Motor

A popular history of late 19th and early 20th century railways as they blasted their way into southeastern British Columbia.

Celebrating the astonishing career and life of American race-car driver and consecutive NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson.In the storied history of NASCAR auto racing, American race-car driver Jimmie Johnson is one of the most accomplished and decorated professional athletes of his era and the only race-car driver ever to be named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year. His historic seven NASCAR Cup Series championship titles are shared with NASCAR Hall of Famers Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt as the most of all time. One More Lap memorializes the record-breaking career of this extraordinary athlete, who began racing motocross at five years old with a laser focus on becoming a racing champion. By 2002, Johnson was competing in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series and began to capture the imagination of racing fans across the globe. Over the course of his career, Johnson recorded 83 wins, 232 top-five finishes, 374 top-ten finishes, and 36 pole positions en route to seven championships, including five in a row from 2006 to 2010. Johnson began exploring his passion for art and photography by hiring photographers such as Andrew Moore and Pari Dukovic to record behind the scenes at many of his races. With a foreword from sports legend Michael Jordan, this volume captures photographs from Johnson’s early life and the beginning of his illustrious career and features exhilarating racing snapshots by renowned photographers Sebastian Kim and Peggy Sirota, as well as images taken Johnson himself. Revelatory, inspiring, and truly thrilling, Johnson’s story will appeal to NASCAR enthusiasts, sports lovers, photography fans, and anyone interested in the story of a childhood dream that came true.

What is it about Alaska that can make a young journalist from the East Coast abandon his career and become a bush pilot? Bruder's fascinating first-person account answers that question and lets the reader share his experiences as he becomes seasoned as a seaplane pilot flying the rugged terrain of Western Washington, British Columbia, and Southeast Alaska. The life of a bush pilot in southeast Alaska is filled with the exhilaration of having unique access to one of our last great spans of wilderness, balanced with physical discomfort, extremely long hours, and heart-pounding danger. Gerry Bruder gave up a promising journalism career to pursue his passion for flying. This true-life adventure provides readers with a fascinating firsthand account of the highs and lows of a modern bush pilot.

An authoritative guide to the history, landscape and lore along the scenic English train line between Settle and Carlisle, by an established travel writer and railway aficionado.Widely known as England's most picturesque line, the enduring Settle-Carlisle Railway crosses the north Pennines between Yorkshire and Cumbria, traversing stunning scenery from the Dales through the lonely and lofty fells to the limestone pavements of Westmorland, and on into the lush, green Eden Valley.The line was built by the Midland Railway company in the 1870s, to forge an independent route connecting its English network with Scotland. Uniquely for a railway in the UK, the entire infrastructure is a Conservation Area in its own rightcomprising viaducts, stations, bridges, tunnels, trackside structures and railway workers' cottages.

Following the deregulation of bus services in 1986, West Yorkshire became flooded by small independent operators, some of whom survived while others were swallowed up by larger companies. Only a small handful remain today. The wide variety of liveries and vehicle types will bring memories flooding back, and the wealth of previously unpublished photographs give this book a wide appeal.

Great Railway Journeys: London to Oxford and London to Cambridge is the fourth in Roger Mason's Great Railway Journeys series. It is a fascinating record of things that can be seen from trains running from London to the two great university cities. The London to Oxford line includes Brunel's wonderful bridge over the Thames at Maidenhead and the Didcot Railway Centre, which is a living museum of the Great Western Railway. Included here is the story of how the author of a world famous book left the manuscript in a caf at Reading Station. He had not kept a copy so he went home and wrote it again. The London to Cambridge line includes Mountfitchet Castle, a fabulous copy of the one that stood on the site shortly after the reign of William the Conqueror. There is also the Eleanor Cross at Waltham Cross, erected by Edward I in the 1290s as a tribute to his late wife, Eleanor of Castile.

When the expansion of the RAF began in 1934, Air Commodore Tedder observed that the established order of school training not only failed to produce operational competence, but left so much to be done by the operational squadrons that they could only attain passable military efficiency after an uphill struggle. He proposed to raise the standards of school instruction so that pilots would leave the facility as operationally competent pilots, although it would mean lengthening the period of instruction as well as revising the syllabus. It was against this somewhat sorry background of training and logistical problems, as well as having the clouds of war firmly visible on the horizon, that the decision was taken to form a new RAF Training Command on 1 May 1936; an organisation derived from the ashes of the former RAF Inland Area. This book will tell the story - in words and pictures - of RAF Training Command from 1 May 1936 until it was separated into Flying Training Command and Technical Training Command on 27 May 1940. Both commands were then transferred into the newly re-established RAF Training Command on 1 June 1968, until it was then absorbed into RAF Support Command on 13 June 1977.

Launched in 2001, the second generation Mini, produced by BMW, was an instant success. Based on a design brief that stated that it could only be a Mini, the new car remained faithful to its heritage while offering numerous benefits, including increased size, engine power and performance. It also set new standards in refinement. In this readable book motoring expert James Taylor takes a multi-perspective look at the BMW Mini to give the reader a complete view of the many aspects of design, development, engineering and marketing that went into producing a highly successful range of new models under the Mini brand. The book explores how BMW has always been careful to retain the heritage of the original Mini and its variants as it continued to introduce subtle but significant changes to the three-door hatch while expanding its range of models to include the SUV Countryman and the Paceman. The book also covers the introduction of new engines and fuel options, including hydrogen and electric. Designed by an American for a German motor company but largely still built in Oxford, England, this is a complete picture of one of the world's most successful cars.

No fewer than sixteen pre-grouping companies were represented within Cumbria's borders, seven of these in Carlisle alone. To the east of the mountains are the great Anglo-Scottish lines of the London and North Western and the Midland. Venturing across the Pennines were the transversal routes of the North Eastern Railway, from Newcastle to Carlisle, and Darlington to Tebay and Penrith. The Cumbrian coast presents a completely different picture. Here the multiple competing companies were concerned principally with the transport of coal and mineral ores to serve the huge industrial complexes to the west and south. The two principal coastal lines were the Maryport and Carlisle in the north and the Furness in the west and south. In the Whitehaven/Workington hinterland there was a number of other railways, all concerned with mineral extraction and transport. Lines penetrating the interior of the Lake District were the Coniston, Lakeside and Windermere branches and the Cockermouth, Keswick & Penrith Railway that crossed the Lake District from west to east. In the north were the Caledonian with its main line to Carlisle and the short-lived Solway Junction Railway, and the North British with the Waverley, Port Carlisle, and Silloth lines. The Glasgow and South Western also ran trains into Glasgow. The history, development, and in some cases closure of each of these lines is described in turn, illustrated with a selection of photographs from different periods in their history.

To most people InterCity means the network of trains linking the UK with London, but there is a far more interesting and often overlooked network that avoided London: Cross-country. The North East-South West route of British Rail linked Newcastle with Plymouth and Cardiff via Birmingham; added to this were the Manchester and Liverpool services that headed for the south coast and the odd train that crossed from one route to the other. Birmingham New Street was the hub for all of these services, with the exception of some services from East Anglia and the East Midlands. Over the years the North East-South West route became cross-country and extended its range well into Scotland. This book illustrates the diverse range of starting points and destinations used. Photos are mainly from the 1970s and 1980s, plus a few from the 1990s prior to privatisation and more standardisation than BR could ever have hoped for.

The North East is a region of great geographic, economic and social contrasts. Peter Tucker presents a fascinating photographic survey of the region's current bus and coach scene. From the urban streets of Billingham, Blyth, Darlington, Philadelphia and Newcastle to the gentler areas of Belford, Edmondsley, Norton and Ryhope, plus everything in between, Peter Tucker has produced a valuable photographic record of the modern bus scene. Featuring Arriva, Go North East and Stagecoach, plus various independent operators including Borders Buses, Scarlet Band and Weardale, full coverage is given to County Durham, Northumberland, Teesside and Tyne and Wear. This book will be of immense interest to bus enthusiasts and those with an interest in the North East.

A quick look at today's map of the county of Leicestershire and it's easy to see that its county town, Leicester, sits at an important railway crossroads. With London to the south and the East Midlands cities of Derby and Nottingham to the north, the line linking St Pancras and Sheffield is crossed in Leicester by one of England's most important east-west link lines. This link provides passenger rail journey opportunities to and from Birmingham to the west and the cities of Peterborough and Cambridge to the east. In addition, it is playing an increasingly important role as a freight route to and from East Anglia, including connecting the UK's largest container port at Felixstowe with a number of terminals across the country. The line between Leicester and Burton on Trent may have lost its passenger service, but it remains an important access route to the quarries in the area around Coalville. The county's railways may have been drastically pruned by the Beeching Axe, but they still have a wide variety of traffic on offer. In this book John Jackson looks at the variety of traffic at work on the county's main lines. The story is completed by a glance at today's roll of Brush's workshops in Loughborough and loco servicing and stabling facility now occupying the former depot at Leicester itself.

Buying a classic and iconic E30 BMW 3 Series can be just the start of a wonderful adventure. This book explains how these fantastic cars can be modified to suit a vast range of applications, from fast road use to race and rally.

Adventures in a helicopterAdrian Bleese spent twelve years flying on police helicopters, and attended almost 3,000 incidents, as one of only a handful of civilian air observers working anywhere in the world.In Above The Law he recounts the most intriguing, challenging, amusing and downright baffling episodes in his careerworking for Suffolk Constabulary and the National Police Air Service. Rescuing lost walkers, chasing cars down narrow country lanes, searching for a rural cannabis factory and disrupting an illegal forest rave...they're all in a day's work.It's a side of policing that most of us never see, and he describes it with real compassion as he lives his dream job, indulging his love of flying, the English landscape and helping people. Perhaps more than anything, it's a story about hope.

Freelance travel writer and Lonely Planet guidebook contributor Tim Richards decides to shake up his life by taking an epic rail journey across Australia. Jumping aboard iconic trains like the Indian Pacific, Overland, and Spirit of Queensland, he covers over 7,000 kilometres, from the tropics to the desert and from big cities to ghost towns. Tim's journey is one of classic travel highs and lows: floods, cancellations, extraordinary landscapes, and forays into personal and public histories-as well as the steady joy of random strangers encountered along the way.

All photos Tim LavisUnited car driver1993 2010

The North East has been a hotbed of motorsport since the early years of the last century. In this book motorsport broadcaster and journalist Larry Carter presents a selection of memorable motorsport events, competitors, venues and personalities in the region from the 1920s onwards. The circuit at Croft is justly famous, witnessing the early days of stars such as James Hunt, Barry Sheene, Niki Lauda and Wilson Fittipaldi, but the huge variety of motorsports, both cars and bikes, in the region are represented in this book, including circuit racing, rallying, rallycross and trials. The North East has spawned many great racers over the years, both men and women, some of whom died tragically young, such as motorcyclist Ken Redfern and sidecar legend Mac Hobson. Also included are famous clubs such as the Darlington & District Motor Cub and lesser-known venues at Catterick military base and Albemarle Barracks. This book is also a tribute to events that have declined or disappeared - grass track racing, sand racing on the Cleveland beaches, hill-climbs, scrambling, speedway and stock car racing. Delving through archives, Larry Carter has unearthed a fascinating collection of the most memorable motor-sporting events and achievements of the last 100 years in the North East which will appeal to all motorsport enthusiasts in the area.

Manchester and its surrounds, such as Bolton, Wigan, Rochdale, Oldham and Stockport, have always been a haven for bus enthusiasts, with a wide variety of operators and liveries to be seen. Deregulation in 1986 changed the scene dramatically with the appearance of numerous independent companies - some of which were short-lived while others survived for many years or were swallowed up by the major national conglomerates such as Arriva, FirstBus and Stagecoach. Added to the mix is the Metrolink tramway system, which continues to grow and now reaches the airport where numerous buses can also be seen. Never failing to fascinate, and a city whose transport continually changes, Manchester is always worthy of a visit and can be recommended to all transport enthusiasts whether their interests are buses, rail or air.

Philip Wallis visited West and East Yorkshire with his camera in 1962. What he didn't know at the time was that he would capture on film a sector of the bus industry that was about to be lost forever. The area's two largest independents, Samuel Ledgard and West Riding, would be sold to the nationalised Transport Holding Company within five years. British Electric Traction group companies would be merged with the Transport Holding Company to form the National Bus Company in 1969. Under government directive to create larger operating units, most of the area's municipal operators were destined to be absorbed into massive Passenger Transport Executives in 1974. Rigid standardisation would then become the order of the day. This book illustrates and describes the fascinating range of municipal, company and independent operators that could be seen in West and East Yorkshire sixty years ago. Vehicle variety of the time is highlighted by twenty different makes of bus, trolleybus and coach displayed among the 180 images.

In this book, MG Y Type owner and expert Neil Cairns provides the reader with a detailed history of the development of the MG Y as well as descriptions of the different models - the YA, the YT and the YB. Based on his own twenty-five years' experience of owning and driving an MG Y, the book is packed with advice, hints and tips for buying and owning this classic post-war MG saloon. Although based on a pre-war body design, the MG Y Type was more radical than it looked. It was the first MG with independent front suspension, the first MG with rack and pinion steering and the first with a left-hand drive option. This book covers the development of the XPAG engine as well as other mechanical information covering the gearbox, chassis and rear axle. There is also a chapter on restoration and how to deal with corrosion.

This biography uncovers the life of Selwyn Francis Edge, invariably known simply as ‘SF’, the important pioneer of motoring in Britain.