Desert Island Railway Books

[32475]

Like ‘Desert Island Discs’ the long running BBC radio programme, I’ve often thought about which 8 railway books I would pick out of my collection. Here is my choice and I’d be intrigued to know your choices too. Like the radio programme, you are also allowed to take a luxury item with you but in this case it has to be an item of railwayana!
1- British Rail Designed 1948-97 by David Lawrence
2- Platform Souls by Nicholas Whittaker
3- British Rail Design by James Cousins
4- Just a few lines by Paul Jennings
5- Steam in the Scottish landscape by Michael Welch
6- Sussex Steam by Michael Welch
7- Rail river from Kent to Cornwall by D. Fereday Glenn
8- BR Southern Region timetable 11th September 1961 to 17th June 1962

My luxury item choice is a BR Mk1 First Class compartment with 1950’s moquette, netted luggage racks, steam heating etc.

 

[32475]

 

[Merthyr Imp]

Here's mine, and I've included a couple of fiction items:

1. Tales of the Glasgow & South Western Railway by David L. Smith
2. Narrow Gauge Album by P.B.Whitehouse (1957)
3. The Fascination of Railways by Roger Lloyd
4. Railway Adventure by L.T.C. Rolt
5. Tank Engine Thomas Again by Rev. W. Awdry
6. The Lost Luggage Porter by Andrew Martin
7. Red for Danger by L.T.C. Rolt
8. London’s Historic Railway Stations by John Betjeman and John Gay

My item of railwayana would be the display cabinet with the initials LNER that was still on the counter of the refreshment room on Grantham station in the early 1960s.

 

[Gloster]

Mine are all books that you can dip into, rather than having to read from end to end:

Train Ferries of Western Europe by Patrick Ransome-Wallis
A Pictorial Record of Southern Signals by George Pryer
British Railways Wagons by Don Rowland
Rails in the Fells by David Jenkinson
Danske Jernbanefærger by Niels Jensen (Danish Train Ferries)
The West Highland Railway by John Thomas
Middle East Railways by Hugh Hughes
Southern Railway, Western Division. Working Time Tables 17th July 1932 and UFN (reprint).

My luxury would be a decent signalman’s chair.

 

[ac6000cw]

Mine are mostly 'reading' books, with 5 & 6 being primarily photo essays:

1. Red for Danger by L.T.C. Rolt
2. Two Centuries of Railway Signalling by Geoffrey Kichenside and Alan Williams
3. (USA) Trains magazine, April 2004 'Mountain Railroads' Special Collectors Edition
4. (USA) The Men Who Loved Trains by Rush Loving Jr.
5. (USA) Rolling Thunder by Gary J. Benson
6. (USA) The Last Steam Railroad in America by O. Winston Link (photos) & Thomas H. Garver (text)
7. (USA) Southern Pacific's 'Blue Streak Merchandise' by Fred W. Frailey
8. Diesel-Hydraulic Locomotives of the Western Region by Brian Reed

Railwayana - maybe a replacement for the 'New York Central Railroad' glass tumbler that got broken on the flight home from my first visit to the USA, and a bottomless bottle of something nice to drink from it while I re-read all of the above sitting under a palm tree on the beach!

 

[ChiefPlanner]

The entire printed set of the Railway Magazine from 1897 might keep you occupied for a while.

 

[Ashley Hill]

Here’s my selection.
1. Signalman’s Trilogy by Adrian Vaughan
2. British Railways Station Totems by Brennand/Furness
3 Light Relief by Jack Warland
4. Ganger,Guard and Signalman by Dick Fawcett
5. Starting Something Big at Bristol by Pete Rendall
6.Signalboxes, People and Trains on The Berks and Hants Line, by D E Canning.
7. An Entry in the Train Register by John Francis
8. I Tried to Run A Railway by Gerard Fiennes

As for railwayana a Deltic my Totnes totem.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

'The Construction and Operation of Long-Distance Over-water Railways'

 

[D6130]

My selection, in no particular order, would be:

1. "I Tried to Run a Railway" by Gerard Fiennes.
2. "On and Off the Rails" by Peter Rayner.
3. "Tales of the Glasgow and South Western Railway" by David L. Smith.
4. "The West Highland Railway" by John Thomas.
5. "Railway Holiday in Italy" by P. M. Kalla-Bishop.
6. "Platform Souls" by Nicholas Whittaker.
7. "Nine Elms Engineman" by Bert Hooker.
8. "North of Leeds" by Peter E. Baughan.

If I may be permitted two luxury items - as they come together in a set - it would be my 1970s-vintage BR restaurant car knife and fork, the handles of which are engraved with the double arrow logo.

 

[Calthrop]

I'll make things easy for myself: heading the list would have to be my all-time-favourite railway book, The End of the Line by Bryan Morgan. I'd hope also to be allowed, by the same author and in the same style / format, Fastness of France -- about the country's central highland region, a more "general" coverage but including plenty of railway (and other transport) material. That would leave six -- for which I'd choose my preferred six, out of the nine David & Charles "Railway Holiday" books, of which I have the set: telling of travels in the mid / late 1960s, in various countries of western Europe. The six which I favour; by assorted "railfan" authors in born-in-first-third-of-20th-century bracket: covering France, Switzerland, West Germany (two volumes -- north, and south), Spain, and Portugal-plus-north-west Spain. The remaining, spurned three: O.S. Nock on Austria (in my view, the series's only outright disaster: author striking me as repellently "up himself"; and deigning to cover only the [not all that extensive] aspects of railways which interest him; and no meaningful kind of tour of the country, involved); and -- not actual horrors, but in my eyes flawed in differing ways -- H.A. Vallance on northern Sweden and Norway, and P.M. Kalla-Bishop on Italy (sorry, @D6130 !).

Luxury items can be, I take it, whatever one's fancy might conceive -- don't have to be something which one owns in real life. Reckoning matters thus: I'd like as a luxury item, a memento of the marvellous metre-gauge Reseau Breton (which I saw first-hand only very fleetingly, in its last weeks of operation) -- a number-plate or builder's plate from one of its steam locos.

 

[John Luxton]

Okay - her is my list Rolt features heavily - but he is always a good read.

• A Cornish Giant (Richard Trevithick) by LTC Rolt
• Railway Adventure by LTC Rolt
• Red for Danger by LTC Rolt
• Isambard Kingdom Brunel by LTC Rolt
• Welsh Highland Railway Renaissance by Gordon Rushton
• Ffestiniog Railway 1830 - 1920 Peter Johnson
• Ffestiniog Railway 1921 - 2014 Peter Johnson
• Gone With Regret – George Behrend

I had to put “A Cornish Giant” first as it’s the oldest book on my bookshelves. I was well into railways and developing an interest in Cornish Mining at the age of 5 Trevithick encompassed both in his development of the high-pressure steam engine. My mother bought it for me. Little did she know what she was starting in the summer of 1965!!!

Luxury Item: Large original framed “GWR Speed to the West” poster. I have a modern enamel facsimile at the bottom of the stairs.

 

[AJM580]

1. Platform Souls Nicholas Whittaker
2. History of the GWR Stars Castles & Kings OS Nock
3. Ian Allan ABC from 1981
4. A privileged journey David Maidment
5. Railways Illustrated annual from 1966
6. BR in colour Volume 1
7. The Eastern since 1948 Geoffrey Freeman Allan
8. Trains I have loved C Hamilton Ellis

Luxury Item, Nameplate off 47582 County of Norfolk

 

[tomnoltoun]

Like ‘Desert Island Discs’ the long running BBC radio programme, I’ve often thought about which 8 railway books I would pick out of my collection. Here is my choice and I’d be intrigued to know your choices too. Like the radio programme, you are also allowed to take a luxury item with you but in this case it has to be an item of railwayana!
1- British Rail Designed 1948-97 by David Lawrence
2- Platform Souls by Nicholas Whittaker
3- British Rail Design by James Cousins
4- Just a few lines by Paul Jennings
5- Steam in the Scottish landscape by Michael Welch
6- Sussex Steam by Michael Welch
7- Rail river from Kent to Cornwall by D. Fereday Glenn
8- BR Southern Region timetable 11th September 1961 to 17th June 1962

My luxury item choice is a BR Mk1 First Class compartment with 1950’s moquette, netted luggage racks, steam heating etc.

Many do not appreciate this genre of books. But it is worth reading at least one and it will be impossible to tear yourself away. I even tried to write something myself, I found a writing sample to help, they advised me to go to the website and I was glad. But in fact it turned out to be very difficult and I abandoned this idea halfway through. Here is my list of books on railroads that I would choose from my collection, as well as my luxury item: A History of Railroads by George Hamilton. This book provides an extensive overview of the development of rail systems around the world and discusses their impact on the economy and society. "Dream Trunks: Great Railway Projects of the World" by Patrick O'Brien. This volume contains captivating stories of the most ambitious and technically challenging rail projects in human history. And also "Locomotives in Art" by Julian Tupling. The book offers stunning illustrations of steam locomotives and railroad landscapes from a variety of times and styles of art.

Very interesting selection of books about railroads! Your collection represents a variety of times and places, which makes it impressive. The British railway and the history of its development, described in the book by David Lawrence, is sure to reveal many fascinating moments. The platform souls of Nicholas Whittaker are likely to tell a lot of interesting things about the role of railroad workers and their contribution to the development of this industry.

 

[D6130]

The platform souls of Nicholas Whittaker are likely to tell a lot of interesting things about the role of railroad workers and their contribution to the development of this industry.

Nicholas Whitaker's book "Platform Souls" is about the interests, activities and psychology of rail enthusiasts - particularly trainspotters - rather than about rail workers.

 

[Western Sunset]

'The Construction and Operation of Long-Distance Over-water Railways'

Or something about train ferries...