Brought up in Bradford, Peter Waller grew up as the city's trolleybus network gradually declined. In 1986 he commenced a career in publishing, working for a number of years for Ian Allan Ltd publishing books, where he oversaw the commissioning and publication of a wide range of books. The first book he wrote was British and Irish Tramway systems since 1945, in 1992. Since then he has written a number of transport books covering numerous subjects, moving to Shropshire where he is a director and secretary of the Online Transport Archive, a director of Shrewsbury Dial a Ride, chairman of the West Shropshire Talking Newspaper, a committee member of the National Railway Heritage Awards and a past president of Rotary Club of Shrewsbury.