The Trains Now Departed
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  • Published: 15 July 2016
  • ISBN: 9780099590583
  • Imprint: Arrow
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $24.99
Categories:

The Trains Now Departed

Sixteen Excursions into the Lost Delights of Britain's Railways

Formats & editions
Audiobook
7 May 2015
Paperback
15 Jul 2016
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A richly observed and researched personal history of the bygone age of Britain's railways.

SOMETIMES you come across a lofty railway viaduct, marooned in the middle of a remote country landscape. Or a crumbling platform from some once-bustling junction buried under the buddleia. If you are lucky you might be able to follow some rusting tracks, or explore an old tunnel leading to…well, who knows where? Listen hard. Is that the wind in the undergrowth? Or the spectre of a train from a golden era of the past panting up the embankment?

These are the ghosts of The Trains Now Departed. They are the railway lines, and services that ran on them that have disappeared and gone forever. Our lost legacy includes lines prematurely axed, often with a gripping and colourful tale of their own, as well as marvels of locomotive engineering sent to the scrapyard, and grand termini felled by the wrecker's ball. Then there are the lost delights of train travel, such as haute cuisine in the dining car, the grand expresses with their evocative names, and continental boat trains to romantic far-off places.

The Trains Now Departed tells the stories of some of the most fascinating lost trains of Britain, vividly evoking the glories of a bygone age. In his personal odyssey around Britain Michael Williams tells the tales of the pioneers who built the tracks, the yarns of the men and women who operated them and the colourful trains that ran on them. It is a journey into the soul of our railways, summoning up a magic which, although mired in time, is fortunately not lost for ever.

THIS EDITION REVISED AND UPDATED TO INCLUDE MAPS.
  • Published: 15 July 2016
  • ISBN: 9780099590583
  • Imprint: Arrow
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $24.99
Categories:

About the author

Michael Williams

Michael Williams is a writer of plays, musicals, operas and novels and the Managing Director of Cape Town Opera in South Africa. He has written operas for young people based on African mythology, as well as the libretti for symphonic operas that have premiered around the world.

portrait photo of Michael Williams

Also by Michael Williams

Diamond Boy
Steaming to Victory
On the Slow Train Again
On The Slow Train
See all

Praise for The Trains Now Departed

This is a wistful and sepulchral affair yet … The Trains Now Departed is more than just a lamentation for the days of steam and soot.

Times Literary Supplement

Revel in what we've lost and wonder how on earth we ever had it. It's a perfect book for a leisurely, long rail journey. If the scenery leaves you uninspired, then read a chapter, refresh your mind, and gaze once more from your window.

Philip Haigh, Rail Magazine

A nostalgic thrill for anyone with the least longing for the lost age of steam.

Press Association

Williams is to railway writing what his namesake Portillo is to railway television

Rail Magazine

In elegant prose Michael Williams takes us on nostalgic journeys, reminding us - with smuts and smells - of what we have lost.

Michael Portillo

Chock full with enjoyment – will capture and transport

Bookbag

An excellent read, and amongst the most enjoyable and entertaining railway books of the year...Underlying Williams's prose is a sense of joy...and real knowledge of his subject.

Andrew Roden, Steam World 'Book of the Month'

Even if you are not particularly interested in railways, you will find much to enjoy in this book. Williams writes well and engages you in his passion

Toby Neal, Shropshire Star

A wonderfully evocative read

Andy Peebles, BBC Radio 1 DJ

From charming rural branch lines to the glamourous Night Ferry, the accounts in Williams’ new book are sure to give a nostalgic thrill to anyone with the least longing for the lost age of steam. Anecdotes detail eccentric lines where crews would stop services to pick mushrooms, then fry them on the firebox; luxurious carriages are lovingly detailed, producing a pang in anyone familiar with drab modern services.

Aberdeen Press & Journal

Williams explores old routes and services with an historian's eye for detail and a novelist's sense of pace. Who can now imagine having kippers on a commuter train or know that the 'Slow and Dirty' was the nickname for the old Somerset and Dorset line? Well written, with a wealth of detail for the railway buff.

The Tablet

"Dreamlike" is the word for many of Williams’s skilful evocations

Andrew Martin, Spectator

The fascinating stories are very readable, peppered with anecdotes and obscure facts… Once started, it was difficult to put it down until the whole chapter had been read.

Russ Rollings, National Railway Museum Review
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