In the late 1980s Dave Ablitt decided to undertake something that today, 20 years later, would be largely impossible – he travelled by foot along the trackbed and, where possible, by train along the entire route of the Great Central Railway’s London Extension from Annesley in Nottinghamshire to the terminus at Marylebone. He could see the infrastructure fast disappearing, so felt he had to seize the opportunity to walk the track and view the scenes that passengers had once enjoyed, admire the engineering achievements of the builders, and listen to the stories of those who remembered the railway in better days.

The GCR built its then state-of-the-art line from its heartland in northern England to London at the end of the 19th century. By necessity it duplicated many already existing routes and passed through towns and cities already long served by railways. It was thus a prime candidate for closure in the 1960s, most of it going in 1966 and the remainder, between Rugby and Nottingham, three years later.

During the course of his journey from Annesley through Nottingham, Loughborough, Leicester, Rugby, the GC railway town of Woodford Halse, Brackley and Aylesbury to the capital, the author visited many places with Great Central associations and met and talked to many people who had been connected with the railway. The result is not only a valuable historical record, but also a moving and nostalgic slice of social history..