When King George V ascended to the throne in 1910, world trade was increasing and at home the country’s private enterprise railways were booming with larger trains and more freight being carried than ever before. Over the next fifty years the country had experienced not one, but two world wars. Railways had been forcefully reorganized, not once but twice, eventually becoming state owned. With the Government now in control of the railway’s finances, reformation was on the horizon in the medicine of Dr. Beeching. This volume sets out to chart the passage of the railways during these turbulent times. Contrary to popular belief, life on the railways during these times was not all doom and gloom but times of innovation, competition, new buildings, new lines and the spread of electrification. This was the era of faster, larger, non-stop expresses, streamlined trains: we even showcased our best trains abroad, not once but twice! More and more people were taking holidays by trains and holiday camps emerged. Challenging the position of steam engines were new diesel locomotives. The Festival of Britain (1951) and the Coronation of Elizabeth (1953) saw the country emerge from the devastation and crippling debt after World War 2. On the horizon were devastating rivals that wounded the previously unassailable position of steam trains: motor lorries and family cars. With looming unsustainable finances, the Government solicited external help to help sort out matters.

This fascinating selection of photographs traces some of the many ways in which Butlins has changed and developed over the last century.

Our True Intent Is All For Your Delight features the vintage color photographs of the John Hinde postcard company, originally made in the 1970s for sale as postcards and published here in book form for the first time. Butlin's was a network of Holiday Camps that revolutionized the British holiday in the years following World War II and, by the 1970s, was attracting a million people each year. The John Hinde team of photographers documented Butlin's glamorous and kitsch bars and ballrooms with technical brilliance and with the participation of large casts of holidaymakers. Precursors to the art photography of Andreas Gursky and Jeff Wall, these images are simultaneously heart-warming and hilarious, with dazzling design and color. They are a unique social-historical record of Britain in the early 1970s, described by Martin Parr in his introduction as "some of the strongest images of Britain of the period." Martin Parr is a leading figure in British and European photography and a jackdaw collector of images and -postcards. Born in Epsom, Surrey, in 1952, he spent two summer breaks from college working as a "walkie" photographer at Butlin's, snapping holidaymakers for their family albums. His encounter at Butlin's with John Hinde's postcards helped determine his own style, and he came to fame in 1986 with color-saturated scenes of working-class British holidaymakers, The Last Resort. Author of over 30 photography books, his retrospective was shown at the Barbican Art Gallery, London, in 2002. He is a member of Magnum Photos, and his work has been collected by museums throughout the world, including the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Philadelphia Museum and the Museums of Modern Art in New York and San Francisco.

Exquisite drawings of locomotives, carriages, and stations offering unparalleled insight into the design and operation of the British railway system.