Industrial locomotives - Great Britain: books - history

British Industrial Steam Locomotives - A Pictorial Survey

This volume delves into the historical significance of steam locomotives employed in British industry. The widespread utilization of both new and repurposed former main line locomotives was a notable practice in the nation's railways.
Encompassing the 19th to the mid-20th centuries, the book extensively explores numerous manufacturers engaged in constructing steam locomotives for industrial and contractor purposes.

Through extensive research and a collection of photographs from across Britain, David Mather provides a comprehensive record of the diverse locomotive types that once served in industrial settings.

Working and Preserved Industrial Locomotives - From the Bill Reed Collection

Ex-railwayman Bill Reed has spent most of his life driving, photographing or observing locomotives in the UK and abroad - even at times behind the former 'Iron Curtain'.

In this book we see his pictures of industrial locomotives - taken throughout Britain - at work in varied locations including collieries, breweries and quarries. They are also depicted waiting to be scrapped and in their new life on preserved railway lines.

Bill has an enthusiasm for photography, and he has captured locomotives in black and white, colour slides or on cine film. Both black and white and colour are featured in this book. Bill has also gone out of his way to capture even the quirkiest of locomotives. Examples of these may be seen at Newlyn, Penzance and Sittingbourne, Kent.
Bill's b & w negatives and colour slides have been scanned at a high resolution and in some cases digitally enhanced to maximise the appearance of his work. The book will be of interest to enthusiasts who want to recall the part played by these locomotives across the railway network. Others will be happy to see that a number are still in operation and may be encouraged to see them once again.

Industrial Locomotives & Railways of the North West of England

This sixth volume in the regional series of books looking at the industrial railways of England, Wales and Scotland specifically covers Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire, a region widely associated with the rapid growth of industry during the Industrial Revolution.

The widespread coal mining activities, which particularly influenced the economy of the region during the twentieth century, were once served by an extensive network of railways, and some also by canals. The Manchester Ship Canal railways at Trafford Park and Ellesmere Port are featured, but there were also other ports and docks around Liverpool and at Preston, all having extensive railways and fascinating locomotive fleets.

These are covered, along with the colliery railways and many of the numerous power stations which were once strategically located around the region, some fed directly from adjacent coal mines.
Peat workings, chemicals works, oil refineries, salt mining, paper, steel, cement and glass manufacture are all covered. The area has a rich industrial heritage and the industrial railways of both standard and narrow gauges which once served the region were equally rich in variety.

Primarily utilising previously unpublished colour photography, Gordon Edgar offers a fascinating view of industrial locomotives and railways in the area, essentially covering the last six decades.