The former edition of this History of Wood Engraving having become extremely scarce and commercially valuable, the publisher was glad to obtain the copyright and wood-blocks from Mr. Mason Jackson, son of the late Mr. Jackson, original proprietor of the work, with the view of reprinting it. It will be seen by the two distinct prefaces which accompanied the former edition, and are here reprinted, that there was some existing schism between the joint producers at the time of first publicatio...

Since 1948 when the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, all students have been declared the right to education. The rights of disabled students have not been explicitly addressed, however, and each country has developed their own rules and regulations. Although similarities exist among the different countries, differences are evident, especially in both the extent and acknowledgment of these rights.The Legal Rights of Students with Disabilities: In...

In 2012, Direct Rail Services (DRS) placed an order with Vossloh (now Stadler Rail) for its first Class 68 diesel locomotives. The fleet size has now grown to thirty-four. Their later order was for ten Class 88 locomotives, an electro-diesel variant of the Class 68. Since delivery, the 68s have worked alongside the operator’s fleet of ageing, so-called ‘heritage’, locos. With these locos now at their disposal, they are surely destined to be the mainstay of the company’s fleet for some time...

Most people, rail enthusiasts or not, have heard of steam locomotive names such as Flying Scotsmanand Mallard. A multitude of loco names were inspired by the Royal Family and other famous people; famous buildings such as castles, halls and manors; countries of the British Empire and so on. The list and variety of names applied seemed endless. Today the railway is a very different place. The variety of train operators, both past and present, means there is no universal code of practice as t...

In late 2007 Freightliner placed its order for twenty Class 70 locomotives. General Electric (GE) commenced building these locomotives at its plant in Pennsylvania, USA, culminating in the delivery of the first two locos in late 2009. Further deliveries followed in order to create an initial pool of twenty for Freightliner. One example of the class, No. 70012, was damaged during unloading at Newport Docks and did not enter traffic. The remaining members of Freightliner’s pool operated frei...

The Saxons put the county of Bedfordshire on the map, and signs of the earliest churches from this period remain today. Church building continued after the Norman Conquest, not least the foundation of the Abbey at Elstow by William the Conqueror’s niece, Judith of Lens, towards the end of the eleventh century. One of Bedfordshire’s most famous sons, John Bunyan, was baptised in the church of St Mary and St Helena, at Elstow, over 500 years later, just one of approximately fifty places of w...

It is now more than thirty years since two words synonymous with Diesel Multiple Units became part of railway parlance – ‘Pacers’ and ‘Sprinters’. The Class 142 Pacers were introduced in the mid-1980s and, despite almost continuous criticism as to their lack of comfort, these ‘nodding donkeys’ remain in revenue-earning service. From these beginnings in the 1980s our rail network has seen a total of twenty or so classes of Second Generation DMUs enter service. Indeed, they are the mainstay ...

For many long-distance rail travellers, the county of Bedfordshire is a part of the UK passed at speed on an express heading north to south on either the Midland Main Line or East Coast Main Line. Less well known is that the county also boasts a short stretch of West Coast Main Line running in the area around Leighton Buzzard. In this book John Jackson takes a more detailed look at these services that speed through the county, as well as the more localised services provided at the seventee...

The Midland Main Line (MML) links London’s St Pancras station to the East Midlands cities of Leicester, Derby and Nottingham. It then heads northwards through Chesterfield to Sheffield. Along the way, its southern section sees an extensive service of chiefly commuter services linking Bedford, Luton and St Albans both into the capital and south of it. Bedford also marks the northern end of existing electrification, although the route remains a candidate for this to be extended throughout. T...

As the Rover’s name suggests, the north of the area ranges from Cardiff and Bristol (close to the Severn) to Swindon and Cheltenham, then extends down to the Southampton area (on the Solent) with a coastal stretch from Portsmouth as far as Weymouth. What’s more, it takes in some fascinating railway centres such as Eastleigh, Salisbury and Westbury. The Rover offers travel on a variety of express and local passenger services operated by several different train companies, combined with a var...

Occupying approximately 1,500 square miles of the East of England, the Fens are notorious flatlands lying very close to sea level. Extending across much of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Lincolnshire, they offer a rare chance to see Britain’s railways in action against one of the most attractive rural backdrops in the country.Sadly, the Cambridgeshire town of Wisbech, often referred to as the capital of the Fens, has long been removed from the railway map. Today’s Fenland railways, ho...

In the year before The Phantom Menace, Yoda, Mace Windu, and the entire Jedi Council confront a galaxy on the brink of change.The Jedi have always traveled the stars, defending peace and justice across the galaxy. But the galaxy is changing, and the Jedi Order along with it. More and more, the Order finds itself focused on the future of the Republic, secluded on Coruscant, where the twelve members of the Jedi Council weigh crises on a galactic scale.