Author: Tom Ferris
Number Of Pages: 232
Release Date: 05-11-2010
Details: Product Description The Trains Long Departed tells the story of Ireland's lost railways, the repository of optimism, disappointment and nostalgia. The first Irish railway was established as early as 1834 and by 1914 the network covered the entire island. However, the development of the internal combustion engine, combined with the inherent unprofitability of many of the smaller and more remote lines resulted in a drastic cull of the system in the course of the twentieth century. It is these lost railways of Ireland that are the subject of Tom Ferris's new book. Some mainlines were simply uneconomic; all the various narrow gauge lines, many of which had been promoted with the encouragement of the British government in the late nineteenth century to stimulate economic development in remote places, were without exception unprofitable. The resultant purging of the system has left the entire north-west quarter of the island without a single kilometre of useable track in the early twenty-first century and many other parts with only a sparse service. About the Author Tom Ferris is an author and publisher. Originally from Co. Tyrone, he now lives in Wales. He is one of Ireland's leading authorities on railway history and the author of many previous books. He is author of Irish Railways: A New History (2008)
EAN: 9780717147854
Languages: English
Binding: Hardcover
Item Condition: New