Allen Jackson explores signalling along the LB&SCR and Isle of Wight Railway routes.

DAD’S BEST MEMORIES AND RECOLLECTIONS is Chazzz Humber’s epithaph casting a very long and sentimental shadow across North America and beyond. This 230-page volume is his granite monument, well-polished! It lavishly records 125 of his best memories over a life-span of nearly eighty years. The vignettes are serenaded with more than 400 illustrations. Those discovering this volume likely will find themselves wanting to record, in their own sunset years, their personal memories and recollections. And when they do, they are apt to recall what it was like to live in their fluctuating world dominated by a variety of personalities and cascading events. Mr. Humber vividly describes what it was like, in 1945, to travel in a 1930 Model A Ford from Toronto to Boston. With lively enthusiasm, he reports what it was like to live in post-World War II Boston, to cook a lobster for a former President of the United States or to sell a pair of elevator shoes to one of Hollywood’s shortest celebrities or to shine the shoes of a Derby-hatted father of a future President of the United States. It is not a remarkable achievement to reflect, to recall or to have memories that are treasured. But to tell them with literary aplomb, to recall the events that happened nearly seventy-five years ago with utmost clarity is definitely an admirable achievement and should be cherished not only by the kin who follow Mr. Humber but by those who might like to imitate what he has monumentally achieved in Dad’s Best Memories and Recollections.

In 1945 Mike Jacobs visited the Isle of Wight for the first time and was captivated by the railway system, which he innocently believed at the time to be concentrated only at Ryde. Over the years, further visits followed, including trips on the Island line to Ventnor, Bembridge, Newport, and Yarmouth. Already addicted to the charm of the Island system, it was fortunate indeed when in 1954 the family moved to Ventnor, which was to cement his fascination with the railway system. Mike Jacobs' stories of railway life half a century ago and more, seen through the eyes of both a regular passenger and an enthusiast, are unique. Written with wonderful warmth of feeling, the reader is immediately taken back to a long-forgotten time and to a quaint way of life that has now all but disappeared. Fully illustrated with plenty of rare mono illustrations, this volume captures the ever-changing railway scene beautifully.

Capturing the spirit of the Isle of Man's narrow gauge network. Its history as well as today's preserved steam railway.

Stunning previously unpublished images documenting the end of steam in London, the South and South West.

In 2019 it was announced that the Isle of Wight’s iconic 1938 Stock tube trains were to be withdrawn and replaced with a ‘new’ fleet of refurbished ex-London Underground trains, as part of a wider project to upgrade the Island’s ageing railway infrastructure. This book examines in detail the events that followed: the infrastructure works, the withdrawal and disposal of the old trains, and the development and introduction of their replacements – all of it carried out in the midst of a global pandemic. What went wrong, and what went right? What would happen to the 1938 Stock? And would the new trains even fit through Ryde Tunnel…? In writing this book the author has been able to draw upon unique insights provided by some of the key figures involved in the Island Line upgrade, as well as by the current owners of many of the withdrawn 1938 Stock units.

Michael Harvey's book brings to its readers the excitement of trainspotting in the 1950s and '60s, the hobby's heyday. It was the advent of the famous Ian Allan ABC Locospotters books that really gave the hobby its impetus, as they gave trainspotters all the information they required. Forget the Anorak sets out to provide the reader with a personal account of what the hobby entailed - teenagers roaming the railways of Britain, sleeping on deserted platforms on porters' trolleys, 'bunking' dimly lit depots and eluding capture, travelling hundreds of miles on a platform ticket, and stink bombs on the Underground. You'll be able to smell the steam, soot and unwashed socks, and taste the boiled egg sandwiches, the chips wrapped in newspaper and the hot jam doughnuts, all washed down with warm Tizer. Illustrated with Michael Harvey's own photographs and a selection of maps, Forget the Anorak appeals to anyone who experienced the golden days of trainspotting, as well as to anyone interested in the social history of Britain after the Second World War.

This early work by the great welsh poet Edward Thomas was originally published in 1911 and details his travels around The Isle of Wight. Philip Edward Thomas was born in Lambeth, London, England in 1878. His parents were Welsh migrants, and Thomas attended several schools, before ending up at St. Pauls. Thomas led a reclusive early life, and began writing as a teenager. He published his first book, The Woodland Life (1897), at the age of just nineteen. A year later, he won a history scholarship to Lincoln College, Oxford. Despite being less well-known than other World War I poets, Thomas is regarded by many critics as one of the finest.