The Stainmore line was the highest of the several trans-Pennine rail routes, its summit at Stainmore being 1370 feet above sea level. It was also the most spectacular, with magnificent viaducts and bridges. The author illustrates and describes the line in detail from Barnard Castle to Tebay, together with its associated branches, from opening in the 1860s by the North Eastern Railway, to closure under the Beeching "Axe" in 1962. The book features comprehensive photographic coverage of trains in action, the motive power used, stations, goods sheds, bridges and viaducts; scale drawings of stations and structures specially drawn for this work, making it an essential reference for the modeller; numerous maps, track plans, documents and illustrations of sundry railway items - lamps, tickets, tokens and notices; illustrations from the earliest days of the line through to the abandoned trackbed and derelict buildings of recent times; extensive photographic coverage of the now-demolished Belah Viaduct.
The line is well known to railway enthusiasts through the famous British Transport film "Snowdrift at Bleath Gill" which portrayed the rescue of a train stuck in snow near the summit for nearly a week.