Maggs’s Railway Curiosities

How do smooth wheels grip smooth rails? Why don’t locomotive boilers explode? What is a slip coach? What are the wrong kind of leaves on the track? At which station could you buy your ticket from a booth in a tree? Why are railway tracks laid on small stones? How can a railway wagon be moved when no locomotive is available? Why was it it so difficult to purchase a railway ticket at Crewe? Colin Maggs, Britain’s leading railway historian and author of over one hundred books on the subject, has assembled a truly fascinating collection of quirky facts, unbelievable stories and staggering statistics about Britain’s glorious railways from their earliest origins to the present day.