Providing Rail news since 1897 -

Book review: June 2011

Reviews this issue include:
• LNER Handbook 1923-1947
• Southern Railway Handbook 1923-1947






 
 

LNER Handbook 1923-1947
Southern Railway Handbook 1923-1947

Both by David Wragg

FURTHER to the review of the LMS and GWR Handbooks in the last issue, there are indeed two more in the series. Each takes the form of an introduction, followed by an overview of the constituent companies that made the LNER and SR in January 1923. The LNER volume is all-new, but the SR one is a reprint of a version that first appeared in 2003.

The books describe the various aspects of the two ‘Big Four’ companies concerned, using easily-digestible chunks of information punctuated by a plethora of interesting archive photos and rounded off with a set of appendices providing useful data on motive power, rolling stock and stations.

Although some will say that the ‘Big Four’ railways have been researched and published to exhaustion – and to a certain extent that’s true – these books pack a surprising amount of information into their 250 or so pages and form useful ‘one-stop’ histories of each company.

Some of the writing style suggests that the books have been aimed at the general public rather than the serious specialist, but if that helps to introduce a new generation of younger readers to the subject of railways, it cannot be a bad thing.

Both: Haynes Publishing, Sparkford, Somerset BA22 7JJ; 270x200mm; hardback;

LNER Handbook 256pp, ISBN 978-1-84425-827-7, £27.50.

Southern Handbook 248pp, ISBN 978-0-85733-011-6, £27.50.