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On-Line Bookshop

Latest News

Opening Hours

Due to illhealth, temporary, we hope, but unfortunately probably not brief, we have had to limit our opening to one day a week - Tuesdays. We are happy to open other days, except Sundays and Mondays, by appointment which you can make by e-mailing us at books@roberthumm.co.uk

Showcase Update

Showcase Update

After an embarrassing gap of three years we have removed all the sold items from the Showcase and added some new items, including a couple of dozen time tables, pictured here. The BR time tables are listed here, seekers after the others will have to use native ingenuity as this program only allows one link per news item (hint: they are in the Time Tables : Other section under Out Of Print Showcase).

Catalogue 110

Catalogue 110

We've just issued Catalogue 110 - 85 pages of listings plus 5 pages of Robert's introduction under the heading Old Luddite. Books old, rare and recent on British and foreign railways. As well as the usual British and Foreign railway sections this edition has special sections on military railways and on safety, signalling and accidents. There are also sections of GWR time tables, sets of photos, new books received since Catalogue 109 and, for the bargain-hunter, some boxed lots of booklets and other price-slashed magazine runs and other items. You can order a catalogue here.

The Big Three

The Big Three

The publication of Leslie Shore's The Ocean Coal Company And 'The Barry' (W3877) completes his trilogy on the Big Three companies of the South Wales Coalfield. The other two book are Peerless Powell Duffryn (W3015) and The Tredegar Company (W3566), together they form a closely researched chronicle of these key players in South Wales's heavy industry.
The Ocean Coal Company can be found in the Latest Arrivals and all three can be found by entering SHORE in the Search box (you'll find them in triplicate as they appear in three sections, also a book about the Baltic Shore which insists on joining them).

On The Tenth Day Of Christmas

On The Tenth Day Of Christmas

My true love gave to me
Ten Chief Mechanical Engineers.

What a party!

On the ninth day of Christmas

On the ninth day of Christmas

My true love gave to me
Nine books on Signalling and Safety

On the eighth day of Christmas

On the eighth day of Christmas

My true love gave to me
Eight books on war and military railways.

Well really, so much for peace and goodwill.
All set for a truly belligerent Christmas!
British Rlys in Peace & War S8040
Railways To Victory G1958
British Military Railway Overseas IN3623
Longmoor SW2963, SW3800 & SW3291
Melbourne ME3630 & A3799
WDLR NG3642
Return From Dunkirk G2742
LT At War S8041

On the seventh day of Christmas

On the seventh day of Christmas

My true love gave to me
Seven Famous Trains

There should have been nine, but we haven't got Golden Arrow and have never seen the impossibly rare Constellation Flight England to Australia.
These are all to be found in the Gallery

On the sixth day of Christmas

On the sixth day of Christmas

My true love gave to me

Six biographies and memoirs

All except Jarvis, which is new, to be found in the miscellany section of the Showcase
Volk search S7194
Fiennes search S8038
Locke search S7873
Beeching search 8039
Newcomen search S8038 (the picture for this book is incorrect, what's more it's not even the book I meant to include as it is not a biography. Instead there is a very good book on Trevithick to be found at S8014
Jarvis search BM1788

On the fifth day of Christmas

On the fifth day of Christmas

My true love gave to me

Five railway stations.

Actually four stations and the great grand-daddy of all railway architecture books, Christian Barman's Introduction To Railway Architecture, 1950. A good introduction which remained more or less the only word on the subject till Gordon Biddle's Victorian Stations was published in 1973
All these are in the Showcase section
For Liverpool Road search S8033 Temple Meads search S8037
St Pancras search S8034 New Street search S8035 Introduction search S8036

On the fourth day of Christmas

On the fourth day of Christmas

my true love gave to me
Four Scottish books

For West Lothian search SC3539; for Birth & Death Of A Highland Railway (it's about the Connel Ferry to Ballachulish line) search S7306; for Scottish Railway 1923 - 2016 search SC3607.

What do you mean there are only three Scottish books?

What do you mean there are only three Scottish books?

On the third day of Christmas

On the third day of Christmas

my true love gave to me

Three books on South Wales

To find Sirhowy search A3771
To find Barry Railway search A3770
To find the Gazetteer search W3632

On the second day of Christmas

On the second day of Christmas

my true love gave to me
Two ABCs
and the Railways of Sir Arthur Heywood

On the first day of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas

My true love gave to me
The Railways Of Sir Arthur Heywood.
minimum gauge hero, super book.

Bargain Basement Update.

Bargain Basement Update.

The Bargain Basement has been updated with some more scruffy volumes at low prices. Have a look here if you can bear to.

Catalogue 107 to download

Catalogue 107 to download

Exceptionally, because the shop is closed and because there is actally quite a bit left unsold, we are putting a free pdf version of Catalogue 107 online. Just bear in mind that quite a bit has already been sold and that it isn't practicable to indicate what. If anything takes your fancy you can order by phone during the slightly restricted shop hours we are keeping at present (10:00-1:00; 2:15-5:00, closed Sundays and Wednesdays) and by e-mail at any time. Download here.

New for Christmas 2019

New for Christmas 2019

All these and many others are can be ordered through the New Books section.
The Birth Of The Tubes. A brief but fact-packed history of the first twenty-five years of electric tube operation in London 1890 - 1914 covering the routes, personalities, technologies of tunnelling and traction and much else. £16.95
British Carriage & Wagon Builders & Repairers 1830-2018. 2nd edition, revised and enlarged. Alphabetical listing with brief histories. This invaluable reference has been long out of print for at least six years, its return - almost half as large again - is very welcome. £30.00
London's District Railway. Volume Two: Twentieth Century. A history of the Metropolitan District Railway. Volume Two takes on the story of the financial headache caused by the need to electrify, and tells how an American team came to save the day. £35.00
A New Illustrated History Of Her Majesty's Railway Inspectorate From 1840. A government inspectorate can seldom have had so long nor so sensational a history. This chronicle of the Inspectorate and its work provides close analysis of the many tragedies which marked turning points on the road to ever greater railway safety. £35.00
Narrow Gauge Album 1965-1985 In Colour. This set of superb colour photos includes the Talyllyn, Festiniog (with some photos which will raise many memories for former deviationists), Isle of Man, Leighton Buzzard, Vale of Rheidol and Welshpool. The last slate incline in Wales at Maenofferen provides an exceptionally interesting chapter. £25.00
Beyond '68. The last years of BR steam on the Vale Of Rheidol line. A photographic record of the Vale of Rheidol line under BR during the 1970s and 1980s. The photos are one to a large page, black and white, crisp and beautifully balanced. A handsome production in every way. £27.50
Yellow Trains. Ten years of testing. The author worked as an on-train technician for Network Rail between 2002 and 2012. He took his camera wherever he went and recorded the trains, the equipment and the people - this lucid description of the work involved is therefore singularly well illustrated. £25.00
From Gridiron To Grassland : The Rise And Fall Of Britain's Railway Marshalling Yards. A popular book, the 1st edition sold out rapidly. Here it is back in print. Development of the marshalling yard; British Railways' policy towards them; descriptions of individual yards from the earliest (Edge Hill, 1882), to the first mechanised hump yards, the Modernisation Plan yards, and finally to Britain's last fully automated yards (Tinsley, Bescot and Scunthorpe West). £34.95

Catalogue 106

Catalogue 106

We've just issued Catalogue 106. The catalogue lists over 1750 books, old, rare and recent, on British and foreign railways, and related subjects.It includes periodicals, time tables, official publications and a bargain section. Shorter sections offer books on railway art, buses and trams and 13 albums (for sale individually) of postcard-sized photos of locomotives of the LNER and its constituents.
You can order a copy of Catalogue 106, or subscribe to the next four issues including 106, here.

The locomotive pictured on the front is not an illustration from any of the books for sale, but a photo taken by Robert at Steam Town, Scranton, Pa in 2006. The engine on the turntable is Nickel Plate road switcher No 514.

Catalogue 105

Catalogue 105

Catalogue 105 - our latest printed catalogue - is hot from the press. It lists more that 1400 books old, rare and recent on British and foreign railways and related subjects, and includes maps, periodicals, time tables and official publications.
The pictures on the cover bear no relation to the contents (the idea of illustrating the books within does not - for whatever reason - greatly appeal to the guvnor, but I'm working on it). What you see is a memento of a day out at the marvellous Statfold Barn railway (front) and Clacton-on-Sea and Dereham stations (rear) taken on our East Anglian jaunt last summer.
You can either order the catalogue as a one-off or make it the first of four on subscription. You can do either online, starting here. Or by phone (01780 766266) if you prefer.

Christmas Offerings

Christmas Offerings

Here's a selection of books to hint for at Christmas, or to buy as a surprise for the railwayist in your life. Simon Jenkins' classic Hundred Best Railway Stations should be in everyone's stocking. All railway people need to keep up to date with the latest edition of the Track Atlas. The Book Of The Crab 2-8-0s will appeal to steam locomotive-minded people, who will also devour Phil Girdlestone's Here Be Dragons with relish. Your scouser friend will be delighted with the Mersey Docks & Harbours railway and there are Middleton albums for Midland and LNWR fans. All these are to be found in our Latest Arrivals section.

Just In - A New Book On Stamford, and others

Just In - A New Book On Stamford, and others

We've just added these books to the Latest Arrivals section
We are very pleased with the new book on the Great Northern branches from Stamford to Essendine and Wansford, packed with detail and smashing photos. We've also got a new edition of Nicholas de Courtais' nostalgic album of the Wantage Tramway, the first part of a new history of the Stratford & Midland Junction Railway and two biographies of important early railway pioneers : the banker G C Glyn (Lord Wolverton), chairman of the London & Birmingham and the LNWR and Matthew Murray "the father of Leeds engineering", co-founder of Fenton Murray & Co. Finally, the one that absorbed Robert for most of the afternoon when it arrived : an in-depth and lavishly illustrated study of Southern Region steam operation from summer 1966 to the end of steam in July 1967.

Catalogue 104 - Railway Books

Catalogue 104 - Railway Books

Catalogue 104 is our latest printed catalogue.
The usual wide range of books includes the John Forshaw library of narrow gauge and light railway literature.
In all there are 900 British books, time tables and maps, plus a separate Irish section. Additionally there is extensive foreign coverage : Europe, Africa and Asia, North and South America, Pacific, with a good selection of overseas time tables.
You can order a copy or take out a subscription here.

Our railway catalogues have been issued regularly since 1974 and contain a larger amount of top quality material than is available from any other single source.
The listings in our printed catalogues do not appear on the web site.


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BR Corporate Identity Manual reprint

BR Corporate Identity Manual reprint

There have been some excellent new publications recently - see them all in our Recent Arrivals section. Outstanding among them is the reprint of the BR Corporate Identity Manual. A slight drawback from the customer's point of view is that being white and with no dust wrapper it has to be displayed wrapped in cellophane. From the untidy cataloguer's point of view the vulnerable unsullied cover is scary. Yesterday I took a deep breath, moved my coffee cup well out of the area, and unwrapped a copy; I was enthralled by the wealth of detail within. In the shop this remarkable book can only be judged by its cover so to give a better idea of the contents I've written a blog post about it with some pictures of the inside. Originally published at £75, it has now been reduced to £45. What a bargain!

Showcase update

Showcase update

We have updated our Out Of Print Showcase, adding over 60 books and time tables. New additions are marked with a +. Here's the link to the Showcase Index page.
Above (or maybe to the right, depending on your browser) is a rather crowded picture of the new additions to the time table sections.

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Stamford Station Canopy

Stamford Station Canopy

At last Network Rail have finished the work on our old home at Stamford Station. The new canopy is very fine indeed. It's been so exciting that we've completely forgotten that it is one year since we opened our new shop here in Scotgate.
To see more pictures of the new canopy have a look at our blog. There are also older posts on the canopy saga.

Plans for Oxford Goods Shed

Plans for Oxford Goods Shed

Among the dubious items remaining in Station House after we had removed everything saleable to our new shop was this crumbly roll of thirteen GWR plans for their goods shed at Oxford. They are unsaleable, we don't want them and so they are FREEEE to anyone who'll take them away. Read more about them in our blog.

New books recently added

New books recently added

Here are some of the latest arrivals at our new books stock. You'll spot part three of the Book Of The Halls, there are also histories of the Kyle line and Lincolnshire railways, a study of GWR eight coupled goods engines, a highly detailed atlas of the Southern Railway and a masterly account of the railways of the Woolwich Arsenal, a future classic if ever I saw one. Not in the picture are Mike Fell's engrossing book on the port of Goole and its railways, and Rails Along The Fathew, a 150th anniversary history of the Talyllyn Railway which has somehow eluded us for nearly a year. They can all be found in our Latest Arrivals section.
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Isle of Wight, Gresley and the new Baker Atlas

Isle of Wight, Gresley and the new Baker Atlas

Here are the three latest additions to our new stock : the fourteenth edition of the indispensible Baker Rail Atlas Of Great Britain And Ireland; a new history of the railways of the Isle of Wight and a study of Gresley's locomotives and rolling stock with particular emphasis on what has survived into the twenty-first century. All are smartly produced and well illustrated with colour and black and white photographs (no photos in the Atlas, but the maps are in colour). They can be found in our Latest Arrivals section.
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Atlas mountain ...

Atlas mountain ...

... would be a slight exaggeration, but we have had quite a few new ones in recently, some of which are shown here. There are also three volumes which failed to line up for the photo:
The London Railway Atlas
Atlas Ferroviare
Pre-grouping Atlas And RCH Junction Diagrams
all new since last autumn.
And now a fourth! the 14th edition of the indispensible Baker is now in stock.
The old hands will have noticed an interloper - the previous edition of the Pre-Grouping Atlas - of which we have two copies left at the old price. We thought they might be of interest to anyone preferring the smaller format.
As well as these new arrivals we list some thirty assorted atlases in our New Books Maps and Atlases section which you can reach from here.
Oh, and please also note the great improvement in photo clarity due to use of tripod (see nebulous Bradshaw's Hand Book below).

Four new books

Four new books

Just in! Four cracking new books.
Cock O' The North, Gresley's bold experiment : history of the first P2 - the most powerful class of express passenger steam locomotives to operate in the UK.
London Railway Atlas - the fourth and greatly enlarged edition of a great favourite.
Railways Of The North Pennines : the rise and fall of the railways serving the North Pennine orefield
and lastly the long long awaited third volume of the History and Development of Railway Signalling In The British Isles series:
Freight Marshalling Yard Operation, Control and Signalling.
Find them all in our Latest Arrivals section
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Two books on Tyneside

Two books on Tyneside

Two interesting but quite different books on Tyneside railways just arrived - Stephen Chapman's latest in his ever-popular Railway Memories series and Beyond The Blaydon Races, volume 1 of Alan Clothier's masterly work on waggonways and railways in the south east Northumberland coalfield. This volume chronicles the lines reaching the Tyne at Lemington Staithes. These two are both listed in the Latest Arrivals section.
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Fame At Last!

Fame At Last!

Hope you all saw the Guvnor's moment of glory on Great British Railway Journeys. If you missed it it can be found on the BBC iplayer, it's the Oakham to Cambridge episode.
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New Stock

New Stock

Two handsome new books just in are Andrew Dow's masterly work on railway track The Railway : British track since 1804 and Peter Johnson's lively album Narrow Gauge Lines Of The British Isles. We also have a new Middleton in the Eastern Main Lines series - Nottingham To Boston.
All these and much more are to be found in our Latest Arrivals section.
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Magazine Runs

A popular section of our old site gave a listing of all the runs of bound journals we had on offer. We have now reinstated this section on our new site and have produced an up-to-date list of all our runs of Railway Magazine and other classic and modern periodicals, together with society and institutional journals and proceedings. All these goodies can be viewed from here.
It isn't possible to order these runs on-line because most of them are fairly bulky and - unless collected by the buyer - will need special arrangements for delivery. If you are interested in any of them simply phone us on 01780 766266, or e-mail books@roberthumm.co.uk. Payment may be made by card, cheque or cash. There would be no problem in making payment for a run through the site as a Special Order when the delivery charge has been agreed.

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Michael Portillo's Bradshaw

For his television programme Mr Portillo uses a copy of Bradshaw's Tourist Handbook. He refers to it as a "Bradshaw's Guide" which is inaccurate. The real Bradshaw's Guide is the well-known series of monthly time tables published between 1839 and 1960, of which we have including some listed in the Secondhand Showcase on this site. The time table Bradshaw's Guide contains no tourist information, except for hotel advertisements.
Original copies of Bradshaw's Tourist Hand Book (the correct title for Mr Portillo's 'guide') are unfortunately extremely scarce. The individual parts turn up from time to time, but to get all four together is most unusual. The one Mr Portillo is using came from us (of course!) but it is only the second complete set we have ever seen. Sadly we have no more, even of the individual parts, to offer at present.
Bradshaw also produced an annual publication called Bradshaw's Railway Manual, Shareholders' Guide And Directory. This doesn't have any tourist information, either.

Now for the good news

So much for originals. Now for the good news : not one but two reprints of the Portillo set have been produced and both are on offer in our New Books section. You can use the Search Box to find them quickly by entering the reference codes.

Reference : G2855 . Title : Bradshaw's Guide. Hand Book 1. 2. 3. 4. A complete year set of the four regional parts for 1866. Paperback, with an enlarged page size for easier reading. £24.95

Reference : G2893 . Cover title : Bradshaw's Hand Book 1. 2. 3. 4. (from title page : Bradshaw's Descriptive Railway Hand-Book Of Great Britain And Ireland.) A reprint of the actual volume used on the TV programmes. £10.00

Reference : A3999. The de luxe version of G2893 - Special Collector's Edition at £25.00

Which to choose?

G2855 Bradshaw's Guide. Hand Book 1. 2. 3. 4. Is complete with all the illustrations, advertisements and maps. It is not the same edition as that used in the TV programme, but is only three years later and any variations will simply reflect the growth of the railway system in that time. The print size is slightly enlarged for easier reading.
Note that this edition is temporarily out of print. We hope to get new stock early in 2015. Meanwhile we have left the entry on the web site, but it cannot be ordered.

G2893 Bradshaw's Descriptive Railway Hand-Book Of Great Britain And Ireland. For Portillo fans this has the virtue of greater authenticity. It is a reprint of the actual volume used on the TV programme, except that it does not include the advertisements, nor all the town plans, and perhaps not all of the illustrations. It is a neater volume - a nicely-produced hardback in the original size, and is excellent value.

G3339 The same contents are now available in a de luxe edition, on high quality paper with a leather binding. It is a handsome production and at £25, still very good value.

Pocket-sized? We were asked whether Bradshaw's Descriptive Railway Hand-Book would slip in the pocket, being in a smaller format. It would have done, in its single parts, but as a stout little hardback it is certainly too large for the average pocket (or handbag). Nevertheless it's slightly more portable than Bradshaw's Guide. Hand Book 1. 2. 3. 4.

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