A Comprehensive Guide to Railway Request Stops: A Personal Odyssey to visit every one in Britain

Rail By Request is an enthusiast’s personal story and tells how the author visited, photographed, and spent time at every request stop on mainland Britain. It also explains where his love of railways is rooted, why he began this odyssey and how it became a very different and important experience to him. Journeying across the whole railway map to capture these often ignored stops -not just for posterity, but for the journey. The lure of request stops and the practicalities of completing the journey to discover them, is the core of the story. Researching every request stop in Britain and planning how to get there and overcoming any difficulties, became a source of great satisfaction. Every stop is described and has at least one illustration. Some historical context to the stops is included, with current statistics. The story also shows how, he ticked off each stop, but unexpectedly found himself passing the time engaged in a form of railwayana mindfulness -allowing the world to rush past whilst being alive in the moment. It shows a calmer slower world does exist. AUTHOR: Anthony Hart has had a lifelong interest in railways. He is now retired, and although he spent most of his working life as a telephone engineer his first job at age fifteen was as an engine cleaner, and then locomotive fireman at the ex-GWR Reading shed, witnessing its final sad years. He spent seven years living in Western Australia, where his interest in photographing railways began. On returning to England he settled in Swindon the home of the GWR.
200 colour illustrations