Christmas goodies!

Courtesy of eBay and some serious pre-yuletide bidding, Santa had a particularly delectable sack of goodies for me this Christmas...

• About 30 back-issues of Model Railway Journal, taking my collection to about 150 - less than 40 to go till I have the full set now!
• MRJ Compeniums 1 and 2 - already got no.3 so that's a wrap!
• "An Illustrated History of Great Western Railway Engine Sheds - London Division" by Chris Hawkins & George Reeve (Wild Swan Publications, 1987) - 378 pages of the most fascinating photos, diagrams, track plans, architectural drawings, charts, tables and ephemera the Great Western devotee could ever dream of, not to mention an incredibly detailed and well researched historical account of the construction, development and day-to-day workings of 20 of the GW's London Division sheds, all up to the usual high quality standards you expect from Wild Swan! Instantly my favourite railway book!
  
• "A Pictorial Record of Great Western Absorbed Engines" by J.H.Russell (Oxford Publishing Company, 1978) - to complement my copy of "A pictorial record of Great Western engines" (combined) by the same author. A fascinating record of all sorts of obscure and unusual pre-grouping locomotives assimilated into GW ownership.
  
• "A Pictorial Record of Great Western Wagons" by J.H.Russell (Oxford Publishing Company, 1971) - more J.H.Russell to sit alongside my copy of "Freight wagons and loads in service on the Great Western Railway". Presumably about as interesting as watching paint dry to the non-railway person but totally absorbing to anyone with a fascination for railway history and rolling stock!
  
• "The Golden Valley Railway" by W.H.Smith (Wild Swan Publications, 1993) - a delightful study of a quiet, rural railway backwater in Herefordshire and another Wild Swan classic.

I should have enough reading material there to keep me going till at least next Christmas!!! And that's not to mention the new camera tripod, which will no doubt require an outing to the Great Central Railway in the not too distant future - isn't the winter steam gala coming up soon?....