While there are lots of railway books for very young readers, there is very little to follow on and maintain their interest as they grow older and more enquiring.

The major part of this book is a story about a railway but there is also some simple technical, or how-it-works, information. The intention is for the story to interest the reader first, with the information there to feed the interest and answer some questions.

It is not at all necessary to look at the technical pages to understand the story and these pages are all in a boundary box to make it clear that they are something different. They are spread through the book, at the end of chapters where they are most relevant.

This is the first book in a new series.

Peter’s Railway is a story about a young boy who lives with his family in a cottage at the edge of his Grandpa’s farm. It is quite a long way by road between their two houses and Grandpa does not own a car. So to make visiting each other easier, they build a miniature steam railway across the farm.

They have some adventures along the way and use all sorts of machines and tools to help them in their great building project. When they are having a rest, Grandpa tells Peter some stories from the old times on the railways.

The story ends with the grand opening ceremony with the first steam train running the full length of the scenic railway, through the fields, woods and past the river.

Hardback, 96 pages with 30 watercolour pictures. There are 14 pages of simple technical drawings to explain, add interest and answer questions.

Book 1 the things explained are: Why railways do not have steep hills. How a spirit level works and how one is used to make the track level. How track is constructed, including how the joints allow the rails to expand on hot days. How the wheels keep the train on the tracks. Couplings and buffers. How the boiler makes the steam. How the steam is used to drive pistons and turn the wheels to pull a train. At the end of the book is a glossary of special words.