#howtherailwayswillfixthefuture
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garethdennis.uk
What weird and wonderful places have you seen it? Keep sending me those pictures of #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture out in the wild!

For example: Holdfast Bookshop in Leeds in their former coal barge!
it's a coal barge but it's also a bookshop, sat surrounded by new, tall residential towers the book, held to camera, inside a coal barge
June 7, 2026 at 7:43 AM
garethdennis.uk
Something that's been really great to keep hearing isn't just that @nytransitmuseum.bsky.social always have a few copies of #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture on the go, but that they've been stocking it consistently since the book launched! ❤️
a street level subway entrance with steps dropping into the deep, painted nicely and looking smart a copy of Gareth's book with another on the shelf behind it, surrounded by other rail and urban history books
June 7, 2026 at 7:43 AM
garethdennis.uk
Radicalising one state at a time.

Next up: get Waterstones to buy the old IMechE building and then fill all the windows facing One Horseguards Parade with a thousand copies of #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture. We'll get 'em one way or another.
smolponydaz.bsky.social Daz Clyde @smolponydaz.bsky.social · May 25
I meant to tell you, last time i was in my LBS i asked after your book and they said every time they stock it it sells out. The shop is 1 block from the California state capitol bldg~
May 25, 2026 at 3:57 PM
garethdennis.uk
After nearly two years I'm FINALLY able to go into random bookshops and find a copy of #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture with some reliability! Which means, at long last, GUERILLA BOOK SIGNING ✍️
a colourful array of books in the transport and general politics corner of a bookshop closer in on the transport section nice and close on one shelf with the bright red How The Railways Will Fix The Future book spine on vivid show next to other railway books of varying quality the front page of the book, opened and signed with a message of thanks from the author for buying a physical copy
May 24, 2026 at 5:58 PM
garethdennis.uk
Ha, that one is good as well!! #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture covers it in some detail, but there's another research project in the pipeline that will go into much greater detail on the subject.

(first one kicked off in 2021 with NRM/York uni inspired by my writing: www.york.ac.uk/news-and-eve...)
Links between railways and slavery to be explored in new research project
Universities and museums across Yorkshire and the North of England will explore the links between the railways and the global slave trade as part of a new research project.
www.york.ac.uk
April 17, 2026 at 7:11 PM
garethdennis.uk
...and then deepened my hypothesis for Book One: #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture
However, the subsequent explosion in railway development was not simply a consequence of the technological pieces falling into place. At the same time, the transatlantic slave trade was being wound down in Britain. Directed towards an already proven and now refined technology was an entire industry of business interests, personnel, expertise and — to a smaller but no less significant extent — capital from slave-won activities or post-abolition slave-owner compensation. When redirected into the railways, their expansion accelerated unstoppably.
August 28, 2025 at 8:12 PM
garethdennis.uk
You don't know you need it till you read it...
#HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture
vanmanyo.bsky.social Vanmanyo @vanmanyo.bsky.social · Jul 2
Finally caved in to get @garethdennis.uk's book!
July 2, 2025 at 11:31 AM
fabthepodcast.bsky.social
#FAB #Podcast #FABPodcast #Thunderbirds #GerryAnderson #TracyIsland #AtlanticInferno #Supermarionation #1960s #retro #newlook #series2 #gyropedo #InternationalRescue #howtherailwayswillfixthefuture
June 5, 2025 at 6:13 AM
garethdennis.uk
for those new to it: meet the #CanltGoBust rule
(extracts from #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture)
It is, however, worth looking at how I can so quickly and hand-wavingly come to my answer. Let's start by using a simple rule that I like to apply to this question for any sizeable entity. It's the "Can it go bust?" rule. If indeed when a Class 1 railroad or a national infrastructure operator goes bankrupt or into administration, does government let it fall over and allow the market to respond freely? No, they absolutely do not. When COVID-19 meant existing revenue models just broke, did governments let the private operators of public transport collapse? No, they backed them up with significant grant funding. (Incidentally, the "Can it go bust?" rule works for everything. Water and electricity companies? If they fail the test, they should be state owned. Banks? Nope. Outsourcing agencies? No. Big tech companies? Decidedly not. Companies that make those little plastic bug things on a spring that pop up after a seemingly random duration? Yeah, those can go bust and can stay private. You get the picture.)
June 1, 2025 at 11:30 AM
garethdennis.uk
I always love the Parasocial Corner episodes of KJB, not least as they always give me tears... This time Devon didn't help by saying they were reading #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture and loving it. Hell of an endorsement 😭
open.spotify.com/episode/3gud...
S4E14: KJB Q&A #11
Kill James Bond! · Episode
open.spotify.com
May 16, 2025 at 10:29 AM
garethdennis.uk
This paragraph on Birmingham New Street in #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture feels particularly pertinent today - anyone got any photos of those fans?

Thoughts with staff and passengers dealing heroically with the consequences of extremely bad design from only a few years ago...
Perhaps the most embarrassing mistake made following the partial reversal of the burying of the station in the 1960s sits high above your head. A new roof was built spanning the concourse to bring in some natural light as part of the refurbishment works, and while it is architecturally innocuous, it uses a material more commonly employed in large greenhouses. Without the open ends usually associated with railway station train sheds, the sealed environment has had exactly the effect you might imagine: even moderate bit of sunlight results in temperatures climbing rapidly on the concourse, melting the confectionary in the Pret A Manger and-perhaps more egregiously boiling its occupants alive. Not a forward-thinking move as a changing climate brings us hotter and hotter days for more of the year.
April 30, 2025 at 5:13 PM
garethdennis.uk
#RateMyBuffers returns?
youtube.com/watch?v=zpgd...
The return of #RateMyBuffers? #railnatter #howtherailwayswillfixthefuture #travel #antwerp
YouTube video by Gareth Dennis
youtube.com
April 25, 2025 at 1:58 PM
garethdennis.uk
Anyway, if you're interested, I've been doing some plodding about nearby and had some thoughts...
youtu.be/FEltPKclg5k?...
20 million tonnes a year! #howtherailwayswillfixthefuture #railnatter
YouTube video by Gareth Dennis
youtu.be
April 21, 2025 at 7:38 AM
garethdennis.uk
(it's also covered with wider context in the book, for which a chunky extract is included here: repeaterzer0.substack.com/p/how-silico...) #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture
How Silicon Valley Broke the Railways
and How the Railways Will Fix the Future
repeaterzer0.substack.com
January 24, 2025 at 7:27 PM
garethdennis.uk
Because I'm very daft, I've only just spotted that Owen Hatherley wrote a delightful little review of #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture for Goodreads back in December...

You can read the review here: www.goodreads.com/book/show/20...
the goodreads rating, with 37 total ratings giving a score of 4.16 out of 5 an extract of a written review by Owen Hatherley, reading... "This is great - combining the popular genre of 'why (some, especially British) railways are a bit shit' with the surely much much more important task of 'why railways, which includes trams, are by far the least destructive and carbon-intensive mode of transport and should be properly funded, staffed and expanded'. lt's very comprehensive for a 250 page book, which sometimes makes it a slightly exhausting 'everything you ever wanted to ask about the future of railways, but it's also extremely well argued - and for once, with a book about the future written from the left, concrete, optimistic and plausible. Transport, as he outlines, is one of a few places (housing is another) where we actually know very well how to solve a particular problem, but refuse to do so due to sunk costs fallacies and the relatively low profitability of doing the right thing and in the vacuum, snake oil salesmen with ludicrously crap technologies..."
January 4, 2025 at 12:53 PM
simonzev.bsky.social
I have started reading #TheBook on this rammed #LNER service to London. Not a seat available on this service so thought it was as good a place as any to start…

#HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture #TrainTravel #TrainLife @garethdennis.bsky.social
December 27, 2024 at 3:06 PM
duncanbourne.bsky.social
Well look what was in my stocking yesterday! #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture .Also, respect to the workers of the #Fichtelbergbahn who run their steam trains every day of the year, even Christmas day!
Fichtelbergbahn Steam train in the snow, with a copy of Gareth Dennis' book alongside
December 26, 2024 at 1:21 PM
rcurrie.bsky.social
Just finished my self-gift of @garethdennis.bsky.social 's book #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture
A brisk and energizing account of the centrality of rail and a roadmap (rail map?) to reassert the relevance of rail in the 21st century.
Book cover with line drawing of curving rail track. text: Gareth Dennis How The Railways Will Fix The Future REDISCOVERING THE ESSENTIAL BRILLIANCE OF THE IRON ROAD
December 23, 2024 at 2:23 PM
engineermelo.bsky.social

2/2...It's a very easy read without jargon and, unusually for anything written about railways, very few acronyms (VFA).
Maybe you're organised and all your Christmas shopping's done, buy a copy as a gift for yourself!
#HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture
#railway #engineering #climatechange #politics
December 22, 2024 at 8:31 AM
garethdennis.uk
#HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture continues to be a bestseller in all the places I've got data for...

Including Amazon, which at the moment is one of the few places you can actually buy it thanks to them buying up the last of the second print run! A perfect lazy xmas gift 🎁
a screenie from the Amazon website, showing my book with a best seller tag against it another screen shot from Amazon, showing my book second in a list of other railway books
December 20, 2024 at 6:45 PM
garethdennis.uk
Did I mention I've got a book out? #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture is all about how we get the best out of what we've got today and how to know what to build for tomorrow (among many other things)... And it looks like this:
it's a red and white book, held aloft in sharp focus with an out of focus green and grey train interior behind
December 18, 2024 at 4:24 PM
tonstadtlagerplatz.bsky.social
One of the many facts that stood out for me in #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture by @garethdennis.bsky.social was how many railway companies there are in Germany. By coincidence I have just stumbled upon this picture in my Twitter archive. Don't know how up to date it is but interesting.
#railways
December 18, 2024 at 10:13 AM
smsm1.mastodon.green.ap.brid.gy
Taking @GarethDennis 's #howtherailwayswillfixthefuture on the Caledonian sleeper now.

Falkirk Grahamston so I really should get to sleep quickly so that I get a reasonable amount of sleep before morning.
The book called how the railways will fix the future held up in a pose in the foreground on a rail station platform with the Caledonian sleeper train carriage in the background including the name of the train company being visible. It's dark so the scene is lit by the station lighting.
December 5, 2024 at 1:04 AM
smsm1.mastodon.green.ap.brid.gy
Past few nights I've asked the 5 year old what bedtime story he'd like and it's a confident #howtherailwayswillfixthefuture and some other kids book.
December 4, 2024 at 3:35 AM
garethdennis.uk
Ah yes, just another jaunty shot of #HowTheRailwaysWillFixTheFuture in a railway setting... No, of course not! I finally had a chance to give @mrtimdunn.bsky.social his copy.
it's the little red and white book, held aloft by a slightly out of focus Tim Dunn off of the television, within the vast cathedral of Farringdon Crossrail station
December 3, 2024 at 7:22 PM