Andrew Martin

Railway historian and novelist Andrew Martin talks a nostalgic look back at a time when the seaside getaway was intertwined with the train and millions of urban dwellers were lured by posters carrying the words ‘to the sea by train’.

Martin describes how the trains throughout the 20th century carried people from smog-ridden cities to the fresh air of sandy coves. He looks at how places such as Brighton and Scarborough developed into pleasure resorts and at the arrival of bank holidays and two-day weekends. Martin also traces the arrival of cheap air flights and the subsequent decline of the British seaside resort.

Martin is author of non-fiction titles including Night Trains, Bells and Whistles, Steam Trains Today, Seats of London, Train Teasers and Underground, Overground. He also writes the Substack Reading on Trains.