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by Michael Quick544 pages including 134 sketch maps and 7 route diagrams Hardback ISBN 978-0-901461-57-5 h=250mm, w=175mm PRICE £49.50All prices quoted include postage in the UK – overseas please add 15% Over thirty years ago, Michael Quick amused himself by drawing maps showing the changing aspects of Britain’s railway network over time. Discovery of many gaps and anomalies in recording station names led him into the task of recording the names, name changes, opening dates and (if closed) closing dates of every railway passenger station in England, Wales and Scotland. In the process, he uncovered what he refers to as ‘vast gaps in the provision of even remotely accurate information about opening dates’. Quick’s compilation was first published in 1995, though, in his own view, it was still in many ways premature. But publication had the great value of bringing him into contact with many others with an interest in this aspect of railway and local history and who shared his concern with accuracy. Indeed, he says ‘the book as it stands should really be seen as the co-operative effort of many people’. The 2009 edition of ‘Quick’, incorporating a vast amount of further research, is unrivalled as a reference and information source on its subject. This is due to two aspects – its completeness and its extremely high level of accuracy. Original and contemporary information sources have been used as much as possible; and where secondary sources have been used, they are noted and have been checked for general authority and accuracy. No other chronological directory approaches this depth of research and range of detail. Conceived very much as a research tool, its huge range of quoted sources gives invaluable pointers to further research. The book takes full account of what Quick calls the ‘evolutionary nature of railway history’ and the consequent vagaries and variations of station naming. Finally, apart from the basic facts, it offers much information on unusual and unorthodox uses of stations, and about special occasions at particular stations. Consequently it is both an authoritative reference book and a mine of serendipitous information. Where else in modern print would one discover that special stations were provided in 1849 at Redstone Hill when Prince Albert came there to lay the foundation stone of a Reformatory Chapel, and in 1858 at Werrington Junction to provide the best view of an eclipse of the sun? This new edition of ‘Quick’s Directory’ should take its place among the handful of basic and essential reference works on British railways. "A very big plus is the availability . . . of a country-wide list of opening dates … this is a book which can be thoroughly recommended to all interested in the history of railway passenger stations" — Transport Ticket Society Journal, on the 2002 edition. To buy please download and print our BOOK ORDER FORM (pdf) and return by post Return to our LIST OF BOOKS SupplementsTHREE SUPPLEMENTS to this volume are now available free of charge as a downloadable pdf file. The page size and layout are the same as the printed volume. If the pdf pages are printed out at 100% onto A4 paper, pages the same size as in the volume can be cut out if desired by following the outline provided. DOWNLOAD SUPPLEMENT no.1 — January 2011 DOWNLOAD SUPPLEMENT no.2 — February 2012 DOWNLOAD SUPPLEMENT no.3 — February 2013  |