Modeller’s Bookshelf
This month we feature a couple of titles that will appeal to collectors, as well as a beautiful new ‘coffee table’ tome from the National Railway Museum that offers a veritable feast for the eyes.
This new volume, by the NRM’S Christopher Valkoinen, uses 300 images to tell the story of how the railways changed Britain and the world. Including detailed engineering drawings, photographs and maps, the attractively presented book chronicles the development of life-changing inventions and might-have-been designs, as well as the impact of characters such as George and Robert Stephenson, Gresley, and Brunel. It also tells the story of the millions of people who have worked and travelled on the rails over the last two centuries. Each of the exquisite drawings serves to illuminate how the work of railway engineers and draughtsmen forged our modern life.
Book: Railways: A History in Drawings by Christopher Valkoinen, (Thames & Hudson)
Price: £50.00
Following an earlier publication from 2010, this fully revised edition completes the story of ‘N’ gauge Uk-outline passenger stock from 1967 to 2020. Produced by the team behind the quarterly magazine N Gauge Now, the new volume features products from the likes of Graham Farish, Dapol, Peco and Minitrix. With nearly 2,000 separate entries, catalogue numbers of individual releases are detailed, along with running numbers and livery details, while there are also plenty of colour images to illustrate each model. This is a very handy guide for 2mm scale modellers and collectors alike. A second volume, dealing with UK freight stock, is currently in production.
Book: Collector’s Guide to British Passenger Rolling Stock in N Gauge (1967-2020), by Howard Foy Email: engeepublishing@gmail.com
Price: £5.95
Harking back to the days when toys – and most consumer products – could weigh as much as a few house bricks, Simon Potter endeavours to explain why so many kids of the 1950s and 1960s still harbour an obsession with these toys. The author is one of those addicts and, instead of writing an exhaustive history of die-cast trains and trucks, he offers an insight into a representative selection of road and rail-themed models of those eras, outlining their lineage and offering his own youthful memories. Plenty of household names feature, including Trix, Corgi and Hornby-dublo, and the combination of a large typeface and plenty of colour images makes this an easy, enjoyable read.
Book: Heavy Metal – The Charm of Diecast Rail and Road Models, by Simon Potter (Glassinghall Books)
Price: £12.95