Modeller’s bookshelf review special
George Dent and Chris Leigh present eight new titles that will appeal to modellers and general enthusiasts alike.
SCOTTISH ‘DUFFS’ IN DETAIL
These wonderful books, produced by the Scottish Diesel & Electric Group, shine a light upon the Class 47s that became a vital cog in the Scotrail machine during the 1980s and 1990s.
The first title concentrates on the Scotrail Class 47/4s, which provided traction for longdistance passenger workings within Scotland and on express services along the East Coast Main Line. A wealth of prototype information for each individual Scottish-allocated ‘47/4’ outlines key modifications and depot allocations, while the text is accompanied by a range of high-quality colour images, displaying plenty of livery variations.
The second volume looks at the Class 47/7s, converted especially for push-pull Scotrail Express services linking Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. Each individual member of the sub-class is examined in detail, including details of their post-scotrail careers. There’s also plenty of useful data regarding the coaching stock used on these services, including the Mk 2f DBSOS. Both titles are essential reading for anyone interested in customising their models, or those who simply want to learn more about this exciting period of Scottish rail operations. Produced by modellers for modellers, the books are sold on a not-for-profit basis, with all proceeds being put towards publishing further volumes. Reproduction is first class, on quality paper and bound in hardback form, presenting a highly attractive package. Highly recommended. (GD) Books: Scotland’s Diesel Fleet in Detail – Class 47/4s/scotrail Express, compiled by Andrew Donnelly (SEDG)
Price: £30.00 each plus p&p Availability: Email: sdeg. books@gmail.com
GRESLEY’S LEGACY
Following his study of Edward Thompson, Simon Martin has turned his attention to one of the most famous locomotive engineers, Sir Nigel Gresley. This weighty tome (460 pages) sheds new light on Gresley’s various achievements in the fields of locomotive and rolling stock design. The author studies a range of key locomotive types, such as the ‘K3’, ‘J50’, ‘D49’, ‘A1/A3’, ‘A4’, ‘V2’ and ‘P2’, considering how each was developed, modified and maintained. There’s also a detailed study of Gresley’s work on streamlining and articulated rolling stock.
Supported by detailed graphs, tables and previously unpublished photographs from the Gresley Society, and bound within an impressive hardback cover, the book also includes extensive appendices, revealing facsimiles of Gresley’s original patent applications and promotional pamphlets for the LNER’S streamlined expresses. (GD)
Book: Sir Nigel Gresley – The LNER’S First CME, by Simon A.C. Martin (Strathwood)
Price: £49.95
Availability: www.strathwood.co.uk
STEAM’S FINAL FLING
Renowned ‘snapper’ John Whiteley’s photographic survey of the final years of steam on British Railways provides a mix of monochrome and colour images, depicting EX-LMS and BR Standard locomotives (plus a few EX-LNER and GWR types) during the 1960s. A mix of passenger and freight workings are captured for posterity, in many locations, including Derbyshire, Cheshire, Tyneside, Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cumbria, right up to the final days in the summer of 1968.
Each image is a visual treat in its own right, with the captions providing plenty of useful information, while modellers will be grateful for the endless weathering inspiration, for both locomotives and rolling stock. Numerous special workings are captured, featuring unusual traction in unusual places, but less glamorous workaday scenes are the main focus, providing a vivid glimpse into the end of an era. (GD)
Book: BR Steam in the North of England, by John Whiteley (Amberley)
Price: £15.99
Availability: www.amberley-books.com
ELEVATED VIEW
Aerial photography provides modellers with an essential resource, with the Aerofilms titles (some of which were edited by our own Chris Leigh) proving particularly popular in the past. Google Earth’s high-definition satellite imagery now provides a free reference source for the present day, but this new book offers a more creative and inspirational option.
Presented in landscape format is around 100 high-resolution colour images, mainly featuring locations across the Midlands, East Anglia and Northern England. All views have been captured by drones between 2017-20, from various altitudes and angles, providing views that can be enjoyed or studied for modelling purposes.
Most feature superb scenery, especially those captured in Cumbria and the
Peak District (I even spotted my old house in one of them), but there are also fascinating views over railway depots such as Toton and Crewe, industrial sites, quarries, container terminals and power stations. (GD)
Book: Britain’s Railways from the Air, by Rob Higgins (Amberley)
Price: £17.99
Availability: www.amberley-books.com
MAKING 2mm TRACKS AGAIN
This 8¼in by 11¾in soft cover volume is a revised and updated second edition of the 2mm Association’s 164-page handbook on permanent way. Don’t be put off by the fact that it comes from a smallscale railway association – this book contains guidance on the why and how of track construction and operation on the full-size railway that will be helpful to modellers in all scales. The first two chapters are devoted to full-size practice, both historic and modern, reminding us that present-day track and turnouts are very different from the traditional designs being crafted for much higher line speeds. The book goes into great detail of track construction using such materials as copper-clad sleepers, and is really aimed at those for whom accurate prototype appearance is all-important and pinning down a few yards of flexible track and some fixed-geometry pointwork does not give them the satisfaction they seek. Profusely illustrated with colour photographs and clear line diagrams, it’s a real tour de force. (CJL) Book: Track – How it Works and How to Model it (Second Edition), by Geoff Jones revised by Noel Leaver (The 2mm Scale Association)
Price: £18.00
Availability: www.2mm.org.uk
DORSET RAILWAYS SUMMARISED
From Castleman’s Corkscrew to the Swanage Railway, this soft-cover 61/2in by 9¼in volume of 96 pages provides an overview of Dorset’s railways over the past 150 years. It is profusely illustrated with monochrome historic images and colour photographs of more recent events. The five chapters cover the Dorset main line (the long-closed roundabout route through Ringwood known as Castleman’s Corkscrew), The Great Western, the South Western main line, the Somerset and Dorset, of course, and the New Forest ‘Direct’ line to Weymouth. Each has a short explanatory text followed by a selection of well reproduced photographs with detailed captions.
These soft-cover summaries from Amberley are particularly useful for the bookshelf for reference and for keeping up to date. My last visits to the area by train had been by a DMU excursion from Slough and to visit the rebuilt Weymouth station by EMU from Woking. I had no idea that GWR Class 166s, displaced from Paddington suburban services, now operate in
Dorset. Recommended. (CJL)
Book: Dorset Railways Through Time, by Mike Phipp (Amberley)
Price: £15.99
Availability: www.amberley-books.com
A NEW WORK ON BRUNEL
I grew up with L.T.C. Rolt’s biography of Isambard Kingdom Brunel and I’ve probably read most works about the great engineer ever since. It is good to have an up-to-date
appraisal of the man and his epic contribution to British engineering by Tim Bryan, former keeper of STEAM, the Museum of the GWR at Swindon, and now director of the Brunel Institute at the SS Great Britain. I first met Tim when Model Rail promoted some weekend model events at Swindon and his exceptional knowledge and understanding of Brunel, his faults and foibles, and the business and politics of the Victorian era really comes across in this well-illustrated 282-page volume.
We are reminded, in detail, not just of the Great Western Railway and the success of the ultimately flawed choice of gauge, but of the three steamships, two of them highly successful and the third perhaps just ahead of its time. Brunel is correctly identified as not just an engineer but as an artist whose designs complemented their surroundings. Nor does the author ignore the bad decisions, poor choices and, perhaps the attraction of novelty – such as the atmospheric railway – that cost those who invested in untried technology so dearly.
We all have our different views of the man who worked (and smoked) himself to an early death, but the author reminds us of the remarkable legacy left by, arguably, the greatest of British engineers. Highly recommended. (CJL) Book: Iron, Stone and Steam –
Brunel’s Railway Empire, by Tim Bryan (Amberley)
Price: £22.99
Availability: www.amberley-books.com