Reviews

By Tim Hillier-Graves THE latest in Pen & Sword’s Locomotive Portfolios series takes an in-depth look at one of the more successful experimental steam locomotives seen on British metals – the LMS ‘Turbomotive’. Unlike the other books in this series, which cover an often large or diverse family of locomotives, this volume focuses purely on…

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by Pip Dunn OVER the years there have been many reference books listing locomotive and rolling stock fleets, starting most famously with Ian Allan’s ‘ABC’ guides. Crecy Publishing, which now owns the former Ian Allan books business, has revived the ‘ABC’ brand with this new A5 softback guide to the current British diesel and electric…

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BOOKS Southern Steam Days Remembered II By Kevin Derrick IT SEEMS hard to believe it is now half a century since steam operations ceased on British Railway’s Southern Region. This lavishly produced limited edition photographic album (1000 copies) by Strathwood Publishing features a wealth of excellent colour images depicting the Southern Region from the late…

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By B W L Brooksbank and Peter Tuffrey THIS is a condensed softback version of a book produced by Ben Brooksbank 20 years ago, and has the added attraction of several new photographs. As an admirer of the original work, author Peter Tuffrey, whose books on local history are especially well-known in the Yorkshire area,…

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IN PASSENGER terms, Britain has the fastest-growing railway in Europe, and although the damage caused to the physical network by the Beeching cuts of the 1960s can never be rectified, huge strides have been made in the opening and reopening of stations. The latest edition of this excellent handbook lists every station and halt to…

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By Adrian S Garner THIS second volume in Adrian S Garner’s exhaustive study of monorails continues the story from 1900 to the mid-20th century, and reveals some remarkable railways in the UK and further afield, particularly in the USA. From exotic proposals using gyroscopes to maintain the balance of the vehicles, to suspended ‘railplanes’, exhibition…

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By Andy Sparks ANDY Sparks is no ordinary railway photographer, and this is not your average railway book filled with front three-quarter views of trains going around curves. Blessed with a good eye for composition and a gift for bringing out the human aspect of the 1970s and 1980s railway, the author has compiled another…

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By the Dean Forest Railway Museum Trust THE publication of a first volume by the Dean Forest Railway Museum Trust (now out of print) about railways in the Forest of Dean, triggered an avalanche of images which have been put to use in this second volume. Covering one of the most attractive and interesting parts…

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Jonathan Beaumont and Barry Carse THE picturesque single-track through route that meandered south-west from Limerick to Tralee from 1880 until 1975 is still considered a loss to the Republic of Ireland’s railway network more than 40 years after it ceased to be. Known by railwaymen as the ‘North Kerry’ line, even though more of the…

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