A Victorian book detailing plans to build a railway in Burma that was found in the personal library of Eric Lomax, the Scots army officer who became known as the Railway Man, is being sold along with photographs of West Africa's Gold Coast Railway being constructed. The book is an account of a survey carried out to assess the feasibility of laying tracks from China to Rangoon in 1888 - 54 years before Mr Lomax was forced to work on the Death Railway in Burma. It was found in his library along with hundreds of black-and-white photos and postcards showing the construction of the Gold Coast Railway in West Africa, which Mr Lomax worked on later in his life. Mr Lomax was one of 60,000 Allied prisoners-of-war made to build the Burma Railway under horrific conditions and his autobiography about his own ordeal was turned into the 2013 film The Railway Man, starring Colin Firth. This is one of dozens of images found in the personal collection of Eric Lomax that is being auctioned off. It's one of several photographs celebrating the opening of the first 26 miles of the Eastern Division of the Gold Coast Railway in Africa in 1910 and shows dignitaries aboard the train . The snaps had been lovingly compiled into two albums by war veteran Mr Lomax, a huge railway enthusiast who spent his life collecting books, documents and photos . Fascinating: One of the maps in Mr Lomax's collection that's from a Victorian book that details plans to build a railway in Burma . The book is an account of a survey carried out into the possibility of laying tracks from China to Rangoon in 1888 - 54 years before Mr Lomax was forced to work on the Death Railway in Burma . Mr Lomax worked on the Burma Railway under horrific conditions and his autobiography about the ordeal was turned into the 2013 film The Railway Man, starring Colin Firth. This book predates his time there by 54 years . Since his death in 2012, his widow Patti - played by Nicole Kidman in the critically-acclaimed movie - has been sorting out his library at their home in Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland. The snaps had been lovingly compiled into two albums by war veteran Mr Lomax, a huge railway enthusiast who spent his life collecting books, documents and photos. They show British engineers overseeing the construction of the Gold Coast Railway in the early 20th century. After his brutal ordeal as a Japanese PoW, Mr Lomax struggled to adjust to civilian life and joined the Colonial Service, which administered most of Britain's overseas possessions. He was posted to the Gold Coast where he helped to build a huge dam across the Volta river and oversaw the construction of a 600 mile, 3ft 6in gauge railway. The photos, postcards and the book, Railway Connexion of Burmah and China, are now being sold by his family at auction in London. Henry Baggot, of auctioneers Bonhams, said: 'This book and the albums of photographs were left over from Eric Lomax's own library and they are now being sold by his family. 'The book is quite poignant when you consider what happed to him in the Second World War. 'When he came back from the Far East to the UK Mr Lomax struggled to settle down to a normal life again so he joined the Colonial Service and he was posted to the Gold Coast. 'Being the railway enthusiast that he was, he picked these photos and postcards up during his time there.' The first album contains 101 photos celebrating the opening of the first 26 miles of the Eastern Division of the Gold Coast Railway in 1910 and shows dignitaries aboard the train. The second is made up of 450 photos of the East, Central and West Divisions and shows surveying in the jungle, tree felling, construction of bridges, culverts and railway buildings. The rare copy of the book written by Archibald Colquhourn and Holt Hallett explores the possibility of building a railway between Rangoon, Burma, and south western China. Mr Lomax was posted to the Gold Coast where he helped to build a huge dam across the Volta river and oversaw the construction of a 600 mile, 3ft 6in gauge railway. This picture predates this project and is one of 450 that shows surveying in the jungle, tree felling, and construction of bridges, culverts and buildings in the East, Central and West Divisions of the African railway . The photographs and books were found in Mr Lomax's study and provide a fascinating insight into Colonial engineering . This picture shows dozens of men in Africa building a line through the jungle some time in the early 20th century . The latest sale of photo albums and the copy of the Railway Connexion of Burmah and China are said to be worth £900 and are being sold on March 18 . The work on the railway started in 1938 and was abandoned and never resumed due to the Japanese Army advancement in the Far East in the Second World War. The British had also looked into building a railway between Burma and Thailand but the route of the line - through hilly jungle terrain divided by many rivers – was considered too dangerous and difficult to undertake. Nonetheless, after the Japanese invaded Burma in 1942, they used forced labour involving nearly 200,000 Asian civilians and 60,000 Allied PoWs to work on building the railway. Of these, about 90,000 civilians and 12,600 PoWs died from disease, malnutrition and beatings. Last year Patti Lomax sold at auction an extensive collection of books relating to military history and the railways in the Far East which her late husband used for research on his autobiography. The latest sale of photo albums and the copy of the Railway Connexion of Burmah and China are said to be worth £900 and are being sold on March 18. Eric Lomax with his wife Patti. Mr Lomax died in 2012 and since his death Patti has been sorting out his belongings at their home in in Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland . Colin Firth played Mr Lomax in the 2013 film The Railway Man. It also starred Nicole Kidman (right)
Book detailing plans to build a railway in Burma found in the personal library of Eric Lomax is being auctioned . Mr Lomax was the Scots Second World War army officer who became known as The Railway Man . The 1888 book is an account of a survey carried out to assess the feasibility of laying tracks from China to Rangoon . Mr Lomax worked on the line under duress as a Japanese prisoner of war along with thousands of others . Hundreds of photographs of a railway being built on Africa's west coast are also up for sale .