As in all areas of cultural life, science history is subject to the vicissitudes of fashion. Some have noted that recently published work in the history of chemistry has not shown particular strength in nineteenth- and twentieth-century matters and, moreover, it has been particularly weak in its consideration of industrial areas. Russell and Hudson buck the trend in this survey, which might, from its title, be thought to appeal to the ‘anorak’ enthusiasts market. In fact, it provides a highly competent overview of an unconsidered area. Whatever one's prejudices might have been before opening the pages of the book, the reader discovers how, over nearly two centuries, scientific research and its application have played a key role in the technology, politics, economics and social history of arguably the most important transport system of its times.

Railway systems of trains drawn by steam locomotives were developed in the 1830s in the north of England (the book covers only the British experience). It became apparent that advice of a chemical nature was important if railways were to succeed: there were issues concerning iron, non-ferrous metals, lubricants, water, air quality and fuel. In fact, chemistry was to pervade many aspects of nineteenth-century industrial life and it is noteworthy that the Chemical Society was founded in 1841 and the Royal College of Chemistry four years later, both indicators that practitioners were becoming professionalized. Initially, railway companies employed such chemists as consultants. Water analysis became important because hard water produced deposits in boilers, which reduced their efficiency and in extreme cases could cause explosions. Railways could not choose to move their location to areas of soft water, so analysis of water samples was routinely conducted by the larger companies (William West of Leeds started this as early as 1835 for the Stockton and Darlington Railway) and methods of water-softening were devised for treating the huge quantities needed. The quality of air in tunnels with locomotives passing through was feared by some; chemists showed that they had nothing to worry about.

One of the common tasks assigned to the chemists was the analysis of iron rails. In the early days, wrought iron was used, but rails from this material were too soft and easily became worn. On the other hand, rails of cast iron (with high levels of carbon) were too brittle, and some other impurities had deleterious effects on their properties. It was at a time when railways were rapidly expanding that improved methods of steel production were devised by Bessemer in 1856, and by the late 1860s steel rails had become commonplace. Two railway companies even ran their own steelworks. Some samples made at Crewe and tested for their properties there and at Cammell's works in Sheffield were collected by the contemporary metallurgist John Percy and they survive in the Science Museum, London.

When the amount of chemical work grew to critical levels, railways started to employ specialists directly. The first ‘railway chemist’ was appointed to the London and North Western Railway at Crewe in 1864, and after a spell of the LNWR possessing the only railway laboratory others were soon established. The widespread scale of operations was impressive. A very helpful table in the book (developed from earlier work of others) shows where the laboratories were situated, when they were established and who was in charge of them. There were fourteen prior to the 1923 grouping, following which the four companies each identified a head chemist. ‘Rationalization’ followed nationalization in 1948, with British Rail running just four laboratories. In 1996, following the government's rather desperate privatization of railways, the story draws to a close with the operation of chemical laboratories being taken over by a newly founded firm of analytical consultants, Scientifics Ltd.

Early Railway Chemistry considers the nationally important advisory work of chemists, including arrangements which were made for coordination under wartime conditions, which included the occasional relaxation of rules concerning transport of dangerous goods, explosives in particular. The book also deals with the work chemists were required to perform when, increasingly, consignees of goods made claims (some mischievous) for damage, and it covers the more exotic tasks which chemists were assigned, such as advising on luminous paints for station name boards. In all these ways and many others, a subject largely untouched has been brought to our attention. There must be other examples of behind-the-scenes work of scientists which await revelation.