Which is you favourite Railway Book.

[jamie92208]

.

There was another book that I enjoyed called "The Forest of Boland Light Railway" which again was a children's book (not that it has ever stopped me reading them well into adulthood) which was a light railway run in a forest by a bunch of elves.

 

!

 

That was oneof my favourites as a kid also. I used to borrow it time and time again from the travelling library that came round the village.

 

Jamie

[sixteen 12by 10s]

Through Limestone hills, by the book man himself Bill Hudson. It inspired me to build Over Haddon (http://www.rmweb.co....36-over-haddon/), as well as some lovely walking in the peak district.

 

Gary

[Rivercider]

The Observers Book of Railway Locomotives of Britain 1955,

 

I received this 2nd hand, about 1964/65 when I was aged about 5 or 6.

I endlessly re-read it, and used to compile a wishlist/dreamteam of the locos I considered most handsome.

LNER K3, GER J19, J20, LNER J39, LTSR Tilbury 4-4-2T, MR/LMS 4F, LBSCR K, SR Z, SR Q, SR Q1 (!), GWR 56XX, GWR 22XX, GWR 94XX,

Not for me the express types. Was I a bit odd?

I also received the 1962 revised edition. It had diesels and electrics, but comments such as 'with gaps due to scrapping'

made a 6 year old very sad.

[Martino]

Just thought I'd add to this.

 

One of the most thumbed books I have is 'The Slough Estates Railway' by John Isherwood, published by Wild Swan in 1989.

 

I just received the update to this, same publisher, but revised by John Isherwood's Daughter Jaye Isherwood. It's excellent, but I'm biased as Jaye kindly included some photos I took when I was about 14!

[pointstaken]

I'll add to the list (from 50+ years ago)

 

"2750 - legend of a locomotive"

"Paddington to Seagood" - story of a model railway.

 

Dennis

[DaveF]

Back in July I posted my favourites, I've just noticed I omitted to mention Edward Beal's books, especially:

 

Modelling Old Time Railways

 

I found them again today while trying to make space to put (yet) more books somewhere in the house - at the moment there are well over 900 on railways, I hate to think how many other books as well.

I will have to avoid bookshops, Amazon, etc!

 

David

[Tim Hale]

The Trains We Loved - C. Hamilton Ellis (the illustrated version) for the sheer joy of reading about the golden age of railways, written first hand by an author who loved his subject.

 

and anything by the great communicator- our Iain, the best editor the MRJ never had.

 

DesA

[Ruston]

'The Chronicles Of Boulton's Sidings' by Alfred Rosling Bennett, I've got the David & Charles 1971 reprint. An excellent and often quite humourous account of an early industrial locomotive builder (mainly converted from ex-mainline locos) and hirer with a lot of drawings, some of which have inspired some very interesting models.

 

I've got the original 1927 edition and am currently reading it again. I'm tempted to have a go at making a model of Rattlesnake in 7mm... That would be something different!

[ben racey]

I remember the Forest of Bowland Light Railway! Must still be at my parents somewhere!

 

My two current railway books are Saga By Rail Great Britain, and Saga By Rail: Ireland. Both by the sadly late James Boyd. These two books really bring vividly to life the fun of ferretting out narrow gauge and obscure lines from the 30's to the 60's.

 

This is the first paragraph from the first book - and it gets better as it goes on!

 

'My initial seven day leave from the army was scheduled for the first week of june 1941, depending on whether I passed certain tests. Confiednt of my ability Dorothy, to whom I was engasged, and I planned to marry at this opportunity and she sportingly agreed that we should use her small car with its precuous petrol couplons for our brief honeymoon. She was also agreable to incoude several railway visits on the occasion, so we spent some time in correspondence as to where would be the most suitasble venue for our purpose. Shrewsbury seemed a good choice as there were a number of unusual lines in the neighbourhood, including the Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway, the Snailbeach District Railways and the Welshpool and Llanfair. We also had to study the route from the wedding celebrations to Shrewsbury, along which there would be no helpful signposts as all such had been removed in precaution of a German invasion. We could not risk wasting petrol by taking the wrong road!

 

Can't see my wife, lovely as she is, agreeing to that plan!

 

larly served by the second book, tales of travelling the Clogher Valley, Lough Swilly Railway and others; something I was born far far to late to ever do. Both books cannot be recommended highly enough.

 

Regards

 

Richard.

[tractionman]

Depends what mood I am in, whether it's a reading words mood or a wallowing in nostalgic photographs mood!

 

On the latter I love the Bradford Barton diesel vols produced in the 1970s, now being rekindled in spirit by the Strathwood '70s spotting days series which are never far away from my armchair in the evening...

 

On the former a book by Nicholas Whittaker called 'Platform Souls' about growing up as a 'spotter in the '60s and '70s - the book's now falling apart from countless re-readings and the content rings so true it makes me laugh. My wife didn't 'get it' when she read it, though - I guess you just had to have been there. I was so impressed when I first read it (back in 2003) I left a review on Amazon http://www.amazon.co...96163984&sr=1-1 - the review is still there!

 

If I am feeling a bit more intellectual/niche I go for "Stone Blocks and Iron Rails" by Bertram Baxter (great name, great book), and James Boyd's NG railways of mid-Wales, both having seen service 'in the field' in searching out old railways and tramways over the years.

 

Nice thread.

 

cheers,

 

Keith

[Colin]

"Southern Steam Surrender" by John H Bird.

A poignant and fascinating account of the last full year (1966) of steam on the SR, plus the final months up to 9 July '67, a short period which has always been my greatest single modelling inspiration.

[Baby Deltic]

My faves are probably the wagon books by Larkin, Hendry, Gamble, Rowland, Kent et al.

[mike morley]

It astonishes me that we've got to page four of this topic without "Behind the Steam" by Bill Morgan and his daughter, Bette Meyrick, being mentioned.

Bill was 14 when he joined the GWR as a cleaner at Neyland, in the far west of Wales, during the Great War. Bill is a raconteur par excellence and his anecdotes about life on the railways is as entertaining as it is absorbing.

His accounts of firing trains in and out of Swansea at the height of air-raids during WW2 also bring to life just what life was like during the blitz far more graphically than any other war story I have ever read. And even in South and West Wales's darkest hours, Bill's sense of humour remains un-dimmed.

 

I would also add yet another vote in favour of the most-mentioned book in this topic - Red For Danger by LTC Rolt. Never has so grim a subject been recounted so readably.

[PGN]

The most amazing railway book ever produced, as far as I am concerned, is Jowitts Railway Atlas. Every time I refer to it (which is often) I am simply amazed by the magnitude of the task he took on, and the flair with which he executed it.

 

My least favourite read of all time (and being a lawyer, I HAD to read it ... but at least somebody was paying me to do so!) was the Railways Act 1993!

[t-b-g]

The Wild Swan and Peco books by Peter Denny, George Dow's Great Central trilogy (plus associated albums) and my well thumbed copies of MRJ get looked at more than anything else. Jack Nelson's book on modelling the LNWR is a favourite too. Full of very useful drawings and information.

[antrobuscp]

I've often re-read the G & SWR books, those by Adrian Vaughan, and many mentioned above. Many of my books are modelling reference works picked up from time to time. The one book which I keep coming back to, though, is "Summer Saturdays in the West". Although I never saw those days in Devon, I did go on family holidays in North Wales and suffered delays and a similar apparent concentration of traffic. I find it fascinating reading how the volume of traffic was handled, albeit at the cost of major delays, etc.

 

Colin

[Sailor Charon]

Crumbs. I'm not sure whether to say Locomotive Panorama Vol1, Living with London Midland Steam, Locomotives that never were... Are you detecting a theme here?

[scots region]

Its been said before but my favorite book will always be my Grandfathers very battered 1962 copy of Railway Adventure. Great in value if sentimental not economical

['CHARD]

The Observers Book of Railway Locomotives of Britain 1955,

 

I received this 2nd hand, about 1964/65 when I was aged about 5 or 6.

I endlessly re-read it, and used to compile a wishlist/dreamteam of the locos I considered most handsome.

LNER K3, GER J19, J20, LNER J39, LTSR Tilbury 4-4-2T, MR/LMS 4F, LBSCR K, SR Z, SR Q, SR Q1 (!), GWR 56XX, GWR 22XX, GWR 94XX,

Not for me the express types. Was I a bit odd?

I also received the 1962 revised edition. It had diesels and electrics, but comments such as 'with gaps due to scrapping'

made a 6 year old very sad.

 

Now that post resonates with me. I received an edition of this when I was a similar age. I recall the 'gaps due to scrapping,' but given that the edition I was handed-down was from circa 1963, and steam on BR was by 1969 but a memory, it was the diesel data it contained that was crucial. I had acquired a Minitrix diesel loco that I identified as (attempting to) resembling a BRCW Type 2 from the trusty Observers' pages... Also, the list of loco names at the back - how hamfistedly I underlined 'Westerns' in blue biro (my first love - 52s, not BiC!). Then someone mentioned something called a 'Locoshed book.'

[halfwit]

I've got the original 1927 edition and am currently reading it again. I'm tempted to have a go at making a model of Rattlesnake in 7mm... That would be something different!

 

Dave, the Oakwood Press have a book in their 'Portfolio Series' with all of the drawings from Boultons Sidings (and some others) in reproduced to 7mm scale, called 'Boultons Sidings including Contractors Locomotives' ISBN 0 85361 397 4.

 

There is a 4mm model of Rattlesnake, with working flywheel and chains, in the Second Model Railway Journal Compendium.

[Neal Ball]

I used to like Rolt's "Red for Danger" but then I discovered the actual accident reports and while Rolt certainly had a way with words you really can't beat the originals.......

 

 

Agreed! - I was doing some family tree research at kew a few years ago and got to read some accident reports from the LNER. One that sticks in the mind is where a fireman on an A4 died on the footplate. The resultant enquiry (there were notes by Sir Nigel himself) reported that the fireman was probably struck by a lump of coal on the head as both his loco and another went over the water troughs. - Slightly off-topic, so apologies!

[Neal Ball]

It astonishes me that we've got to page four of this topic without "Behind the Steam" by Bill Morgan and his daughter, Bette Meyrick, being mentioned.......

.

 

I agree!

 

I first read this book in the 1970's and regularly borrowed it from the library, afetr which it went out of print, I moved away from Feltham etc. In the 1990's I actually went to neyland and tried to imagine what it was like when the Bulldogs were there and Bill was starting his railway career!

 

Strangely this week I was searching Amazon and came across a copy (£8 including p&p) and have started reading. This will be finished by the weekend!

 

Thoroughly recomended.

[Neal Ball]

Other than Behind the Steam, or real life reports at the Public Record office (also something to be recomended, my list would be as follows:

 

Adrian Vaughan, almost any of his books, but definitely his times in the signal box.

 

Peter Smith, his reminiscences about life on the S & D. His book Footplate over the Mendips, was presented to me by as a competition prize in 1980! (I thought by Roland Bond, but having taken the book down the signature is that of PJ - looks like Denham(?)

 

Well thumbed reference books are always of Great Western origin and include the 4 GWR coaches books (Michael Harris x 1 and JH Russell), Adrian Vaughans GWR architecture and Paul Karau's book on the Henley on Thames branch.

 

For something different, I can recommend a new series of books, which I have on my eReader: The Railway Detective series, written by Edward Marston.

 

Oh and then there is the Bradshaws.... mind now wandering into a bucolic charm thinking of steam engines working hard at the bottom of the garden!........

[steve fay]

The south Wales main line part 1 & 2 John hodge

The north and west route vol 3 a ( looking forward to part 3 b ) by John hodge

For a really good read reminiscences of a great western fireman by Harold gasson and glory days western engine man by Adrian Vaughan about bob nicks.

[The Stationmaster]

Adrian Vaughan, almost any of his books, but definitely his times in the signal box.

In one of which I am mentioned (name disguised) - in rather uncomplimentary terms as it happens (probably arising from the fact that I had just given him something of a r*ll*cking)

 

 

Adrian Vaughans GWR architecture

Much of which he put together while at work (and no, that wasn't connected with the comment above)

 

and Paul Karau's book on the Henley on Thames branch.

An excellent tome but as I had 'a bit to do' with some of the research and 'helped' with quite a lot of one chapter together with proof reading all the captions I'm rather biased