Those wishing to embark on railway history research are well served by a huge selection of books.

While a full list of books would run into tens of thousands, we have picked out a small selection which may be of interest.

= recommended

ABC Railway Accidents
Stanley Hall [Ian Allan, 1997, ISBN 0 7110 2549 5]
The ABC pocket book by Stanley Hall, detailing significant 20th century rail accidents, presented by region with full details of cause and effect.

Battle for the North - The Tay and Forth Bridges and the 19th Century Railway Wars
Charles McKean [Granta, 2007, ISBN 1862079404]
Charles McKean offers conclusions about why the first Tay Bridge collapsed and tells how the Forth and Tay bridges eventually became reality. He follows the railway battle for Scotland from 1845-95 and the people it involved: from the Victorian entrepreneurs, poets, journalists, lawyers, town councils; to the engineers, briggers, excavators and rivet boys; to the pioneering and inventive contractor William Arrol - who constructed the bridges that stand today.

Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silvery Tay: Reinvestigating the Tay Bridge Disaster of 1879
Peter R Lewis [Tempus, 2004, ISBN 0 7524 3160 9]
The book describes in great detail the events leading up to the Tay bridge disaster of 1879. The subsequent public Inquiry provides the answers to why the disaster occurred, which the author provides in the form of extracts from the main witnesses. The reinvestigation confirms their conclusions that the bridge was badly designed, built and maintained.

Beyond Hidden Dangers: Railway Safety into the 21st Century
Stanley Hall [Ian Allan, 2003, ISBN 0 7110 2915 6]
An excellent analysis, by renowned expert Stanley Hall, of accidents and safety developments during the last years of the 20th century, following rail privatisation.

Broken Rails: How Privatisation Wrecked Britain's Railways
Christian Wolmar [Aurum Press, 2001, ISBN 1 8541 0857 3]
The best account yet of the botched privatisation of Britain's railways; with a host of insider material, and accounts of the Hatfield crash fallout and the subsequent administration of Railtrack that have to be read to be believed.

Danger Signals: An Investigation into Modern Railway Accidents
Stanley Hall [Ian Allan, 1987, ISBN 0 7110 1704 2]
Railway safety expert Stanley Hall gives a detailed analysis of major accidents from 1945 to the 1980s.

Disaster Down the Line: Train Accidents of the 20th Century
J. A. B. Hamilton [Javelin, 1987, ISBN 0 71387 1973 7]

Disaster on the Dee: Robert Stephenson's Nemesis of 1847
Peter R Lewis [Tempus, 2007, ISBN 0 7524 4266 X]
This book presents a look at one of the first major railway disasters in Britain, the fall of the Dee bridge in May 1847, which occurred just outside Chester with the loss of five lives. The main line from Holyhead to Chester had only been opened six months before, and the chief engineer Robert Stephenson was slated nationally (almost being accused of manslaughter) as his cast-iron bridge had failed so catastrophically.

Electric Trains in Britain
B.K. Cooper [Ian Allan, 1979]
An excellent in-depth look at the development of electrification in Britain, focusing on technical aspects of rolling stock, supply and distribution equipment.

Great Train Disasters
Geoffrey Kichenside [Parragon, 1997, ISBN 0-7525-2229-9]

Harrow & Wealdstone 50 Years On: Clearing Up the Aftermath
Peter Tatlow [Oakwood Press, 2002, ISBN 0 8536 1593 4]

Historic Railway Disasters
O. S. Nock [Ian Allan, 1983, ISBN 0 7110 0109 X]

Obstruction Danger: Significant British Railway Accidents 1890-1986
Adrian Vaughan [Guild Publishing, 1989, ISBN 1 8526 0055 1]

On the Wrong Line: How Ideology and Incompetence Wrecked Britain's Railways
Christian Wolmar [Aurum Press, 2005, ISBN 978-1854109989]
Christian Wolmar's updated account of the botched privatisation of Britain's railways; with a host of insider material, and accounts of the Hatfield crash fallout and the subsequent administration of Railtrack that have to be read to be believed.

Red for Danger: The Classic History of British Railway Disasters
L.T.C. Rolt [Sutton Publishing, 1957, ISBN 978-0750948074]
The classic text for those interested in railway accidents, their causes, and the safety systems which evolved as a result.

Signals to Danger: Railway Accidents at Newcastle upon Tyne and in Northumberland 1851-1992
J. A. Wells [Northumberland County Library, 1992, ISBN 1 8740 2007 8]

Snow, Flood & Tempest: Railways and Natural Disasters
P. J. C. Ransom [Ian Allan, 2001, ISBN 0 7110 2833 8]

The Age of the Electric Train
J.C. Gillham [Ian Allan, 1988]
A superb study of the rise of electrification in Britain; from the humble pioneer Volks Railway, up to (almost) the present day.

The Crash that Stopped Britain
Ian Jack [Granta, 2001, ISBN 1 8620 7468 2]

The Oxford Companion to British Railway History
Jack Simmons & Gordon Biddle [Oxford University Press, 1997]
The 'bible' of British railway history; nearly 600 pages packed with all aspects of the economic, political, social and technical development of the system, presented an encyclopaedic format.

Tracks to Disaster
Adrian Vaughan [Ian Allan, 2003, ISBN 0 7110 2985 7]

Trains to Nowhere: British Steam Train Accidents 1906-1960
J. A. B. Hamilton [George Allen & Unwin, 1981, ISBN 0 0438 5084 7]

Wheels to Disaster!: The Oxford Train Wreck of Christmas Eve 1874
Peter R Lewis [Tempus, 2008, ISBN 0 7524 4512 X]
The development of railways in Britain came in the 1830s as a result of the needs of industry and of the public eager for the novelty and cheapness of rail travel. These early railways were beset by accidents caused by collisions and mechanical failure, and the 1870s produced more disasters than any other decade before or since. On Christmas Eve in 1874 the worst accident in the history of the GWR occurred at Shipton-on-Cherwell, several miles from Oxford, when the 10 a.m. from London Paddington to Birkenhead derailed, killing thirty-four passengers.

For more in the way of books, researchers would be well advised to start at their local library. From there, you will be able to search the library collections of your region for suitable material.