Nearly sixty years have passed since the Beeching Axe began to fall on thousands of miles of track in the United Kingdom’s railway network.Heritage railways emerged from this, and in this book Simon Elson explores those in the Midlands.Here, the author rides the lines in the carriages and, on footplates, catalogues the engines and rolling stock and goes into the history of specific engines of significant interest.He studies and photographs the history and architecture of the stations and engine sheds that have been preserved or rebuilt in period, and personal stories are shared by the people who bring the past to life for us all to enjoy.