Tom Ferris

A readable and eloquent single-volume history of railways in Ireland. This book highlights a more general problem with the teaching and appreciation of history in Britain; that until 1922, the history of Britain has to include Irish history as the two are so closely intertwined. By and large this does not happen, either for history in general, let alone for railway history in particular. Yet many of the same names crop up: engineers, contractors, companies or engine builders were in a two-way traffic across the Irish Sea. Even after the establishment of the Free State, names like O.V.S. Bulleid continue to appear and have their influence.

The text is very readable, although some chapters do of necessity become a litany of lines first built in a flurry of speculation and then intervention from government; and then closed as the fortunes of railways waned. Like many other books, there is a map; and like many other books, the map does not include all the places referenced in the text. This is made worse for an English reader by not all the places being as familiar as perhaps they ought to be; and also by the map being based on the extent of the system in 1947. A number of lines mentioned in the text closed before that date and do not appear!

The author also relates the role of railways in Irish social history, in particular the impact of the Famine and the movements of populations away from rural Ireland - first as the navigators, or "navvies" who built so much of the British railway system, and later as emigrants, looking to find a better life abroad. And Ireland's comparative poverty of natural resources and its contrasting eminence in livestock are regularly referred to as specific influences on the nature of goods traffic. Ferris does not hold back from describing the impact of railways on those traffics, and the effect of (especially) the human traffic on those left behind.

Tom Ferris is an expert in the history of Irish railways, and he wears his enthusiasm for his subject on his sleeve. He also wears his political opinion on his sleeve as well, at least where those politics impact railways. But it would be very hard to take umbrage at that, when his love for Irish railways is so great and so clearly expressed. Anyone with an interest in the railways of these islands should really have this book on their shelves.… (más)