There is an unfathomable fascination with the romance connected to the construction of great railways, yet little is known of the beginning and growth of the pioneering railways of the world, of the heavy tax that their construction imposed on the ingenuity, skill and resources of their builders. Speeding swiftly along a railway with a road-bed as smooth as an asphalt pavement conveys no impression of the perils and dangers faced, or of the infinite labour extended in the making of that steel line.

The Railway Conquest of the World tells this fascinating story. First published in 1911, it considers the most representative, largest and most interesting enterprises between the two poles. Frederick A. Talbot comprehensively writes of some of the most famous railways in the world in this engaging account. With a thought to the creators of the railways themselves, he considers the railway surveyor’s adventurous life and the romance of construction itself before diving in to some of the greatest feats of technological advance: from the railway invasion of Canada to the Holy Railway of Mecca, and from Cecil Rhodes’ dream to the Iron Horse of Australasia.

Foreword by: Christian Wolmar