This is what £500 worth of railway books looks like...

I picked up this car-load of second hand railway books from Nene Valley Railway Books today. Incredibly, I got this lot for £50 thanks to a 90% off sale! Amazing!

There are a handful that I may sell on, but there are some real gems in there, including some quite rare old OPC books.

Here's the complete list (I haven't got round to adding then to my books page yet):

- Adley, Robert - 'The Call of Steam'
- Adley, Robert - 'In Search of Steam, 1962-1968'
- Allen, Dr. Ian - 'Gleneagles to Glastonbury, steam in the thirties'
- Atthill, Robin - 'The Picture History of The Somerset & Dorset Railway'
- Awdry, Christopher - 'Encyclopedia of British Railway Companies'
- Blenkinsop, Richard James - 'Silhouettes of the Great Western'
- Blenkinsop, Richard James - 'Shadows of the Great Western'
- Blenkinsop, Richard James - 'Big Four Cameraman'
- Bradley, Rodger, P. - 'GWR Two Cylinder 4-6-0's and 2-6-0's'
- Casserley, Henry Cyril - 'Steam Locomotives of British Railways'
- Christiansen, Rex - 'Cambrian Lines'
- Dalton, T. P. - 'Cambrian Companionship'
- Dart, Maurice - 'The Last Days of Steam in Plymouth and Cornwall'
- Esau, Mike (compiler) - 'John Ashman FRPS Rail Portfolio'
- Esau, Mike (editor) - 'The Nostalgia of Steam - Classic Steam Images by John Specner Gilks'
- Forsythe, H.G. - 'The Railway Vanishes - An Appreciation of a Lost Era'
- Gammell, Christopher J. - 'Around the Branch Lines, No. 2, Great Western'
- Gasson, Harold - 'Firing Days, Reminiscences of a Great Western Fireman'
- Gasson, Harold - 'Footplate Days, More Reminiscences of a Great Western Fireman'
- Herbert, Ron - 'The Working Railway - A Railwayman's Photographs 1960-67'
- Kneale, E.N. - 'North Wales Steam (1927-1968)'
- Lingard, Richard - 'The Woodstock Branch'
- Montgomery, S.J. and Nicholas, D. (compilers) - '100 Years of The Great Western'
- Morrison, G.W. and Whiteley, J.S. - 'The Big Four Remembered'
- Nixon, Les - 'Classic Steam - An evocation of the twighlight years of the steam Age'
- Nock, O.S. - 'The GWR Mixed Traffic 4-6-0 Classes'
- Nock, O.S. - 'Great Locomotives of the GWR'
- Nock, O.S. - 'The British Steam Railway Locomotive 1925-1965'
- Nock, O.S. - 'From the Footplate, Reminiscences of the last years of Steam'
- Nock, O.S. - 'British Locomotives of the 20th Century, Volume 2 1930-1960'
- Nock, O.S. - 'British Locomotives of the 20th Century, Volume 3 1960-the present Day'
- Nock, O.S. - 'British Locomotives of the 20th Century, Volume 1 1900-1930'
- Parkhouse, Neil & Pope, Ian - 'Edwardian Dean in Colour, Volume 1'
- Paye, Peter - 'The Stoke Ferry Branch'
- Paye, Peter - 'The Saffron Walden Branch'
- Paye, Peter - 'The Bishop's Stortford, Dunmow & Braintree Branch'
- Peters, Ivo - 'The Somerset & Dorset in the Fifties, Volume 1, 1950 -1954'
- Peters, Ivo - 'The Somerset & Dorset in the Fifties, Volume 2, 1955 -1959'
- Pollins, Harold - 'Britain's Railways - An Industrial History'
- Semmens, Peter W.B. - 'History of the Great Western Railway. volume 1 Consolidation 1923-1929'
- Semmens, Peter W.B. - 'History of the Great Western Railway. volume 3 Wartime and the Final Years 1939 -1948'
- Semmens, Peter W.B. - 'History of the Great Western Railway. volume 2 The Thirties 1930 -1939'
- Siviter, Roger - 'Rhythms of Steam - Images of the Steam Age Railway'
- Smart, John (editor) - 'Branch Line Memories'
- Vaughan, Adrian - 'BR (WR) Signalling'
- Vaughan, Adrian - 'Great Western Portrait 1913-1921'
- Whitehurst, Brian - 'Great Western Engines, Names, Numbers, Types and Classes, (1940 to Preservation)'
- Various - 'The Train Now Departing - Personal Memories of the Last Days of Steam'

I just need to find somewhere to put them all now (and find time to read them!).

Didcot Engineman

I recently bought the book 'Didcot Engineman' by Bernard Barlow (published by Wild Swan) and am about half way through reading it at the moment.

It's a fantastic read, and paints a very detailed picture of what it was like to do the job of an engineman on the GWR / WR during during the 40s, 50s and 60s.

I just finished reading the chapter 'Along the Branch' last night, which recounts in great detail one particular turn from Didcot to Winchester and back on the Didcot, Newbury & Southampton line. I almost felt I was there firing the locomotive with him, the account is so vivid!

The Forest of Dean Railway

I purchased what looks to be a rather good book at Warley - "BR Steam in Dean - the photographs of Ben Ashworth" published by Lightmoor Press (a publisher I've not been all that familiar with until now). From the quick flip through I have had so far it features some of what are, to my eyes at least, the most atmospheric and evocative scenes of the closing years of steam on the Forest of Dean railways.

This once complex rail system serving the communities and industries of the Forest of Dean has only recently come to my attention as being a worthy subject for my modelling focus. Particularly in this period of decline it sums up the very essence of what, to me, makes the perfect subject for a model railway - ex-GWR steam, goods, rural industry, overgrown and decaying railway infrastructure, decrepit and worn out locomotives and rolling stock, and a kind out of the way, half forgotten sort of feeling.

In fact, it has pretty quickly demonstrated itself to be a perfect subject on which to settle for my current, albeit rather 'in limbo' micro-layout. It may well be that having a clear prototype focus like this may just be the spur into action I've needed.

(Oh, by the way, if you're interested in the book, I was told that the copy I bought was the very last one, meaning it is now officially out of print, although there may be a few still floating around in shops here and there!)

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.....!

New book purchase

Oh dear, I've really gone and done it now... I've bought 'GWR Switch and Crossing Practice' published by the GWR Study Group.

Any ideas I had about not worrying too much about the finer details and concentating on the overall look and feel of my model have gone right out the window - along with, I have to confess, any street cred I might have had left!!! Hands up, this is a truly dull book in any 'normal' person's view, but I'm afraid to say I'm finding it quite fascinating! Sad, I know!

Anyway, for anyone equally sad who isn't already aware of its existence, you can find out more about the book here. I managed to order mine online via Biblio.