Exploring the "golden age" of trains - a period of privately owned, competitive railway companies - this book details the early explosion of competitive fervour which resulted in the carving-up of the English countryside to accommodate the new "iron horses". From those dramatic and turbulent beginnings, readers are led through the birth, demise and possible resurgence of the much loved and environmentally friendly rail-cars and trams, and behind the scenes of one of the busiest commuter systems in the world - the London Underground.