Garden Railway Forum

With Christmas looming, I wondered if anyone would be adding any garden railway titles to the note they send to the beardy bloke in the red suite.

How about recommendations for suitable titles? What's the "Top Three" favourites in your collection?

Peter Jones. Practical Garden Railways
Peter & Kes Jones. Buildings for Garden Railways
Tag Gorton. Live Steam Workshop

John Scott Morgon - Corris A Narrow Gauge portrait
John LH Bate - The Chronicles of Pendre Sidings
Robert Gratton - The Leek & Manifold Valley Light Railway

Not technically garden railway books but excellent inspiration! and reading.

All of Peter Jones' books, but particularly inspirational is:

A Garden Railway Adventure - Nicolas Trudgian, Atlantic, 2009. ISBN-13 978-1-902827-20-9

Cliff Thomas - Quarry Hunslets of North Wales
Keith Taylorson - Narrow Gauge at War & Narrow Gauge at War 2

Got to agree about the Peter Jones books (had anyone notcied this Forum mentioned at the back of the buildings one, thanks Kes ) and also Chronacles of Pendre sidings which makes a very interesting read (havn't got it, been able to request it from the libary). The Slate Quarry Album by Graham and Anne Hatharall is very interesting too if you are modelling a slate quarry.

It's got to be:

and currently my new found read:

The slate quarry album would be a superb choice, but the narrow gauge book which out ranks them all is the Spooner album www.frheritage.org.uk/index.php/extras/ ... oner-album

If we're talking modelling books, the (now late) P D Hancock's book "Narrow Gauge Adventure" on the Craig & Mertonford is inspirational even after all these years - it's very early 009, LOTS of scenery, trams................. My copy gets re-read regularly!

MDLR:60977 wrote:If we're talking modelling books, the (now late) P D Hancock's book "Narrow Gauge Adventure" on the Craig & Mertonford is inspirational even after all these years - it's very early 009, LOTS of scenery, trams.................  My copy gets re-read regularly!

Yep, I keep trying to get hold of a copy, but keep getting outbid on ebay!
Anpother book about 009, but narrow gauge non the less, is Ffestiniog Odessy, which the autoher describes how he built his representation of the Ffestiniog railway, from porthmadog to Ffestiniog, great pictures too!

Pretoria:60913 wrote:   It's got to be:

 and currently my new found read:  

who are these books by please, can't read things that small.

I would have to say the books I go back to time and again are J I C Boyd's books on the Isle of Man Railway and the Schull and Skibbereen, and E M Patterson's on the wo Ballymena lines, the Ballycastle Railway, the Castlederg and Victoria Bridge Tramway, and the Clogher Valley Railway/Tramway. I tend to model from photographs a lot so the Colourprint reprints of Patterson's books are favourites of mine as they are much better illustrated than the 1960/70s originals. What surprises me is the size of my collection of Isle of Man Railway books. Apart from a brief run at it in OOn3 as a teenager, I have never modelled the IMR, which makes the large number of books all the more surprising..

Strangely, I do not have much in the way of railway modelling books. I have an old (c.1955) 'Railway Modeller's Encyclopaedia' from the days of built it yourself in 'O' and 'OO' and a lot of the technique - such as building carriages out of shellacked card - are useful for 15mm scale DIY projects. I rather like it because it has lots of ideas on how to fake things such as grab handles and wagon brake gear.

Peter in AZ

Gremlin:61041 wrote:[who are these books by please, can't read things that small.

Doesn't pay to be clever ! (or not so as it turns out)

"The Talyllyn Railway" by JIC Boyd

"The two foot gauge enigma" by Antony Baxter -- the story of the building of the Beira Railway -- 222 miles of 2ft guage !!

Thanks for that, it was just when I typed in The Talyllyn Railway, there seemed to be quite a few books and wasn't sure which one I should be looking for.
cheers