Red for Danger: The Classic History of British Railway Disasters

L. T. C. Rolt

History Press Limited, 2009 - Railroad accidents - 236 pages

Railway disasters are almost always the result of human fallibility - a single mistake by an engine-driver, guard or signalman, or some lack of communication between them - and it is in the short distance between the trivial error and its terrible consequence that the drama of the railway accident lies.First published in 1955, and the result of Rolt's careful investigation and study of the verbatim reports and findings by H. M. Inspectorate of Railways, this book was the first work to record the history of railway disasters, and it remains the classic account. It covers every major accident on British railways between 1840 and 1957 which resulted in a change in railway working practice, and reveals the evolution of safety devices and methods which came to make the British railway carriage one of the safest modes of transport in the world. This edition uses the last text produced by Rolt himself in 1966 and includes a new introduction by his friend and fellow railway historian Professor Jack Simmons.

What people are saying

User Review -

An excellent resource for anyone looking at the evolution of the safe working of trains in the UK and gives a clue of how the Australian systems, being so closely linked to the British, evolved in more less parallel. May be a little technical for someone without much interest in Railways in some respects but still a good read. 

About the author

L.T.C. ROLT trained as an engineer, but his fame rests on his classic biographies of Brunel, Telford, Trevithick and the Stephensons, his superb volumes of autobiography (Landscape with Machines, Landscape with Canals, Landscape with Figures), his volumes of transport history, and on his account of a journey along the waterways of England, Narrow Boat.He founded the Inland Waterways Association and was instrumental in encouraging interest in Britain's industrial heritage at Tal-y-llyn and elsewhere. He died in 1974.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Red for Danger: The Classic History of British Railway Disasters; History Press Series
• Author: L. T. C. Rolt
• Edition: 2, illustrated
• Publisher: History Press Limited, 2009
• ISBN: 0752451065, 9780752451060
• Length: 236 pages