Featured Books

A comprehensive and really well illustrated record of the very extensive railway operations that once existed around the paper mill at Sittingbourne. Latterly well known in part as the Sittingbourmne and Kemsley light railway, which has recently survived an attempt at its extinction by developers, the original system was much larger and featured standard as well as narrow gauge railway workings. The best aspect of this book to me is the way in which the author managed to record the railway in its industrial setting, which makes for a much more interesting record than would a loco-centric book. The photographs include a number of good colour shots and at the price this book is good value indeed.

I find layout planning books, with few exceptions, to be fatally fascinating. A diverting sequence of someone else's schemes, all with the potential to deliver endless hours of vicarious pleasure whilst achieving nothing. Of course some might just inspire a reader into building something, and this book may well come into that category. Building upon and referencing the author's various articles in "Railway Modeller" the book consists of a number of dimensioned and well reasoned layout ideas together with helpful observations and thoughts around the subject. Does it really hit the mark though? Carl Arendt, master of the Micro Layout genre, gave me this quote: "A well crafted, thoroughly thought-out and copiously illustrated book. Paul Lunn succeeds in connecting the design of micro layouts with the mainstream of British model railway practice... no small feat!". I think the implied criticism is fair, this book is mainstream. If you are looking for startling originality and a move away from RTR stock, 4mm scale and "Setrack" then this may not be for you. It's still good though and very nicely produced and printed to boot.

Having had my appetite whetted by Ivor Gotheridge's little book of a few years ago, I was delighted to come across this new and highly detailed record of this minor railway on the Essex marshes. Covering both the original bucolic and lightly laid passenger carrying line to Corringham and the explosives works and later oil refinery developments at Coryton, this is a fantastically comprehensive record. The photographs are amazing in their coverage and quality and include full details of the fascinating rolling stock used on the line. This would make a wonderful subject for a model, providing scenarios from the very lightest of lines as built to heavy freight carrier as part of it still operates. A great book on a really interesting subject.

At last, a comprehensively researched, well written and copiously illustrated book that covers the "Strawberry Line". The historical development and relationship with the Somerset and Dorset and its antecedents are very well covered and comprehensive plans, scale track plans and a set of the later signalling diagrams give a very full account of what the line looked like. Operation is also well covered, with train workings, locomotive diagrams and accounts of several incidents and a very good selection of photographs. The very end of operations and the move into preservation are not really covered although the various quarries and their operations are, including the by now vast Foster Yeoman operation at Merehead.

The relatively small size of GNoSR coupled with the survival of many of its drawings at its works in Inverurie has meant that this single volume is both comprehensive and superbly illustrated. The need for thrift led to the company somewhat lagging behind its contemporaries although several of its more modern designs saw more than a few yeards in BR service. These two factors make this book a real joy, comprehensive drawings and details of carriage construction from its earliest days, complemented by a large number of good photographs, including some (astonishingly good) examples of preservation. This book has appeal way beyond the adherents of this specific company - a superb bit of work.

An unusual and interesting book. David is a tram and railway enthusiast who whilst working in the health service became aware of a number of hospitals which had possessed their own rail-based system. Fascinated, he started to collect information and has now produced a third enlarged edition of a well illustrated and referenced pictorial book. The book is divided geographically with an additional chapter dealing separately with temporary military hospitals. Each location is well identified with OS map extracts and detailed site plans and the photographic coverage is pretty good, including some fascinating aerial views. There is much of railway interest here which will appeal to devotees of the minor and quixotic and although there are some relatively familiar scenes I will wager that this book contains something which will surprise most. This book is much bigger than the first edition, the result of further information on this fascinating subject coming to light after first publication in 2005.

After years of cajoling Andrew Neale has finally given way and produced a book devoted to pictures and descriptions of the British narrow gauge scene. The title is a rather nice tribute to the late Pat Whitehouse and his seminal book bearing the same title, the first railway book that a young train mad Andrew Neale purchased. The content is excellent,consisting of well reproduced and interesting pictures of a huge variety of subjects with extended and informative captions, all laid out on a regional basis throughout mainland Britain. Steam and internal combustion locomotives are given equal prominence and the photographs tend to concentrate on the locomotive as subject, although there are a few more general views also included.

A third reprinting for this very popular and morbidly fascinating collection of photographs, the story of narrow gauge railways on the Western Front. This edition contains some updated and corrected appendices but is otherwise identical to the earlier print runs. Actually the interest contained in this book goes way beyond the morbid, it's just that the I am endlessly haunted by the monstrosity of the "war to end all wars" and the subsequent planting of the seeds of World War Two by the victorious bloody politicians. Are we/they any better these days?

A superb book, detailing all aspects of the North Devon ball clay industry and the railways that served it. Starting with the development of the clay industry at Meeth the book goes on to describe the history of the narrow gauge Torrington and Marland Railway, including detailed chapters covering both its rolling stock and innovative engineer. John Barraclough Fell. The subsequent standard gauge line is then described in detail with final chapters covering the later clay workings at Meeth and its railway stock. As with all Twelveheads books the presentation and quality of both research and writing is first class. What sets this book apart though is the quality and breadth of photographic coverage, quite superb and covering all eras. My personal favourites are generally those shots taken by the author himself, a fantastic record of heath robinson operations on a delightfuly ramshackle looking system. Owners of the earlier edition of this book will definitely want this new one, it adds a great deal and really is something of a bargain at the price asked.

Another in the very successful series established by Keith Turton, pretty much more of the same formula and just as visually appealing and historically fascinating as ever. There are a good number of specialist wagons depicted, including several tank wagons and an unusual low steel bodied open for the Scatter Rock Quarries of Christow. The glimpses of lost industry provided by the images in this book look increasingly like life on another planet to these 21st Century eyes, favourite amongst these must be Stanley Colliery yard in 1940 on page 71. This is another great book in a deservedly popular series.

Enlivened by the opening up of further archives and photographic collections on the subject, this latest volume is easily on a par with the best of those produced so far. In this volume there appear several salt wagons with a low arc roof rather than the normal "peaked" tops and various small stone wagons that operated on the Shropshire and Montgomery, amongst much else.

As far as I am aware, this is the very first book to tell the detailed story of the enormous standard gauge railway operations mounted by the British in support of the Western Front. Subtitled "The Royal Engineers in France and Belgium 1915-1918", it appears to be a deeply researched account of all aspects of the huge railway operations that fed the devastation of the trenches. I do not mean to detract from the book by the above but I would have liked to have seen a list of references and sources used, although to be fair some references are quoted in the text, and from any point of view this is an informative and well produced book. Broadly split into two, covering military and general railway history and locomotive history, the physical and logistical aspects of the subject are well set against the course of the war and the developments that took place, such as the introduction of tanks and how they were transported. One minor niggle here is that "Warflat" wagons are incorrectly captioned as "Rectanks" but this is a very minor point. The quality of production is excellent and the photographs are very well reproduced to a large size - this is a terrific book. As ever with this subject the statistics and scale of death and destruction wreaked on both sides beggars belief and it is depressing to reflect that even today British soldiers are being killed in Afghanistan in our name and by courtesy of our elected politicians.

A much enlarged (over twice the size) new edition of a beautiful book, containg many more photographs and much more information than the original, but again providing a striking and memorably well produced testament to the slate industry of North Wales. The main quarries covered are those at Maenofferen, Penrhyn and Aberllefenni although another chapter discusses what is left to see at Dinworic, including some good historic shots. Other chapters describe in detail the physical activities and equipment associated with slate quarrying, quarrying itself, inclines, trackwork and tramways, wagons, locomotives and also Blondins - including a heart stopping account of a final inspection of one of these machines. A final chapter features some walks along tramways and into remote quarry sites, all beautifully photographed. As with the first edition, the quality and detail of Gordon and Ann's writing, sketches, photographs and observations is first class and the standard of presentation and design of the book is fully up to the high standards that we have come to expect from its publisher, the talented Roy Link.

A collection of Michael Messenger's own photographs recording the surviving slate quarries in the counties of Caernarfon and Merioneth in their last years of operation. A large proportion of these atmospheric images are in colour and nearly all have never been seen in print before. Steam engines, industrial diesels, double flanged wheels and archaic work practices are all brought back to life in a wonderfully browse-able book, which is fully up to the high expectations that this quality publisher has created with its wonderful books.

Another very appealing collection of previously unpublished photographs and further stories and recollections from the Corris Railway. The author has worked hard and with the help of a number of other individuals, all acknowledged in the book, has assembled another remarkable look back at this narrow gauge backwater, currently undergoing a minor but very pleasing revival. The book is beautifully put together and produced, I think my favourite image is that of driver William Roberts photographed with his son Ieuan on the running plate of No 3 in 1914 - wonderful.

A Bowaters Album	Noodle Books
Dave Hammersley	£11.95	80 pages	Softback	2009

Building Micro Layouts Design Tips, Techniques and Project Plans	Santona
Paul A Lunn	£12.99	64 pages	Softback	2009

The Corringham Light Railway A New History	Peter Kay
Peter Kay	£12.95	96 pages	Softback	2008

The East Somerset and Cheddar Valley Railways	Lightmoor Press
Richard Harman	£24.99	272 pages	Hardback	2009

Great North Of Scotland Railway Carriages	Lightmoor Press
Keith Fenwick	£19.95	148 pages	Hardback	2009

Hospital Tramways and Railways	Adam Gordon
David Voice	£25.00	108 pages	Hardback	2007

Industrial Narrow Gauge Album	Plateway Press
Andrew Neale	£19.95	108 pages	Softback	2009

Narrow Gauge at War	Plateway Press
Keith Taylorson	£9.95	56 pages	Softback	2008

North Devon Clay The story of an industry and its railways	Twelveheads
Michael Messenger	£21.00	120 pages	Hardback	2007

Private Owner Wagons A Seventh Collection	Lightmoor Press
Keith Turton	£19.95	160 pages	Hardback	2008

Private Owner Wagons An Eighth Collection	Lightmoor Press
Keith Turton	£19.95	168 pages	Hardback	2009

ROD The Railway Operating Division on the Western Front	Sean Tyas
William A T Aves	£24.95	208 pages	Hardback	2009

Slate Quarry Album	RCL Publications
Gordon & Ann Hatherill	£24.00	188 pages	Softback	2009

Slate Quarry Railways of Gwynedd	Twelveheads
Michael Messenger	£14.00	96 pages	Softback	2008

Tales of the Old Corris	Gomer
Gwyn Briwnant Jones	£9.99	64 pages	Softback	2008