The Birsigthalbahn by Bryan A Stone

The new SRS book on ‘The Birsigthalbahn’ is more than a conventional history and operational review of a small Swiss rural railway. It charts the history from its unlikely start as a hybrid tramway/railway serving a quiet rural area southwest of Basel to its modern incarnation as a part of the essential transport network that serves Switzerland’s second city. More than a simple review of the line it is also a social history of the area the line served, and the way the railway transformed it into its modern form as an integral part of the Greater Basel area. A good read and a welcome change from the usual genre of ‘Branch Line Book’.