"Dow's Dictionary of Railway Quotations" by A Dow

[Kevin Wilson-Smith]

This is a splendid book that should be on every railway lover’s bookshelf - in my opinion anyway!

Beefy, it is 384 pages, and is published by the Johns Hopkins University Press.

Entries are very wide ranging and are around 3.700 +/-, covering railways from 1608 to the present day.

Over 1,300 writers and speakers and diverse subjects are represented from British and American sources.

The book is organized alphabetically, and includes a number of Appendices, including 2 useful indexes - one by Writers and Speakers and the other by Subject and Keywords.

To give you an idea of the variety, the material itself is taken from Acts of Parliament, poetry, songs, journals, obituaries, private conversations, novels, histories, plays, films, radio broadcasts etc!

Topics include history, economics, transportation, politics, culture, romance..........

I cannot recommend this enough (Tom M??) … entertaining to dip into and useful as a reference and bedside read! Some examples…

“Absence – I took a trip on a train, And thought about you….”

“Accidents – Experience has shown that to bring about any considerable reform, rail\road disaster, has as it were, to be emphasized by loss of life….” CF Adams 1879.

“Trips - My heart is warm with friends I make, And better friends I'll not be knowing, Yet there isn't a train that I wouldn't take, No matter where it's going” E St Vincent Millay, 1921.

[Derek Walker]

...
“Accidents – Experience has shown that to bring about any considerable reform, rail\road disaster, has as it were, to be emphasized by loss of life….” CF Adams 1879.

Never a truer word has been spoke... One fine example is the Titanic.

[Tom Macrery]

Indeed an interesting reference work, but quite expensive. There are gems to be found, but there are also a lot of very long and boring quotations.

[Kevin Wilson-Smith]

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!

Actually it is not too expensive. GBP 25.00 hardcover, GBP 15.00 softcover.

Go for a secondhand copy as new and you will pick one up for 10.00 to 15.00 GBP + 7.00 GBP postage. At the current rate around R250.00 (R60.00 more then a cheap paperback novel). Amazon.co.uk.