Fire and Steam by Christian Wolmar

"The future is rail": the final chapter in Christian Wolmar's superb history of the UK railway network ends on a whistle blow of hope. With the glam new St Pancras operating full steam ahead, and many travellers' mushrooming guilt over the size of their carbon footprints, perhaps the iron horse will start looking less like an old nag and more like a white stallion.

Having covered privatisation in 2005's On the Wrong Track, this time around Wolmar is all about accentuating the positives: the invention and the expansion, the freedom and the egalitarianism. Just the ticket for a long slog in rush hour..

Synopsis by Foyles.co.uk

The opening of the pioneering Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830 marked the beginning of the railways' vital role in changing the face of Britain. "Fire and Steam" celebrates the vision and determination of the ambitious Victorian pioneers who developed this revolutionary transport system and the navvies who cut through the land to enable a countrywide network to emerge.From the early days of steam to electrification, via the railways' magnificent contribution in two world wars, the chequered history of British Rail, and the buoyant future of the train, "Fire and Steam" examines the social and economical importance of the railway and how it helped to form the Britain of today.