An illustrated history of British Railways Hopper Wagons

[corneliuslundie]

An illustrated history of British Railways Hopper Wagons

David Monk-Steel
Published by the Historical Model Railway Society
ISBN: ISBN 978 0 902835 42 9

An Illustrated History of British Railways Hopper Wagons by David Monk–Steel is a detailed history of the 37 designs of specialised hopper rolling stock built for bulk delivery of coal and other commodities by BR through the second half of the 20th century. The book details the history of these wagons from those built by BR to LNER designs through to the later, and various, air-braked designs. This A4 format book has 248 pages with over 150 colour/monochrome photographs and over 100 A4 drawings reproduced at 7 mm/ft scale. A special binding allows the book to lie flat for ease of use.  David and his colleagues spent many hours visiting freight yards so that they could measure and photograph British Rail's hopper wagon fleet when they were still in revenue service. This excellent book is an authoritative reference to this fleet and will serve both modellers and historians well. 
An Illustrated History of British Railways Hopper Wagons is available now for purchase via the HMRS website: www.hmrs.org.uk. Simply click on “Products” and then “Books”. The book is also available at exhibitions where the HMRS has a stand, or from specialist bookshops. Prices are non-members: £40 (+p&p), HMRS members: £27 (+p&p) and trade prices are available on application.

Now delivered, and will be on the HMRS website very shortly

Jonathan David
 

[hmrspaul]

I have discussed with David MS, His comments included

 

The book is considerable departure from previous HMRS publications. It IS A4 indeed, but Landscape format. I requested this to permit my drawings to be viewed at the same orientation as the text. These drawings are, in the main, shown at 7mm to 1 foot scale which just fits nicely into an A4 sheet for most of the vehicles. The book is soft cover although high gloss externally, the pages are semi matt.

 

It is printed by Amadeus so will be of excellent quality. 

 

Paul

 

[Enterprisingwestern]

31 minutes ago, hmrspaul said:

I have discussed with David MS, His comments included

 

The book is considerable departure from previous HMRS publications. It IS A4 indeed, but Landscape format. I requested this to permit my drawings to be viewed at the same orientation as the text. These drawings are, in the main, shown at 7mm to 1 foot scale which just fits nicely into an A4 sheet for most of the vehicles. The book is soft cover although high gloss externally, the pages are semi matt.

 

It is printed by Amadeus so will be of excellent quality. 

 

Paul

 

 

Can we count this as volume 3 of the original orange bible Paul?!!

 

Mike.

[hmrspaul]

12 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Can we count this as volume 3 of the original orange bible Paul?!!

 

Mike.

Yes

The original 'style' was suitable for the early 1980s but not 40 years later. That book was, of course, very expensive (it would be going on for £50 now) only black and white and 172 pages. Books are much cheaper now!

 

I haven't seen the new book, so do not know how David has tabulated information. I'm not home so cannot go around and collect one from him. 

 

The original was careful to attempt to show what the original brake rigging was, which changed without any acknowledgement by either diagrams or the Lot files. But this may be less necessary for most of the hoppers which were built in more limited batches. However, the new book will have a lot more colour and the drawings will be more detailed than in Volume 1. Separately, David has been redrawing many of the earlier drawings to include much more of what was going on underneath and in end views as model manufacturer's are more interested in illustrating these. And 7mm reproduction makes details much clearer. 

 

Paul

 

 

[corneliuslundie]

Now on the website and available for purchase.

In most, if not all, cases for each Diagram the book lists each lot ordered or built with builders, quantities, delivery dates etc as well as costs. Sometimes the story gets quite complicated when lots were cancelled, re-issued, altered etc.

Jonathan

[hmrspaul]

https://hmrs.org.uk/british-railways-hopper-wagons.html

[Steamport Southport]

Another one for the list.

 

As an aside and quite coincidental I managed to finally get a copy of the first volume this week.

 

Keep looking as they do turn up occasionally for a reasonable price rather than the often quoted £75 plus. £13 from one of those booksellers on eBay. It said it had marks/stains but apart from a tiny bit of shelf wear it's perfect.

 

 

Jason

[hmrspaul]

21 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

Another one for the list.

 

As an aside and quite coincidental I managed to finally get a copy of the first volume this week.

 

Keep looking as they do turn up occasionally for a reasonable price rather than the often quoted £75 plus. £13 from one of those booksellers on eBay. It said it had marks/stains but apart from a tiny bit of shelf wear it's perfect.

 

 

Jason

A good price, well done. I expect a lot will come on the market in the coming years as a generation moves on to the great marshalling yard in the sky. I'll admit I was offered one for a fiver some years ago, but as it was a charity sale I gave a tenner  - big hearted! Looked never to have been opened and only wear was the fading of the spine book jacket where it had sat in a bookcase for years. They were sold off cheap by the WHS book club and I suspect plenty of their books were rarely used - I have several from that source I've not opened. 

 

Yes, saw one for £150 on an internet sale today!

 

Paul

[hmrspaul]

On 14/07/2022 at 09:40, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Can we count this as volume 3 of the original orange bible Paul?!!

 

Mike.

Mike

David MS asked what was volume 2?

 

The back cover blurb acknowledges this book as volume 2. Personally I will call it Volume 2 part 1. 

 

Paul

[Enterprisingwestern]

6 hours ago, hmrspaul said:

Mike

David MS asked what was volume 2?

 

The back cover blurb acknowledges this book as volume 2. Personally I will call it Volume 2 part 1. 

 

Paul

 

I thought the MGR book was vol 2?

 

Mike.

[pharrc20]

Nice to get a mention from David in this book and acknowledging my book on the I.C.I. Hopper wagons. It is well worth the cover price for the information and drawings and I have already spotted a few things in there too including some I.C.I. internal user hopper wagons.

 

Cheers Paul