There is an undoubted fascination both with railway atlases and with the ‘Then & Now’ approach to railway history. Unlike any other atlas published, The Railway Atlas Then and Now provides historical and present-day maps alongside each other for direct comparison. Based around the ‘Pre-Grouping Atlas and Gazetteer’, the left-hand of the two maps records the railway industry as it existed in 1923, whilst the right-hand page shows it as it exists today. The contemporary 2012 maps include information about the railway lines that have been closed and converted into either walking or cycling routes. Other information given includes the location of all steam sheds and current diesel depots. The book includes 45 maps from each period – making a total of 90pp of mapping in all – alongside a detailed gazetteer and brief introduction.
