READER REVIEWS

This book took me by surprise (in a soft, gradual way) and I couldn’t help wishing I could time-shift Stationmaster Jay to get his reaction to today’s railways. What a sci-fi styled sequel that would make. I would describe this book as an oasis of amusement in an overcast world and a read worthy of anyone’s time.

This novel actually is novel. I’ve just finished reading it and I feel like I’ve spent a year right inside a Victorian stationmaster’s head. Some will love this book. I’ve been looking for more books like it but so far without success.

To my mind, this story takes a while to gain traction, but it rewards perseverance and on the whole I found it very rewarding to read. I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone because it’s not a thriller opening with a fire-cracker of a mystery which is doomed to an implausible explanation, but a work of daily actuality laced with good humour. Very much a marmite job, I would say.

A pleasure to read. Very atmospheric. Difficult to believe it’s fiction.

I enjoyed reading this book. It was interesting to read how the early railways operated.

I have never been that long ago in the past until now.

Great fun to read about how a railway stationmaster managed the collision between scientific progress and baffled simpletons out in the sticks. Especially amusing as he was often baffled himself.

This book proves the value of public libraries. I would never have thought to buy it but I enjoyed it immensely. If there’s ever a sequel, I’ll cough up and pay for it!

A fascinating read. I was intrigued by the railway’s financially unviable services to the community which, I have since read, were not uncommon in the early days of branchlines. I also learned how the absorption of these little lines by the big railway companies killed off all public-spirited amenity in favour of maximising profit. A sign of things to come.

An immersive read