ABSTRACT
The study of railways and their history has too often been conducted in isolation, regarding them as a self-contained phenomenon as if they were a spectator sport. This is a pity, as it threatens the quality of that study, and it diminishes the esteem in which the subject itself is held. People involved with the railway heritage must expect jokes about anoraks, but should not despair or retreat into a corner. The subject is too important for that.
