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Bookazine - Brunel's Big Railway
This comprehensive 132 page full colour, perfect bound ‘bookazine’ has been written by Heritage Railway founding editor Robin Jones and is lavishly illustrated with both archive and modern-day photographs.

With the £1 billion electrification of the London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads main line railway in its very early stages, questions have been asked about how the modernisation programme will impact on the rich legacy of heritage structures along the 116 mile route.

The railway was the first main line to be constructed by engineering genius Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and as such is one of Europe’s greatest transport treasures. Indeed, there have been calls for it to be named as a World Heritage Site because so much survives from his day.

This new book looks at the story of Brunel’s Big Railway – for that is exactly what it was – its revolutionary design and its groundbreaking engineering features, like Maidenhead Bridge, Sonning Cutting, Box Tunnel, the Avon Viaduct at Bath and many more.

It tells the story of the great record-breaking locomotives built by Brunel’s young chief engineer Daniel Gooch and of the big steamships built at Bristol.

Finally, the book looks at the many historic Brunel features newly listed by English Heritage in order to protect them in advance of the electrification scheme – of which Brunel – once voted the second ‘greatest’ Briton of all time in a TV poll – would have certainly approved.
Island Racer 2013
"If you want the ultimate sporting example of courage then here it is."

The Isle of Man TT event has made history ever since the first person looked at the lump of rock in the Irish sea and said to his friend: "You know what would be a great idea here? A motorcycle race against the clock!"

Island Racer 2013

The Isle of Man TT has given us fans moments of pure joy, total admiration and sheer exhilaration. It has also given us moments of absolute horror and terrific sadness that, at the time, never felt as though it would ever leave our world.

If you want the ultimate sporting example of courage then here it is. Wrapped up in an island, in THE Island, of people and places who for two specific weeks of the year embrace every second and give up every inch of their home so that those greats can come and do things on two wheels that you never get to see anywhere else.

Island Racer 2013

Get your 2013 TT off to a cracking start with your copy of Island Racer 2013

Bookazine - Settle & Carlisle Revival

The Settle & Carlisle railway runs across the roof of England, reaching the highest point on any main line railway in the country. Today it carries a frequent and well-patronised passenger service and considerable heavy long-distance freight traffic.

But we are lucky that the line has survived two attempts to close it and in fact should probably never have been built at all.

There could now be a 72 mile abandoned trackbed passing through such places as Blea Moor, over Dent Head and Arten Gill viaducts and the legendary Ais Gill summit, but fortunately, sufficient people felt strongly enough to campaign successfully to stop this happening and keep one of Britain’s favourite railway lines open.

Since the line was reprieved from closure for the second time in 1989 after an eight-year battle, train services have been expanded. In fact they were expanding even while it was still the intention to close the line, but saving the line was not the end of the story, it was just the beginning.

This is the story of the revival in the fortunes of the Settle & Carlisle.

Many closed stations have reopened and are being restored to their former glory, freight traffic has returned and steam-hauled excursions over the line have gone from strength to strength.

 

 

Bookazine - Brunel

Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Three names.Three people in one.
Born in Portsmouth on 9 April 1806, there was Brunel the great engineer, who would habitually throw out the rulebook of tradition and established practice, and start again with a blank sheet of paper, taking the technology of the day to its limits - and then going another mile.

Then there was Brunel the visionary, who knew that transport technology had the power to change the world, and that he had the ability to deliver those changes. Finally, there was Brunel the artist - who rarely saw technology as just functional, and strove to entwine the fruits of the Industrial Revolution with the elegance and grace of the neo-classical painter.

His bridges, tunnels and railway infrastructure have entered a third century of regular use, and the beauty of their design and structure has rarely been equalled. The three decades, from the 1830s to the 1850s, saw an explosion of technical excellence, and it was Brunel who in so many cases lit the blue touchpaper. He did not always get it right first time, and it was left to others to reap the fruits of his many labours. Nevertheless, his actions fast-forwarded the march of progress by several decades. In 2006, Britain is celebrating the 200th anniversary of Brunel’s birth, with a multitude of events large and small, for the family, the steam buff and the academic alike. It will be a wonderful year, in which Isambard’s many legacies will be re-examined - and revisited.

The landmarks will take centre stage, of course: the spectacular Royal Albert Bridge at Saltash, the magnificent glass-roofed terminus of Paddington, Maidenhead bridge with its elliptical arches that many said would never stand up, the stupendous Clifton Suspension Bridge, completed shortly after his death, to his design by a team of admirers, Bristol’s original Temple Meads station, the Dawlish sea wall railway route - everyone’s favourite section of the national network, and many more.

Binder - Kitchen Garden A4
Keep your copies of  Kitchen Garden safe and easy to access with this A4 sized binder. In dark green with the Kitchen Garden logo on its spine, this binder will help keep your copies in pristine condition!

Note. This is the  A4 sized binder to fit the current issue size. See the Super A4 size binders for issues between January 2011 and January 2012.