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Which is you favourite Railway Book.


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Mendips Engineman- Peter Smith

 

My first encounter with a 'hands-on' description of the S&DJR which provided some of the answers to why the line was so popular with its employees and enthusiasts but not its owners. Twenty-five years on I managed to find a copy of his combined volumes and every page has been a pleasure.

 

DesA

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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 biasedwink.gif

 

The latter of course, is a lovely branch and a great book!

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  • 6 years later...

Adrian Vaughn's Signalman trilogy.

 

Superb.

 

Does anyone remeber a series of books, about a lad with a layout where all the figures etc were 'alive'? I had them on permenant loan from the school library!

Hi Black Rat. I am glad you liked the books. Your comments on your interpretation would be of interest. Mark

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Yes.

The series was called "The model railway men" I can't remember the author's nameat the moment but I seem to recall the setting for the stories was his own layout.

Yes it was his own layout and the stories were based around my childhood play and various outside influences. I would be interested to know your interpretation if you can remember the stories. Mark

 

I too enjoyed reading those books and have a set of them. They were a sort of Borrowers for railways. Maybe with DCC the 'Model Railway Men' could become a reality! The figures had names such as 'Telford''Stanier' 'Gresley' and 'Stroudley' and lived in the buildings on the layouts with their families. They were initially not impressed with the boy's layout they were living on and its lack of real railway application. The adventures are centred a lot about them attempting to turn this train set they found themselves on into a proper railway. There was one where they had an encounter with an American enthusiast- lets say that his ideas did not go down well at all with the very British and traditional railwaymen that the Model Railway Men were. A short extract when Telford discovers the visiting Union Pacific 4-8-8-4 loco:

"Telford pointed at the new big loco, almost speechless.

'What's that?' he inquired.

'That's an American loco,' said Mark.

' 'Tis monstrous,' complained the old man. 'It's got four of everything. Gawd- what sort of a train needs h'engine like that. They'm a-showing off.That's it! Proper show-offs they are.'

'Like a run in her?' Mark asked innocently.

Telford stared.

'Aye,' he said. 'Let's see how she goes.' "

 

I hope you forgive the above but it gives a small flavour of the books.

 

Books that I have are:

"The Model-Railway Men" Ray Pope, "The Model-Railway Men Take Over","Telford and the American Visitor" and "Telford Tell the Truth". There are another four that I do not have "Telford's Holiday", "Telford and the Festiniog Railway", "Telford Saves the Line" and "Telford Goes Dutch" (and that is is not about him paying for his share of dinner- Telford would never be caught in one of those fancy restaurant places anyway- preferring to have a mash can of tea and a shovel breakfast on a footplate.)

 

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.

 

Finally another book from my childhood is "The Secret Railway" by Elisabeth Beresford (of Wombles fame) which is about two children that move from the Midlands to Norfolk and found the disused old station. What follows is a similar sort of story to the Flockton Flyer.

 

Sorry to go a little off track but I have enjoyed being reminded of the 'Model Railway Men' and digging out those books again. I shall be having to have another read of them now!

Hi Natalie, Great post. I think the stories were also interconnected with real events. "Telford Saves the Line" (The Beechen cuts)  and "Telford Goes Dutch" (the UK's entry to the EU). What do you think? Mark

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I remember these too.....but I also don't know the titles ! These books would have been around in the late 60s/early 70s.

Matt

Hi Carodac, First published in 1970 and one/year until '79. I think there may be one more unpublished. Mark

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For me, it's Gassons books about the Didcot, Newbury & Southampton Railway, along with the picture book of the same title. I get to use the A34 on a routine basis, and it still reaches out and grabs me. I've been very lucky to have seen some amazing things, and some wonderful people. It's difficult to describe the sense of loss. The pen is indeed, mightier than the sword.

 

Ian.

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Rail Trails: SouthWest by Peter W. Gray is a firm favourite of mine. Top quality photographs supported by text that is accurate and informative, the benchmark for how all captions should be written. My well thumbed copy, signed by Peter himself at his home in Torquay in the mid nineties, is one of my most prized railway possessions. Highly recommended if you are even slightly interested in the railways of Devon and Cornwall in the twilight years of steam.

 

Regards,

 

Andy.

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An old subject bumped from 2011, I had no answer then, and it's difficult thinking of one now. All I can say, the first book I bought, in my present railway collection, which was O.S. Nocks 'The British Steam Railway Locomotive 1925 - 1965', his volume 2 to Ahrons volume 1. Bought it from Foyles Bookshop in Charing Cross Road after a visit to Nine Elms shed in 1966. :sungum:

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In a now defunct forum, we had great fun with 'Desert Island Railway Books' ........

 

Lots that have been mentioned (I'll second OD on Hamilton Ellis's LB&SCR), and I'm one of the many "Red for Danger" fans, to the degree where I would probably put it first.

 

My mother bought it for me when I was seven, and I still return to it occasionally.

 

An obscure one that I will recommend strongly is "Steel Rails and Silver Dreams", which is about a next-to-nothing mining railway in British Columbia. It's one of the few railway books that has heroes, villains, genuine adventure, bankruptcy, rags-to-riches-and-back, etc, being more about the Silver Rush, and hence about greed and human fallibility, than about the railway.

 

I've actually somewhat "gone off" modern railway books, which seem to focus ever more tightly on ever more specific things, in favour of old stuff, which is much more 'conversational' and 'first hand'. Ahron's "Locomotive and Train Working in the Nineteenth Century" is fascinating, and funny, because he takes swipes at all sorts of things along the way.

 

Kevin

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Most of my favourites are the detailed books on things like locomotives, coaches and wagons. But two spring to mind that I can look at for hours. 

 

 

An Historical Survey of Great Western Engine Sheds, 1947 by E T Lyons

 

Great Western Branch Line Termini by Paul Karau

 

 

 

I also used to quite like the Robert Adley books. Railway books about the end of steam that weren't written by an "expert", more of an enthusiastic amateur, witty and charming, and full of atmospheric photographs.

 

 

 

Jason

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In a now defunct forum, we had great fun with 'Desert Island Railway Books' ........

 

Lots that have been mentioned (I'll second OD on Hamilton Ellis's LB&SCR), and I'm one of the many "Red for Danger" fans, to the degree where I would probably put it first.

 

My mother bought it for me when I was seven, and I still return to it occasionally.

 

An obscure one that I will recommend strongly is "Steel Rails and Silver Dreams", which is about a next-to-nothing mining railway in British Columbia. It's one of the few railway books that has heroes, villains, genuine adventure, bankruptcy, rags-to-riches-and-back, etc, being more about the Silver Rush, and hence about greed and human fallibility, than about the railway.

 

I've actually somewhat "gone off" modern railway books, which seem to focus ever more tightly on ever more specific things, in favour of old stuff, which is much more 'conversational' and 'first hand'. Ahron's "Locomotive and Train Working in the Nineteenth Century" is fascinating, and funny, because he takes swipes at all sorts of things along the way.

 

Kevin

 

I liked Rolt's 'Red For Danger' as well, railway disaster as inevitable punishment for human hubris by the gods Greek Tragedy style, with the errors building up to the inevitable catastrophe, and have always enjoyed anything that Prof. Tuplin wrote (note that 'enjoyed' does not necessarily mean 'agree with' or even in some cases 'believe', but he's very entertaining and provocative).  There is a place in the world for iconoclasts to remind us that not all is as cosy and wonderful as we want to believe.

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My favourite railway book is:

 

La legend des Trans-Europ-Express

 

Jean-Pierre Malaspina and Maurice Mertens

 

LR Presse   ISBN 978-2-903651-45-9

 

A fantastic book about all the TEE trains that ran in Europe. Despite it being in French if you want to know anything about the TEE locos and rolling stock as well as the train formations over the years this is the book to read.

 

More important to me is that this book was a Christmas present in 2007 signed by my late Mum in the early stages of her dementia.

 

Keith

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I also used to quite like the Robert Adley books. Railway books about the end of steam that weren't written by an "expert", more of an enthusiastic amateur, witty and charming, and full of atmospheric photographs.

Especially his first book 'British Steam in Cameracolour', as he seemed to have gone, all the same places as I did at near enough the same time - spooky !? :sungum:

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Especially his first book 'British Steam in Cameracolour', as he seemed to have gone, all the same places as I did at near enough the same time - spooky !? :sungum:

 

You are Robert Ardley and I claim my free packet of Daz...

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Books that got me interested in railways in the first place were of course the Rev Awdry's books, but also a copy of Modern Railways Pictorial which had a class 40 on the front.

 

Books that got my interest in railway photography going were any of Colin Gifford's books and Colin Walkers, and through Colin Gifford I'm getting into Jean Michel Hartmann. Also nearly all of the Bradford Barton books and of course anything by Ivo Peters.

 

Railway modelling it was old copies of Railway Modeller and Model Railway Constructor from the 1970's & 80's along with the pictoral history of GWR coaching stock as well as GWR engine sheds that wee at my local library.

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I liked Rolt's 'Red For Danger' as well, railway disaster as inevitable punishment for human hubris by the gods Greek Tragedy style, with the errors building up to the inevitable catastrophe, and have always enjoyed anything that Prof. Tuplin wrote (note that 'enjoyed' does not necessarily mean 'agree with' or even in some cases 'believe', but he's very entertaining and provocative).  There is a place in the world for iconoclasts to remind us that not all is as cosy and wonderful as we want to believe.

The whole object of 'Red for Danger' is of course HOW railway accidents were investigated and how the accident or group of accidents COULD have been prevented.

 

Several times, it points out railway companies  were reluctant to spend the cash to eliminate similar accidents from occurring. The classic examples were interlocking of points and signals, automatic brakes, along with the Absolute Block system.

 

Similar techniques are also used for severe road crashes, industrial accidents & plane crashes. The latter is generally well known for 'Air Crash Investigations'. An example of reluctance to fix, for aircraft, were several incidents where on early 747s, the cargo doors blew out in flight, causing the planes to fall out of the sky or have passengers sucked out. All because of a cheap, substandard locking mechanism.

 

 

Edit to add link for 747-122, since some doubt that it was a Jumbo!

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_811

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I have two, both by David L Smith. A real gentleman who described the railway scene in a most entertaining way. I first read " Tales" when I was 14. The copy in the picture is my working copy as the original hard back wore out! His DICo is pure and simply a history but with lots of locomotive and railway stories. He had relatives in the company and lived in the area. Both are out of print but well worth seeking out.

 

Ian.

 

post-6089-0-35017300-1503157650_thumb.jpg

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The whole object of 'Red for Danger' is of course HOW railway accidents were investigated and how the accident or group of accidents COULD have been prevented.

 

Several times, it points out railway companies  were reluctant to spend the cash to eliminate similar accidents from occurring. The classic examples were interlocking of points and signals, automatic brakes, along with the Absolute Block system.

 

Similar techniques are also used for severe road crashes, industrial accidents & plane crashes. The latter is generally well known for 'Air Crash Investigations'. An example of reluctance to fix, for aircraft, were several incidents where on early 747s, the cargo doors blew out in flight, causing the planes to fall out of the sky or have passengers sucked out. All because of a cheap, substandard locking mechanism.

 

Think that was the Lockheed Tristar, which got such a bad rep they renamed it the 10-11.  The aircraft would, as you say, reach height and depressurise as the door blew out, this was during the 70s.  I flew on a 10-11 to Canada in 1985; lovely, quiet, comfortable thing with plenty legroom.  

 

A point well made by Rolt is the LBSC's reluctance to install absolute block even after failure of permissive block regulations had confused a signalman and led to the terrible Clayton Tunnel fire in the 1870s; they claimed it would make the drivers less vigilant if they knew the track ahead was clear!  The same reluctance was seen with automatic brakes, and a turning point was the Armagh tragedy as late as 1889!  Similar objections were raised to the matter of gas lighting, which resulted in several bad collisions becoming major disasters as late as 1927 at Charfield, and track circuiting which prevented a signalman forgetting that a train was standing in his station, sometimes literally under his nose outside the box, and accepting another train on top of it.  A spate of accidents in the 1950s led to widespread calls for AWS, which should have been installed decades earlier, and even now there are calls for cab signalling and automatic train stops which are rejected on cost grounds having not already cost enough loss of life and suffering to justify them.

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Think that was the Lockheed Tristar, which got such a bad rep they renamed it the 10-11.  The aircraft would, as you say, reach height and depressurise as the door blew out, this was during the 70s.  I flew on a 10-11 to Canada in 1985; lovely, quiet, comfortable thing with plenty legroom.  

 

A point well made by Rolt is the LBSC's reluctance to install absolute block even after failure of permissive block regulations had confused a signalman and led to the terrible Clayton Tunnel fire in the 1870s; they claimed it would make the drivers less vigilant if they knew the track ahead was clear!  The same reluctance was seen with automatic brakes, and a turning point was the Armagh tragedy as late as 1889!  Similar objections were raised to the matter of gas lighting, which resulted in several bad collisions becoming major disasters as late as 1927 at Charfield, and track circuiting which prevented a signalman forgetting that a train was standing in his station, sometimes literally under his nose outside the box, and accepting another train on top of it.  A spate of accidents in the 1950s led to widespread calls for AWS, which should have been installed decades earlier, and even now there are calls for cab signalling and automatic train stops which are rejected on cost grounds having not already cost enough loss of life and suffering to justify them.

It was actually the McDonnell Douglas DC10 that had the cargo door issue.

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The Caledonian Railway Jumbos, by H. J. C. Cornwell.

ISBN13 : 9781899889563.

 

This is a detailed study of the Caleys Jumbo 0-6-0s tender goods engine, which were workhorses for the Company and they were the largest class of locomotives in Scotland consisting of 244 locos.

If you are going to model a Jumbo you need this book.

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