Great Western

Leslie Price    [Publisher:  Transport Treasury  2020]    Hardback    160 pages

Gerry Beale    [Publisher:  Wild Swan  2016]    Hardback    154 pages

An intimate portrayal of a late surviving Great Western branch line, from its inception through to the early diesel era. Gerry knew the line well, having been introduced to it early in life through his father's interest, and this book is the culmination of years of interest and study. The photographic coverage is extensive, covering the line itself, stations, rolling stock and the various branch operations over the years, including a good number of shots of the DMUs when they were first introduced. A beautiful book depicting a most attractive branch line railway in its heyday, the level of service offered and evident order and continuity marking a stark contrast to today's World in Bridport and elsewhere.

Neil Parkhouse    [Publisher:  Lightmoor  2015]    Hardback    328 pages

A very welcome reprint of Neil Parkhouse's second all colour book covering the railway lines in Gloucestershire. Every bit as impressive as the first volume, this is an astonishingly good collection, a huge number and variety of images recording the railway lines together with the industries that they served. Being colour, it is true that most images are relatively late in the history of the subjects covered, but they are still full of interest, not least to those of us with an interest in the smaller diesel hydraulics, extensively used in the Forest as this wonderful book shows. That said, there is a rare image of Drybrook Halt dating from 1920 and a lot of images depictng earlier steam operations. In summary, this is a truly magnificent book, one that I will be adding to my own bookshelf and which I will spend happy hours studying for years to come I am sure, thank you to both Neil and Ian for producing it.

Tony Atkins    [Publisher:  Crecy  2014]    Softback    224 pages

Tony Atkins continues his account of Great Western Goods services published in three volumes by Wild Swan with this final book on the shipping and dockyard aspects of the story. After a general introduction, the book explores dock locations in some detail using photographs and location and track plans, although the coverage is not complete on either count - unsurprising at this remove in time I guess. Some places are very well covered, for example Fowey, but I was a bit disappointed by the section on Bristol. Overall, and I apologise to the publisher for saying this, it is a pity that the author could not have completed the series with Wild Swan, although I appreciate that doing so would probably have meant a further wait before this aspect was covered.

Kevin Robertson    [Publisher:  Crecy  2014]    Softback    120 pages

A collection of images recorded by Edward Wallis, who worked for the signal department of the LB&SC and then Southern Railway until his untimely death in service in 1935. This book follows on from the earlier "Southern Infrastructure" (which is to be followed by a second later this year) and contains an unusual set of views, concentrating on signalling installations and featuring numerous less visited locations. There are also lots of unfamiliar looking views of better known places owing to the fact that much rebuilding took place after these images were recorded but well before the War. I would say that pretty much every image is of higher than average interest, two highlights for me were the unusual view of Lambourn station throat and looking eastwards through Dunkerton station after the signalling had been disconnected. This is a truly absorbing collection of images and I think anyone with more than a passing interest in the subject will find images in here that will surprise and delight in equal measure.

Tony Atkins    [Publisher:  Crecy  2019]    Hardback    208 pages

The final part of the series of books that has covered Great Western Railway freight services in fine detail. This last volume is arguably the most appealing, covering as it does the "motorised era" from around the First World War up until just before Nationalisation. The photographic coverage is terrific and the variety of vehicle amazing, from really primitive looking contraptions up to quite modern looking machines. Great detail for modellers in addition to being a fascinating record of how physical distribution "grew up" ahead of the rationalisation and moves to road transport after the war.

H. W. Knott    [Publisher:  Great Western Study Group  2021]    Softback    27 pages

An A5 sized booklet with card covers, being a transcript of a paper given at a meeting of the Swindon Engineering Society at the Mechanic's Institute on the 24th February 1931 by member H W Knott. A complete account of the day to day work of a running shed on the GWR, the duties of different grades of staff, repair procedures further detailed information, together with an interesting "question and answer" session at the end of the meeting.

Chris Turner    [Publisher:  Author  2024]    Hardback    246 pages

A milestone in railway publishing, the publishing of an important and original study of an unusual Great Western branch, one which has been in the making for some considerable time. Chris Turner is the author, and in his introduction he explains the genesis of his wonderful printed culmination of many years interest and work. He also acknowledges the assistance and help of a number of people, "along the way", and ends by expressing regret for the time it has taken to produce the book. I have the pleasure of knowing Chris a little, and am in awe of the amount of work he has carried out over many years, both original research in archives and also, most significantly, the interviewing of probably hundreds of ex railway employees and others, all of which has resulted in a real wealth of articles in various periodicals, most significantly the "British Railway Journal" and "Great Western Railway Journal" , produced and published by his friend Paul Karau. Also, I can claim a (very small) part in delaying publication, and on the basis of all of the above feel that Chris shouldn't worry overmuch about the publication date. The book itself is a "proper" history of what was an unusual line on various counts, not the least being that part of it remains in use to this day. The book has been laid out by Paul Karau and so is very much in the mould of the classic line histories from Wild Swan, the only difference being the glazed board covers rather than a dust jacketed book. The book is profusely illustrated, and includes track plans, signalling diagrams and scale drawings of key structures, covering the steam era and later diesel operations. A chapter covers the later freight only operations, fascinating in themselves, with aggregate and aviation spirit traffic still operating over the northern part of the line. Appendix 3 covers filming activities around the line, with a wonderful picture of "Pete and Dud" speeding through Colnbrook station on a white grand piano!

Neil Parkhouse    [Publisher:  Lightmoor  2018]    Softback    48 pages

Slim but beautiful, all the new colour images and a few minor corrections that have gone into the new edition of the main book, this enabling the very many original purchasers to enjoy new material without buying a whole second edition. Without exception all of the images are full of interest and atmosphere, and quite a few are just achingly beautiful.

Tim Maddocks and John Stretton    [Publisher:  Silver Link  2019]    Softback    128 pages

Over 200 photographs that take a nostalgic and comparative look at the two Great Western Routes heading west from Swindon. The great strength of this book is its excellent coverage of the recent engineering changes that have place along the routes in preparation for electrification, which was subsequently and partially cancelled. This has proved to be one of the great mysteries of current times to my way of thinking, but I don't think that anyone is blaming the Russians for it(!)