The essays in this volume address the future of railway history as a discipline and consider the roles of both amateur and professional railway historians. The contributors tackle a number of themes of significance in railway history and seek to indicate new perspectives which might be opened up. Generally, railway history has been something of a backwater in British historical studies compared with other areas of transport history and with railway history of other countries. It has also been weakened by its division between the preoccupations of amateur and professional historians. This volume brings the discipline of railway history to the foreground.