WHEN it comes to railway books the publishing world seems to have an insatiable appetite. No sooner is one new book pulled down from the bookshop shelf to peruse when another one arrives to take its place. If only the British railway system could be just as efficient!

One of the latest is 'Britain's Bizarre Railways' by Robin Jones, which will not only appeal to the rail enthusiast but to any reader in general as it is a well researched and presented book, full of relevant illustrations - both historical and contempory.

So when it comes to trains what is the bizarre? There were the slate trains of the Festiniog Railway in West Wales, which from 1833 to 1836 ran on just gravity, rolling 13 miles from mountain to harbour on a 1 in 80 gradient. Also in Festiniog a railway carriage powered only by a large sail, which served as its boat loving inventor, Charles Spooner, personal inspection saloon. There are also many examples of 'car' railways, where road vehicles have been converted to rail.

One man, that many must envy, built a three and a half inch railway in his back 12 acre 'garden.' He went on to acquire a 5ft gauge Finnish 4-6-2 engine - that is taller and wider than British Pacifics locomotives including the Flying Scotsman and Mallard.

There are many examples from Devon of the bizarre British railway too. That great engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, had plans to built a 52 mile 'atmospheric' railway in South Devon from Exeter to Teignmouth - a Brunel 'hooverway.' Although in the 1840s the railway achieved some success in the late 1840s the costs, compared to steam, did not make it profitable.

At Haytor, at the eastern edge of Dartmoor, there is 'the ultimate green line' - a 'railway' track of granite blocks hewn out of local quarries, which unlike conventional rails would never rust away. In the early 19th century a network of six branch lines with eight and a half mile of tramway descended from Haytor to Ventiford basin at the northern end of Stover Canal, where the granite cargo was carried on to Teignmouth to export by ship.

Printed by Halsgrove Britain's Bizarre Railway costs £14.99 and available from bookshops or Halsgrove direct on 01823 653777. ISBN 978 0 85704 0220.

JOHN HUTCHINS