The Trains Now Departed
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The Trains Now Departed
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Narrated by:
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Michael Tudor Barnes
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By:
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Michael Williams
About this listen
Sometimes you come across a lofty railway viaduct marooned in the middle of a remote country landscape. Or a crumbling platform from some once-bustling junction buried under the buddleia. If you are lucky you might be able to follow some rusting tracks or explore an old tunnel leading to...well, who knows where?
Listen hard. Is that the wind in the undergrowth? Or the spectre of a train from a golden era of the past panting up the embankment?
These are the ghosts of The Trains Now Departed. They are the railway lines, and services that ran on them that have disappeared and gone forever. Our lost legacy includes lines prematurely axed, often with gripping and colourful tales of their own, as well as marvels of locomotive engineering sent to the scrapyard and grand termini felled by the wrecker's ball.
Then there are the lost delights of train travel, such as haute cuisine in the dining car, the grand expresses with their evocative names, and continental boat trains to romantic, far-off places.
The Trains Now Departed tells the stories of some of the most fascinating lost trains of Britain, vividly evoking the glories of a bygone age. In his personal odyssey around Britain, Michael Williams tells the tales of the pioneers who built the tracks and the yarns of the men and women who operated them and the colourful trains that ran on them. It is a journey into the soul of our railways, summoning up a magic which, although mired in time, is fortunately not lost for ever.
©2015 Michael Williams (P)2015 Isis Publishing Ltd, Random House AudiobooksWhat listeners say about The Trains Now Departed
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Thomas N Wyndham
- 28-06-2021
Full of passion and nostalgia.
I really love this book. The first few chapters in, on pruned railways, and forgotten practices, had me moved me to tears with nostalgia for railways long gone even before I was born. The author paints a wonderful picture of days gone by, where jobs were passed down the generations like family heirlooms, and in the style and romance of express trains, a combination of the finest hotels and restaurants, thundering through the landscape. The reader is perfect for this book as well, coming across like a misty eyed grandfather, telling stories about how things were better back in his day. However, as the chapters approached the teens, I started to notice more and more, complaints about the railways today, and the society that they serve. While I love the author’s love of the past, and agree that not all trains should be about the destination, but for enjoying the journey, I don’t think we can forget that the railway serves a purpose, the purpose is changing with the society they find themselves in, and cannot stay put in the idealised nostalgia we remember them so fondly in. All in all however, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and hope to enjoy more from this author. It was clearly written with passion, and while we may disagree about some things, I certainly agree with his passion.
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