Steel Wheels: The Evolution of the Railways and How They [...]
This book is about the evolution of railways and about the engineers and architects who made them possible. It is filled with stories about wonderful machines and the world's great railway systems. A large part of the book details the way the growth of the railways inspired artists, writers and classical and folk music. Andy Garnett writes: 'I've sat in trains looking out of the window, I've waited for them, looked down at them from bridges, looked up at them from the bottom of embankments, read about them, been thrilled by them and admired them. I have even enjoyed watching the noise and sight of the wheels of the bogie of a 70-ton mineral hopper wagon crossing an uneven switch or rail joint with the springs reacting to the sideways lurch of the heavy load; and when there is hopper after hopper of a long slow train, the rhythm and monotony has much of the same pleasure of watching an English three-day cricket match or a Japanese Noh theatre performance. I write in a room with paintings and photographs of ecomotives and trains on three of the four walls: a large oil-painting of a New York Central express heading north on the tracks beside the Hudson, a coloured print of an 1860s engine and tender decorated with fantastical coloured patterns for a visit by the Khedive of Egypt, and a large 1840 coloured drawing from a design office, probably Scottish, of a locomotive named Edward Findlay with a wood frame and brass dome and safety valve. There's an LNER poster of a blue streamlined engine heading an express train across the Forth bridge, a Winston Link photograph of a Norfolk & Western articulated giant on the Roanoke turntable, a Dubout exhibition poster of an overwhelmingly large dark locomotive with the beams of its front lights catching an elderly couple walking along the track in a loving embrace. Finally, and in front of my table, is a framed fourpage spread from Trains magazine of a 552-ton Un on Pacific Big Boy locomotive, the biggest of them all, fairly batting along up a Wyoming hill. I'm drawn to it, to the world of the railway; it always has and always will compel my interest.' Andy Garnett's passionately enthusiastic and informed account of his perceptions and pleasures will enthral railway buffs and armchair travellers everywhere.
A F (Andy) Garnett is a retired engineer who has travelled the world on many of the great railroads. He lives in Bruton, Somerset and is married to the writer Polly Devlin.
Author: A.F. Garnett
Format: Hardback, 288 pages, 156mm x 234mm
Published: 2005, Cannwood Press, United Kingdom
Genre: Inventions & Technology: General Interest
This book is about the evolution of railways and about the engineers and architects who made them possible. It is filled with stories about wonderful machines and the world's great railway systems. A large part of the book details the way the growth of the railways inspired artists, writers and classical and folk music. Andy Garnett writes: 'I've sat in trains looking out of the window, I've waited for them, looked down at them from bridges, looked up at them from the bottom of embankments, read about them, been thrilled by them and admired them. I have even enjoyed watching the noise and sight of the wheels of the bogie of a 70-ton mineral hopper wagon crossing an uneven switch or rail joint with the springs reacting to the sideways lurch of the heavy load; and when there is hopper after hopper of a long slow train, the rhythm and monotony has much of the same pleasure of watching an English three-day cricket match or a Japanese Noh theatre performance. I write in a room with paintings and photographs of ecomotives and trains on three of the four walls: a large oil-painting of a New York Central express heading north on the tracks beside the Hudson, a coloured print of an 1860s engine and tender decorated with fantastical coloured patterns for a visit by the Khedive of Egypt, and a large 1840 coloured drawing from a design office, probably Scottish, of a locomotive named Edward Findlay with a wood frame and brass dome and safety valve. There's an LNER poster of a blue streamlined engine heading an express train across the Forth bridge, a Winston Link photograph of a Norfolk & Western articulated giant on the Roanoke turntable, a Dubout exhibition poster of an overwhelmingly large dark locomotive with the beams of its front lights catching an elderly couple walking along the track in a loving embrace. Finally, and in front of my table, is a framed fourpage spread from Trains magazine of a 552-ton Un on Pacific Big Boy locomotive, the biggest of them all, fairly batting along up a Wyoming hill. I'm drawn to it, to the world of the railway; it always has and always will compel my interest.' Andy Garnett's passionately enthusiastic and informed account of his perceptions and pleasures will enthral railway buffs and armchair travellers everywhere.
A F (Andy) Garnett is a retired engineer who has travelled the world on many of the great railroads. He lives in Bruton, Somerset and is married to the writer Polly Devlin.