My Library

Although I imagine that for most people, reading through a list of someone else's book collection is only marginally more interesting than watching paint dry, I might hazard a guess that there are a few odd individuals out there who, like me, have a fascination with books, more specifically, books that link directly into my interest in railways, real and model, and in particular, old books - you know, the sort that you have to hunt through a cramped, untidy, overflowing second-hand bookshop (or eBay!) to find, that have that wonderful 'old book' smell, and that, generally speaking are so much more interesting, well designed and well bound than most modern books...

It might be worth pointing out that I've built this collection up in the time since I started writing this blog (about 3 years). The majority were purhcased second-hand, mainly from eBay and other online sources, and most are no longer in print. To those who may just be starting out in railway modelling, or who are taking it up again after a period of absence, I cannot recommend highly enough getting hold of and reading good books on high-quality modelling but especially on the prototype. Of course, my list is strongly biased towards my own particular areas of interest...

So here's my list:

Wild Swan Publications

• An Approach to Building Finescale Track in 4mm. Iain Rice. (1991)
• Great Western Branch Line Modelling Part 1 - Prototype Layouts, Track & Signalling. Stephen Williams. (1991)
• Great Western Branch Line Modelling Part 2 - Prototype Buildings, Fittings & Traffic Operation. Stephen Williams. (1991)
• Great Western Branch Line Modelling Part 2 - Creating a Model. Stephen Williams. (1993)
• Building a Model Railway - Designing a Layout. Barry Norman. (1997)
• The 4mm Wagon Part 2 - General Merchandise Vans, Special Purpose Vans and Tank Wagons. Geoff Kent. (1995)
• The 4mm Wagon Part 3 - Conflats & Containers, Wagons for long loads & steel, Brake Vans and Finishing Touches. Geoff Kent. (2004)
• An Approach to Model Railway Layout Design - Finescale in Small Spaces. Iain Rice. (1990)
• Landscape Modelling. Barry Norman. (1986)
• The Art of Weathering. Martyn Welch. (1993)
• Architectural Modelling in 4mm Scale. Dave Rowe. (1983)
• Cottage Modelling for Pendon. Chris Pilton. (1987)
• Model Railway Journal Compendium 1. (1988)
• Model Railway Journal Compendium 2. (1994)
• Model Railway Journal Compendium 3. (1997)
• The Golden Valley Railway. W.H.Smith. (1993)
• Country Branch Line - An Intimate Portrait of the Watlington Branch - Part 1. Paul Karau & Chris Turner. (1998)
• Country Branch Line - An Intimate Portrait of the Watlington Branch - Part 2. Paul Karau & Chris Turner. (1998)
• The Talyllyn Railway. J.I.C.Boyd. (1988)
• An Illustrated History of Great Western Railway Engine Sheds - London Division. Chris Hawkins & George Reeve. (1987)
• Atlas of the Great Western Railway as at 1947 - Revised Edition. R.A.Cooke. (1997)

Oxford Publishing Company (OPC)

• An Historical Survey of Selected Great Western Stations - Layouts and Ilustrations. R.H.Clarke. (1976)
• An Historical Survey of Selected Great Western Stations - Layouts and Ilustrations, Volume 2. R.H.Clarke. (1979
• An Historical Survey of Selected Great Western Stations - Layouts and Ilustrations, Volume 3. R.H.Clarke. (1981)
• A Pictorial Record of Great Western Architecture. Adrian Vaughan. (1977)
  
• An Historical Survey of Selected Southern Stations - Track Layouts and Illustrations. G.A.Pryer & G.J.Bowring. (1980)
  
• A Pictorial Record of Great Western Engines - Combined Edition. J.H.Russell. (1975/78)
• A Pictorial Record of Great Western Absorbed Engines. J.H.Russell. (1978)
• British Railways Steam Locomotives 1948-1968. Hugh Longworth. (2005)
• A Pictorial Record of Great Western Wagons. J.H.Russell. (1971)
• Freight Wagons and Loads in Service on the Great Western Railway and British Rail, Western Region. J.H.Russell. (1981
• Great Western Branch Line Termini - Combined Edition. Paul Karau. (1977/99)
  
• Great Western Branch Lines 1955-1965. C.J.Gammell. (1975)
  
• Scottish Branch Lines 1955-1965. C.J.Gammell. (1978)
  
• The Thaxted Branch. Peter Paye (1984)
• Branches & Byways - Sussex and Hampshire. John Vaughan. (2004)
• The Somerset and Dorset - An English Cross Country Railway. Ivo Peters. (1974)
• An Historical Survey of the Somerset & Dorset Railway - Track Layouts and Illustrations. C.W.Judge & C.R.Potts (1979)
  

David & Charles (D&C)

• Great Western Coaches - 1890-1954. Michael Harris. (1966)
• The GWR Stars, Castles & Kings - Part 1: 1906-1930. O.S.Nock (1967)
• The GWR Stars, Castles & Kings - Part 2: 1930-1965. O.S.Nock. (1970)
• Yesterday's Railways. Peter Herring. (2002)

Silver Link Publishing (SLP)

• The Heart of the Great Western. Adrian Vaughan. (1994)
• Signalman's Reflections - A personal celebration of semaphore signalling. Adrian Vaughan. (1990)
  
• Station Master's Reflections - Images of Railway Life, 1954-64. David Holmes. (1992)

Other publishers

• GWR Switch and Crossing Practise. David J. Smith. (Great Western Study Group, 2000)
• Passenger Train Operation for the Railway Modeller. Bob Essery. (Ian Allan, 2005)
• Branch Lines to Horsham. Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith (Middleton Press, 1982)
• Burnham to Evercreech Junction. Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith (Middleton Press, 1989)
• Railway Adventure. L.T.C.Rolt. (The Country Book Club, 1962)
• Flexichas - A Way to Build Compensated Model Locomotive Chassis. Mike Sharman. (Oakwood Press, 1982)
  

Magazines (varying sized collections)

• Model Railway Journal (Wild Swan)
  
• Great Western Railway Journal (Wild Swan)
  
• Scalefour News (Scalefour Society)
  
• Backtrack (Pendragon Publications)
  
• Steam Days (Redgauntlet Publications)
  
• Steam World (Steam World Publishing)
  
• British Railways Illustrated (Irwell Press)
  
• Railway Bylines (Irwell Press)
  
• British Railway Modelling (Warners Group Publications)
  

Society Manuals

• EM Gauge Society Manual (EM Gauge Society)
• Scalefour Digest (Scalefour Society)

Now, I'd better be going as it's been at least half and hour since I checked on eBay.....!