GREAT WESTERN OUTSIDE FRAMED 4‑4‑0 TENDER LOCOMOTIVES (SMALL AND LARGE WHEELED)

A good history of some classic GWR designs. Colour pictures in ‘Large Wheeled’.

PRICE: £25.00 (‘Large Wheeled’), £30.00 (‘Small Wheeled’) RATING:

With the welcome news that ‘Dukedog’ No. 9017 is to be overhauled (SR473), providing us with the sight of a working GWR doubleframed 4-4-0 again, these books are timely releases. In the nowestablished style of Pen & Sword’s locomotive histories, they document their subject well, with histories of each class and a good selection of archive photographs. As well as the ‘Cities’ and ‘Dukedogs’, famed for 100mph running and the Cambrian lines respectively, they include the ‘Atbara’, ‘Badminton’ and ‘Flower’ classes, and the ‘Dukes’ and ‘Bulldogs’ that later came together to make the hybrid ‘Dukedogs’. Perhaps those with the most interesting story to tell, however, are the ‘3521s’ – which started life as 0-4-2Ts, then became 0-4-4Ts, but proved prone to derailment and were rebuilt ‘back to front’ as 4-4-0 tender engines. A welcome addition is a central section of colour pictures, containing (in the ‘Small Wheeled’ book) ‘Dukedogs’ in latter BR days and No. 9017 in preservation, and (in ‘Large Wheeled’) paintings of these 4-4-0s and photos of City of Truro on steam railways. However, the latter let it down a little – I’m not sure if it’s the printing process or if they were slides that didn’t scan well, but they appear washed-out and out of focus. I couldn’t help thinking it a little ironic that the one about the smaller engines costs more, but either is a goodvalue addition to any GWR book collection. (TJ)