Paperback - 96 pages (27 November, 1997)
Ian Allan Publishing; ISBN: 0711025495

From the death of Huskisson at the opening of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway in 1830, the issue of railway safety has always been controversial. Although railways are the safest form of land transport, there have been, over the past century, a number of significant accidents which have involved great loss of life. The hall of infamy includes such names as Quintinshill, Harrow & Wealdstone, and, more recently, Clapham Junction. Inevitably, because of the scale and the potential for loss of life, railway accidents tend to stay in the public conciousness much more than motorway pile-ups. Unlike major road accidents, however, the lessons of rail accidents are learnt and applied to the future operation of the network so that, one hopes, similar accidents can never occur again.

Taking four of the country's principle main lines - those linking London with Edinburgh, Glasgow, Penzance and Exeter via Salisbury - Stanley Hall narrates in sequence from London to the destination all the major accidents to have occurred on the route over the past century. Each entry provides information on location, event, damage, train formation, casualties and any resulting improvements to railway safety.