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Bradshaw on Brunel’s Railways - The Minor Lines (Signed copy)

In addition to his high-profile railway lines, Isambard Kingdom Brunel was engineer to a number of minor and branch lines including those from Slough to Windsor, Didcot to Oxford and from there via the Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Railway - the OWW which was generally known as the 'Old Worse & Worse' - across to Moreton, Evesham, Pershore and up through Worcester to Wolverhampton, the Gloucester to Cheltenham line, as well as the railways to Ross and Hereford, plus additional lines in Wiltshire, Somerset and South Wales.

What's inside this guide 'Bradshaw on Brunel’s Railways - The Minor Lines'

'Seldom has the gigantic intellect of man been employed upon a work of greater utility.' Punch, in praise of Bradshaw's guide which was published in 1863, very shortly after these lines had been completed

It gives the reader a unique insight into the world of the Victorian railways and goes beyond the engineering aspects to record the sights to be seen in the towns and cities encountered along the way.

Brunel expert John Christopher presents Bradshaw's original text accompanied by contemporary images and many new colour photographs of the same journey today.

This is the third volume in this Bradshaw’s Guides series. Also available here are 'Bradshaw on Brunel’s Railways - Paddington to Penzance' and 'Bradshaw on Brunel’s Railways - Swindon to South Wales'.

'Bradshaw's Guide: Brunel’s Railways - The Minor Lines' in detail

Author: John Christopher (signed)
Publisher: Amberley Publishing 2014
ISBN: 9781445621784
Format: Softback, 96 pages
Size: 234 x 165 mm
Condition: New

Part of the Droids Books Collection

Bradshaw on Brunel’s Railways - Paddington to Penzance (Signed copy)

Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Bradshaw were close contemporaries. One became Britain's most celebrated engineer, driving his iron rails across the country from London to the tip of Cornwall, while the other brought the experience of rail travel to the masses through his timetables and guide books.

What's inside this guide 'Bradshaw on Brunel’s Railways - Paddington to Penzance'

Although the Great Western Railway (GWR) had opened in 1840, the through journey to Penzance had only become possible with the completion of the Royal Albert Bridge over the Tamar at Saltash in 1859, the year of Brunel's death.

Bradshaw's guide was published very shortly after the line opened and it gives the reader a unique insight into the new world of the Victorian railways and goes beyond the engineering aspects of the line to record the sights to be seen in the towns and cities encountered along the route.

Brunel expert John Christopher presents Bradshaw's original account as a continuous journey from Paddington to Penzance. The text is accompanied by contemporary images as well as many new colour photographs of the same journey today.

This is the first volume in this Bradshaw’s Guides series. Also available here 'Bradshaw on Brunel’s Railways - Swindon to South Wales' and 'Bradshaw on Brunel’s Railways - The Minor Lines'.

'Bradshaw's Guide: Brunel’s Railways - Paddington to Penzance' in detail

Author: John Christopher (signed)
Publisher: Amberley Publishing 2013
ISBN: 9781445621593
Format: Softback, 96 pages
Size: 234 x 165 mm
Condition: New

Part of the Droids Books Collection

Bradshaw on Brunel’s Railways - Swindon to South Wales (Signed copy)

Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Bradshaw were close contemporaries. One became Britain's most celebrated engineer, driving his iron rails across the country, while the other brought the experience of rail travel to the masses through his timetables and guide books.

What's inside this Bradshaw Guide 'Brunel’s Railways - Swindon to South Wales'

Although the Great Western Railway (GWR) mainline from London to Bristol had opened in 1840, the through journey across southern Wales to Neyland in Pembrokeshire - where Brunel planned to connect with his transatlantic steamships - only become possible after the opening of the Chepstow Bridge over the Wye and the completion of the line just a few years before Brunel's death.

Bradshaw's Guides were invaluable in their time and they provide the modern-day reader with a fascinating insight into the nineteenth century rail traveller's experience.

Brought to the public’s attention by Michael Portillo’s TV programmes, Bradshaw's guides provide a unique insight into the new world of the Victorian railways and goes beyond the engineering aspects of the line to record the sights in the towns and cities encountered along the route.

Acknowledged Brunel expert John Christopher presents Bradshaw's original account as a journey from Swindon up to Gloucester and across South Wales. Branch lines to Cheltenham, Ross, Hereford, Neath and Merthyr are included. The text is annotated and accompanied by contemporary images as well as many new colour photographs of the same journey today.

This is the second volume in this series. Also available here is 'Bradshaw on Brunel’s Railways - Paddington to Penzance' and 'Bradshaw on Brunel’s Railways - The Minor Lines'.

'Brunel’s Railways - Swindon to South Wales' in detail

Author: John Christopher (signed)
Publisher: Amberley Publishing 2014
ISBN: 9781445621777
Format: Softback, 96 pages
Size: 234 x 165 mm
Condition: New

Part of the Droids Books Collection

The Bradshaw’s Guide 7: The Railways of Wales - Signed copy

The popular Bradshaw’s Guide of 1863 offers a unique insight into the world of the nineteenth-century railway traveller. Built primarily to serve industry and the mail packets to Ireland, the railways of Wales would go on to open up the Principality to tourism for the first time. They also brought communities closer together and many journeys that once took days to complete could now be undertaken in hours. 

What's inside this Bradshaw Guide 'The Railways of Wales'

This illustrated guide records the sights to be seen in the towns and cities encountered along the various routes. John Christopher and Campbell McCutcheon take us on Brunel’s broad gauge lines in South Wales, before joining the central and northern railways, using contemporary Victorian and Edwardian photographs and postcards to illustrate the scenes that readers of Bradshaw’s Guide would have experienced.

This volume covers the South Wales Railway, the GWR, the Cambrian lines and the Chester & Holyhead Railway as well as many branch lines.

'Bradshaw’s Guide 7: The Railways of Wales' in detail

Authors: John Christopher (signed) and Campbell McCutcheon
Publisher: Amberley Publishing 2015
ISBN: 9781445638515
Format: Softback, 96 pages
Size: 234 x 165 mm
Condition: New

Part of the Droids Books Collection

The Lost Works of Isambard Kingdom Brunel - Signed copy

IKB is rightly famous for the great engineering wonders that have survived - from the SS Great Britain to the delights of Paddington and Temple Meads stations - but it may be surprising to learn that much of what he designed has been destroyed or lost.

What to expect from the 'The Lost Works of Isambard Kingdom Brunel'

From the ships, the Great Western and Great Eastern, to the majestic water towers of Crystal Palace, the Hungerford Bridge over the Thames to the South Devon atmospheric railway, many of Brunel's achievements have been lost to rebuilding, fire, neglect and scrapping.

John Christopher, acknowledged Brunel expert and the author takes us on a tour of the lost works of Brunel. By tracing what remains or by telling the story of the treasures lost to us, he demonstrates just why Brunel can truly be crowned as Britain's most famous engineer.

'Land Rover Series I, II, III & Defender' in detail

Author: John Christopher (signed)
Publisher: Amberley Publishing 2011
ISBN: 9781445600901
Format: Softback, 128 pages
Size: 235 x 165 mm
Condition: New

Part of the Droids Books Collection

Isambard Kingdom Brunel Through Time - Signed

IKB was Britain's greatest engineer. He was the man who built everything on a huge scale including Britain's biggest ship, some spectacular bridges, a tunnel under the Thames and the magnificent Great Western Railway from London to Bristol.

What's inside 'Isambard Kingdom Brunel Through Time'

Brunel left an unsurpassed legacy of industrial architecture and design, from the vaulted roof of Paddington station to the iron-hulled SS Great Britain, from the Clifton Suspension Bridge to the Tamar Bridge (which bears his name on its approaches).

His life was one of superlatives; bigger, wider, taller and faster. As the historian Dan Cruikshank put it, Brunel was quite simply 'a one-man Industrial Revolution'.

Here, John Christopher tells the story of the man and his tunnels, bridges, railways, ships and buildings, with many new illustrations accompanying the old, showing the changes time has made to Brunel's greatest legacy - the things he designed and built that we still take for granted and use every day, over a century and a half since his death.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel Through Time - the details

Author: John Christopher (signed)
Publisher: Amberley Publishing 2010
ISBN: 9781848689633
Format: Softback 96 pages
Size: 235 x 165 mm
Condition: New

Part of the Droids Books Collection

Brunel in London - Signed

Brunel and London might not seem an obvious association, but John Christopher puts the case that it was London, not Bristol, that was the most important centre of Brunel's activities.

Making the case for Brunel in London

It was here that he lived, worked and died. London is dotted with examples of his works, some obvious and some less so, from the subaquatic Thames Tunnel between Wapping to Rotherhithe where he cut his engineering teeth and was almost killed in a sudden deluge, to the Hungerford suspension bridge between Charing Cross and the South Bank - mostly forgotten but parts of it still exist - the two stations at Paddington serving the Great Western Railway main line running to the west and, of course, his final steamship, the vast Great Eastern built at Millwall, which marked the end of his career and his life.

Less familiar are Brunel's connections with the Crystal Palace, designed by Joseph Paxton for the Great Exhibition of 1851, and the two towers he built when it was relocated to Sydenham in south London.

John Christopher, an acknowledged expert on Brunel, takes us on a tour of London, examining the relationship between city and engineer.

This is one in a series of books about rediscovering Brunel’s works in your area. See also Brunel in Gloucestershire, Brunel in Cornwall, and Brunel in Bristol.

Brunel in London - the details

Author: John Christopher (signed)
Publisher: Amberley Publishing 2014
ISBN: 9781445618555
Format: Softback 96 pages
Size: 235 x 165 mm
Condition: New

Part of the Droids Books Collection

Brunel in Cornwall - Signed

John Christopher, an acknowledged expert on Isambard Kingdom Brunel, takes us on a tour of Cornwall which marks the extreme south-western extent of Brunel’s kingdom.

What to expect from 'Brunel in Cornwall'

Cornwall is surprisingly rich in Brunel's works. The Royal Albert Bridge, which crosses the River Tamar, connected the broad gauge network with the Cornwall and West Cornwall railways – both engineered by Brunel – to take the trains coming from Paddington all the way to Penzance via a series of over sixty spectacular timber viaducts.

The original viaducts have gone now, either modified or replaced over the years, but in many cases the masonry piers remain like rows of monolithic sentinels. As a result there is much to reward the Brunel hunter, including the branch line south to Falmouth plus many surviving examples of his railway stations. There are other connections, literally.

His Great Eastern steamship was the first vessel to successfully lay a telegraphic cable to connect Europe and the USA – a story told at the historic Porthcurno Telegraph Museum near Land’s End.

This is one in a series of books about rediscovering Brunel’s works in your area. See also Brunel in London, Brunel in Gloucestershire, and Brunel in Bristol.

Brunel in Cornwall - the details

Author: John Christopher (signed)
Publisher: Amberley Publishing 2014
ISBN: 9781445618593
Format: Softback 96 pages
Size: 235 x 165 mm
Condition: New

Part of the Droids Books Collection