Book excerpt: 'A lifetime of railway love distilled into a most beautiful volume' Lucy Worsley 'The most attractive, comprehensive and easily digestible history of the oldest railway system in the world' Michael Palin In 1825 the Stockton & Darlington company strode into history with the opening of the world's first public steam railway. What the S&DR had pioneered soon picked up speed, transforming lives and landscapes, connecting far-flung corners of the nation and creating its own distinctive environments and working worlds. This ambitious and lavishly illustrated volume brings the story of Britain's railways to life, spanning two centuries of achievement and change. Full of colour and incident, it is an exhilarating journey through time and space, revisiting favourite themes and introducing unfamiliar stories and places. With original and engaging entries on everything from dining saloons to collecting dogs, wartime salvage efforts and the iconic Rail Alphabet, Simon Bradley gives George Bradshaw's famous 19th century guide a run for its money in this fresh and distinctive chronicle of the making of Britain's railways.