Philip John Greer Ransom
Iron road: the railway in Scotland.
Birlinn, 2007. 334pp.
Copy seen in the National Library of Scotland (a copy acquired for
loan via the splendid free Scottish inter-library loan system). Thus
copy only seen relatively briefly, and not read. Splendid illsutrations,
but book partially fails as it attempts to do too many things. On a superficial
level it could be a coffee table book as it is richly illustrated and the
jacket photograph based on a Norman Wilkinson poster is both superb and hints
that it may be that kind of book. Essentially, the book sets out to be a
history of Scottish railways and is travelling along the same tracks as Nock's
Scottish railways, but does it considerably better, although.the index (which
appears to be tolerably good) failed to produce any mention of either public
relations (KPJ is looking for something, so far without success), or of James
Ness (only indirectly related to premier quest). In part it is also a serious
treatise on the contribution of the Dodd(s) family to locomotive development
in Scotland (pp. 303-4: Monkland & Kirkintilloch locomotives, and the
Dodd(s) family or families (pp. 303-4) and is critical of
S. Snell's Story of railway pioneers
and a Newcomen Society paper about
the Dodd(s). Extensive biblipography.
The Mont Cenis Fell Railway. Truro:
Tweleveheads, 1999. 92pp.
Carefully researched and fully referenced.
Narrow gauge steam: its origins and world-wide
development. Sparkford: OPC, 1996. 192pp.
Almost a model of how a railway book should be produced, with extensive
list of material consulted, but unhappily ended with the usual list of
periodicals which may, or may not, have been consulted. Nevertheless, the
bibliography is extensive and includes some papers quoted in sufficient detail
to be retrievable and some assessment within the text of material which has
been used. Some good biographical material on people like George England
and Robert Fairlie.