This is the story of the rise & fall of atmospheric traction applied to railways, and the great names associated with it. It also offers the first full account of the actual operation of the atmospheric lines. Included with the book is a newspaper cutting from 1977 on the demise of Brunel's air pumping station on the now abandoned Unigate Dairy site at Totnes + a postcard of the experimental pneumatic railway at Crystal Palace (1864).