lamdha books - Catalogue of books on steam, trains, tracks, trams, trolleys and buses

67074 Abdill, George B Rails West A Collector's Album of a Vanishing Era in Railroadiana Bonanza Books, New York, 1960. Quarto hardcover, 191pp., b&w illustrations. Minor wear; light spotting to page edges; slight scuffing to dustwrapper with lightly worn edges and corners and rear inner flap creased. Very good. The third in a series of splendid books in which the author sought to present the finest, most comprehensive collectionj of early steamroads in the US ever assembled. This volume includes many revealing incidents and biographies in relation to the Civil War and other historical guide posts. Click here to order $28

10596 Bayley, William A Lapstone Zig Zag Railway Blue Mountains - New South Wales Austrail Publications, Bulli, 1975. Stapled booklet, 68pp., b&w illustrations. Scuffed blue cover with edge and corner wear and tape mark to spine base; wear around staples. Owner's name and cover obverse discoloured along edges. Good to very good. Click here to order $12

63078 Bayley, William A Pichi Richi Railway Flinders Ranges - South Australia Austrail Publications, Bulli, 1975. Stapled booklet, b&w illustrations. Minor scuffing and edgewear to cover. Otherwise very good. Click here to order $15

58582 Burke, David Great Steam Trains of Australia: signed Methuen, Sydney, 1982. Hardcover, quarto, 160pp., b&w and colour illustrations. Signed on reverse of front endpaper. Page edges lightly toned and spotted. Dustwrapper lightly worn at edges. Very good. Click here to order $50

55681 Casserley, H C Railways Between the Wars David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1971. Small quarto hardcover, 127pp., b&w plates. Lightly spotted page edges. Slightly scuffed illustrated dustwrapper with minor edge wear; professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good. The period between the two world wars was in many respects the most colourful of Britain's and Ireland's railways. Despite the fact that many lines were badly run down at the end of the First World War, and that there were almost perpetual economic difficulties - including strikes, the Great Depression and road competition that ate into both rail and freight traffic - the 1920s amd 30s saw many brilliant achievements, notably on the technical front. The book includes a substantial introductory essay, useful tables showing changes of ownership, a chronology of the main events of the inter-war years, a good index, and some unusual pictures. Click here to order $32

59612 Casserley, H.C. Railways Since 1939 David and Charles, Newton Abbot, 1972. Hardcover, small quarto, 128pp., b&w illustrations. Page edges lightly toned. Dustwrapper lightly worn at edges; professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good. The outbreak of war in 1939 presented the railways with an enormous challenge. The main line companies were not in the best of physical condition following the years of depression and road competition, yet now had to carry increasingly heavy traffic with diminishing maintenance and minus many skilled staff who went off to the war. Indeed, on top of all that, the railways' own workshops built war materials. How the railways overcame the challenge is one of the main themes of this pictorial history the other is the return to peace-time conditions from those before the war, the railways withdrawing from many rural areas, speeding up main line services, introducing liner trains for freight and concentrating on electric and diesel power, though not without first having built 1000 post-war steam engines. Click here to order $32

55712 Dow, George Great Central Album Ian Allan, London, 1969. Quarto hardcover, 128pp., b&w plates and colour frontispiece. Slightly foxed endpapers and page edges. Minor shelf wear to dustwrapper. Very good to near fine. Click here to order $35

55767 Ellis, C. Hamilton Four Main Lines Allen and Unwin, London, 1950. Hardcover, 225pp., b&w and colour illustrations. Endpapers and page edges lightly toned and spotted. Cloth boards have minor edge wear. Dustwrapper clipped and lightly worn at edges with chipping and creasing to head and tail of spine; two small tears in upper front edge; scuffed corners; professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good. For nearly a century and a quarter a succession of companies worked the steam railways of Great Britain, carrying the passenger, mail and goods of the nation. The scores of old companies fought, or made alliances with one another; the four later ones fought a defensive war against new and fierce competitors. Then came a fresh phase, that of national ownership; the British railways became British Railways. Yet, under the new uniformity, certain things remain individual. Great main lines like the East Coast, the West Coast, the Great Western and the South Western keep certain characteristics as surely as York, Carlisle, Bristol and Salisbury keep theirs. It is of these four main lines, three of them the oldest to serve London, that the book treats, in a set of biographical sketches, from the days when trains were rope-hauled from Euston to Camden, when the Great Western was built on the broad gauge, when the South Western saw a great future for the muddy little port of Southampton, and when Kings Cross was the latest and finest railway station in London. The illustrations cover nearly a century of photography, and the paintbrush has recorded alike the magnificence of the great modern trains and the brazen glory of those long past. Click here to order $30

67556 Ellis, C Hamilton The Lore of the Train Crescent Books, New York, 1987. Quarto hardcover, 240pp., colour & b&w illustrations. Toned and spotted page edges; dustwrapper worn and creased along edges with small tear on lower spinal edge and faded spine. Very good otherwise. Wrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Click here to order $35

63137 Fitch, R J Making Tracks 46 Years in Australian Railways Kangaroo Press, Kenthurst, 1989. Quarto hardcover, 176pp., b&w illustrations. Ex-library copy with reference number only on endpaper (no other markings) Board edges and corners moderately worn; lightly toned page edges; spine faded and square tape marks on front and rear panels of dustwrapper. Very good otherwise. Making Tracks includes a detailed account of the planning of the Leigh Creek standard gauge railway; the wrangles over the Broken Hill line; the closing out of the Silverton Tramway Company and rail standardisation generally in South Australia; and the constant struggles to keep open the Central Australia Railway. Click here to order $22

67360 Fraser, Don Bridges Down Under The History of Railway Underbridges in New South Wales Australian Railway Historical Society NSW, Redfern, 1995. Quarto paperback, 202pp., b&w illustrations. Minor wear; scuffed cover with light wear to edges. Very good to near fine. Click here to order $35

63084 Hudson, Alan Tracks of Triumph A tribute to the pioneers who built the famous Kuranda Scenic Railway The Cairns Post, 2003. Quarto hardcover, 143pp., b&w illustrations. Illustrated boards no dustwrapper.Minor wear only, near fine. Click here to order $45

63149 Oberg, Leon Locomotives of Australia 1850's - 1980's Reed Books, Sydney. 1984. Quarto hardcover, 324pp. Completely revised and enlarged edition with b&w photographs. Ex-library copy with a few internal stamps, otherwise very good copy in like dustwrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. This is a locomotive history which covers the whole range of Australian locomotives. In chronological order he has told the story of the construction, details of service, modifications, adaptations and fate of a large number of all types of locomotives. Full engine specifications and technical data are provided and over 300 photographs. Click here to order $25

63135 Quinn, Tom Memories of Steam Reliving The Golden Age of Britain's Railways David & Charles, Cincinnati, 2008. Quarto hardcover, 251pp., colour & b&w illustrations. Ex-library with reference number on endpaper and some tape remnants on pastedown. Minor wear only; very good to near fine in like dustwrapper and professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Click here to order $24

63013 Rae, Lou The Abt Railway Tasmania's West Coast Wilderness Railway Lou Rae, Sandy Bay, 2003. Quarto paperback, 109pp., colour and b&w illustrations. Minor wear; cover edges lightly worn otherwise, near fine. The construction and operation of the Abt Railway is a truly fascinating and unique story of how the Mt Lyell Mining and Railway Company overcame many adversities to achieve what many considered to be an unrealistic dream. That the railway covered some of the most inhospitable country in the most trying of weather conditions and survived many challenges and threats is now history. In 1994 the Mt Lyell Abt Railway Society attempted to revive the railway as a tourist enterprise. After a slow start, the project quickly gained momentum. A new generation of tourists can today enjoy travelling aboard one of the truly great railway journeys of the world. Click here to order $50

55714 Riley, R C Brighton Line Album Ian Allan, London, 1967. Quarto hardcover, 112pp., b&w plates. Slightly foxed endpapers, prelims and page edges. Minor wear. Otherwise, very good to near fine in like dustwrapper. The Brighton Line Album portrays something of the London Brighton & South Coast Railway in the days when it conjured up pleasant thoughts of sunshine and holidays and an infinite variety of trains. Starting in the spacious 'nineties and continuing through 25 years of the Southern Railway and then into British Railways' ownership, it is surprising to see how much of the character of the old line remained until recently. The Brighton Line always had a large following. Its earlier popularity originated from the brightly painted engines, each with a name. In most cases these were not just showpieces but really workmanlike machines. Elegance of line characterized LBSC locomotive design for the rest of its life, but anyone who doubted the ability of these handsome engines to work hard had only to see the heavy excursions pouing down the main line at holiday periods to have any doubts dispelled. Its carriages may not always have been as comfortable as they might have been . Somehow one could forgive the Brighton Line such shortcomings - in spite of them, perhaps because of them - it was truly a line of character. Click here to order $35

63154 Stark, R. John The Return of Steam Locomotive C17, N0. 45 The Degener Timms Publications, Gympie, 2000. Quarto hardcover, 120pp., with colour and b&w photographs. Near fine copy in like dustwrapper. For three years locomotive No. 45 sat on the Gympie Railway Workshops No.9 Outer Loop Line, then she was stripped of all brass and working parts and placed in a park for sixteen years. After her rescue and removal to the Gympie & District Historical Society Inc. it was considered 'nigh to impossible' to restore. The story shows how eight men over a period of five years and two days accomplished the impossible. Click here to order $40

55724 Stewart, Graham The End of the Penny Section A History of Urban Transport in New Zealand A H & A W Reed, Wellington, 1973. Quarto hardcover, 221pp., b&w illustrations. Lightly spotted prelims. Page edges foxed. Minor shelf and edge wear to dustwrapper. Otherwise, very good to near fine. The story of passenger transport in New Zealand. Beginning with waggonettes and drays which replaced Shank's ponies then followed by horse-trams on steel rails and then steam engines. Soon people could settle in outer suburbs that were now within range of employment, with land speculators backing and building lines to the mushrooming estate hamlets. Hills were tamed by the magic cable cars that climbed with invisible power, and electric trams dazzled the populace while housewives were still slaving over coal ranges and lighting was either by gas lamp or candle. In days of indifferent roads and slow-moving traffic the tramway proved to be a double blessing, moving large numbers of people cheaply and providing smoother travelling for the drivers of other vehicles who followed the tracks. It wasn't long before the towering street cars were challenged by the gasoline omnibus with solid rubber tyres, ably assisted by the "Tin Lizzies and "flivvers" when the country took to personalised wheels on a large scale. An evocative social and transport history of early urban New Zealand. Click here to order $35

55700 Thomas, John Scottish Railway History in Pictures David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1967. Quarto hardcover, 112pp., mainly b&w plates. Lightly spotted page edges and rear index pages. Slightly scuffed illustrated dustwrapper with minor edge wear. Very good to near fine. Scottish civil engineers, faced with daunting natural hazards, produced the mightiest railway bridges in the kingdom. The locomotive engineers accepted the challenge their difficult country presented, and produced many famous classes for the home lines, while in Glasgow the biggest locomotive plant in Europe built for the five continents. Above all the country bred a lively, distinctive community of railwaymen, on the line, in the workshops and in the administrative offices. This book is about their achievements. Click here to order $35

55692 Tidey, H Gordon Those Were the Trains Ian Allan, London, 1954. Hardcover, 64pp.,b&w plates. Green cloth boards with minor edge wear and bumped corners. Foxed endpapers and title page. Page edges spotted. 8 page introduction by the author followed by train illustrations for the remainder. Illustrated dustwrapper with rubbed rear panel and edge and corner wear; professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good otherwise. A photographic celebration of steam trains taken by the author over 54 years. Click here to order $30

55719 Whitehouse, P B (ed.) Railway Relics and Regalia Hamlyn, London, 1975. Quarto hardcover, 176pp., b&w and colour illustrations. Lightly toned page edges. Slightly scuffed dustwrapper. Very good to near fine otherwise. Each of the thirteen chapters is written by an expert and collector in the field. More than 210 photographs. Click here to order $30

55721 Wiesenthal, M The Belle Epoque of the Orient-Express Geocolor, Barcelona, 1979. Quarto hardcover, 96pp., colour & b&w illustrations. Minor wear; endpapers and page edges lightly foxed. Otherwise, very good to near fine in bright dustwrapper with slight wear to edges; professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Click here to order $30