Blog

  In a couple of weeks, it’s the 70th anniversary of Operation Overlord – the heroic Normandy landings that brought World War 2 to an end. It couldn’t have been done without the ‘Tarpaulin Armada’ operated by Britain’s railways, as I write in my new book ‘Steaming to Victory: how Britain’s railways won the war’. […]

  An enjoyable chat with BBC Radio Manchester’s Mike Sweeney about Steaming to Victory – and why it’s important to treasure the memories of a generation of brave people soon to pass from us. You can listen to it here: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzYFVl2G0Le3M1RORnlhUUtOejQ/edit

I’m talking about my books, and especially Steaming to Victory, at the Swindon Festival of Literature tomorrow. Do come and hear me if you can. The talk, with illustrations is at Steam museum at 7pm http://www.swindonfestivalofliterature.co.uk/

    Just got a copy of Railway Ribaldry, newly re-published by Old House Books. This is surely the funniest railway book ever. I loved it when I was a child, when I found it on the bookshelf of my aunt – and couldn’t stop reading it. I love it even more now! Railway Ribaldry […]

Normally, when I am interviewed about my books, people are happy to chat around the subject. But when I appeared on Monocle Radio the other day the two interviewers put me on the line to justify my thesis in the title of the book that Britain’s railways won the war. I hope I justified my […]

Hear the story of how the men and Great Western Railway helped to win the Second World War in my talk at the Swindon Literary Festival on May 14. Here’s an extract from my interview with the amazing Kathleen Halls – the Great Western’s first woman porter as she recalled her life for my book […]

  Ashley Jackson enjoys an exploration of the key role that Britain’s railway network played in the Second World War:    Steaming to Victory is the story of how Britain’s rail network, its engines and rolling stock, and the thousands of railway workers who operated it, contributed to the war effort from 1939 to 1945. With […]

They certainly like the new paperback edition of Steaming to Victory in Spalding in Lincolnshire. Here’s the review from Spalding Today, via the local independent bookshop. (I must say how fond I am of local bookshops. They are a treasure to be cherished): http://www.spaldingtoday.co.uk/what-s-on/lifestyle-and-leisure/book-review-steaming-to-victory-how-britain-s-railways-won-the-war-1-6014214