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| Title: | Wagon Recognition (3 books) |
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| Author: | Martin Buck and Mark Rawlinson | ||||||||||
| Publisher: | Freightmaster Publishing, Swindon | ||||||||||
| Format: | Book | ||||||||||
| Subject: | Wagons | ||||||||||
| Category: | Photos | ||||||||||
| Spec: | 9.5in x 6.5in, card covers, 144-224 pages, 162-307 colour photos | ||||||||||
| Publication date: | 2008-2018 | ||||||||||
| Summary: | Well-produced books with lots of high-quality photographs and data giving an overview of all current wagon types. | ||||||||||
| Review: | The first major book on modern wagons to appear for some time, this 224-page softback was published in spring 2008. I have classed it as a picture book as there was not a huge amount of text. However, it did give brief details (numbers and areas of use) for every TOPS code (except Y and Z groups) in use on wagons as of 2008. Where this book excelled is in the photographs, of which there were more than 300. Most were reproduced at two per page but there were a number of whole page views, and the pictures were uniformly excellent. Major variants within each TOPS code were individually illustrated and some of the oddballs tracked down included a BSA, an FZA and a 6-part Italian rail-carrier. Towards the end was a selection of photos for types recently taken out of service while the limited text gave an overview of TOPS and wagon numbering as well as a guide to various wagon 'hotspots'. On the down side, many of the photographs had already been published on various websites (which made the £24.95 price tag a bit hard to swallow) and some of the pictures seem oddly chosen. For example, the photos of both the BAA and BBA types were of markedly non-standard variants. There were also a couple of minor errors in the text and captions (such as suggesting that the original JSAs were built in 1977 rather than converted in the 1990s, and that FLA 606175/606176 was built in 1991). However, if you are new to the wagon scene or just want an easily browsable overview of what can be seen (and where), this book is highly recommended. A year later a Volume 2 was published, covering the Y and Z TOPS groups. I was looking forward to this follow-up, thinking it would be quite some task to cover the huge variety of departmental wagons. However, a flick through this book will reveal that (in terms of 'wagons' at least) that variety is no longer there. Fleet rationalisation, and the recoding of many types back to their revenue codes, meant that the only traditional wagons included were the Sealion/Seacow hoppers, Salmon/Osprey and Mullet/Parr flats, Sea Urchin opens and Shark ballast ploughs. The rest of the book covered on-track plant, which was fair enough given that these were also assigned TOPS codes in the Y and Z series. In fact, the distinction between 'wagons' and 'on-track plant' was somewhat blurred in many cases. Although 119 of the 162 photos included were of items numbered in the CEPS (plant) series, some would otherwise be considered as 'wagons' (for example the LWRTs and sleeper carriers). The consistent high quality of the photographs, and the sheer variety and complexity of the track machines included more than compensated for the lack of pure wagons, other bonuses being the inclusion of design codes and a section outlining the functions of each major type of track machine. My only negative comments concern a couple of obvious errors in the picture captioning, and the relatively high cover price (£19.95 for 144 pages). Finally a puzzle, about TOPS rather than the book. Why are some track machines that are obviously mounted on bogies, coded in the Z-series (such as the ZWA Dynamic Track Stabilisers), while others are in the Y-series (like the YZA Stoneblowers)? A second edition was produced in 2018, this dropping the track machines to enable the two earlier volumes to be combined into one 224-page book. The format was largely the same as before, each TOPS code being shown with outline information on the numbering, origins and usage, along with large colour photos. The new edition did include more information, adding TOPS sub-codes (ie the 4th letter AARKND, as in BAA-F), the design codes for each of these, and the pool numbers they were allocated to. An 8 page list near the back showed all the current pool numbers. Also at the back was an explanation of the UIC wagon classification, including lists of meanings for category and index letters. Interestingly the new edition had the same number of pages as the earlier volume 1 (224) and the same price tag, despite the 10 year gap. Slightly disappointingly, a few photos were re-used in both editions, notably the BAA, BCA, BVA and BZA in the first section. The BTA photos (on pages 27 in volume 1 and 17 in the 2nd edition) also appear identical, except that the van in the background seems to have been photoshopped out! | ||||||||||
| Reviewed: | 18/09/2018 by Thomas Young (Comments made by others can appear in the notes section towards the bottom of this page) | ||||||||||
| Sample pages: | (Click on any image to view full-sized in a new window)
The cover of the first edition.
Outline details were given for each TOPS code, with information such as numbers and traffic uses.
Most of the photos were half-page though there were quite a few full-page ones too. The photos were all excellent.
A slimmer volume 2 followed to cover the departmental types.
As with the earlier book, the photos were uniformly excellent, but the captions only gave the most sparing information.
More information was included in this volume, including AARKNDs (referred to here as suffixes), design codes and pool numbers.
A list of the relevant pool codes was provided.
A second edition appeared in 2018, to a similar format but combining the contents of the two original volumes (achieved by dropping coverage of track machines).
The improved information from the earlier volume 2 (AARKNDs, design codes and pools) was now also applied to the revenue types.
Photos were again excellent, although it was strange to see a few re-used from the earlier edition ten years previously.
A full pool code listing was included. | ||||||||||
| Notes: | No notes have been left yet. ?There may be some notes posted but which have not yet been approved. |
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| Edits: | Record edited 2 times.
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