A highly illustrated tribute to the 'heart' of the Great Western Railway - the men and women who made it and worked it. By looking at their daily activities in the geographical heart of the system - around Didcot and Oxford - Adrian Vaughan reveals just why the Great Western was such a fine railway.

The 'Heart of the Great Western' was the people who made it and worked it. The Spirit of the Great Western was their spirit. This highly illustrated book is intended as a tribute to the railway workers of the Steam Age, men and women alike. The steam-hauled railway ran on morale. For the most part the work was physically and mentally demanding, and to overcome the difficulties created by their sometimes-archaic equipment, railway people developed an innate courage and determination. The acclaimed railway author and GWR historian Adrian Vaughan here distills many years of original research to chronicle and record the varied activities and complexities of the GWR and its staff in the Oxford and Didcot areas, geographically the 'heart' of the system. Supporting the text are over 220 photographs and more than 30 signalling diagrams and track layouts. Together they provide an intimate portrait of a whole way of life that has disappeared under the onslaught of modern technology.