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Rail Atlas Great Britain & Ireland (15th Edition)

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Masboroughlad

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I ordered this much earlier this year and got a July delivery date expected. Since then, I have had numerous texts from Amazon, each time pushing expected date back by 2 to 3 months.

Is it a general problem with publication? Anyone know when it might be available?
 
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djpontrack

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Is there any more news about the new rail atlas? I hope Stuart Baker is making a good recovery.
 

Rebus

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For info: Latest news (from the previous posted link) is "This product will be in stock on Tuesday 31. December, 2019".
 

Baxenden Bank

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For info: Latest news (from the previous posted link) is "This product will be in stock on Tuesday 31. December, 2019".
Much more delay and there will need to be a timetable note "this publication is overtaken en-route by a faster service" ie the 16th edition due in April 2020 (two years after the initial publication date for the 15th edition in April 2018!).

NOTE no criticism is intended of the author, who clearly has been ill, nor necessarily of the publishing which has changed hands.

I prefer my 1977 edition.

Mr Baker deserves some kind of recognition for his 'lifetime achievement'.
 

Ianno87

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Much more delay and there will need to be a timetable note "this publication is overtaken en-route by a faster service" ie the 16th edition due in April 2020 (two years after the initial publication date for the 15th edition in April 2018!).

NOTE no criticism is intended of the author, who clearly has been ill, nor necessarily of the publishing which has changed hands.

I prefer my 1977 edition.

Mr Baker deserves some kind of recognition for his 'lifetime achievement'.

The 1992 edition has the honour of being the first rail atlas I owned - so I finally knew where this that and the other freight line actuallt went!
 

Baxenden Bank

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The 1992 edition has the honour of being the first rail atlas I owned - so I finally knew where this that and the other freight line actuallt went!
Indeed. Nowadays the rail network is pretty stable and slimmed down in terms of freight. In the early years of the atlas there were many more freight branches and locations (all those collieries and power stations). Plus wagonload freight was still running with new terminals opening.

Other maps / atlases existed - the map included within the big printed BR timetable for example - but the Baker Atlas (as it should be known) did the job as something between a very detailed 'track diagram' and a road atlas which might show a line / location but not what it was.

Before the internet, (yes, really, there was such a time!) finding out what you were passing whilst travelling by train was very difficult.

I can't remember which was the first edition I bought new. I had the 1977 edition on permanent loan from my local library (renewed every three weeks) before I eventually bought the then latest edition - in the early to mid 1980's. My current 1977 copy I picked up in a second hand shop. Thanks to the internet I now have a full set.
 

Baxenden Bank

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Amazon now states: Currently unavailable.
Crecy (link in post #7) states Tuesday 31 March 2020.
 

bradleyd

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Hey, I don't know if this is the right aibforum, or even a relevant post, but does anybody know what is going on with the 15th edition Great Britain and Ireland rail Atlas?

I pre-ordered it on Amazon a week or so ago (had seen it mentioned in another thread and had an Amazon gift card so jumped on it). At the time it said that it would be released on the 30th April and delivered after that, but when I've looked on the page today it says 'Currebtly unavailable, we don't know when this will be back in stock'.

Does anybody have any idea when it may be available?
 

Bevan Price

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Hey, I don't know if this is the right aibforum, or even a relevant post, but does anybody know what is going on with the 15th edition Great Britain and Ireland rail Atlas?

I pre-ordered it on Amazon a week or so ago (had seen it mentioned in another thread and had an Amazon gift card so jumped on it). At the time it said that it would be released on the 30th April and delivered after that, but when I've looked on the page today it says 'Currebtly unavailable, we don't know when this will be back in stock'.

Does anybody have any idea when it may be available?

Everything is likely to be delayed due to the virus situation & shutdowns.
 

falcon

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I thought Bakers Atlas was a dead duck now that Trackatlas had it's 3rd improved edition published!
 

hexagon789

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Hey, I don't know if this is the right aibforum, or even a relevant post, but does anybody know what is going on with the 15th edition Great Britain and Ireland rail Atlas?

I pre-ordered it on Amazon a week or so ago (had seen it mentioned in another thread and had an Amazon gift card so jumped on it). At the time it said that it would be released on the 30th April and delivered after that, but when I've looked on the page today it says 'Currebtly unavailable, we don't know when this will be back in stock'.

Does anybody have any idea when it may be available?

I seem to recall the author had taken severely ill and that was delaying progress even before the lockdown.
 

popeter45

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I seem to recall the author had taken severely ill and that was delaying progress even before the lockdown.
last i read wasnt it fully cancelled?
the amazon listing may be a reseller like so many i see there who only actually order that book once a order is placed with them and just delay the package till they find one below what the asked you for
 

Andyh82

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There is this thread in the books forum


As you can see it’s been being delayed for about 2 years now
 

hexagon789

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last i read wasnt it fully cancelled?
the amazon listing may be a reseller like so many i see there who only actually order that book once a order is placed with them and just delay the package till they find one below what the asked you for

The publisher's website says delayed until 29th May:


***Please note this book has been delayed due to author illness. It can be pre-ordered and details of a release date wiill be published as soon as available.***
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
ISBN: 9780860936817
Binding: Hardback
Dimensions: 297mm x 210mm
Pages: 136
Photos/Illus: Illustrated throughout
This product will be in stock on Friday 29. May, 2020.
 

swanhill41

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If you want a Track Atlas,try to see if you can get a copy of Platform 5 Trackatlas…..A reputable on-line bookseller called Rail-Books ,is showing a copy for sale @£27.95...I can recommend as a very good rail atlas...Lots of detail.
 

Minilad

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Just an update to say these books are now available from the Cercy website. I ordered a copy on Tuesday and it has just been delivered
 

Brissle Girl

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I think the latest version has gone completely over the top including potential reopenings, including some very speculative ones such as extension of the Borders Railway to Carlisle. It feels more cluttered as a result. For a reference book, I’d prefer it kept new schemes to ones that are either under construction or pretty likely to proceed during the print run of the current edition. If anyone else has a copy, I’d be interested in your views.
 

Baxenden Bank

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I think the latest version has gone completely over the top including potential reopenings, including some very speculative ones such as extension of the Borders Railway to Carlisle. It feels more cluttered as a result. For a reference book, I’d prefer it kept new schemes to ones that are either under construction or pretty likely to proceed during the print run of the current edition. If anyone else has a copy, I’d be interested in your views.
If I were to look at many of the previous editions, they also had some fairly speculative schemes in them, particularly in the preserved sector.
I don't know whether it's worth buying yet another edition, are there that many changes nowadays? A dribble of new stations each year, but no major openings or closures of lines or freight terminals. I think I'll wait until I can thumb through one in a bookshop, then decide.
 

Brissle Girl

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As well as the Borders extension this one shows, amongst others, as proposed Skipton to Cole, a Preston trampower line, Skelmersdale branch, the Ollerton branch, Ironville to Kirkby, and numerous extra stations which don’t appear to have much traction yet.

There are many others included which do have what I would judge is a much more advanced proposal likely to be progressed to construction in the next 5 years, and I think those are reasonable to include and are consistent with previous editions.
 

the sniper

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For a reference book, I’d prefer it kept new schemes to ones that are either under construction or pretty likely to proceed during the print run of the current edition.

Is it known whether there'll be another edition after this one? Maybe that's played a part in the inclusion of these distant predictions.
 

Baxenden Bank

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Is it known whether there'll be another edition after this one? Maybe that's played a part in the inclusion of these distant predictions.
Is there an on-line equivalent which I can easily 'yellow felt tip'? That would be the death knell of the printed atlas.

Most information that the atlas provides is now readily available on-line. Remember back in 1977 (the first edition) getting hold of information was much more difficult, time consuming, and costly eg a full set of OS Landranger maps. A memory came back earlier - the time I had to make a work trip to Northampton (non town centre). I didn't know the location so had to go to the central reference libary and wait for them to find and send down a street atlas. Outside a town you would have a greater struggle to get the info.
 

Ianno87

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Is it known whether there'll be another edition after this one? Maybe that's played a part in the inclusion of these distant predictions.

I hope it does continue to live on, even if somebody else takes it on. It was a great first railway atlas for 9 year old me; the first step in understanding the detail of the railway beyond tube/schematic maps.
 

davetheguard

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I've bought it, and overall I'm pleased with it, although I note some of the comments above.

Something seems to have gone wrong with the electrification map page, however. Blackpool to Preston & Reading to Newbury are shown as "electrification proposed", as is the Shotts line in Scotland and the Chase line in the West Midlands. All of these lines have already been electrified of course. I'd say it it looks like it's not been updated since the last edition, but that's not the case: proposed electrification of East - West Rail & the Electric Spine have been removed, as has Midland Main Line apart from Bedford to Corby.
 

the sniper

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It was a great first railway atlas for 9 year old me; the first step in understanding the detail of the railway beyond tube/schematic maps.

Yeah, same here. It'd be sad to see it end, though I have to admit I haven't brought one, or rather been brought one, since I was a kid. I've long fancied getting the first edition second hand if at a good price. I wonder whether a 'remastered' version of the first edition might be a good/better seller than a new edition (though it sounds like there areenough corrections to be made from the 15th edition)? Mr Baker wouldn't necessarily need to do it himself.
 
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