While in some ways Christmas 2011 was a disappointment, with many promised products failing to make production in time. Hornby's new teak liveried LNER Gresley suburban and full brake coaches failed to make it to Santa's sack and arrive under my Christmas tree.

One very welcome arrival was Bob Essery's new book in the "railway operation" series: Train shunting and marshalling for the modeller. I've had copies of Essery's titles on freight train operation and on railway signalling for some time, and have found these really useful reference volumes.

Read more on my external blog.