Nock O.S. The Dawn of World Railways 1800-1850

New York: The Macmillan Company, 1972. — 185 p., 184 color ill.Railways, considered in the broadest sense as meaning any form of transport that runs on rails, began long before the invention of the steam locomotive, and in this book O. S. Nock mentions some of the earliest forms of wagon-way, which were initially introduced to enable horses to pull heavier loads than was possible on the poor road surfaces of the period. He describes also the different types of track that evolved and the first locomotives, going on to trace the story through the transitional period when die-hard interests in England still clung to the use of the horse traction. Then the railway age is reached in earnest, with its quaint locomotives and carriages, its aweinspiring engineering works and its superb architecture.
The color plates by Clifford and Wendy Mead way give a vivid picture of the railway scene in these exciting years; they feature, too, the beginnings of railways in France, Belgium, Germany, and some of the spectacular early locomotives of the United States. Not the least colorful among the illustrations feature, railway staff and passengers of the period.
This book forms part of the Railways of the World in Color series, and is a companion to Railways at the Turn of the Century 1895-1905, Railways at the Zenith of Steam 1920-40, and Railways in the Years of Pre-Eminence 1905-19