Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!
A cautionary tale from the excellent lowtechmagazine.com
http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2013/12/high-speed-trains-are-killing-the-european-railway-network.html
Good book...cheapest at present, used
http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=10183422599&searchurl=an%3Dfiennes%26bt.x%3D66%26bt.y%3D15%26sts%3Dt%26tn%3DI%2Btried%2Bto%2Brun%2Ba%2Brailway