies is a memorable illustrated history of their reign.

Who won in a race between a train and a pigeon?How can you warn bats to leave a railway tunnel?Before the era of the car, which railway company carried the most prisoners?Colin G. Maggs has collected all of these answers – and more! – in Amazing and Curious Railway Tales, a compendium of stories, curiosities and little-known facts about Britain’s railways.

A musthave for any railway enthusiast, who wants to explore the fascinating rail history of Buckinghamshire.