All GWR Locomotives books published from 1943 to 1948, prior to Nationalization.

All things Southern Railway from December 1942 up to nationalization, including Locomotives, Electrics, etc.

ABC of LMS Locomotive books from 1943 to 1948, just prior to Nationalization. The inclusion of the ABC of Irish Locomotives (1st edition) is to avoid one VERY small collection, and the fact that the Northern Ireland railways (NCC) was run by the LMS. The 2nd (and final) edition was just post-nationalization, and will be found in Section 006.

ABC books featuring the locomotives of the LNER from November 1943 until the start of Nationalization in 1948.

The combined volumes were the present we all hoped to get; I never did, as it goes, and couldn't afford one until 1962! These epic tomes were first produced in December 1943, and the last one rolled off the presses in January 1989, the price having increased over the years from 7/6 (37.5p) to £3.95. For some reason, there was a gap between 1944 and 1948, which was the first to feature British Railways numbering.

The ABC of British Railways Locomotives Parts 1-4 from Nationalization until Winter 1960, after which time the WR & SR regions, followed by the LM & ER/NER started to appear in joint editions, since the total of steam locos was shrinking considerably owing to the introduction of large amounts of diesels, and to a lesser degree, electrics. This section will concentrate on editions consisting largely of steam locomotives; the first diesel books didn't appear until 1957; up until this time, there were few enough to be included in existing editions, mostly in the SR books, since the Southern Region had far less steam locos than other regions. I've included the 1949 Irish Locomotives as it was the last edition of this, and makes an interesting comparison.

The last few years of steam on British Railways saw a change in the corporate image, and a new name - British Rail. This section covers that period, which saw steam withdrawals continue until the end, in 1968 on the London Midland Region. The books concerning diesel & electric traction are to be found in their own groups.

ABCs concentrating on Diesel/Electric Locomotives & Multiple-Units from Nationalization in 1948, with the first BR Electric Trains in January 1948, and the first diesel edition in 1957. It gets very complicated from about then, with odd mixtures of diesels/units, diesel/electric locos, and so on. Oddly, diesel & electrics were still included in the SR editions until the Summer 1958 edition, even though separate books were published. These were very erratic, both in layout and production, it took several years before a regular format appeared (of sorts). After 1962, the categories of modern traction had settled down to three distinct titles (until 1980), and these will be covered in sections 009, 010 & 011.

By 1963, the uncertainty of which books to put modern types of traction into had been resolved, settling for three editions: a) Diesel Locomotives; b) Diesel Multiple-Units; and c) Electric Locomotives & Multiple-Units. This arrangement became the norm until after 1980, when changes became neccessary. This section covers Diesel Locomotives; the others will be found in sections 010 & 011.

By 1963, the uncertainty of which books to put modern types of traction into had been resolved, settling for three editions: a) Diesel Locomotives; b) Diesel Multiple-Units; and c) Electric Locomotives & Multiple-Units. This arrangement became the norm until after 1980, when changes became neccessary. This section covers Diesel Multipl-Units; the others will be found in sections 009 & 011.

By 1963, the uncertainty of which books to put modern types of traction into had been resolved, settling for three editions: a) Diesel Locomotives; b) Diesel Multiple-Units; and c) Electric Locomotives & Multiple-Units. This arrangement became the norm until after 1980, when changes became neccessary. This section covers Electric Locomotives & Multiple-Units; the others will be found in sections 009 & 010.

From 1981 until the very last railway ABC in 1990, all diesel and electric locomotives were to be found in a single book - ABC British Rail Locomotives; in a similar move, all multiple units were also to be found in a single edition; these can be seen in the following section. From 1982 to 1989, these books were in a larger format, and the size varied; the 1990 edition reverted to the original size booklet, but the other qualities (or lack of qualities) of the book left much to be desired; a sad finale to a grand institution.

From 1981 until 1989, the last few editions were to include both diesel and electric multiple units; no 1990 edition was published, so the 1989 edition was the last multiple unit publication. As from the 1983 edition, all the books were of a large-sized format - a very bad move, in my opinion; the size didn't even remain constant. A downfall decision...

The ABC Locoshed series are among the most sought-after by collectors, unmarked editions fetch a LOT of money. They have a strange history, which will unfold here; Locoshed Directories have been included in this section, as, since some editions were combined, are rather closely linked. The directories weren't published by Ian Allan until the early 60's, but have to be included in order to get the full picture; a number of early directories were merely printed update sheets to be added to whatever the latest book was. If you see what I mean...

Many reissues have appeared over a number of years, and happily, these are still popular publications. Here are the reprinted combined volumes, which I have chosen to list in order of the ORIGINAL books' publication dates. I hope that the trend of issuing these reprints will be a long running one, and thoroughly recommend them as, for one thing, originals in top condition now command very high prices among collectors; for example, in 2007, an unmarked copy of a Winter 1957 combined volume fetched a staggering £415 on Ebay - not bad for a book which originally cost 10/6 (52.5p)! Individual (ie regional) books will be dealt with in the next section.

A number of individual editions have been reissued over the years, still appearing occasionally now. This collection covers those reprints.

A very odd collection of books these; the first was a publication about Pullman coaches, this ran to a second edition, but so far I've only found one. In the 1958, the first ABC on normal coaching stock appeared, with reprints & another edition in 1962. However, these were a bit disappointing as, instead of lists of numbers to underline, there were just indications of each number range for each type. Nothing else appeared until 1983/84, when two editions appeared, these were joint ventures with the RCTS, and included individual numbers of all unit coaches as well as LHC. 1986-1989 saw the only REAL spotters books for solely loco hauled coaches.

Preserved locomotives were sporadically included in some ABCs, but only four dedicated books were produced from 1981 to 1984. Preserved diesel & electric multiple units were not listed in these books, only steam, diesel & electric locomotives from British Railways and those constituent companies forming the BR system.

The first London Transport ABC was published in 1944, containing details of London Transport trains and buses & trams; the next (in 1950) featured only underground trains, the buses & trams b now meriting their own book. A 1951 edition followed, and from then, the book was published every one, two or three years until 1969. Some earlier and later oddities are included here.

The headcode ABCs were a very sporadic series, only five editions being produced between 1961 and 1968.

The first ABC featuring London Transport buses, trams & trollebuses was produced in December 1944; this also included tube train stock, and can also be found in Section 019. Books relating only to LT road transport appeared in 1948. This collection features buses, trolleybuses & trams of London Transport and other London operators up until 1998. A couple of the books here can also be found in Section 102.

Some bus ABCs concerned just one city or company (Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Midland Red, Crosville, Ribble, etc), but most concentrated on selected areas of mainland Britain; I have listed them all in alphabetical, rather than chronological order. All these will be found here (except for London Transport, which will have its own collection); this collection covers the period 1949 to 1967, after which the format was rather different, and will be covered elsewhere in this gallery. I don't yet have decent scans of all the covers - if you can help, I'd be very grateful, and anyone assisting in this project will be given a mention of thanks.