The ten-hour journey from the North East coast to almost the westernmost tip of England features ever-changing scenery with endless interest to railway enthusiast and casual traveller alike. From the Tyne bridges past Durham Cathedral and York Minster, through industrial South Yorkshire, past Chesterfield’s twisted spire to the railway mecca of Derby and into Birmingham; subterranean New Street with its electric trains is then left behind as the journey takes you to Brunel’s Bristol and over the Devon banks to Plymouth before heading across the Tamar and into rural Cornwall. On a journey such as this, the notes in a trainspotter’s pad would fill two or three pages. This book relives those days.

In a delightfully nostalgic trip across and the country and down memory lane, Colin Alexander offers up a wonderful array of photos and memories celebrating the diversity of our railways during the 1980s and the long-gone variety of locomotives and scenery.