Hamilton Ellis’s breakthrough in the writing of railway history came in 1947. The publisher Philip Unwin, himself something of a railway aficionado, was looking for a new kind of book for his firm, George Allen & Unwin, that would be an antidote to the prevailing dreariness of train travel in post-war austerity Britain: bright illustrations […]

There is nothing like Statfold, this year there were sixteen engines in steam – so wherever you stood, wherever you waited there was always something going one – a great sense of highly-organised activity and a terrific atmosphere. This post is simply a catalogue of those sixteen engines (or would be – unfortunately I only […]

A rather worrying task yesterday – I’d been putting it off but in the end it had to be done. I washed my hands and removed the cellophane from a copy of the BR Corporate Design Manual reprint so I could catalogue it. Fortunately few railway books come with a white cover; this one is […]

Last night, after the final train had left, a team of Network Rail construction workers laboured through the small hours to put the finishing touch on the new platform one canopy – the valance which makes an attractive finish to the canopy edge and provides a little extra protection from driving rain. It is very […]

Among the dubious items remaining in Station House after we had removed everything saleable to our new shop was this roll of thirteen GWR plans for their goods shed at Oxford. It’s not a very impressive bundle. Despite most of the plans being linen-backed they have crumbled away at the edges, particularly at the leading […]

Here are a few ideas for a surprise present for the railway enthusiast, railfan or gricer in your life. A good start to your choice is to look for a recent publication that the recipient hasn’t had a chance to buy for him- or herself – all the books we’ve had new in since March […]

Although we may have counted wrong, it was quite hard to pin them down, storming up the gradient, rotating grandly on the turntable, batting round the loop, double headed, single headed, thirteen engines in steam is an awful lot. Unless it was fourteen. So where do you go to see thirteen engines in steam? Just […]

I was surprised how long it is since I last posted on the blog, and embarrassed to see that I promised a map of how to reach 59 Scotgate from the Station. I made the map some while ago and somewhat optimistically left copies in a stout envelope stuck to the shop window under cover […]

Our stock of the latest new books arrived safely this afternoon and the Guvnor has enjoyed arranging them on the centre table. He hadn’t quite finished when I took these pictures.           I’m looking forward to adding these to our web site listings. Although you won’t find them on the web site […]

At last we have opened the doors at 59 Scotgate. We’re a bit anonymous still, as we have no signboard, but do come in and see our unrivalled collection of books on all railway subjects.