Full Size The Royal Arsenal Railways

Overseer

Western Thunderer
Written by Mark Smithers and recently published by Pen & Sword, hardback, about 220 pages covering the development, operation and decline of the narrow and standard gauge railways within the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich.

I bought this book online without knowing much about it before buying it. I have read parts of it and looked through it over the weekend. I am glad I bought it but it strikes me that it is not quite as good as it could have been. I have Mark Smithers' previous two books, both bought soon after publication in 1993 and 1995, and they are amongst my favourite books. The first, An Illustrated History of 18 Inch Gauge Steam Railways was published by OPC (Haynes) and has their quite typical page layout style, or lack of style, but is obviously put together with great enthusiasm for the topic so illustrations are as large as will fit and well reproduced and it contains a huge amount of information in an easy to digest form. The second, Sir Arthur Heywood and the Fifiteen Inch Gauge Railway was published by Plateway Press and designed in his usual sublime style by Roy Link, a comprehensive, quality book.

This one is different again. The information about Woolwich included in 18 Inch Steam Railways has been considerably expanded with quite a few new drawings and some new photographs. The coverage of the standard gauge system and locomotives seems a bit thin in comparison to the 18 inch gauge system. Maybe I was hoping for too much. There is something not quite satisfying about the book and I think it is due to the design and presentation of the book rather than the contents. The page layout is competent but shows no enthusiasm for the subject. The text size is probably a bit larger than it needed to be. The main annoyance is the reproduction of many of the photographs. Good original prints have been located to replace the same images copied from The Locomotive magazine used in 18 Inch Gauge Steam Railways. This should be a great improvement in quality but they look muddy and are too small so in some cases it is harder to see the detail than it was in the earlier book. This is not excusable with modern image manipulation technology so readily available.

I am glad I bought it and recommend it to anyone with an interest in industrial and narrow gauge railways. It just could have been better…. Pity Roy Link or Wild Swan didn't design this one.

It also mentioned but didn't completely fill in the story of the Manning Wardle loco disastrously bought by the Wantage Tramway in 1919. The confusion about this loco seems to be due to a change of name. Manning Wardle b/n 515 was dispatched to the Arsenal on 25 January 1875 named THE GUNNER but seems to have been named DRIVER before arriving at Wantage (and is referred to in The Royal Arsenal Railways as DRIVER). The confusion in both the Higgins and Wilkinson histories of The Wantage Tramways seems to be due to another Manning Wardle b/n 581 being delivered to the Arsenal in February 1876 as GUNNER so presumably THE GUNNER was renamed DRIVER before then but this is not explained. A very minor point in the history of the Royal Arsenal Railways. Does remind me that a 'gunner' means something different in Australia - as an abbreviation of 'going to' so a gunner is someone who is 'gonna' do something but rarely does.
 

Osgood

Western Thunderer
I totally support your comments about the importance of good design, Overseer, and those with regard to this work.

Maybe in my case the failure to achieve perfection in the eyes of the reader was more to do with the reader - my strong interest in part of the work (standard gauge), less interest in others (narrow gauge), and no interest in some (guns).

Despite good book design being partly subjective (we all have our own idea of what appeals), it can make a huge difference to the readability - and therefore digestibility of information within - of a work.

I'll admit to giving shelf space (and reading time) to books on subjects which did not immediately appeal to me, but which are presented in such a delightful way that it is impossible to resist the temptation to open up and delve inside. Even if the cost seemed high at the time of ordering.
That helps both writer (another book sold) and reader (a wider education).
A good example on my shelf might be the Glynn Valley Tramway pair by Milner, reformatting and building upon earlier works -
  • Milner, John and Beryl Williams (2011). Rails to Glyn Ceiriog Part 1 of The Industrial History of the Ceiriog Valley. Ceiriog Press.
  • Milner, John and Beryl Williams (2015). Rails to Glyn Ceiriog Part 2 of The Industrial History of the Ceiriog Valley. Ceiriog Press.

Anyway, I too bought this book, but I suppose mainly on the back of E Class fever - spread in model form by that Klein bloke, and in image/history variant by some guy answering to Smith Peckett E Class 0-4-0ST Locomotives

But I too am very glad I did. A worthy addition to the written works on industrial railway history.

Thanks, all (Klein / Smith / Smithers) :thumbs:
 

Susie

Western Thunderer
Thanks for your review. I have An Illustrated History of 18 Inch Gauge Steam Railways and like it a lot - particularly the period line drawings from contempory periodicals, and have often thought about it as a minimum space modelling subject.

I recently reviewed a book from the same publisher - on GNR Atlantics - and was very disapointed with the poor photographic reproduction.

Susie
 

SimonT

Western Thunderer
I've got Railways and Industry in the Western Valley and Narrow Gauge in the Arras Sector from Pen and Sword and think they are both rather good. The Ian Allen books printed in Bulgaria have very poor colour printing while the ones printed in China are good. It's a lottery.
Simon
 

Overseer

Western Thunderer
I don't think the photo reproduction issues with The Royal Arsenal Railways are due to the printer. The printing quality seems good but the quality of some of the digital images they have been supplied with is not up to standard. This book is printed in India by Replika Press Pvt. Ltd who also printed The Railway - British Track Since 1804 by Andrew Dow for Pen & Sword on the same paper without any problem with the images.
 
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