It is the location of all our hopeful beginnings and intended ends; an institution with its own rituals and priests; and a long-neglected aspect of Britain's architecture- the railway station.

Bestselling historian Simon Jenkins has travelled the length and breadth of the country to select this joyous celebration of our social history. With his usual insight and authority, he describes the history, geography, design and significance of each of these glories; explores their role in the national imagination; champions the engineers, architects and rival companies that made them possible; and tells the story behind the development, triumphs and follies of these very British creations.

From Waterloo to Whitby, St Pancras to Stirling, these are the marvellous, often undersung places that link our nation. All aboard!