connor & butler began their life as publishers back in 1984. through sheer frustration of trying to get their first book published, (the publishers who were interested wanted to make various changes which would have detracted from the intended purpose of the original book) so connor & butler decided to go it alone and publish by themselves.

jim is a historian and is a stickler for accurate facts and information. with this in mind, the 'railway record' quarterly magazine is produced along with the rest of their publications

their first book 'the red cliffs of stepney' had a run of 500 produced. thinking they would have trouble selling a large amount they opted for a small volume and found very quickly that their first book was received with far greater enthusiasm than they had anticipated, and soon sold out.

the second book produced was 'palaces for the poor' and again was approached with great caution in the amount they got produced, but history was to repeat itself and once again they sold out within weeks

the combined profits of the first two books meant the railway books were then able to be produced, the first one being 'stepneys own railway'.

after their first few books had been produced they came to the attention of the dlr publicity people, who liked the style and content of the publications. this has led them to produce a complete series of publications.

connor & butler are specialists in london railway history. all subjects covered are researched form original sources, so are completely accurate accounts.

some publications on the market today have used material gained from third party sources so is not always accurate, an area that connor & butler will not allow their publications to fall. all material is researched thoroughly, all sources are original. this is the reason that their books are so successful, they are a joy to read being so accurate in their accounts of the stations themselves and the trains and lines that are covered in the books