 | Rolling Stock & Locomotives Books Published |  |
| Rolling Stock & Locomotives Books Published | |
| BR Air braked stock Vol 1 | Cheona | |||
| Tom Smith | £9.95 | 65 pages | Softback | 2002 |
| Continuing the work started by the late Geoff Gamble this series now moves into the modern era of air braked stock. This volume illustrates open and covered hoppers, coal, transporters and vans. All pictures are now in colour which is increasingly important as the various train operating companies and owners have proliferated the variety of liveries to be seen, many of them very colourful indeed. | ||||
| BR Air braked stock vol 2 | Cheona | |||
| Tom Smith | £9.95 | 65 pages | Softback | 2003 |
| Subtitled steel carriers, engineers stock, timber carriers and powder tanks, this is a good selection of clear and detailed all colour shots of modern wagons of the type described. It provides ideal reference for modellers but is also interesting as a commentary and illustration of what freight is left on the railway network these days. Future volumes will cover china clay, more tankers, parcels and more engineers stock. | ||||
| British Railway Coaching Stock in Colour | Midland Publishing | |||
| Robert Hendry | £14.99 | 96 pages | Softback | 2002 |
| Another attractive and interesting all colour book from this publisher and author, this time turning the spotlight on coaching stock. The images are all well printed and interesting and include some real "gems" such as the LMS cafeteria car newly painted into BR maroon complete with roundel, but cover a little too much ground for my taste. By this I mean that British Railway (very archaic to "Mk 1"), DMU, EMU, Irish, (standard gauge and narrow gauge), underground and small railcars are all included, which leaves every area rather lacking in quantity and variety. This huge coverage makes the book interesting in a general way, but leaves me wanting more in each section. In summary this is a very good book, but is a bit too "general" for my taste, although I will still find myself referring to it in the future I am sure. | ||||
| British Railway Goods Wagons in Colour 1960-2003 | Midland Publishing | |||
| Robert Hendry | £14.99 | 96 pages | Softback | 2003 |
| A large format all colour album of goods wagons, largely depicting developments in freight wagon design and freight handling practice that took place after the end of steam. The main strength of the book is in its depiction of fairly recent practice and equipment, split into sections according to traffic being handled, but the book includes some fascinating "throwbacks" to earlier eras in addition to a glimpse of operations over the Irish Sea. | ||||
| British Railways Standard Steam Locomotives Vol. 2 | RCTS | |||
| John Walford | £24.95 | 280 pages | Hardback | 2003 |
| Confusingly being the third in the series to be produced (one more to go, tank engines in vol. 3 already produced), this book continues the detailed account and examination of the standard locomotive series, looking in detail at all of the 4-6-0 and 2-6-0 classes. Covering the "go anywhere do anything" types of tender locomotives, the variety of workings on which these locomotives were to be seen was tremendously varied and encompassed the whole of the British railway network, both of which facts make this book particularly interesting. The photographs are particularly well chosen including a well reproduced colour section and the quality of the information provided is well researched and comprehensive, covering all aspects of the operation and development from design to withdrawal and beyond - in some cases! | ||||
| Drawn & Described | Peco | |||
| Tim Rayner & Ian Beattie | £14.95 | 112 pages | Hardback | 2001 |
| Having read the pre publication information on this book, I was unsure that the finished article was going to be very good. Once I had got my hands on it however, I was very pleasantly surprised. Well printed onto quality art paper and attractively bound into a large format, the book features 54 of Ian's drawings complete with his readable descriptions and very clear photographs of each subject. The scale drawings are all to 4mm scale and the format makes photocopying from the book easy. | ||||
| An Illustrated History of Southern Wagons Vol 3 SECR | OPC | |||
| Bixley et al | £29.99 | 160 pages | Hardback | 2000 |
| Reprint expected August 2004. Exhaustively researched and illustrated, with numerous scale drawings at 4mm scale, this is a really superb piece of work which easily ranks alongside any of the earlier books produced by the "old" OPC. The photographs have come from numerous sources, are all well printed, and reveal a lot of detail. | ||||
| An Illustrated History of Southern Wagons Vol. 4 | OPC | |||
| Bixley, Blackburn, Chorley and King. | £30.00 | 160 pages | Softback | 2002 |
| A detailed description of all the wagons built by the Southern Railway after the grouping in 1923. Although the Southern was the least of the four groupings as far as freight was concerned, its wagons still amounted to 69,000 vehicles of widely differing designs, a few of which are still working even today. This is easily the best of the four volumes the authors have produced on this subject, going in to much more detail on constructional details and brake operation than previous volumes and containing correspondingly better photographic illustrations, including some superb close-up views. Clear and well-detailed scale drawings to 4mm scale of all subjects are included. | ||||
| LNWR Wagons Volume 1 | Wild Swan | |||
| The London & North Western Society | £26.95 | 208 pages | Hardback | 2001 |
| Starting with a fascinating set of views and description of Earlestown Works, where nearly all L&NWR wagons were built, this book goes on to describe wagon construction and mechanical details in general, before then illustrating in meticulous detail a range of wagon types broadly covering open, cattle and flat (timber & furniture) trucks. The drawings are superbly detailed and very clear, and the excellent photographic coverage includes an impressive number of pre-grouping views. The authors have set themselves a hell of a task, a further two volumes will be required to cover the whole subject at this level of detail, and one wonders when these will ever be produced. Nonetheless, this is the best book on wagons I've seen to date for clarity and detail. | ||||
| Locomotives of Quality | Ross Evans | |||
| John E. Simpson | £8.95 | 144 pages | Softback | 2000 |
| An excellent collection of quality photographs of Manning Wardle locomotives, many of which were taken by the author on light and industrial railways before the last war. Well written and informative, the book includes details of locomotives sent abroad, preserved examples and much more besides. The photgraphs are of excellent quality and the book is very good value at the price asked. | ||||
| Locomotives of the LNWR Southern Division | RCTS | |||
| Harry Jack | £27.95 | 300 pages | Hardback | 2001 |
| An account of locomotives as used from opening onwards on "unquestionably the greatest public work ever executed", the London and Birmingham railway, which went on to become the major constituent of the LNWR. The subject was last written about in 1890 or thereabouts and this author has unearthed a wide diversity of primary sources to produce this interesting and thoughtful book. Given the antiquity of the subject the photographic content is impressive and there are side elevations of most classes provided together with more detailed plans of a few locomotives. The whole is well presented and printed on to art paper, and the book also includes a lot of history of Wolverton works, the early railway and the locomotive engineers. | ||||
| The London & North Western Eight-Coupled Goods Engines | Edward Talbot | |||
| Edward Talbot | £30.00 | 268 pages | Hardback | 2002 |
| This well-produced book is the result of extensive research coupled with the author's personal acquaintance and interest in these locomotives. It is an extraordinary story in that the locomotives were pioneers of the eight coupled type, first appearing in 1892, and yet went on to remain competent heavy freight locomotives until the twilight of British steam, the last examples being withdrawn in December 1964. This book contains a wealth of detail from official and engineering drawings through to an impressively detailed photographic record of their work from their earliest days onwards. It also recounts personal experiences with the locomotives, in addition to describing in detail the numerous sub classes and antecedent types which the LNWR built or acquired. As with this author's other book "Coronation Scot", the quality of presentation writing and the photographic content is breathtakingly good, making this a truly desirable book which will be highly sought after once it has gone out of print. | ||||
| Metropolitan Railway Rolling Stock | Wild Swan | |||
| James R Snowdon | £19.95 | 172 pages | Softback | 2001 |
| Enjoying an independent existance of 70 years until its absorption into London Transport in 1933, the Metropolitian developed some very distinctive styles of rolling stock, including a surprising amount of freight stock types. This very nicely put together and illustrated book covers all the types in great detail, including numerous scale drawings and detail photographs. The book also works as a very pleasing overview and history of this very busy system, part of Edward Watkin's forward thinking railway empire. | ||||
| Private Owner Wagons of the Forest of Dean | Lightmoor Press | |||
| Ian Pope | £19.95 | 184 pages | Hardback | 2002 |
| This photographic reference book has a wider appeal than its title at first suggests, as it covers details of the liveries and operation of numerous wagons which worked in and around the Forest of Dean for a variety of purposes. There are in addition details including photographs of the varied industries within the forest and their wagon stock, including the familiar "Berry Wiggins" tank wagons, which were operating into the forest as late as 1967. This is arguably the best book produced to date on Private Owner wagons, certainly true for those from the South West of the country. Fully indexed and referenced with a listing of each company's wagons represented under industry headings - a superb book. | ||||
| Raymond Williams' LMS Steam in the Thirties | Wild Swan | |||
| Peter J. Boswell and R. J. Essery | £19.95 | 90 pages | Hardback | 2002 |
| A rather nicely produced "traditional" photograph album of LMS engines, mainly taken on the Western and Midland divisions between 1935 and 1939. What distinguishes this book is the quality of the photographs, there are some very fine locomotive portraits included.. | ||||
| The Ruston Class 48DS & 88DS Locomotives. | Moseley Railway Trust | |||
| Dave Hall | £4.95 | 58 pages | Softback | 2003 |
| A wonderful little book, comprehensive details of two of the smallest diesel shunters classes ever produced in this country. Although the 88DS is the more ubiquitous, both historically and in preservation, I have to confess that I find it a bit of an "ugly duckling". Not so the 48DS, a neat looking machine with its origins in a prototype built from the firm's narrow gauge components as long ago as 1935 and pictured in this book shunting cases of baked beans in Heinz's Willesden factory. After moving to that firm's Standish factory, it was sold to a dealer in 1962, and survived until 1972 when it was sadly broken up. This book contains a full works list of both types, complete with original customers, together with a list of surviving examples and their locations. There are also scale drawings of most types, together with a number of photographs and other material. The acme of the whole story for me is the type of loco and prototype operation illustrated on page 13 - what a perfect prototype for modelling, especially in the larger scales. In summary, my only complaint is that I would have liked more, this type of locomotive and the industries it served is a part of our railway history that is full of interest and much overlooked, and this book is a significant milestone in putting this right. | ||||
| A Southern Electric Album | Capital | |||
| Michael Welch | £16.95 | 96 pages | Hardback | 2003 |
| This is another book that I really like. Although like the author my preference is for steam traction, having lived around and travelled on the Southern Electric I find the subject entirely fascinating. The choice of colour coupled with the avoidance of anything post blue and grey, with the balance tipped slightly in favour towards the historic "green" era, make this book absolutely perfect in my opinion. The author has a good eye for a photograph and has obviously got some good connections judging from the variety and quality of images assembled in this book. Subjects include views inside maintenance depots, electric locomotives, the pullman units and much railway infrastructure at a time of interesting change and modernisation. One very slight complaint is a slight lack of South Western suburban (no Hampton Court!), but this is a very minor qualm. This is a great book, stylishly presented and well printed and if the subject holds any apeal for you then you are going to be sorely tempted. | ||||
| Western Glory | Waterfront | |||
| Chris Chapman | £14.95 | 112 pages | Softback | 2002 |
| A pleasing and well rendered collection of all colour views of the "Western" locomotives in their last few years of operation, mainly captured in locations west of Bristol and Westbury. The photographs were all taken by the author and his late father, working as a team, and a friendly relationship with signalmen up and down the routes has resulted in views of unusual workings as well as scheduled workings, all informatively captioned and with many views taken from unusual locations. The most unexpected must be "Western Fusilier" with a single wagon delivering coal to the signal box at Blatchbridge Junction, with a shovelful caught in mid air! | ||||
| Working Wagons Vol 4 1985-1992 | Santona | |||
| David Larkin | £12.95 | 96 pages | Softback | 2002 |
| The concluding volume of this knowledgable author's account of British Railways freight wagons takes the story up to privatisation, when the author "put down his camera". The photographs are well taken and clear, providing ideal reference for modelling, and David also gives us an insider's view of the changes in freight on the railways during the last period when the railway system "ascribed to being a public service industry". | ||||
| Working Wagons Volume 3 | Santona | |||
| David Larkin | £12.95 | 96 pages | Softback | 2001 |
| The third and penultimate volume in David's review of the freight wagon on British Railways, covering the period from 1980 to 1984. Very clear photographs coupled with an insight into the business behind the wagons remain the hallmark of this series, all well produced in an A4 format on art paper. | ||||