Bøker av Paul Hurley

'Sir William A. Stanier FRS' is a photographic celebration of the life and work of renowned railway engineer Sir William A. Stanier. His steam and diesel locomotives are iconic, and predominated in Britain from the 1930s to the end of steam in 1968.

Tragic tales of misfortune and disaster in historic Cheshire. This book will fascinate anyone who want to know more about the history of the area.

Commemorating the creation of the Big Four railway companies, 100 years ago

This collection of true-life crime stories gives a vivid insight into life in Cheshire in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

From its foundation as a Roman fort, Chester has played an important role in the history of north-west England. Close to the Welsh border, the city is still surrounded by an almost complete circuit of city walls, enclosing the cathedral, castle and many other ancient buildings, including the famous Rows of black and white half-timbered buildings. Chester continued its prominence into the industrial age, with the arrival first of the canal system then the railways. Today, the city of Chester has extended with new housing well beyond the city walls and redevelopments within the city, but still attracts many to its historic centre, its racecourse beside the River Dee and lively cultural scene. Chester Reflections features an exciting collection of historic and modern pictures that are individually merged to reveal how the area has changed over the decades. Each of the 180 pictures in this book combines a recent colour view of Chester with the matching sepia archive scene. Through the split-image effect, readers can see how streets, buildings, the docks and everyday life have transformed with the passing of time. Local author Paul Hurley presents this fascinating visual chronicle that ingeniously reflects past and present glimpses of Chester. This book will be of interest to residents, visitors, local historians and all those with links to the area.

Commemorating the anniversary of the end of steam railway traction in Britain 50 years ago

As the fifties faded away, sixties style swept Chester into the modern age.

An illustrated history of one of Britain's finest counties - Cheshire. Using photographs taken from the unique Historic England Archive.

Steam Nostalgia in the North of England is a pictorial story of British railways in the north of England, in those heady days when steam ruled the rails. In the 1950s it was decided to phase out steam on British railways and to modernise the system. At the time train spotting was very popular, mostly among schoolboys, who spent the majority of their free time engrossed in their hobby, bunking into railway sheds and avoiding the shedmaster to gain the excitement of climbing aboard one of these huge locomotives, as they sat cold or simmering in the bleak and dirty engine shed. They would also wait patiently by the side of the permanent way, hoping to 'cop' the few engines that had yet to be underlined in their Ian Allan ABC of British Railway Locomotives: the 2s 6d local edition or, if they could afford it, the Combined Volume at 10s. Some used the basic cameras of the day to photograph these behemoths of the silver road. This book takes the reader on a trip to such fondly remembered days, moving through the northern railways of the 1950s to the 1970s and taking in the last years of steam. Offering 180 previously unpublished photographs taken by Philip Braithwaite, a respected railway photographer with an extensive archive, Steam Nostalgia is narrated by Paul Hurley, a freelance writer with many books and articles to his name.

Macclesfield is an ancient Cheshire town that stands beneath the sprawling and beautiful Peak District. It is Cheshire's farthest outpost before taking the road into Derbyshire; many years ago it entered the Industrial Revolution in a more genteel manner by becoming a silk town. Here all manner of silk items were manufactured, such as the narrowest ribbons and the best of silks and satins. It is the perfect base from which to explore Macclesfield Forest and the Cheshire Peak District but the town itself has plenty to offer, including the Heritage Centre with its museums and tea room. Macclesfield History Tour is a unique insight into the illustrious history of the town, its well-known streets and famous faces, and explains what they meant to local people throughout the nineteenth and into the twentieth century. Readers are invited to follow a timeline of events and watch the changing face of Macclesfield as author Paul Hurley guides us through the local streets.

As the days of steam ended, other forms of power took over...