Facebook X YouTube Instagram Pinterest NetGalley
Google Books previews are unavailable because you have chosen to turn off third party cookies for enhanced content. Visit our cookies page to review your cookie settings.

The Race to the North (ePub)

Rivalry and Record-Breaking in the Golden Age of Steam

Transport > Trains & Railways

By David Wragg
Imprint: Wharncliffe Transport
File Size: 5.7 MB (.epub)
Pages: 182
ISBN: 9781473822368
Published: 21st January 2013

in_stock

£4.99 Print price £19.99

You save £15.00 (75%)

Click here for help on how to download our eBooks

You'll be £4.99 closer to your next £10.00 credit when you purchase The Race to the North. What's this?
Need a currency converter? Check XE.com for live rates

Other formats available - Buy the Hardback and get the eBook for free! Price
The Race to the North Hardback Add to Basket £13.99


In the late nineteenth century, some of Britain’s leading main-line railway companies threw caution to the winds in an attempt to provide the fastest passenger express services between London and Scotland. These became known as the ‘races to the north’. There were two phases, in 1888 and 1895, and they spurred the building of new bridges across the Firth of Forth and Firth of Tay.

David Wragg’s gripping, detailed narrative tells the story of this epic engineering and commercial competition. He concentrates on the determination of the railway companies to see who could provide the fastest schedule between London and the main Scottish cities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth, Dundee and Aberdeen.

Casting aside their early policy of co-existence on these prestigious and lucrative routes, the West Coast and East Coast companies were drawn into a period of intense, highly publicized rivalry as they sought to dominate the market. David Wragg gives an insight into the conduct of the well-publicized highs and tragic lows of this dramatic story – the extension of the lines to the far north, the building of the Tay and Forth bridges – including the collapse of the first Tay bridge with 72 fatalities – and the repeated bids by the companies to cut the journey times.

While he describes the public side of this fascinating story, David Wragg fills in the background, which is no less interesting – the pioneering engineering of the steam age, the massive construction projects, the cut-throat battle for passengers and freight and the deep inter-company rivalries that drove the rapid development of the railways during the Victorian period.

There are no reviews for this book. Register or Login now and you can be the first to post a review!

About David Wragg

David Wragg is a prolific military historian who specialises in naval aviation subjects. He has been published widely in the UK and USA and in four languages.
He has numerous books in print with Pen and Sword and is the author of over thirty maritime, aviation and transport works.

More titles by David Wragg

Other titles in Wharncliffe Transport...