David Cuthbert is an engineering graduate of Canterbury University. His professional career included leadership of student organisations, involvement in the NGO sector, and 15 years as an Advisor to the leader of a political party. Barbara Mulligan has a history degree, has served in management roles in the voluntary sector, and in the government sector for a Ministry which seemed to value a finely crafted sentence as much as the ability to turn up to work on time. These interests coincided when writing about ghost railway lines across New Zealand - the history of the social impact of railway development on communities throughout the country seemed deserving of some finely honed writing.