A safe mode of transport today, the railways were far from vehicles of sleepy commute when they first came into service; indeed, accidents were commonplace and sometimes were a result of something far more sinister. In this fresh approach to railway history, Rosa Matheson explores the grim and grisly railway past.

These horrible happenings include memorable disasters and accidents, the lack of burial grounds for London’s dead, leading to the ‘Necropolis Railway’, the gruesome necessity of digging up the dead to accommodate the railways and how the discovery of dynamite gave rise to the ‘Dynamite Wars’ on the London Underground in the 1880s and 1890s. Join Rosa as she treads carefully through the fascinating gruesome history of Britain’s railways.

Dr ROSA MATHESON is Swindon’s best-known railway author. A long-time enthusiast of Swindon Works, GWR and women’s railway history, she has a large collection of memorabilia, has written a number of books and articles, and is active in presenting talks to the community. She has previously written Death, Dynamite and Disaster: A Grisly Railway History, Terror in the Tunnels, The GWR Story, Apprenticeship and Training in GWR’s Swindon Works, TRIP: The Annual Holiday for GWR’s Swindon Works, and The Fair Sex: Women and the GWR for The History Press.