Just the briefest of blog posts, because frankly its title speaks for itself. To elaborate slightly, though: Andy Guy and Jim Rees' Early Railways 1569-1830 has won the Railway & Canal Historical Society's coveted new Popular Transport Book of the Year Award! This is a fantastic and well-deserved accolade for a truly fascinating book that covers a little-known aspect of railway history.
The Society had this to say:
'It is a first class piece of work in the best Shire tradition – well-illustrated and attractively designed. Like so many Shire booklets it is an excellent summary of a complicated subject and an ideal first reference for anyone seeking an authoritative brief introduction to why and where railways started and how they developed until the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830. It takes full account of the remarkable development in the historiography of early railways through our own Society’s Tramroads group and the recent Early Railways Conferences.'
We were particularly thrilled at the win because the field was so strong, the main competition coming from a 400-page hardcover.
So congratulations Andy Guy and Jim Rees and, without blowing our own trombone, us as well!
Buy the book here