Brought up in Bradford, Peter Waller grew up witnessing the gradual decline of the city's trolleybus network. He studied history at university and also has a master's degree in Industrial Archaeology. In 1986, he began a career in publishing, working for a number of years for Ian Allan Publishing Ltd, where he oversaw the commissioningand publication of a wide range of books. His first book, British and Irish Tramway Systems since 1945, was published in 1992 and since then he has written extensively on transport subjects. Moving to Shropshire in 2007, he is now a full-time author and editor as well as being a director and secretary of the Online Transport Archive.