Böcker utgivna av Mortons Books

Join author Richard Clarke as he takes a nostalgic look back at the railways and rock music of yesteryear. Rock 'n' Rail chronicles the changing scene of the rail industry from steam to privatisation - and the music industry from ballad through pop to rock.Privately educated in a third-rate public school and rejecting the silver spoon of the family business, Richard instead chose a route through rock music and railways.His career in rail began with stints working signal boxes from the mid-to-late 1960s, just in time to witness the end of main line steam, before a radical career shift in 1969 saw him managing the hippest rock bands in Soho, London. Three years later, he was back working as a signalman, spending the 1970s on boxes across the East Midlands and beyond. During the 1980s he was promoted into management at British Rail before it was all-change again with the advent of privatisation.Never entirely sure which profession he preferred, Richard nonetheless took a lead role in both through the halcyon years of the 60s and 70s heavy rock period and the catastrophic privatisation years of Thatcher. This is his tale.

With its rugged landscapes and islands, getting around in Scotland isn't always easy - with public transport often providing the most cost-effective means of going from A to B. But the challenges of providing these services have always been considerable and going above and beyond the call of duty has been a way of life for many of the staff responsible.In Scotland's Bus and Ferry Services, author John Whittle provides a fascinating retrospective, based on years of experience within the industry, of public transport undertakings from the 1950s to the 1980s. He provides a peek behind the scenes of Scotland's bus and ferry provision, with a focus on operations, fleets, finance and policy.There also reflections on the influence of politicians, civil servants and quangos - which did not always prove beneficial to those who relied on public transport to go about their daily lives nor to the dedicated staff who, in most cases, served with efficiency and dedication.Complete with more than 100 illustrations of Glasgow, Central S.M.T. and Caledonian BacBrayne fleets, as well as Scottish Bus Group, Scotland's Bus and Ferry Services is essential reading for students of transport, historians and those with an affection for Scotland during those halcyon days.

The most produced fighter aircraft in history, and arguably the single most important German aircraft of the Second World War, the Messerschmitt Bf 109 was unquestionably the most advanced fighter in the world when it first flew in May 1935. The scale of the development and production effort by Messerschmitt and its subcontractors over the next ten years to fulfil the operational needs of the Luftwaffe resulted in a seemingly endless variety of modifications to every aspect of the aircraft, from engines and weapons down to radios and tailwheels. Political gamesmanship and often heated discussions between Luftwaffe leaders and Messerschmitt company representatives, striving to keep their most successful product relevant in the face of ever-increasing Allied threats, also had a role to play in the developmental history of the Bf 109. In Messerschmitt Bf 109 - Origins and Evolution, historian Lynn Ritger examines in detail the development of the Bf 109 family across its entire lifespan, from the first flight of the Bf 109 V1 to the last operational flight of a Spanish Hispano Ha 1112 M in 1965. Drawing upon original documentation from archival sources, including RLM meeting minutes and planning documents, intelligence reports, production records, factory handbooks, and front-line unit reports, Ritger traces the technical history of the Bf 109, illustrating prototype and service variant development, production batch differences, internal and external equipment and ordnance fitment, factory specific equipment and finish details, postwar variants developed in Czechoslovakia and Spain, and unrealised design proposals