However, the subsequent explosion in railway development was not simply a consequence of the technological pieces falling into place. At the same time, the transatlantic slave trade was being wound down in Britain. Directed towards an already proven and now refined technology was an entire industry of business interests, personnel, expertise and — to a smaller but no less significant extent — capital from slave-won activities or post-abolition slave-owner compensation. When redirected into the railways, their expansion accelerated unstoppably.

...and then deepened my hypothesis for Book One: #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture

You don't know you need it till you read it...
#HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture

#FAB #Podcast #FABPodcast #Thunderbirds #GerryAnderson #TracyIsland #AtlanticInferno #Supermarionation #1960s #retro #newlook #series2 #gyropedo #InternationalRescue #howtherailwayswillfixthefuture

It is, however, worth looking at how I can so quickly and hand-wavingly come to my answer. Let's start by using a simple rule that I like to apply to this question for any sizeable entity. It's the "Can it go bust?" rule. If indeed when a Class 1 railroad or a national infrastructure operator goes bankrupt or into administration, does government let it fall over and allow the market to respond freely? No, they absolutely do not. When COVID-19 meant existing revenue models just broke, did governments let the private operators of public transport collapse? No, they backed them up with significant grant funding.

(Incidentally, the "Can it go bust?" rule works for everything. Water and electricity companies? If they fail the test, they should be state owned. Banks? Nope. Outsourcing agencies? No. Big tech companies? Decidedly not. Companies that make those little plastic bug things on a spring that pop up after a seemingly random duration? Yeah, those can go bust and can stay private. You get the picture.)

for those new to it: meet the #CanltGoBust rule
(extracts from #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture)

S4E14: KJB Q&A #11 Kill James Bond! · Episode

I always love the Parasocial Corner episodes of KJB, not least as they always give me tears... This time Devon didn't help by saying they were reading #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture and loving it. Hell of an endorsement 😭
open.spotify.com/episode/3gud...

Perhaps the most embarrassing mistake made following the partial reversal of the burying of the station in the 1960s sits high above your head. A new roof was built spanning the concourse to bring in some natural light as part of the refurbishment works, and while it is architecturally innocuous, it uses a material more commonly employed in large greenhouses. Without the open ends usually associated with railway station train sheds, the sealed environment has had exactly the effect you might imagine: even moderate bit of sunlight results in temperatures climbing rapidly on the concourse, melting the confectionary in the Pret A Manger and-perhaps more egregiously boiling its occupants alive. Not a forward-thinking move as a changing climate brings us hotter and hotter days for more of the year.

This paragraph on Birmingham New Street in #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture feels particularly pertinent today - anyone got any photos of those fans?

Thoughts with staff and passengers dealing heroically with the consequences of extremely bad design from only a few years ago...

How Silicon Valley Broke the Railways and How the Railways Will Fix the Future

(it's also covered with wider context in the book, for which a chunky extract is included here: repeaterzer0.substack.com/p/how-silico...) #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture

the goodreads rating, with 37 total ratings giving a score of 4.16 out of 5

an extract of a written review by Owen Hatherley, reading... "This is great - combining the popular genre of 'why (some, especially British) railways are a bit shit' with the surely much much more important task of 'why railways, which includes trams, are by far the least destructive and carbon-intensive mode of transport and should be properly funded, staffed and expanded'. lt's very comprehensive for a 250 page book, which sometimes makes it a slightly exhausting 'everything you ever wanted to ask about the future of railways, but it's also extremely well argued - and for once, with a book about the future written from the left, concrete, optimistic and plausible. Transport, as he outlines, is one of a few places (housing is another) where we actually know very well how to solve a particular problem, but refuse to do so due to sunk costs fallacies and the relatively low profitability of doing the right thing and in the vacuum, snake oil salesmen with ludicrously crap technologies..."

Because I'm very daft, I've only just spotted that Owen Hatherley wrote a delightful little review of #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture for Goodreads back in December...

You can read the review here: www.goodreads.com/book/show/20...

I have started reading #TheBook on this rammed #LNER service to London. Not a seat available on this service so thought it was as good a place as any to start…

#HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture #TrainTravel #TrainLife @garethdennis.bsky.social

Fichtelbergbahn Steam train in the snow, with a copy of Gareth Dennis' book alongside

Well look what was in my stocking yesterday! #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture .Also, respect to the workers of the #Fichtelbergbahn who run their steam trains every day of the year, even Christmas day!

Book cover with line drawing of curving rail track. text: Gareth Dennis How The Railways Will Fix The Future REDISCOVERING THE ESSENTIAL BRILLIANCE OF THE IRON ROAD

Just finished my self-gift of @garethdennis.bsky.social 's book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture
A brisk and energizing account of the centrality of rail and a roadmap (rail map?) to reassert the relevance of rail in the 21st century.

2/2...It's a very easy read without jargon and, unusually for anything written about railways, very few acronyms (VFA).
Maybe you're organised and all your Christmas shopping's done, buy a copy as a gift for yourself!
#HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture
#railway #engineering #climatechange #politics

a screenie from the Amazon website, showing my book with a best seller tag against it

another screen shot from Amazon, showing my book second in a list of other railway books

#HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture continues to be a bestseller in all the places I've got data for...

Including Amazon, which at the moment is one of the few places you can actually buy it thanks to them buying up the last of the second print run! A perfect lazy xmas gift 🎁

it's a red and white book, held aloft in sharp focus with an out of focus green and grey train interior behind

Did I mention I've got a book out? #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture is all about how we get the best out of what we've got today and how to know what to build for tomorrow (among many other things)... And it looks like this:

One of the many facts that stood out for me in #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture by @garethdennis.bsky.social was how many railway companies there are in Germany. By coincidence I have just stumbled upon this picture in my Twitter archive. Don't know how up to date it is but interesting.
#railways

The book called how the railways will fix the future held up in a pose in the foreground on a rail station platform with the Caledonian sleeper train carriage in the background including the name of the train company being visible. It's dark so the scene is lit by the station lighting.

Taking @GarethDennis 's #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture on the Caledonian sleeper now.

Falkirk Grahamston so I really should get to sleep quickly so that I get a reasonable amount of sleep before morning.

Past few nights I've asked the 5 year old what bedtime story he'd like and it's a confident #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture and some other kids book.

it's the little red and white book, held aloft by a slightly out of focus Tim Dunn off of the television, within the vast cathedral of Farringdon Crossrail station

Ah yes, just another jaunty shot of #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture in a railway setting... No, of course not! I finally had a chance to give @mrtimdunn.bsky.social his copy.

@garethdennis.bsky.social I was going to lend my copy of #howtherailwayswillfixthefuture to my dad, but I thought bollocks to that I want to keep mine. Is it still best to buy through Repeater?

a shelf full of copies of my little red and white book surrounded by other books of all colours and sizes

my little railway book sat on a table next to Bill Cashmore's bigger book, We Hear Only Ourselves

it's another pile of my books! this time on a checkout desk

the train table on the back of the chair in front, with an empty recyclable coffee cup, my book, and a gold painted twist of bar metal on top of it

Earlier this month, I had a marvelous chat with Bill Cashmore for the public launch of #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture at Housmans bookshop... We covered philosophy, hope and types of guy. It was GREAT.

Now it's up for EVERYONE to listen to: https://buff.ly/4g7NLfe

it's a copy of #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture, the little red and white book about trains and politics, sat on a nondescript white display table itself sat on brown floor tiles

Well this is very cool - here's a copy of #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture in the @nytransitmuseum.bsky.social shop! In the MTA HQ!

Any others out there already? All transport museum call outs welcome!

View: from my seat, pulling out New Delhi station, with Gareth Dennis’ new book How The Railways Will Fix The Future in hand. In the background can be seen a platform with a sign reading NEW DELHI, another train with INDIAN RAILWAYS on the side, and a whole lot of overhead line equipment

Settling down for a 6.5h train journey from New Delhi to Lucknow, to visit the RDSO’s rail innovation conference.

Brought along some suitable reading material! 🛤️📖⭐️
#HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture

Cover of the book “How Railways Will Fix The Future”

An absolutely fantastic read, 280 characters isn’t enough to provide a fair review. 9.8/10 “Take the train. And if you can’t take the train, bother someone who has the power to change that.” #howtherailwayswillfixthefuture @garethdennis.bsky.social

Rail Review: Gareth Dennis' new book "The Railways Will Fix The Future" Diccon Spain, Political Liaison Officer at Bring Back Euro Trains, reviews the latest literary release from railway engineer, Gareth Dennis.

Well I'm (obviously) delighted with this review of #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture from Global Railway Review... If you've not picked up a copy yet as you're not sure it'll have much to say to you, have a read of this to see if it changes your mind: https://www.globalrailwayreview.com/article/19672…

Reading my copy of #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture in the most appropriate way (on a train)

I do think that you should be contractually obligated to remind people that this is your *backup* copy of #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture after you abandoned your first-born on a station. I think that so strongly that I am going to be emailing your boss.

the red and white book, sat upon a copy of the RMT magazine and a review of the book, with a cup of tea in the other corner

Very pleased to see a wee interview with me and a review of #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture in the latest issue of the @rmtunion.bsky.social magazine...

okay @rmtransit.bsky.social - gauntlet well and truly thrown down... what's your #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture photo going to be?

it's the red and white book I wrote, held up in front of a Vancouver SkyTrain

Very pleased to say that tonight's #Railnatter guest has received her copy of #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture and is brandishing it at a SkyTrain station in Vancouver... Which is useful, as that's the episode subject matter!

a golden pandrol clip, a sort of twisted metal bar, sits on top of a copy of a red and white book, sat on a train table

I'm off on adventures... And it isn't just my increasingly tattered copy of #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture that I'm taking with me.