This book provides an insight into how, over the last 200 years, London’s Docklands and its railways have changed beyond all recognition.

The author tells how acres of water and endless lines of cranes have been replaced by countless examples of 21st-century architecture, helped by similar advances in the area’s railways, such as the Docklands Light Railway and the Elizabeth Line.

Published in July 2022 by Pen & Sword and written by Jonathan Willis, this hardback book measures around 22 cm x 29 cm, and has 160 pages, 20 black-and-white and 96 colour photographs, and extensive maps and diagrams.

It has a published price of £30.00, but at the time of writing it can be purchased for £24.83 from Amazon.

The book has 13 chapters, with the first four covering the rise and fall of London’s docks and its railways; early plans for expanding London’s railways through the area; and developing the East London and North London lines.

The next seven chapters concentrate on the development of the Docklands Light Railway and Canary Wharf, and Chapter 12 describes the history of the Elizabeth Line.

The final chapter provides a brief history of 180 years of dock railways, but the chapter title should have specified it was only concerned with London’s dock railways.

Large-scale maps in Chapter 1 clearly show railways and stations serving the docks, but they mostly omit much of the internal railway infrastructure, such as the map on the right below of Millwall Docks.

There is no indication that an engine shed was located within this area, even though it was one of three that maintained the Port of London Authority’s fleet of locomotives.

There are three chapters specifically about the Docklands Light Railway. The pages below are taken from the chapter describing the railway’s extension to Beckton and Lewisham, but the map omits the branch from Canning Town to Woolwich Arsenal.

It seems odd that a book supposedly about London’s docks should devote 26 pages to the Elizabeth Line which, except for the branch from Whitechapel to Abbey Wood, does not travel through any part of the former docklands area as seen on the maps below.

The branch to Abbey Wood is the only part of the Elizabeth Line that runs through the area formerly occupied by London’s docklands, but instead of including a photograph of one of the line’s trains on the Abbey Wood branch, the author has included the photograph at the top right taken at Reading, 45 miles away.

As a book that describes the background to the redevelopment of London’s Docklands and the railways that have supported its redevelopment, this is superbly written and produced.

It tells of the many plans to extend the Capital’s railways through the area, and how the new Docklands Light Railway and Elizabeth Line evolved.

However, the book suffers from a rather misleading title, as only 20 pages are devoted to the actual docks and their railways. In its prime, the Port of London Authority operated an extensive railway system that had a fleet of locomotives and three engine sheds.

The book does include maps showing the layout of railways in some of the docks, and a few photographs of trains and stations in the early 20th century, but there is no mention of the Port of London Authority’s vast railway network.

For anyone wishing to know more about the background and development of the Docklands Light Railway and the Elizabeth Line, this will be a valuable addition to their library.

As a volume about railways within London’s docks when they were operational, there is little to commend it, especially as its title misleadingly infers the book is about the railways of London Docklands. As such, it merits a rating of 4/5.

The book is available to purchase from Amazon and from Pen & Sword.

We would like to thank Pen & Sword for providing us with a copy of the book for review.