robertcwp Posted November 13, 2011 Share Posted November 13, 2011 This is a large format softback by Evan Green-Hughes, published by Ian Allan, £17.99, 88pp. Includes lots of colour and black and white photos and some informative text giving good coverage of the background to the railbuses, their service, decline, withdrawal and preservation. One interesting fact that I had not been aware of is that the Waggon & Maschinenbau vehicles were publicised as having been built by Brown Boveri of Switzerland, possibly because of continuing anti-German sentiment in the UK at the time of their delivery little more than a decade after the end of WW2. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisf Posted November 13, 2011 Share Posted November 13, 2011 It is a pity that this book was not written 30 years ago. We might not then have had the Pacers. Chris [edited because I can't count or spell!] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieB Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 Interestingly Amazon have it listed on pre-order for publication on 1st December. Can't argue with good pictures well reproduced, but I'm left wondering how good the text is likely to be, given the author's coverage in Hornby Magazine. Not specific to this title, but a price of £17.99 for an 88-page softback does seem rather high, when you consider that Modern Railways Illustrated achieve similar content in magazine format for around a quarter of that price. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium spamcan61 Posted November 15, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 15, 2011 Interestingly Amazon have it listed on pre-order for publication on 1st December. Can't argue with good pictures well reproduced, but I'm left wondering how good the text is likely to be, given the author's coverage in Hornby Magazine. Not specific to this title, but a price of £17.99 for an 88-page softback does seem rather high, when you consider that Modern Railways Illustrated achieve similar content in magazine format for around a quarter of that price. I share your concerns, one of those books I'll borrow from the library before seeing if it's worth purchasing. Currently 13.49 GBP via Amazon, as you say 18 quid is a bit steep for a slim softback. http://www.rmweb.co....b-amazon-store/ edit:aaaaaaaaaaaagggggggggghhhhhhhhh I can never get direct product links to Amazon via the RMweb store to work :-/ Anyway, here it is not via the RMweb store then:- http://www.amazon.co.uk/First-Generation-Diesel-Railbuses-Green-Hughes/dp/0711036357/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321361518&sr=8-1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartingram Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 Interesting, because of this post I went into IA shop at Waterloo yesterday (very friendly with the staff there) and was told it is not yet published, still with the printers... Stewart Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertcwp Posted November 16, 2011 Author Share Posted November 16, 2011 Interestingly Amazon have it listed on pre-order for publication on 1st December. Can't argue with good pictures well reproduced, but I'm left wondering how good the text is likely to be, given the author's coverage in Hornby Magazine. Not specific to this title, but a price of £17.99 for an 88-page softback does seem rather high, when you consider that Modern Railways Illustrated achieve similar content in magazine format for around a quarter of that price. I had exactly the same concerns given the author's track record in Hornby Magazine articles. However, I did not spot any glaring errors. The book does not address liveries in any detail but, given the minefield that is DMU shades of green, perhaps this was deliberate. At least the author did not state that any railbuses carried prussian blue in service. As I bought the book along with several others, I didn't notice the price until I posted to RMWeb. I agree it seems ridiculously high. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenton Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 very friendly with the staff there A little too much information there ? Yes the price does seem a little on the high side, but then its old technology and evrything in book format does seem to be going up in price as if it is a desperate bid to survive. Still even at that price I'll be on the lookout for a copy. The pictures will probably be of use to those who like to model such things, let's hope the captions have had good editorial scrutiny. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baby Deltic Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 Bought a copy at Warley. Have had a quick nose through it and it looks fairly good on pictures alone. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieB Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 Just ordered a copy "blind" on Amazon, where the price has dropped to £12.39. Unfortunately they're quoting a dispatch date the other side of Christmas. [Edit] Just had an update from Amazon, they are now expecting to ship next week. [/Edit] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieB Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 My copy ordered from Amazon arrived yesterday! Overall, I'm quite satisfied. Scanning through the chapters that deal with the W&M railbuses and their use on former Great Eastern branchlines, the text is a little light (as expected), in one place a little misleading (the author refers to running additional trains for conveyance of goods "up the branch", whereas a van previously would have been attached to a service train, but doesn't identify which branch). Nice to see some new (to me) colour photos of these vehicles in service. While the photos included are of great interest, reproduction is not the best (particularly the colur pictures which lack shadow detail). Whether this is due to degradation of the original images, or slackness on behalf of the publisher, isn't clear to me. Some of the captions could do with some expansion. The price offered on Amazon represents fair value, I suppose, but I stand by my earlier comment that its published price is too high. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest AlexTM Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Hi folks, I was in IA's shop in Manchester two weeks ago - they were unable to supply a copy. Regards, Alex. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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