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Books Related to Railway Signalling and Track Plans R.J. Essery - ISBN: 0711032157
How the real railway was designed. - Rated
Bob Essery's series of essays on the working of the steam railway is becoming an essential reference for steam railway practice in the UK with a view to providing modellers with the prototype information necessary to build and operate layouts in a realistic way.
This latest is not a book of track plans in the C J Freezer mould, but an account of how track came to be built the way it was, and the requirements that Parliament laid on the operating companies. So you will learn about the proper positioning of catch and safety points, the rules relating to facing points, running lines and goods loops, with examples of operation from training manuals of the steam era. You will be able to design layouts that contain elements drawn from the real railway, rather than copying what appears in the model railway press.
The account of signalling and block working is also very strong, with practical information about the changes that took place over time. Again, unusual subjects such as the railway telegraph network (and thus telegraph poles) are also covered. There is a further section on signal boxes, point rodding and locking signals with points. Throughout, the text is related to the statutory Requirements of the day and the development of technology - such as vacuum brakes - that significantly changed operating practice.
Sometimes the text is a little dense, but that is mitigated by a profusion of photographs, packed with detail and often demonstrating startling truths about the prototype railway that don't show up in most models. The photographs are worth the cover price alone and the glossy art paper used throughout allows the detail to remain largely unobscured.
Bob Essery has the distinct advantage as an author of being a former steam railwayman, and a leading historian of the LMS. We have come to expect a certain bias in favour of matters LMS in these books, and it is hard to complain about this bias when it goes hand-in-hand with such expertise. However, modern image enthusiasts should be warned that this book is about the steam railway and has nothing to say about post-1968 matters.
The book is only 112 pages long, and this is a cause for some criticism: not because the text is too short but because the typeface is so small that it is not easy for those with less than perfect eyesight to read unaided. I'd prefer to see a book with more pages and a rather larger typeface - and would gladly have paid an extra fiver or so for that relief, especially if it meant more photographs to go with the extra pages. Ian Allan might consider this with future publications. I was tempted to lower the rating on this account, but it seems unfair to review on the basis of my poor eyesight rather than that of the average man.
