Think of this book as a spanner which loosens history’s rusted nuts and bolts to open a peep-hole into the past. For herein lies your ticket to the rural world of a Victorian railway stationmaster who confides in us his day-to-day thoughts and feelings as he strives to serve his community. Whilst the grand pen of history will waste no ink upon this simple soul, his observations and reflections illuminate wonderfully how Britain’s railways, along with many other burgeoning industries, were fast alleviating the blight of mass poverty. Fledgling stationmaster, Horace Ignatius Jay, struggles to gain mastery over artful railway employees, devious moorland peasants, demanding local dignitaries, and a baffling new telegraph system. All this while chasing down, courting, and eventually marrying Upshott’s ‘belle in white lace’.
