ABC motive power guides

Good afternoon all.

I'm in the process of rebuilding my collection of railway and bus books. I loved trains when I was young but my beloved father was obsessed with getting rid of clutter and during my young adult years while my interests moved to women, cars and music, he decided to send my entire book collection to the tip. Luckily he kept most of my model railways as he saw potential "value" in that. He was a bank manager, they're a breed apart.

Anyway, now I've made good progress on hardbacks I'm turning my attention to my lost fleet book collection. The abc Motive Power Combined volumes by Colin Marsden are a given and there are a few examples on ebay that I'm hoping to buy. I'm not sure when they stopped being published but I'm struggling to see any beyond about 1990.

Was there a replacement for that series that plugs the gap between the the Ian Allen abc version and the Rail Guide books that appear to be available from about 2008?

The last Ian Allan combined volume I have was 1984 although I think they did struggle on a few more years which tallies with your observation above; from 1985 it is the Platform 5 version - still going strong today.

Excellent, thanks Peter, that's good news, Ebay has a lot of Platform 5 books so I can get collecting now. Thanks again.

Mike

I'm not sure if this is helpful, but this is quoted from the Platform 5 "Motive Power Pocket Book - British Rail Pocket Book No.1" (Spring 1990 Edition):

With the demise of the Ian Allan 'abc' series, we are pleased to announce that all four of our BR pocket books will now be published twice a year in December and June. These are now the only comprehensive guides to BR locomotives and rolling stock. Details are as follows:

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It then goes on to say which books are available. I have 1989 editions of 'abc' British Rail Locomotives, and 'Hauled Coaching Stock', but to be honest I only ever purchased them if I was somewhere that a) stocked them, and b) I had sufficient funds. The only combined volume I have is that from 1981 which was purchased for my 7th birthday and has "happy train-spotting, from mum and dad" written inside...

Ah, thanks for that. I've got busy ordering some old Platform 5 guides. No wonder I couldn't find abc Ian Allen ones from the nineties. Mystery solved.

What was probably a factor was that in 1983, Ian Allan made their combined volume bigger so it no longer fitted in the average pocket; accuracy had also been declining for several years but more so after the format change. So as soon as Platform 5 introduced a highly accurate combined volume in the traditional size in 1985, the inevitable happened...

Peter Mugridge said:

What was probably a factor was that in 1983, Ian Allan made their combined volume bigger so it no longer fitted in the average pocket; accuracy had also been declining for several years.

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The Ian Allan version had long had various inaccuracies, which I think they pretty much lived with as it was still better than 99% correct, and they still sold. They were cheap, and for a long time they were the only show in town.

A classic was the Wirral electric units, built in 1938. Four cars were destroyed in 1941 in a bomb attack, and specific replacements were built in the 1956 second batch, numbered differently. But the four original cars were still being listed, as well, right through the 1960s, up to 30 years after the cars were destroyed. This was because they just took their data direct from contacts in BR who had the asset lists, and as the depreciation on the destroyed cars was still slowly being written off in the accounts, they still appeared in those lists.

A bit of a late post here....

The Ian Allan Combined Volume came out, if I remember rightly, around March of each year. This was around a month or so after the individual books, Diesel Locomotives etc. were published. In addition to this, for depot allocations, you also needed the Locoshed book. This would prove quite costly to the young enthusiast.

Around 1978, Platform 5 released Motive Power Pocket Book. This contained details and numbers for all diesel and electric locomotives with depot allocations. In addition, it also listed industrial locomotives with their allocations. This proved to be a hit with a number of enthusiasts. There was also a book for diesel and electric multiple units with their allocations.

By the early 1980s, Platform 5 books were making serious inroads on the IA spotting books. This was helped with Platform 5 releasing their books around the second week of January.

I'm not sure when the first Platform 5 combined volume came in, but it was around the mid 1980s. By this time, the game was almost up. It seemed that the older enthusiasts went for IA, while the younger enthusiasts went for P5. Paper and printing quality was better on IA, but P5 soon caught up.

martian boy said:

I'm not sure when the first Platform 5 combined volume came in, but it was around the mid 1980s.

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It was 1985. I have a full set.

Entirely from memory but didn't Ian Allan threaten Platform 5 with legal action over copyright infringement? The response from Platform 5 being "go ahead" with Ian Allan backing down. I know this was definitely the case with Midland Railfans' pocket book around 1980, they had to stop publishing as they could not afford the potential legal costs.