TALES OF THE OLD RAILWAYMEN by Tom Quinn (David & Charles, £12.99)

AN attractive book of reminiscences by 13 steam-age veterans, illustrated with high quality photographs and charming drawings in colour and black and white. But North-East readers will be disappointed that none of the six former LNER railwaymen featured - a shedmaster, a porter, a driver, a signalman, a guard, and a stationmaster - worked in the North-East or Yorkshire.

SIGNAL FAILURE: Politics and Britain's Railways by David Wragg (Sutton, £25)

AN examination of how politics has shaped our railways from their earliest days. It was Parliament's belief in competition, for instance, that allowed the Clarence Railway to open in direct competition to the Stockton & Darlington Railway. Wragg argues there has never been a "golden age" of railways, which have yet to be given proper chance to fulfill their potential. Incidentally he reveals some out-of-the-way history. The earliest known railway accident occurred at Whickham, County Durham, in April 1650 when two boys were killed by a wagon on a wooden tramway. Durham was also the scene of the "first recorded boiler explosion" - at Philadelphia in 1815.

THE TRAIN: An Illustrated History by Jonathan Glancy (Carlton Books, £30)

ONE for the coffee table. A worldwide celebration, chiefly captioned pictures, in 12 chapters covering not only (and obviously) steam, diesel and electric, and architecture, but war and politics, film and "concept trains" - Orient Express et al. The Ribblehead viaduct adorns the jacket and appears twice inside.

FORGET THE ANORAK by Michael G. Harvey (Sutton Publishing, £15.99)

WHEN did "anorak" become a synonym for "trainspotter"? Not in trainspotting's heyday of the 1950s and early 1960s, that's for sure. As Michael Harvey, a young spotter of the period points out, he and his mates barely knew what an anorak was, let alone wore one. His affectionate memoir of those days, spent mostly in the Southern Region, but with forays elsewhere including the North, will be recognised and savoured by anyone who ever stuffed a much-thumbed Ian Allan pocket guide into his jacket (never anorak) pocket.

Published: 22/03/2005