Description
A remarkable story presented in an unusually enterprising manner by well-known authors whose works are now expected to top the railway lists, LMS 150 will give many hours of happy reading, has colour photographs, paintings and many other illustrations including maps – and substantial reference value. It explores the many ramifications of what was the world’s largest commercial organisation.
Just as the LMS celebrated its centenary, so this brand new book uses the 150th anniversary of the opening of the world’s first great trunk railway, the London & Birmingham, as its starting point and very much more.
Brought into being by the 1923 Amalgamation, the LMS suffered from its sheer size and the enmity between the previous rival managements and styles. Yet despite the problems (examined in depth), the railway built some of the world’s finest locomotives and its passenger coaches set new standards, while there was romance even in the everyday business of carrying prodigious quantities of coal and serving isolated hilltop communities. The masterful introduction sets the scene, explaining the breathtaking size and complexity of it all. Later chapters include rich material by a team of experts who knew and in some cases actually worked on the LMS. The challenge of depression, strike and especially World War II, and the LMS into BR’s London Midland and separate Scottish Regions are discussed in fascinating detail. Throughout, the main text is supplemented by scores of shorter items, many of them veritably carrying the smells and sounds of the LMS.
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