TRAINS Just ONE page on the Collecting Books and Magazines web site based in Australia. Updated 17th January, 2008. Author: John < opsbooks @ aol.com > The Expanded RAILWAY LINKS now appear at the end of this page. READERS' COMMENTS RECENT PUBLICATIONS Recommended magazine train articles DVD REVIEWS inc TRAMS RAILWAY FICTION new CB&M page BEST railway book? THE GREAT TRAIN SHOW, ABC 1.2008 Podcasts < A view looking southwest towards Central Railway Station across Belmore Park, Sydney, in 1926. In the foreground can be seen the approaches to the City underground railway, then still under construction. Six tracks would eventually pass under the catenary masts and enter tunnels a couple of hundred yards or metres to the lower right. The imposing building to the right is the Tivoli Theatre, destroyed in the late 1960s.

CLASSIC 20th Century AUSTRALIAN RAILWAY BOOKS
Prior to the 1970s there were few hardbacks available on Australian railways. The Australian Book of Trains by J H and W D Martin was published by Angus & Robertson in 1947. Its red cloth cover featured an embossed 3805, with the title picked out in gilt. Round-top-boilered 3669 could be found on the coloured frontispiece, emerging from a tunnel. The dust jacket (which I lack) featured the Melbourne Express, according to the index. Five further colour plates appeared within the 248 pages with many b/w plates as well. The thirty six chapters included The Spirit of Protest, The Zigzag Railway, The Railway Ambulance Corps and Over the Mountains among the headings.

The NSW Government Railways brought out The Railways of New South Wales and A Century of Locomotives to celebrate the centenary in 1955. The former comprised over 300 pages with numerous colour plates, b/w plates and maps, the latter, 128 pages with many b/w plates.

Nine year later in 1964, Angus and Robertson published Railways of Australia, the first really authoritative history on the subject. This was authored by C C Singleton and David Burke. It contained 120 pages, some colour but mostly b/w plates, plus a highly detailed map of the continent's rail systems. A year earlier the Australian Electric Traction Association had published the 138 page First Stop Central by David Keenan and Howard Clark. This was an in-depth book on the Sydney suburban electrified railway system.

More than a decade later in 1974 came The Shale Railways of NSW by Gifford Eardley and Eric Stephens, published by the NSW branch of the Australian Railway Historical Society. This book ran to 241 pages and had a separate map, enclosed in an envelope, which was attached to the rear endpaper. A reprint of this book was done in a limp cover. A new fully revised and updated edition is now available .

SOME GREAT RAILWAY and TRAMWAY READING
Below you'll find listed (in date order) some of my favourite articles from various railway publications: Australian, American and English. This is ongoing.
Author / title / publication*/ date.(Date order, older first)
Morgan, David P.: God's wonderful railway, Trains, Aug, 1985
O'Connor, Riley: Case of the Chicago Tunnel trackwalker, Trains, June, 1987
Brouws, Jeff: Remember the Railroader, Trains (Turntable column), Jan, 1988
Rhine, Stan: Flying the Coop:Tale of a Stewed Goose, LRP #14, May-June, 1988
Holmes, Lloyd: The Makings of a Wheeltapper, ARE, June, 1988
Rollins, Douglas: Leaving, Trains (Turntable column), June, 1988
Larsen, Wal: On Being Mistaken, ARE, Sept, 1988
Seletto, Jim: The Perils of Photography, ARE, Sept, 1988
Larsen, Wal: After Many Years, ARE, Dec, 1988
Peyton, Ernest (Ernie) S: Fireman, TS, Jan-Mar, 1989
Holmes, Lloyd: Fog, ARE,. March,1989
Young, Andrew D: Suspended in Time (Isle of Man), LRP March-Apr, 1989
Holmes, Lloyd: Memories of Cul, ARE,. June,1989
Thomson, Max: Bendigo's Saturday Night Fever, ARE, June,1989
Benson, Ted: "We're Either Geniuses or Fools!" (Richard Steinheimer), LRP, Sept-Oct, 1989
Seletto, Jim: Fez Pliz, ARE, December, 1989
Morahan, Mick: Of N Class, O Class and Other Things, ARE, December, 1989
Seletto, Jim: A Tale of Three Locos, ARE, March, 1990
Wright, Harry: Does Anything Happen at Picton?, ARE, March, 1990
Thomas, Bill, told to Etherton, M L: A Railwayman Reminiscences:, ARE, June, 1990
Morahan, Mick: Enfield - Mecca of Steam, ARE, September, 1990
Stensvard, Arthur E: Engine Hostling at North Platte, TS Vol.7 #2, 1991
Darwin, Robert: The Canyon Creek Branch to Burke, TS Vol.8 #2, 1992
Morahan, Mick: Tall Tales and True, ARE, September, 1992
Kilminster, Al: The Little Streetcar that Could, LRP #37, September-Oct, 1992
White Jr, John H.: Railway Replicas, Past and Future, LRP #37, September-Oct, 1992
Binder, Gary E: Alco PA-1 Locomotives on the Union Pacific, TS Vol.8 #3, 1993
Rahilly, J: Bird's Eye Impressions of a Country Railway Staff, ARE, December, 1993
Stormont, John: Memories of a NSW Signalman - North Strathfield Jct, ARE, December, 1993
Stratmann, Carl: Work-Shadowing with 'H G Forsythe', SW, September, 1998
Haigh, Phil: Teamwork on the track gang, SR, November, 1998
Griffiths, Owen: A Midnight Trip to Bristol Docks, SW, January, 1999
Pigott, Nick: Ian Allan ... the man who launched a million locospotters, TRM, February, 1999
Milner, Chris: Preservation's Future Lies in their hands, TRM, March, 1999
Crawley, John: Down, Dlddley-um, Down ..., SW, April, 1999 (Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines)
Mallinson, G.W.: Farewell to Steam - At 97 MPH Through Essendine, SW, April, 1999
Hardy, R.H.N.: The 'Poggy' Log Pt.6, SW, April, 1999
Vaughan, Adrian: Paddington-Bristol - the strategic railway, RW, April, 1999
Marsden, Colin J.: The Perfect Match (couplings & multiple working), TRM, August, 1999
Smith, William H.: The Tooting, Merton and Wimbledon Railway, SD, August, 1999
Bowden, Simon: A look at the South African narrow gauge, RW, February, 2000
Carter, Thomas S.: Harry and me & the Kay See, T, April, 2003 [re. Harry Truman]
Datri, Joe: Bridge Out!, T, May, 2003
Purisch, Malcom T.: Wartime duty: a "Yank Airman's" three-day Queensland odyssey, T, May, 2003
Patterson, Steve: Boss of a dot on a map, T, June, 2004
Meyer, Gabriel S.: Rougemere Nights, T, June, 2004
Niemann, Linda Grant: Boomer in a Boom Town, T, June, 2004
* ARE= Australian Railway Enthusiast
* LRP= Locomotive & Railway Preservation (US)
* RW= Railway World (UK)
* SD= Steam Days (UK)
* SR= Steam Railway (UK)
* SW= Steam World (UK)
* T=Trains (US)
* TRM= The Railway Magazine (UK)
* TR= The Streamliner (Union Pacific Historical society, USA)

AUSTRALIA, NSW, RAILWAY PHOTOGRAPHERS most memorable
MORAHAN, Mick: for 1960s period
POWE, Jim: for movies of NSW steam
REED, Noel: for 1950s period, Sydney trams
SELETTO, Jim: for 1950s period
STORMONT, John

US RAILWAY PHOTOGRAPHERS most memorable
STEINHEIMER, Richard

LINKS including Yahoo Lists (=e-mail newsletters) Please let me know at
opsbooks @aol.com if any aren't working and tell me of any others you think could be included.

Join Trams Down Under if you're interested in the Austrailian-New Zealand Tramway scene. Send a blank e-mail to TramsDownUnder-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or go to the web page at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TramsDownUnder/

Join BRITISH RAILWAYS on Yahoo for all discussions on British Steam: BR, pre-grouping and preserved; send a blank e-mail to British-Railways-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Join STEAM LOCO on Yahoo for all discussions on US Steam, both model and 1:1; send a blank e-mail to steamloco-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Join Sydney Train Enthusiasts Yahoo Groups newsletter for discussion and information on the Sydney suburban railway network. Currently un-utilised since I moved to the Blue Mountains. Send a blank e-mail to Sydney_train_enthusiasts-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

READERS' COMMENTS
Date: 5/09/03 8:50:06 AUS Eastern Standard Time
From: paul.rogers@apex.net.au (Paul)
Mention of early - one might call "classic" - books on Australian trains on your web site, together with illustartions of their covers, brings back memories of childhood and adolescence (I was an early model baby-boomer, having been born in 1947).
May I add to your lists, two related publications? These are the "Souvenir Brochure - NSWGR - 1855-1955" and the "Tri-ang Australian Catalogue - 1960/61". The first mentioned booklet was issued at a separate price to complement the hard bound "Railways of NSW 1955-1955" (which you have mentioned), and carried illustrations and text descriptions of exhibits at both Sydbey Terminal and Wynyard stations. Exhibits covered a wide range of items, from tracklaying units, through various classes of steam locomotives, electric power supply systems, passenger and freight stock, to signalling. The cover of this 54-page booklet is a hand coloured photograph of green streamlined Pacific 3802 heading north alongside Mullet Creek with a Newcastle bound 'Flyer'. Surprisingly, the exhibits at the 1955 Centenary never included any suburban electric stock. This may have been caused by a late-running assembling of F39 set as a prototype power door set. The omission of suburban electric stock is notable, considering the public outcry and political responses to train safety issues in the mid-1950s.
The Tri-ang catalogue showed an impression of their 1955-type Comeng Sputnik model set leaving the northern approaches of Sydney Harbour Bridge and coasting into Milsons Point station. The model train overlays the photograph taken in 1958 of the real thing!
The availability of the Tri-ang models and "First Stop Central" in the 1960s whetted my appetite for Sydney suburban electrics, especially appropriate as I grew up on Sydney's north shore. #

DVD REVIEWS
In order of merit
Shooting Through! (Aust), Tramway memories in Sydney and Newcastle, 165 minutes on 2 discs, variable quality due to old source material, but 10/10 nostalgia. Excellent commentary.
Highland Rail Festival 2003 (UK), 50 minutes widescreen. Brilliant quality, highly recomended 10/10
Flying Scotsman Comes Home (UK), 55 minutes 4:3. Excellent quality. Recommended 8/10
Vintage Steam Vols.1&2 (UK), 90 minutes. A lot of poor quality images but contains a colour version of 'London to Brighton at 500mph' and a few other good snippets, so 7/10
The World's Fastest Trains (Aust) 75 minutes, Good quality but some boring stuff from France, 5/10

RECENT PUBLICATIONS (That's recently read.)
SYDNEY'S CENTRAL by John Oakes, ARHS 2002, 64 pages in card covers. Au$15. isbn 0 909650 56 x
History and behind the scenes at the hub of NSW railways; many early photos and interesting anecdotes. Highly recommended.

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PO Box 781, Katoomba NSW 2780, Australia

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