The late Tom Rolt was one of the very best, if not the best, writers on British engineering history, and engineering matters. He was instrumental in starting the canal preservation movement, the railway preservation movement, being General Manager of the Talyllyn Railway for the first year of its existence, and led the campaign to preserve the Tasker collection of road steam vehicles, which indirectly led to the brilliant Milestones Museum in Basingstoke, to name just three. Every one of his books is well worth reading.