Author Description

The first book to provide a fascinating and detailed history of the narrow gauge railway development in Northern Spain. The author exaplinas why this area was bypassed by the main broad gauge railways and how narrow gauge railways of 1 metre or les spread rapidly along the Cantabrican mountain chain and into the river valleys to support the iron, coal, steel, zinc, pyrite, and manganese industries as well as to provide fast, long-distance passenger service. Starting with an imaginary journey across 1200 km of line, the author moves on to examine each part of the region, looking at the development of the railways and supporting industries, the lines that are still open and the significant closed ones as well. There is also a survey of motive power on the public and industrial lines from 1852 onwards, which included British builders (such as Hunslet, North British, Nasmyth Wilson and Sharp Stewart) as well as American and European builders. Illustrated throughout with black and white photos and 32 maps showing the railways and the industries they served. 144 pages. Oversized (8"x12").