Modelling The British Rail Era

Modelling the British Rail Era: A Modellers Guide to the Classical Diesel and Electric Age

Modelling the British Rail Era covers the period 1964 to 1994. Ian Fleming, Ken Gibbons, Steve Flint, and Jeff Taylor have combined to produce a modellers guide to the rail blue period.

I recently started modelling the blue diesel period of the late 1970’s. A time when I observed the railway closely and remember the Deltics in decline and the HSTs arriving. However I soon discovered I’d forgotten more than I remembered and this book rapidly became a memory jogger.

The book provides information on the history, infrastructure, locomotives, stock, and service patterns of the era and gives special emphasis on modelling rail freight terminals. The book also includes selected wagon drawings, building plans and over 20 layout ideas

The BR Days ended in farce – endless ancient jokes about leaves on the line, inedible sandwiches and cut after cut. This book, however, shows that more than that actually happened – the successes of the era, as well as the failures are looked at and contextualised for the modeller – what the real railway saw as a problem, the modeller can see as a solution.

Modelling the British Rail Era is full of inspirational pictures of real and model railways – and lots of lovely Diesels! – this book is an absolute must for anyone modelling post 1964 in Britain.