Modeller’s Bookshelf
Four more new titles that have provided Model Rail’s editor with plenty of inspiration.
Anyone with an interest in the East Coast Main Line – and Doncaster in particular – will appreciate this album of nearly 200 images of steam traction from the 1960s. Virtually all are colour shots, depicting the variety of locomotives and services around the station and surrounding areas, including the various collieries, ironstone mines and the famous ‘Plant’ works. The detailed colour shots offer great reference material for weathering projects and the captions offer plenty of useful information.
Book: Steam Around Doncaster in the 1960s, by Keith W. Platt (Amberley)
Price: £15.99 www.amberley-books.com
Presented in landscape format, this beautiful book provides a range of stunning images of the modern railway. Locations include Buxton, Chinley and the Hope Valley, Copy Pit and Standedge routes, plus the Settle-carlisle, Shap and other scenic northern routes. There’s a real mix of traction, portrayed in rural and urban settings, with some wonderfully artistic compositions, many of which portray familiar locations in a very different way.
Book: The Pennines – Trains in the Landscape, by David Hayes (Amberley)
Price: £17.99 www.amberley-books.com Covering the genesis and development of the ‘Deltic’ prototype and the subsequent roll-out of the single and twin Napier engine locomotives, this pictorial history combines many useful images and text to tell the story of success (Class 55) and failure (Class 23). Each of the 22 production ‘Deltics’ is illustrated, providing a handy one-stop resource for modellers. This book has certainly proved useful while reviewing Accurascale’s new models (see page 86)! Book: The Deltics and Baby Deltics by Andrew Fowler (Pen & Sword) Price: £25.00 www.pen-and-sword.co.uk Many railway modellers also share an interest in ships and ports, as the two modes of transport have always been inter-related. This hardback book presents a useful history of London’s docks and shipping between the 1940s and 1980s. It’s inevitably a tale of decline, but the excellent black and white images contain a wealth of visual information for dock-themed layout builders. Dock infrastructure and a vast range of shipping – from Thames barges to oil tankers – are illustrated. Book: Shipping on the Thames by Malcolm & Reg Batten (Pen & Sword) Price: £30.00 www.pen-and-sword.co.uk