I have just read and enjoyed GIANTS OF STEAM by Jonathan Glancey
We would not be able to stand in awe of the great steam locomotives that once powered their way along the tracks that trellised the world had it not been for the inventors and the men who saw the potential of steam on our lives. It makes an interesting story, an intriguing history and, in the way that Jonathan Glancey takes on the journey through these pages, a pleasurable experience. Inevitably the pioneers of steam locomotion came up against opposition and Glancey weaves their experiences and how they triumphed in spite of political and military hostility. These giants of steam are not mere ugly sights of power; thought and expertise were put into their design so that there evolved machines of matching beauty giving us extra pleasure when viewing those that still exist or remembering how we once stood in awe of them. This is a book that sets the history of these intriguing machines before us in a readable way and enables us to picture them hauling carriages and goods wagons across the land and see the cooperation and rivalries of their inventors.
It made a recent visit to the National Railway Museum in York more meaningful and left me in admiration of the vast collection that is housed there. Bill Spence
