Stokers and Pokers

Stokers and Pokers
Or, The London & North-Western Railway, The Electric Telegraph and The Railway Clearing-House
by F.B.Head
On entering a railway station, we merely mutter to a clerk in a box where we want to go to - say 'How Much?' - see him horizontally poke a card into a little machine that pinches it - receive our ticket - take our place...on reaching out terminus drive away perfectly careless of all the inumerable arrangements necessary for the astonishing luxury we have enjoyed.
Finding no book, nor any means open to the public of obtaining information on the subject, Head used his influence to see something of the inside working of the London & North Western Railway, Electric Telegraph and Railway Clearing House. Thus was Stokers and Pokers born in 1849, the first of a line of popular books describing railway working from behind the scenes.
Purists may quibble at slight technical inaccuracies here and there, but these shortcomings can surely be overlooked when the scope and detail of the book are remembered and appreciated, and the delightful, almost classic, description of Wolverton refreshment room and its staff is read and re-read. One of the most useful parts of the work is the reproduction of the London & North Western Railway Rule Book.
208 pages, 1968, Case bound, 5¾" x 8¾", 520g
ISBN 0-7153-4327-0
New — out of Print
Pre-Owned, very good, spine has faded, minor dust jacket wear and tear — £12.00
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David & Charles Publications