 | Operations & Signalling |  |
| Operations & Signalling | |
| British Railway Signalling In Colour | Midland Publishing | |||
| Robert Hendry | £14.99 | 80 pages | Softback | 2001 |
| Subtitled "for the modeller and historian", this is a great picture book and an excellent work of reference on its subject. Well lit colour images illustrate numerous details of the whole history of British signalling and the outstanding quality and interest of the subjects chosen demonstrate the photographers' interest and knowledge in their subject. The book also reveals more about Robert Hendry's late father and how he shared his interest with his son, a well written little insight into a relationship, which adds a pleasing human side to an already good story - wonderful. | ||||
| Freight Train Operation for the Modeller | Ian Allan | |||
| Bob Essery | £14.99 | 96 pages | Softback | 2006 |
| In this largely pictorial book, the author builds upon his two earlier books "Railway Operation for the Modeller" and "Passenger Train Operation for the Modeller". It is a good description of its subject I think, discussed under the main headings of loading methods, terminals, classification, wagons and locomotives. The photographs generally depict the 1930s and earlier BR eras when operation was "traditional" and include a few of the late David Jenkinson's rather nice models. | ||||
| Goods Traffic of the LNER | Wild Swan | |||
| Geoff Goslin | £15.95 | 112 pages | Softback | 2002 |
| Much has been written about passenger train operation over the years, whilst the less glamorous goods side of things has been rather overlooked, despite being the prime source of income to most railways in the days when they "paid their way". For the LNER at least, this book seeks to redress the balance, although the coverage has had to be selective owing to the large size of the subject. Starting with a survey of locomotive types, contrasting geographical goods areas and their traffics and services are then examined in more detail. Well illustrated throughout, the result is a reminder of the enormous scale of the operation in the days when everything went by rail. | ||||
| Great Central Signalman | Silver Link | |||
| Iain Mackenzie and P.J. Wortley | £17.99 | 144 pages | Softback | 2005 |
| Iain Mackenzie's post-war cycling trips around the signal boxes near Rugby fuelled an interest in railways that led to a career on the Great Central line as a signalman. Passionate about both signalling and the Great Central line, this book provides a detailed and well illustrated account of working of the G.C. through Rugby and beyond. Methods of working, individual characters and the physical details of numerous locations are all recalled in impressive detail, all of which text is accompanied by signalling diagrams for all boxes considered. Additionally there is a lot of information about the other lines in the area and signalling in the steam age in general. Astonishingly Iain also managed to photograph Liverpool and Manchester "Lion" at Dunchurch on the Rugby - Leamington line, running complete with a period crew. The caption in the book is wrong, reader Tony Newman has told me that this running of "Lion" took place in October 1961 - I still don't know why though! | ||||
| GW Goods Services Part 2a Goods Depots and Their Operation | Wild Swan | |||
| Tony Atkins | £24.95 | 180 pages | Softback | 2007 |
| A much more pictorial book than part one which introduced the subject, and surely the best yet published pictorial reference of the era when railways were true common carriers. In detail the book first covers depots and their work in general terms, wagon categories and transfer before going on to describe London area depots in detail. There are any number of really interesting and informative views in this book, personal favourites include the Park Royal estate railway, the Guinness works and the incredible system of wagon turntables under Smithfield Market. An invaluable reference for those interested in the handling of freight in the railway age, whatever one's company prefences may be. | ||||
| GWR Goods Services Part 2B Goods Depots and their Operation | Wild Swan | |||
| Tony Atkins | £25.95 | 199 pages | Softback | 2010 |
| This, the third of a series of three, cover goods yards and their operation and is far and away the most pictorial of the series so far. It covers all of the Bristol, Birmingham and Cardiff area depots in detail in addition to Ross on Wye to represent one of the many smaller depots. A final chapter details various improvements across the system and features very good detailed pictures of improving and evolving freight facilities. These include two cracking views of the new (1906) facilities at Bath and loading china clay directly from lorry to wagon at St Austell in 1931, amongst much else. Details of station truck working over several time periods and also direct wagons being run on a regular basis in 1923 further illustrate the complexity of freight operations being run - and all done without computers. | ||||
| GWR Goods Services: An Introduction | Wild Swan | |||
| Tony Atkins and David Hyde | £17.95 | 142 pages | Softback | 2000 |
| As this is the first book of what will be a series, covering the subject in considerable detail, it is a little more "wordy" than one might expect. Do not let this put you off however - it is well worth reading. It sets out the historical background and technical details of the subject before moving on to describe the different sources of traffic across all of the company's goods districts. The photographs included are of considerable interest, showing many facilities and aspects of goods handling in great detail and, amongst other views there is an "Aberdare" hauled goods (including an LSWR van) passing through Bath before Oldfield Park halt was built. It is strangely uncredited as such and appears on page 59. I am very much looking forward to future volumes, and the publisher and authors are to be applauded for shedding light into a fascinating but neglected part of british railway history. | ||||
| Oil On The Rails | HMRS | |||
| Alan Coppin | £19.95 | 162 pages | Hardback | 1999 |
| An interesting mixture of subjects which are best described by the book's subtitle - "The story of an industry and its influence on Britain's railways and its rail tank wagons". This well produced and illustrated book covers everything from minute details of wagon construction and private siding layouts through to a detailed examination of the oil companies' distribution and retailing operations and the role of the industry in the two World Wars. An unusual and informative book. | ||||
| Passenger Train Operation for the Railway Modeller | Ian Allan | |||
| Bob Essery | £14.99 | 96 pages | Softback | 2005 |
| A well illustrated follow up to the same author's "Railway Operation", describing details and aspects of how passenger trains were operated on British railways. The composition and purpose of trains together with locomotive development notes are followed by a chapter on passenger stations. Although the illustrations are excellent throughout, depicting railway scenes from grouping onwards but generally avoiding the declining years, the book has a tendency towards wordy generality in its final chapter and features a number of largely superfluous generic track diagrams. | ||||
| Railway Operation For The Modeller | Midland Publishing | |||
| Bob Essery | £14.99 | 96 pages | Softback | 2003 |
| Subtitled modelling the steam era, this book sets out to explain the various aspects of how the traditional railway went about its task of moving freight and passengers before the era of the motorway and unit trains. Separate chapters cover the subject from different points of view whilst very well chosen and reproduced photographs illustrate the points made by means of intelligent and informative captions. The author is an ex railwayman and a knowledable witness to much of that which he writes of, although his closing comments regarding the operation or not of the P4 model Heckmondwike sound a bit pompous to my ears, especially given the underwhelming impression the model gave me when I saw it in the flesh. This is a very good book though. | ||||
| Railway Signalling and Track Plans | Ian Allan | |||
| Bob Essery | £14.99 | 112 pages | Softback | 2007 |
| In what is by now his fourth book in as many years on aspects of prototypical operation, Bob Essery has turned his attention to signalling and track. I like this book much more than the last couple, it is packed with useful reference material backed up with clear and relevant photographs which are themselves much better captioned than those in the previous two volumes. Scale drawings of all sorts of useful fittings are included, together with wider explanations of the development and function of track and signalling. There are not any "track plans" included in the model railway sense although observation of even some of the aspects discussed in this book would improve the realism of many of the model railways one sees at exhibitions. | ||||
| Rickard's Record South Wales Mixed Traffic | Wider View | |||
| Brian J. Miller | £18.00 | 116 pages | Hardback | 2006 |
| Another first class pictorial record of South Wales train workings. Whereas the first two volumes concentrated on the Valleys, this final volume of the late Syd Rickard's photographs has greater coverage of the main lines and traffic other than coal. The photographs are laid out by class of train and as with the previous volumes there is a tremendous wealth of train working and operational information. A final section covers shed scenes and completes what is a very fine collection of images of the steam railway in South Wales. | ||||
| Signal Boxes of the London & South Western Railway | Oakwood | |||
| G.A. Pryer | £11.95 | 176 pages | Softback | 2000 |
| A worthy follow up to the same author's 1977 "Southern Signals", a comprehensive and well printed collection of photographs covering the complete story of signal box development on the L&SWR. The S&D boxes after take-over are included, as are ground level boxes and all sorts of oddities and variations. The book includes notes on signalling and some architects and scale drawings, and also has an index. A wonderful study of an architectural style of one company, definitely one for my Christmas present list. | ||||