Railway Oddities

Over the years railways have seen a diverse mix of traffic and many unusual events have occurred. There have been special services for Glastonbury festival goers, consignments as varied as boilers and bees, rural branches like the ''Crab & Winkle'' and the ''Strawberry Line'', trains to carry corpses, circus trains, a railway with a lifeboat, zig-zag routes, and unusual commercial enterprises such as excursions to watch prize fighters, typing services on city-to-city expresses and cinema coaches. This lovingly compiled collection of titbits captures the fascination and variety of railways with over 250 accounts garnered from the press, friends and colleagues and from the author''s own experience of dramatic, intriguing and sometimes hilarious events, creating an immensely readable collection of information and stories from 150 years of railway activity.