Celebrate the days when trains were trains, individual expresses had their own character, serving their passengers in style in the restaurant car, and connecting services ran over picturesque branch lines that were a very part of the countryside they served. RAILWAY SEASON captures all our railway yesterdays with panache. This is indeed a railway book like no other, a portfolio of word portraits by an enthusiast who knows his subject intimately and is never at a loss for a telling example. Though this is not specifically a book about the countryside, inevitably it looms large since even intercity trains run through it, as demonstrated in the chapter 'A country journey like no other', which also emphasizes the author's West Country background. But whatever your interest in railways and wherever your favourite part of the countryside, there is much here for you. The chapter on railways for pleasure perhaps sums it all up.