Kindle for PC

[EtchedPixels]

I keep thinking about e-books rather than the (old ?) hard copy format so that I don't have so much weight to carry around when I'm travelling. The only thing is that whenever I look, there aren't to many about trains that I want !

I think that's because ebook readers right now are not very good at pictures and also don't work for the glossy table-top style look or for plans and things.

There are some interesting books out there. I've been reading the history of the Cambrian Railways which was published in 1922 and Smilies 'Lives of the Engineers' is my current electronic reading (both free and out of copyright).

The Cambrian is a mix of high farce and political dirt but a somewhat convoluted and slightly turgid book whose first half focuses on the political rather than technical creation of the railway. Nevertheless its an interesting insight into the early days and the descriptions of the first train services into Aberystwyth and the celebrations are proof that society hasn't changed that much

Lives of The Engineers is an older book and in some ways the most interesting part in railway terms is the forward to the later edition which brought it up to date for the 1870s. As such it bothers to comment on things that had changed by the 1870s - like the end of a trumpeter on the station to 'bugle' out the train as happened with the mail coaches, "new" signalling stuff, block working etc.

Alan