Wild Swan Railway Pictorial & Reference Books

In the shop we now hold in stock every available Wild Swan title, including Journal back issues. However the task of adding all Wild Swan books to these pages has not yet been completed. In the meantime, to find all Wild Swan stock use the Browse the Shop or Booksearch links on the Bookshop Main Page.

Camp Coach Holidays On The GWR		£24.95
Mike Fenton	1999	Hardback	218 pages
A really beautiful book, a superlatively well illustrated record of the Great Western's camping coach scheme before the war. The author has undertaken an enormous amount of research to produce this account, meeting and getting to know many folk who took such holidays in this period, and the result is a warm and personal record of life in the 1930s. The photographs are largely from personal collections, and contain a surprisingly large amount of detail and information of railway interest. I think that this is railway publishing at its very best, and all credit is due to the author and his publishers for producing such a valuable and charming book.

D.J. Norton's pictorial survey of Railways in the West Midlands Part One		£19.95
R.J. Esssery	2008	Softback	144 pages
The first of three volumes, published simultaneously, which record the railway scene in the West Midlands as seen through the camera of Dennis John Norton. Possessing an official lineside pass, his rather liberal interpretation of "lineside" resulted in an outstanding and unusual record of the subjects he chose to photograph. This apart, he was one of the relatively few railway photographers who recorded infrastructure as well as the trains, often at times of significant change or unusual activity. This first volume covers the LMS western division lines, starting with Coventry and New Street and going through to Dudley and Lichfield.

D.J. Norton's pictorial survey of Railways in the West Midlands Part Three		£17.95
R.J. Essery	2008	Softback	112 pages
The final volume of three, which record the railway scene in the West Midlands as seen through the camera of the late Dennis John Norton. Possessing an official lineside pass, his rather liberal interpretation of "lineside" resulted in an outstanding and unusual record of the subjects he chose to photograph. This apart, he was one of the relatively few railway photographers who recorded infrastructure as well as the trains, often at times of significant change or unusual activity. The time period covered is up until 1965 when he sadly died prematurely from an asthma attack. This final volume covers the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway and the later lines connected to it.

D.J. Norton's pictorial survey of Railways in the West Midlands Part Two		£17.95
R.J. Essery	2008	Softback	112 pages
The second of three volumes, published simultaneously, which record the railway scene in the West Midlands as seen through the camera of Dennis John Norton. Possessing an official lineside pass, his rather liberal interpretation of "lineside" resulted in an outstanding and unusual record of the subjects he chose to photograph. This apart, he was one of the relatively few railway photographers who recorded infrastructure as well as the trains, often at times of significant change or unusual activity. This second volume covers the former Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway lines and later lines connecting to it.

Didcot Engineman		£21.95
Bernard Barlow	1994	Hardback	264 pages
Beautifully assembled and presented, as you would expect, but more importantly a very well written and intelligent account of one man's career on the footplate, based mostly at Didcot, as the title suggests. The photographs accompanying the text are of a very high quality, and are very relevant to the narrative, astonishingly so in several cases. Spanning the War years, with all its attendant upset and disruption, Bernard's amazingly detailed recollections provide us with a fascinating insight into a lost way of life.

Edwardian Enterprise GWR		£24.95
Norris, Beale and Lewis	1987	Hardback	208 pages
A collection of well illustrated essays describing and illustrating a period of great expansion on the Great Western Railway, the time when the network was finally completed by the construction of high speed or more direct routes and cut offs all over the system. Many other developments are featured, from electric suburban workings through "auto trains" to major new freight facilities. Canons Marsh goods depot in Bristol is shown when new and in use, very different to its current rather strange appearance as part of a recent redevelopment.

Folkestone's Railways		£14.95
Brian Hart	2002	Softback	94 pages
Another superlative production from this most reliable of publishers, beautifully put together and laid out, and a real pleasure to handle and read. The author has a deep knowledge and affection for the Folkestone and its railways, being born there in 1949 and getting to know the steam age railway and its personalities well. This book details the story of the railway's construction and development up until 1960, and covers the harbour branch and main line developments equally well. The photographic content is excellent, with much of Pre-Grouping interest being evident in addition to a few charming snaps from the Hart family album - wonderful.

Goods Traffic of the LNER		£15.95
Geoff Goslin	2002	Softback	112 pages
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 Western Pictorial No 2 The Hubback Collection		£17.95
John Hodge	1999	Hardback	92 pages
Definitely one for the Great Western fans amongst us, a classic album of trains, mainly taken during the zenith of steam on the South Wales and West of England main lines. There is particularly good coverage of South Wales, and train compositions are shown to good effect.

Great Western Pictorial No 3 The Tony Sterndale Collection		£22.95
Sue Sterndale	2006	Hardback	102 pages
Tony Sterndale worked in the drawing office of Swindon Works in the late 1940s and photographed locomotives old and new, both in the works and on the nearby main lines. The result is a unique insiders view of much of the locomotive changes taking place at the time together with the wider activities undertaken at Swindon Works. The images are all of high quality and well printed, generally "loco-centric" but depicting their subjects, many of which are delightfully humble and obscure, in wonderful detail.

GW Goods Services Part 2A Goods Depots and Their Operation		£24.95
Tony Atkins	2007	Softback	180 pages
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		£25.95
Tony Atkins	2010	Softback	199 pages
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		£17.95
Tony Atkins and David Hyde	2000	Softback	142 pages
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.

L&NWR West Midlands Album		£4.95
Roger Carpenter	1988	Softback	48 pages
Still in print after 10 years, this little book is worth a second look. Photographs taken by a platelayer called Thomas Hinckley, the subjects are mainly locomotives photographed at Bescot, Walsall and New Street. There are some lovely shots, I particularly liked the Special tank on page 13, no cab but a bent footplate, and the saloon and carriage truck on page 45, both of them wonderfully archaic looking vehicles.

LMS Lineside Part Two		£17.95
V.R. Anderson & H.N. Twells	2009	Softback	102 pages
This volume covers railway signage, timetables, poster boards platform numbering, seats and trolleys. Numerous photographs from across the whole LMS system and dimensioned drawings of each sort of fitting will enable modelers to detail their miniature worlds in appropriate style, whilst others will be entertained by a slightly "sideways" look at the old LMS. Fittings covered are not just the LMS designs but also those of the constituent companies, even down to a few bits on the S&D.

The North & West Route Vol 3A Hereford to Abergavenny Jct.		£28.95
John Hodge	2011	Hardback	140 pages
A continuation of John Hodge's journey down the North and West route, this volume taking us from Hereford with its complex of junctions and connections down as far as Abergavenny Junction. Although this route remains largely manually signalled in the 21st Century the scenes depicted in this beautiful book are from a completely different age.

The North & West Route Volume 2 Shrewsbury & Hereford		£29.95
John Hodge	2008	Hardback	170 pages
The second volume in this very pleasing pictorial series which covers the 50 mile joint GWR and LMS line between the towns in the title in BR steam days. A well informed text and large scale OS map sections are given for each location and the whole gives a very full impression of a fascinating route which carried a wide variety of both through and local trafffic.

Raymond Williams' LMS Steam in the Thirties		£19.95
Peter J. Boswell and R. J. Essery	2002	Hardback	90 pages
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..