Railways: Their Life & Times sets out to be an evocation of the world of railways over more than a century — the achievements and the failures, the impressive and the quirky, the big picture and the minutiae.Steam in the railway age; the evolution of different gauges; the role of railways in two world wars; the battles to retain passenger business; the saga of railways in Russia; dangers on the rails; the enemies and critics of railways – these are among the subjects in this wide-ranging book. Plus profiles of 11 national rail systems, and all interspersed with railroad miscellany and fact panels from station densities to concession fares on Italian trains to the spread of electrification.