Great Northern Books Ltd

From the announcement of the Modernisation Plan to the end of steam services, just 13 years elapsed. A transitional period existed where steam engines operated alongside new diesel and electric forms of motive power. West Midlands Railways From Steam to Modern Traction uses around 200 excellent colour and black-and-white images to look at the changing scene in the 1950s and 1960s. The area's lines were formerly operated by the London, Midland & Scottish Railway and the Great Western Railway. Many of these companies' locomotives could be seen, as well as British Railways' Standard Classes. A number of new diesel classes and DMUs appeared and worked alongside these during the late 1950s and early 1960s. The West Midlands consists of Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and the ceremonial West Midlands county. The primary cities are Birmingham, Coventry, Hereford, Lichfield, Stoke-on-Trent, Wolverhampton and Worcester. Large towns located in the area are Burton-on-Trent, Dudley, Kidderminster, Leamington Spa, Nuneaton, Rugby, Shrewsbury, Stafford, Stourbridge, Tamworth, Uttoxeter, etc. The pictures have been captured from the lineside, engine sheds, stations, marshalling yards and industrial locations. The West Midlands was a vibrant and exciting place for railway enthusiasts to record locomotives at work. This collection is presented to celebrate those days.

Between wild walks, Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte spent most of their lives indoors, their imaginations firing behind firmly-closed doors. Join two expert writers on a very personal journey around Britain and Ireland, enjoying privileged access to private houses that shaped and inspired the Bronte sisters and their writing. Echoing Cathy's ghost in Wuthering Heights, Ann and Sharon ask to be let in - and invite you on an eye-opening odyssey that combines the surprising Bronte history of key houses with their sometimes glorious, sometimes heartbreaking, always fascinating afterlives. Join Ann and Sharon as they explore historic buildings where the extraordinary Bronte story unfolded. Discover the untold secrets of the world-famous Bronte Parsonage, Bradford's literary shrine where they wrote their novels, and the nearby birthplace of their early childhoods. Learn of the ghosts and legends of the real Wuthering Heights, the legacy of Ulster and Cornwall in the sisters' DNA, the restoration of the real Lowood School in Jane Eyre - and follow a Bronte pub crawl around the inns and taverns of Victorian England frequented by wayward brother Branwell. The book includes a foreword by author and broadcaster Rebecca Fraser and an exclusive interview with award-winning writer and director Sally Wainwright, revealing how and why she built a replica of the 1840s Haworth Parsonage on the moors for her acclaimed BBC biopic To Walk Invisible. This is a beautifully-illustrated voyage of discovery through the precious, often-overlooked places of our literary past - and why they matter today.