The iron road : an illustrated history of the railroad / Christian Wolmar.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 392-393) and index

The first tracks. From wagonways to railroads ; The father of railroads ; Powering the engine ; The first American railroads ; The early years of American steam ; Europe takes to the rails ; Map : western European railroads ; Railroad mania ; Wheels and trucks ; The American Civil War ; Signals in the steam age ; Heroic failures ; India : Dalhousie's colonial imperative ; Map : early Indian railroads ; The navvies : digging, drinking, and fighting ; The track structure ; Cuban sugar railroads -- The spread of the railroads. Crossing the Alps ; Climbing mountains ; The Panama Railroad : a deadly rush for gold ; Crossing America ; Map : North American transcontinentals ; Going underground ; Death on the rails ; Stopping the train ; The railroad experience ; Turnouts and sidings; Temples of steam ; Railroad signal telegraphy ; Monopolies and railroad barons ; Building bridges ; The Pullman phenomenon -- Railroads come of age. The Trans-Siberian Railway ; Map : the Trans-Siberian Railway ; The Orient Express ; The most spectacular railroads in the world ; Going uphill ; Henry Flagler and the Overseas Railroad ; Hauling freight ; Cape to Cairo : the railroad that never was ; Map : Cape to Cairo ; Electricity lightens the load ; Going electric ; The people who ran the railroads ; The wrong side of the tracks ; Indian hill railroads : climbing out of the heat -- War and uncertainty. The golden age of the railroads; The field railroads of World War I ; American luxury ; Wartime railroad disasters ; The Hejaz Railway ; Streamliners ; Australia's gauge bungle ; High-speed steam trains ; Going diesel : from the Fliegende Hamburger to the future ; Diesel power meets electricity ; World War II : atrocities on the line -- The Iron Road today. Brezhnev's folly ; Railroads lost and found ; Vive le Channel Tunnel ; Building tunnels ; Switzerland : the best of the best ; Going faster : bullet trains and high-speed lines ; China, the new pioneer ; The railroad renaissance ; Maglev trains.

From the early steam trains to the high-speed bullet trains of today, 'The Iron Road' tells the hidden stories of railway history - the inspired engineering, blood, sweat and tears that went into the construction of the railways. Uncover the compelling tales of bold vision, invention and error, and social change behind the history of trains and railways, with famous railways such as the Transsiberian fully explored.