Beginners materials- books websites apps?

[starpatch]

Hi looking for christmas present ideas for my rail enthusiast son, but also quite interested myself to be honest. Where do you start in learning more about the rail industry? Any recommendations for a suitable christmas present? Adult reading age is fine. Thanks in advance.

 

[50002Superb]

This one isn’t too bad: https://www.amazon.co.uk/abc-Rail-G...d=05bfee2f9f163e91b7be7192a22e9851&th=1&psc=1

I do like the Rail Atlas when travelling as well.

 

[yorksrob]

When I was a young whippersnapper I obtained the Middleton Press album of my favourite line.

If your son has a favourite line, it might have its own book !

 

[hexagon789]

Word of warning, the Rail Guide has many errors dating from the period when Marsden was editor. Famously the inside read 'corrections welcome' but people said he never accepted any feedback.

Platform 5 tends to be more accurate.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

Geoff Marshall and Vicki Pipe's "The Railway Adventures: Places, Trains, People and Stations" is great fun for kids.

 

[Gloster]

Platform 5 Publishing - www.platform5.com - does the spotter‘s books. The 2024 ones are just out: four separate volumes (locos, diesel units, electric units and coaches) at £7.50 each or £30 the lot (on the website under ‘New books’); they will do a single combined volume, but this is usually a month or so behind the rest. These, or their predecessors published by Ian Allan, are what most of those on this forum will have started with: they list every item of rolling-stock that you see and give its basic details.

 

[alxndr]

Is there any particular aspect of it that is most of interest? There are many facets to it and what is of interest to one person might bore another person to tears!

 

[Big Jumby 74]

Hi looking for christmas present ideas for my rail enthusiast son, but also quite interested myself to be honest. Where do you start in learning more about the rail industry? Any recommendations for a suitable christmas present? Adult reading age is fine. Thanks in advance.

Is there any particular aspect of it that is most of interest? There are many facets to it and what is of interest to one person might bore another person to tears!

alxndr is spot on if I may add my penneth! The subject of railways is awash/drowned/submerged (however you wish to describe it) with literature. As a former career railwayman I have always been keen on books (not just railway related), but as a result I look for those that are both accurate in their content and interesting for me. These days this combination is not easy to find...but I'm an old...xxxx..., not new to the 'hobby'.

As a (very) rough starting point you might have an interest in one/more of the following, which might then focus your future interest/purchasing;

a) the trains themselves, locomotives, stock, units. How are their rosters planned, which routes do certain types travel over.

b) operations viz: how is the timetable planned for a large terminal station, or in general come to that.

c) signalling. How does this apply to the railway, how does it work.

These are just three things which I was involved in, there will be many other aspects that others could highlight. As said I speak from a position of years of experience, but started out train spotting after school, which led to a lifetimes career.

Far too many published works (to my mind) concentrate on just photographs of trains, the BR steam era (1948-1968) being particularly over subscribed......just going to find my tin hat .....but saying that I do understand. It's a generational thing, and many of the works one sees today are the result of people who in hindsight, in their younger years had the foresight to record such things.

But yes, take time to decide which aspect(s) are of interest and go from there!

Edited: Bold, correcting my own written gaffs.

 

[etr221]

The problem with railway publishing is there are an awful lot of books on specialist topics - fine once you know what you want - but not very many overview, introductory ones.

In the 1970s I found an American book "The Railroad: What it is, What it does - The introduction to railroading" - aimed at those entering the industry. I've not seen anything quite like it, from a more modern, British perspective. Went well with a Model Railroader book on prototype operations to explain how (and why) they do things over there...

I am minded to say find a good bookshop, with a large railway section - or railway bookshop at your local preserved railway - and browse for what you think is a good start.

The abc Railway Guide (mentioned above), or the Platform 5 spotters books, are the modern equivalent of what I started with, along with Ian Allan's Annuals, many, many years, and even more books, ago.

The Railways: Nation, Network and People, by Simon Bradley is perhaps a good one volume historical, social introduction.

Dare I suggest a subscription to Railway Magazine (which I suggest as perhaps the best all round periodical. others are more specialist)? Will give bits about a lot, and perhaps guide to 'where next' in terms of what you want to find out...

And I've now seen The Trainspotter's Notebook, by Francis Bourgeois - from a quick Amazon Look Inside, you could do a lot worse...

 

[Adrian Barr]

A book by Paul Shannon, British Railway Infrastructure Since 1970: An Historic Overview would make a nice present. The title makes it sound a bit dry, but it's an attractive hardback with plenty of interesting pictures and you can usually find it at a big discount compared to cover price. Gives a sense of the changes to the railway over the last 50 years or so. The author has written numerous good quality railway books, mainly about freight, and is very knowledgeable.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/British-Railway-Infrastructure-Since-1970/dp/1526734796/

Some other publications that might be useful to learn more about the industry:

A bookazine called The Changing Face of Rail Freight is very good, excellent value and has lots of information on freight with loads of pictures of wagons and trains, showing the different commodities conveyed. Captions are very informative, good to browse through.
https://www.classicmagazines.co.uk/product/5576/bookazine-the-changing-face-of-railfreight

The previous bookazine focuses on the freight itself, this one - Heavy Freight! Diesel and Electric - would be a good companion as it focuses on the loco fleet used to move it. Attractively presented with lots of photos; suitable as a "beginners guide" to freight locos without going into excessive technical detail.
https://shop.kelsey.co.uk/product/railways-of-britain-16-heavy-freight-diesel-electric

The ABC Rail Guide already mentioned in this thread should give plenty of info on the passenger operators

For some background detail on railway operations, it would be worth picking up these 3 pocket-sized ABC books second-hand (they should be cheaply available on Ebay). Two of them were published back in 1999, but even so they give a useful insight into how the railway works:

ABC Railway Operations published in 1999 gives a good general background to how the railway works
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Railway-Operations-Ian-Allan-abc/dp/0711026890

ABC Railway Freight Operations was also published in 1999 and gives an overview of the freight side of things
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Railway-Freight-Operations-Paul-Shannon/dp/0711026602/

ABC Modern Signalling Handbook is a useful explanation of railway signalling (there's an older version of the book which might be cheaper)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Modern-Signalling-Handbook-Chris-Hall/dp/0711038392/

A "Baker Atlas" is a very useful thing to have:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rail-Atlas-Great-Britain-Ireland/dp/0860936813/

A subsciption to a railway magazine, as suggested by etr221, is a good idea. I learnt a lot about the railway from magazine articles when I was growing up. And the Platform 5 spotters books are a classic choice for any beginner rail enthusiast!

In terms of apps, the live signalling maps on Tracksy and OpenTrainTimes are a good way to see what's happening on the network, I have the Tracksy app on my phone.
RealTime trains is another well-known website for train times, both passenger and freight

https://traksy.uk/live

https://www.opentraintimes.com/maps

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/

A couple of online railway bookstores that might be of interest, to browse for railway books and see what appeals:

https://www.booklaw.co.uk/

https://strathwood.co.uk/

 

[75A]

A book by Paul Shannon, British Railway Infrastructure Since 1970: An Historic Overview would make a nice present. The title makes it sound a bit dry, but it's an attractive hardback with plenty of interesting pictures and you can usually find it at a big discount compared to cover price. Gives a sense of the changes to the railway over the last 50 years or so. The author has written numerous good quality railway books, mainly about freight, and is very knowledgeable.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/British-Railway-Infrastructure-Since-1970/dp/1526734796/

Some other publications that might be useful to learn more about the industry:

A bookazine called The Changing Face of Rail Freight is very good, excellent value and has lots of information on freight with loads of pictures of wagons and trains, showing the different commodities conveyed. Captions are very informative, good to browse through.
https://www.classicmagazines.co.uk/product/5576/bookazine-the-changing-face-of-railfreight

The previous bookazine focuses on the freight itself, this one - Heavy Freight! Diesel and Electric - would be a good companion as it focuses on the loco fleet used to move it. Attractively presented with lots of photos; suitable as a "beginners guide" to freight locos without going into excessive technical detail.
https://shop.kelsey.co.uk/product/railways-of-britain-16-heavy-freight-diesel-electric

The ABC Rail Guide already mentioned in this thread should give plenty of info on the passenger operators

For some background detail on railway operations, it would be worth picking up these 3 pocket-sized ABC books second-hand (they should be cheaply available on Ebay). Two of them were published back in 1999, but even so they give a useful insight into how the railway works:

ABC Railway Operations published in 1999 gives a good general background to how the railway works
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Railway-Operations-Ian-Allan-abc/dp/0711026890

ABC Railway Freight Operations was also published in 1999 and gives an overview of the freight side of things
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Railway-Freight-Operations-Paul-Shannon/dp/0711026602/

ABC Modern Signalling Handbook is a useful explanation of railway signalling (there's an older version of the book which might be cheaper)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Modern-Signalling-Handbook-Chris-Hall/dp/0711038392/

A "Baker Atlas" is a very useful thing to have:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rail-Atlas-Great-Britain-Ireland/dp/0860936813/

A subsciption to a railway magazine, as suggested by etr221, is a good idea. I learnt a lot about the railway from magazine articles when I was growing up. And the Platform 5 spotters books are a classic choice for any beginner rail enthusiast!

In terms of apps, the live signalling maps on Tracksy and OpenTrainTimes are a good way to see what's happening on the network, I have the Tracksy app on my phone.
RealTime trains is another well-known website for train times, both passenger and freight

https://traksy.uk/live

https://www.opentraintimes.com/maps

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/

A couple of online railway bookstores that might be of interest, to browse for railway books and see what appeals:

https://www.booklaw.co.uk/

https://strathwood.co.uk/

What a superb answer.