To the Sea by Train

Throughout the summer months of the twentieth century, the seaside service posters of the London & North Eastern Railway promised fresh air and frivolity to millions with the phrase: 'To the sea by train'.

The British seaside holiday is both a staple of modern life and a charming pillar of history. It is also intertwined with the railways, in whose compartments holidaymakers were shunted from gloomy inner cities to the sandy beaches of Yorkshire and Sussex - some of whom had never seen the sea before.

With his signature wit and ear for anecdote, Andrew Martin captures an era defined by its railways: the development of supposedly health-giving spas like Brighton and Scarborough into pleasure resorts; Bank Holidays from 1871; the 48-hour weekend in the 1930s; the Beeching cuts of the 1960s and the coming of cheap flights and the decline of the seaside.

Wayward, witty and atmospheric, To the Sea by Train is a joyful history of Britain's most iconic past-time.