Michael Williams

From the most luxurious and historic - aboard the Orient Express, to the most futuristic - the driverless trains of London's Docklands Light Railway, here is a unique travel companion celebrating the treasures of our railway heritage from one of Britain's most knowledgeable railway writers.

The railway system during the Second World War was the lifeline of the nation, replacing vulnerable road transport and merchant shipping. Trains transported millions to and from work each day and sheltered them on underground platforms at night. Without the railways, there would have been no Dunkirk evacuation and no D-Day.

Sometimes you come across a lofty railway viaduct, marooned in the middle of a remote country landscape. Or a crumbling platform from some once-bustling junction buried under the buddleia. If you are lucky you might be able to follow some rusting tracks, or explore an old tunnel leading to… well, who knows where?

These are the ghosts of The Trains Now Departed. They are the railway lines, and services that ran on them that have disappeared and gone forever. Our lost legacy includes lines prematurely axed, often with a gripping and colourful tale of their own, as well as marvels of locomotive engineering sent to the scrapyard, and grand termini felled by the wrecker's ball. Then there are the lost delights of train travel, such as haute cuisine in the dining car, the grand expresses with their evocative names, and continental boat trains to romantic far-off places.

The Trains Now Departed tells the stories of some of the most fascinating lost trains of Britain, vividly evoking the glories of a bygone age.