Our Home Railways Part 6 The GREAT EASTERN, by W. J. Gordon,1911. Price: £1.95
Paperback book, 8.75in. x  6in. 40pp, 3 colour plates, (including composite carriage), 4 whole page black and white plates, numerous black and white half tone photographs, 4pp. adverts of interest to contemporary rail enthusiasts. Note:- in the interests of economy, a number of pages at the back of this issue which were intended to be the prelims, contents and index of the bound Volume 1 have been omitted

British Railways and The Great War, by Edwin A. Pratt, Selwyn and Blount, 1921. The Great Eastern Railway – a British Transport Treasures off-print [ebook] £2.55
The original two-volume work comprises 1194 pages and 76 pp. Half tone illustrations.
This off-print of pp. 38 plus a system map, and some additional illustrations decribes the Company’s general activites during the Great War. Its role in the Air Defence of the UK in conjunction with the South Eastern & Chatham, and the Railway Executive Committee will be the subject of a separate off-print.

DELTIC The end of an era, British Rail (E), December , 1981. [ebook] Price: £2.95
Booklet, A4 portrait format,glossy coloured card covers, 16pp, including covers. A fitting souvenir, this publiction includes cut away isometric views of the DELTIC diesel engine and of the complex gear phasing arrangement. Cut away elevation and plan identifying all the machinery and its location. Complete class list giving delivery dates, dates air brakes fitted, date converted to ETH. Notes on names. Large photograph of control desk with all controls, lights, gauges, buttons and switches identified.

The Dick Kerr Album, a Souvenir of Preston Guild, 1972. Designed and produced by W.G.S. Hyde and F. K. Pearson, A.M.I.R.T.E., A.M.I.M.I. [ebook]. Price: £3.15
Booklet, stiff card covers with spot colour, 12in.  x 9.5in.;. 52pp.  including covers. Profusely illustrated with views in and around the works, tramcars and associated tramway equipment

History of the North British Locomotive Co. Ltd., 1903-1953. Price £3.50
A History of the North British Locomotive Co. Ltd., 1903-1953. Soft cover book, 10.5in. x  8.5in. 118pp., semi art paper, twelve colour photographic plates, 114 black & white photographs, many of superb quality. File size: 127 mb;

THE GREAT EXHIBITION [ebook] Price £3.55
The Great Exhibition 1851,Official Catalogue, Section II, Class 5. Machines for Direct Use, Including Carriages, Railways and Marine Mechanism.  Assembled from disbound sheets found scattered through the cheap trays in an antiquarian print shop, 10in. x 7in, 52pp.,  frontispiece, tipped in black & white photograph by Fox Talbot of exhibit No. 508 South Eastern Railway locomotive Folkstone [sic] by Thomas Crampton, 4 whole page steel engraved plates, including machinery used in raising Britannia Bridge tubes, numerous smaller steel engravings of marine steam engines, paddle wheels and propellors, of five more railway locomotives, rolling stock and machinery, horse-drawn carriages

Review of British Transport Treasures
Dad’s briefcase formed my introduction to railway literature. The two most regular items were the orange-covered and rather dull Railway Gazette and the slightly less dull Modern Transport. Both contained occasional items of interest. Hidden in odd cases of the case there might be more exciting items like the publicity material prepared for the LNER streamlined trains and one especially memorable item from the LMS a frontal view of a streamlined Pacific with doors which opened to reveal the smokebox, or was it text? It was the opening doors which impressed.
Remarkably some of these items still form part of a chaotic personal collection: these include all of George Dow’s histories, On Either Side and the Nock booklets to “celebrate” Thompson’s standard classes. On Either Side contains a remarkable map of the LNER’s main lines to Scotland, Manchester and East Anglia: the last terminating in Yarmouth with Norwich being served by a network of branch lines.
On Either Side has recently been reprinted, but many of these items are now available to download from the British Transport Treasures website for modest cost. They range from single page publicity items to quite substantial books: and prices range from about 50 pence to £5. The latter include most of Dow’s histories published by the LNER: these must have been a difficult task to scan as extensive use was made of flimsy folded pages for diagrams and tabulations. A few quite substantial books with hard covers are also available notably Bird’s Locomotives of the Great Northern Railway, Chapman’s Twixt rail and sea (a Great Western publication) and Burtt’s classic The Locomotives of the London Brighton and South Coast Railway of 1903.
Limited sampling is provided; and there are the usual basket and check-out facilities. A percentage of the takings is given to Help for Heroes. It appears to be an excellent method of building up a collection of railway literature without the problems of physical storage. The collection is always growing; and its creator, Stuart Rankine, a retired railway officer, is a frequent contributor of e-mails, most recently about bloomers committed by Hamilton Ellis on his carriage panel painting of a Bloomer. He has now scanned Pettigrew's Manual of locomotive engineering. 3rd edition. London: Griffin. 1909. 356pp with many illustrations and it deserves to be added to many collections.

The Transport Ticket Society.
The Transport Ticket Society marks its creation 50 years ago by offering 2014 membership at a discounted rate of £12.50 (UK), £22.50 (overseas), representing a cut of about 50% on its previous rates. The Society, formed in 1964 through the amalgamation of two similar societies, has a long history of researching and studying tickets and fare collection systems. Today the development of electronic forms of ticket issue for many forms of transport presents different challenges and opportunities to operators and enthusiasts alike. The Society provides members with an extensively illustrated, monthly Journal, which includes wide-ranging news of ticket matters for all modes of transport in the UK and abroad, along with historical articles relating to tickets and issuing systems from times past. Monthly distributions of road, rail and other tickets are offered to members and twice-yearly postal auctions of historic tickets are held. Meetings take place regularly in Manchester and Brighton together with other venues from time to time. For further information and an application form, visit the Society's website www.transport-ticket.org.uk or contact the Membership Secretary at 6 Breckbank, Forest Town, Mansfield NG19 OPZ (stephenskeavington@msn.com).

Preserved railways/Heritage railways

Amberley Museum Avon Valley Railway (near Bristol) Bala Lake Railway Bluebell Railway Bo'ness & Kinneall Railway Colne Valley Railway, Essex Dean Forest Railway, Gloucestershire Didcot Railway Centre Festiniog & Welsh Highland Railways Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway East Anglian Railway Museum, Essex East Lancashire Railway East Somerset Railway Elsecar Heritage Railway, South Yorkshire

Exbury Steam Railway, Hampshire Fairbourne Railway, Gwynedd Foxfield Railway, Staffordshire Great Central Railway, Leicestershire Gwili Railway, Carmarthen Isle of Wight Steam Railway Keighley & Worth Valley Railway Llangollen Steam Railway

Middleton Railway Trust Nene Valley Railway North Norfolk Railway North Yorkshire Moors Railway Plym Valley Railway Scottish Railway Preservation Society Strathspey Railway Severn Valley Raiway More informative site about SVR Talyllyn Railway Towcester SMJ West Somerset Railway Company Watercress Line

Preservation groups

Breakdown Crane Association
Cumbrian Railways Association
Caledonian Railway Association
Electric Railway Society
important source for other minor grouups like Scottish Transport Group
Glasgow & South Western Railway Association
Great North of Scotland Railway: managers
Just one part of a magnificent website
Highland Railway Society
North British Railway Study Group checked 30 January 2015: still excellent site
Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Association
Great Eastern Railway Society
Gresley Trust
Historical Model Railway Society (HMRS)
Contains many further references to sources of information: checked 1 February 2015.
Industrial Railway Society
Well conceived site: in bibliographical terms this is a paradigm for what a properly organized historical organization should do as all its out-of-print journal material is available online together with sufficient details to order in-print material.
Irish Railway Preservation Society
Kidderminster Railway Museum
LMS Society: checked 30 January 2015: still excellent site
The Locomotive Club of Great Britain is self-evident in its aims
London & North Western Railway Society
London & South Western Railway
Midland Railway Association
Midland Railway Centre [Buutterley] website
Norfolk Railway Society
North Eastern Railway Association
Contains a considerable amount of bibliographical information, which may be accessed in EXCEL or HTML.
Railway & Canal Historical Society: DOES NOT RECIPROCATE LINK
Railway Correspondence & Travel Society (RCTS) is one of the main enthusiast bodies in Great Britain
Signalling Record Society
Southern Railway Group
Stephenson Locomotive Society is the oldest (established 1909) enthusiast society
Vintage Carriages Trust & Museum
Warwickshire railways

Societies
A1 Steam Locomotive Society
Advanced Steam Traction Group
Clan Line preservation group
Cock o' the North recreation group
Railmotor No. 93
Cornwall Railway Society
George V Prince Henry
Old permanent way group

More links
Colne Valley Railway, Essex
Dean Forest Railway, Gloucestershire