Abstract

This is the first book of its kind to examine railway heritage in the context of tourism in a comprehensive, internationally relevant manner. It explores the challenges faced by developers and operators of railway heritage destinations including financial, legal and managerial sustainability in the modern tourism industry. These themes are exemplified by a variety of case studies of railway heritage in tourism from regions around the world including North, Central and South America, the Caribbean, Europe, and Australasia. The volume will be of particular interest to scholars of cultural tourism as well as researchers and practitioners of industrial heritage tourism, along with graduate and senior undergraduate students.

To many people, railway travel encapsulates a romantic era of tourism, spanning little more than a century before being pushed sideways by the automobile and jet aircraft. This wonderful book belies this perception!! Rail travel as heritage is alive and well in contemporary tourism and these fascinating accounts illustrate the durability of this bewitching form of transport.

Railway Heritage and Tourism provides a great resource for understanding the importance
of railway heritage and its importance to tourism development in certain regions of the
world. The book gives a great tribute to this great and sometimes forgotten mode of transport. The observations and analysis presented in this book will give readers a broad view and understanding of the importance of railway heritage to tourism.

The editors have brought together a fascinating collection of cases from around the world that provide both practical and theoretical perspectives on the history, growth, challenges of heritage railways, offering insights into the sector's sustainability. For many of us railfans, myself included, this book also speaks personally to the importance of heritage railways as a vehicle for self-actualization and the expansion of one's individual world, both real and imaginary.

Michael V. Conlin is a professor in the Okanagan School of Business, Canada. His research focuses on cultural and heritage tourism and industrial cultural heritage. Recent publications include Mining Heritage and Tourism (edited with L. Jolliffe, 2011).

Geoffrey R. Bird is a professor at Royal Roads University, Canada. His research interests include cultural and heritage tourism and remembrance tourism. He is the co-author of Transforming Communities through Tourism (with C. Fisher, B. White & T. Hood, 2009).