The story of the Birmingham to Gloucester line really began when the London & Birmingham Railway, with Robert Stephenson as its engineer, opened to the capital of the Midlands in 1838. The following year, another future section of the Midland Railway was authorised, this being the Birmingham & Gloucester Railway. Gloucester was already approached from the south by the Bristol & Gloucester Railway, this having developed from the Bristol & Gloucestershire Railway, a horse-worked coal tramway connecting mines at Coalpit Heath with Bristol. The Birmingham & Gloucester was taken over by the Midland Railway in 1845, the line becoming part of the London Midland & Scottish Railway in 1923 and British Railways in 1948. Colin G. Maggs, one of the country's leading railway historians, tells the full story of this line right from its inception up to the present day. As well as detailing its history, he describes the line, its locomotives, rolling stock and train services. Well-known features of the line, including the famous Lickey Incline, are also covered in this wide-ranging book, featuring over 100 illustrations.