A history of the man who served as Chief Mechanical Engineer for the Southern Railway and the many locomotives he developed. Oliver Bulleid’s locomotives guides the reader in the quest to understand what motivated Mr Bulleid in his work as a senior engineer and manager, and tries, with as little bias as is reasonable, to make sense of some of the more controversial aspects of his activities. For example, why did OVB not pursue the ideal of a 2-8-2 for the Southern Railway? How did the ‘Leader’ project go so much out of control? What role did Bulleid play in the massive dieselization program in Ireland when he was CME there? How did the 0-6-6-0T turf-burning steam locomotive fit in with Ireland’s traction policy, or did it? And why did ninety of his steam locomotives and ninety-four of ‘his’ diesels have to be rebuilt to make them either more economical or more reliable? These are fundamental questions to which the book provides the reader with answers based on the author’s experiences or on those of people who knew Bulleid. OVB’s undoubted successes are illustrated in words and photographs, too, to provide a hopefully balanced picture of one of Britain’s more exciting railway engineers. “This book is a well written overview of the Bulleid era, by a competent engineer who can express himself in layman’s terms.” —Martin Shill, Industrial Railway Society “The book deserves a place on the bookshelf of every student of locomotives, especially Bulleid's By current standards, it is good value, and it was a pleasure to examine it.” —The Railway Observer

Echoing the format and character of the Haynes Great Cars Series, this new, highly detailed, colorful series dealing with individual and important classes of steam locomotive. This is it to be the ultimate book for lovers of these iconic locos with their distinctive ‘air-smoothed’ form. As well as detailing the history of the class, the book will also take a very close look at the surviving examples and use extensive close-up and scenic imagery of them.

This is a book that looks at the 0-6-0 tender goods locomotives of the Southern Railway, from the steam locomotive classes taken over at the railway grouping in 1923, through to the two classes introduced during Southern Railway days, that of the Q and Q1 classes.The Southern Railway had a rich and varied number of 0-6-0 tender goods classes, originating from all three former main line pre grouping companies, many of them lasted until the late 1950s and early 1960s.Many of the older Victorian and Edwardian classes of locomotive taken over in 1923, did not last very long with the new company, but are covered here for historical and modelling interest.

Oliver Bulleid was undoubtedly one of the most controversial railway engineers of the 20th century. This title takes a new and enlightening look at Bulleid's life uncovering some startling new facts which run contrary to popular beliefs.

Britain was the pioneering force behind the birth of the steam locomotive. This authoritative visual reference spans over 150 years of railway history, featuring 85 class profiles, a comprehensive glossary and over 200 photographs.

The thrilling story of the last, and greatest, generation of steam railway locomotives in regular main line service: a story of invention, skill and passion, Giants of Steam reveals how the true advocates of steam's glory days pushed its design and performance to remarkable limits, taking these powerful and beautifully designed machines to new heights against a backdrop of the political upheavals and military conflicts of the mid twentieth century. Glancey tells the stories of the greatest of the 'steam men', the charismatic engineers who designed these machines and put them to use. Giants of Steam also reveals how steam design has continued to progress against the odds in recent decades, while enthusiasm for the steam locomotive itself is far from burning out.

An in-depth look at the British railway company’s celebrated class of steam locomotives, with more than three hundred photos. Built by Collett in 1927 after pressure to restore the Great Western Railway’s pre-eminence in motive power and cope with increasing postwar traffic to Devon and Cornwall holiday resorts, the thirty Kings were the final development of the Churchward Stars and the 1923 Castles and remained on top-link main line duty until their final replacement by the ‘Western’ class 52 diesel hydraulics in 1962. This book includes an insight into the thinking of some of Collett’s senior staff at the end of the 1930s and the eventual transformation in the latter years with redraughting and double chimneys. As well as describing their design and construction, the book comprehensively covers their operation and performance, backed up by many recorded logs on all main GW/WR routes over which they were permitted. The author had close experience of the class when working at Old Oak Common between 1957 and 1962, and includes a chapter of his experiences with them, including many footplate trips (as a management trainee, he was greeted with glee by firemen who would hand him the shovel). The book also includes over 300 photographs, one hundred of them in color.

A thorough history of the Metropolitan-Vickers locomotive, also known as “Class 28,” featuring 160 color and black & white photos. This book provides an in-depth history of the Metropolitan-Vickers diesel-electric Type 2 locomotives, more frequently known collectively as the “Co-Bo’s” due to their unusual wheel arrangement. Twenty locomotives were constructed during the late-1950s for use on the London Midland Region of British Railways. The fleet was fraught with difficulties from the start, most notably due to problems with their Crossley engines, this necessitating the need for extensive rehabilitation work during the early-1960s. Matters barely improved and the option to completely re-engine the locomotives with English Electric units was debated at length, but a downturn in traffic levels ultimately resulted in their demise by the end of 1968 prior to any further major rebuilding work being carried out. Significant quantities of new archive and personal sighting information, supported by over 180 photographs and diagrams, have been brought together to allow dramatic new insights into this enigmatic class of locomotives, including the whole debate surrounding potential re-engining, their works histories, the extended periods in storage, together with in-depth reviews of the various detail differences and liveries.