Having described the line's origins in Volume One, Jackson brings us up to date with descriptions of nationalisation, electrification and more - in impressive detail. To emphasise the historical context of his subject, he even goes to Wool station on 1 June 2007, to photograph a class 444 'Desiro' electric leaving for Waterloo exactly 160 years after the opening of the original line. . Chapters are devoted, inter alia, to World War II and its aftermath, electrification (first to Bournemouth, later Weymouth), the evolution of signalling, and the line's architecture and infrastructure. There's even some information (and rare pictures) about the short-lived Bovington Camp line, opened in 1919, just too late to be involved in the First World War, closed nine years later and tom up in 1936.

Oakwood Press, in whose series The Oakwood Library of Railway History this new book is No l44B, has certainly provided plenty of reading matter for devotees of the railways of south Dorset. The first edition of Roger Kidner's The Railways of Purbeck,which appeared in 1973; was a modest book of 48 pages, but the third edition (2000) has 96. Then there's Colin Stone's Rails to Poole Harbour, which between its first (1999) and second (2007) editions expanded from 144 to 208 pages. Slightly further a field, there's an Oakwood book on the Bridport Railway, and a trio of volumes about the Railways of Portland, in all of which B L Jackson is involved as author. Now I understand that Jackson is turning his attention to the Swanage Railway, a pretty and now preserved branch line which has already spawned a number of histories. As a one time resident of Wareham, I await its publication with interest.

This is an updated version of a book first published in 2002 (Review No 102) containing additional information supplied to the author, and a slightly amended portfolio of photographs. There is little more that needs adding to the earlier review. Interest in major railway accidents remains high both because of the drama of the events themselves, and the impact they have on railway safety procedures. The accident at Harrow was, and thankfully remains, the worst peace time railway disaster in terms of casualties. And yet, at a time when death and tragedy during the then recent Second World War had become all too commonplace, the public and media reaction seems remarkably muted by today's standards - but then this was many years before the 24 hour rolling news phenomenon we have to endure today. Thus trains were running past the accident site within a few hours even though the recovery work was still taking place, in sharp contrast with the practice today where any significant incident leads to line closure for days if not weeks.

If anything, the book's matter of fact style adds extra poignancy to the individual tragedies created by the accident, many to railway families, since a large number of the casualties in the local train where staff from the railway headquarters offices at Euston. Several of these stories are related in the book, but one is struck by the determined and committed manner which all those involved got on with the job of recovery without fuss and without drama. We get some small insight into how some of those caught up in this work were affected, for the rest one can only imagine.

This is a remarkable account that can be recommended without hesitation. Indeed my only critical comment is actually a positive. The sub-title 'Clearing up the Aftermath' in my view undersells the book, since it is much more than this including as it does an account of the circumstances leading up to the accident itself.

The ramifications of Harrow & Wealdstone were considerable. This is a valuable record and analysis for those interested in such matters.

A major plus is that as he progresses through the tests and tasks that are required of footplate crews, he takes the trouble to explain the 'whys and wherefores' of train equipment such as the historical background to the development of the continuous vacuum brake (principally the Armagh disaster) and the fact that human carelessness can defeat the absolute block system - witness the Abermule accident. This is done in a cogent style that the non- technical can easily understand.

Of course, there is the personal background to learning how to fire and drive steam locomotives on a very testing railway - for men and machines. There are virtually no flat stretches on the Mid-Hants, so it's either hoping that there is enough steam to get up the hill (without slipping or blowing off) or avoiding braking too hard and stopping short. All this is told against the background of the very mixed diet of locomotives based on, or visiting, the railway and on which Richardson gives some personal views of their strengths and weaknesses. .

For most of us, the chance to fire or drive a steam locomotive comes only by parting with a considerable sum of money on an 'experience' day. But this book gives a first rate and very readable introduction to the life of the modem steam footplateman on one of our preserved railways. Highly recommended.

The town of Newquay grew from a very small village at the turn of the 19th century to a popular holiday resort today, famous for its surfing. (As this reviewer's article 'Atlantic Cost Express - 2008' in this 'Journal', pages 24-26 has pointed out). It is still served by rail, even if this is only a limited service on the 20-mile branch from Par on the Cornwall main line.

These tramways later formed part of the Cornwall Minerals Railway, a standard 4ft 8½in gauge line, which extended across the county from Fowey in the south to Newquay in the north. The line opened for goods in 1874 and passengers in 1876, initially worked by steam locomotives ordered from Sharp Stewart. The extension to the harbour at Newquay was on a gradient of 1 in 4 through tunnel with limited headroom and this was worked by horses. until traffic dwindled to nothing and It was formally closed in 1926. Loss of revenue and a fall in mineral traffic caused the GWR to work the line from 1877. Through traffic from the rest of the system was not possible until the final conversion of the broad gauge in 1892. The entire CMR system was eventually purchased by the GWR in 1896 and a chapter covers the improvements carried out under their ownership including the development of holiday traffic. The following chapter continues the story of the line under British Railways and Privatisation up to the present day.

We are still only half way through the book and the subsequent chapters detail the history and development of each section of the lines to Newquay which, as well as the existing line from Par, include the line from Fowey to St Blazey (now a road exclusively for china clay lorries), Par Harbour, various mineral branches, and the line from Chacewater via Perranporth opened by the GWR between 1903 and 1905. The text is supplemented by many photographs ranging from early views of Newquay including what is supposedly a passenger train taken on 29 June 1876 to present day scenes. There are maps, a gradient profile and a useful index.

The author has tackled his subject with enthusiasm to produce a detailed work at a modest price.

A tortillard is French argot for a narrow gauge railway, probably from tortiller, to twist. This is one of the many revelations in this excellent book which could stand as a model of how to do it. For example, it has clear maps at the start of each section; it helps the reader with glossaries, conversion tables and a detailed index. Like all sound histories, it knows how to relate primary and secondary sources, and it sets its narrative in context - not too heavily, but enough to assist the reader in getting the hang of a railway culture, history and geography, and even jargon, very different from that of, say, Kent - only some 21 miles away.

The subject matter is the network of local metre-gauge lines (with a few 60cm exceptions), at various times steam, electric or diesel powered, that filled gaps left by the Nord system in the Calais-Boulogne area and its hinterland. Some were fully-fledged railways with their own rights of way, others a species of interurban tramway. Their corporate histories, routes, motive power and rolling stock are covered thoroughly.

The area in question suffered two massive historical discontinuities, WWI and WW2, and these, in their way, disrupt the narrative. The Great War found the British constructing a system of their own, well described by the authors. But, breaking the narrative at 1914 and 1939 has prevented them from carrying the story of each line through from start to finish, unbroken.

In practice, the logical organisation of the book and the thorough index guide a reader through this unavoidable labyrinth. An abundance of illustrations .serves the text, as do numerous, painstaking tables. Locomotivologists will have a fine time studying motive power that included products of SACM, Corpet, SLM Winterthur (two unusual 2-10-0Ts and Renault.

Anyone wishing to see what remains of these yanished systems is supplied with a useful and up-to-date guide. Tortillards is remarkably good value, a tribute to painstaking and animated scholarship.