Publications

Copies of GWSG publications can be purchased at the Group's sales stand or may be ordered from:
Publications Officer, Great Western Study Group, The White House, Frogmore, Kingsbridge, Devon. TQ7 2NZ.

Please make cheques payable to 'Great Western Study Group' (overseas orders payable in pounds sterling) and do not forget to add the required amount for postage & packing. Members should quote their membership number in order to obtain the discount price.

Click on a cover image for a larger version.


Front Cover: GWR Dean 40ft Vans GWR Dean 40ft Vans

Barry Scott

The multiple variants of these vehicles enjoyed a long and complex life. Introduced as broad gauge vans in 1892, many survived long into the 20th century. Some had undergone a plethora of changes into hospital wards and tunnel inspection vans.

For followers of the GWR this publication is a valuable resource for researchers and modellers alike, enabling an accurate representation of a specific prototype and its variations over the years. It is a revision of the old Model Railway Constructor articles from 1967 with additional photos. The detail is quite astonishing.

Softback, 72 pages (Click on the cover image for a larger version).

Published for the GWSG by The Wider View

Fully paid-up Members (as at 31 March 2024) will be sent a free copy.

£12.95, members (extra copies): £10.00 (postage & packing: UK £3.00, Europe £TBA, Overseas £TBA)


Front Cover: GWR Signalling Practice GWR Signalling Practice

David J Smith

This fresh account of latter-day GWR mechanical signalling practice commences with an historical overview tracing its development from primitive beginnings, follows with a description of operating methods then considers in detail the earlier and later patterns of signal and their variety of functions. Outside appliances and apparatus receive attention, as do signal boxes and their equipment. Treatment of the location of signals is expanded with examples of signal layouts on double and single lines, and a case study of one particular location. A range of appendices and an index complete the book, which is extensively illustrated with photographs, drawings, and diagrams.

The author is a retired chartered civil engineer who has had a lifelong interest in GWR signalling. He spent the early years of his career with BR(WR), affording him ample on-site opportunities to observe the signalling scene at close hand. His original intention of making a modest written contribution on these matters to members of the Great Western Study Group gave way to the perception that, with further research, a wider audience could beneficially be reached. The outcome was the writing of this book.

Hardback, 395 pages, over 260 photographs, 121 drawings (some official), 7 appendices, indexed. (Click on the cover image for a larger version).

Published for the GWSG by The Wider View

£45.00, members: £35.00 (postage & packing: UK £6.50, Europe £TBA, Overseas £TBA)


Front Cover: GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY STRUCTURE COLOURS GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY STRUCTURE COLOURS 1912-1947
From Official Sources

Richard North

This GWSG publication draws on the author’s research extending over many years. It differs from earlier published material in this field in that the author has had access to a complete set of the minutes of the GWR Paint Committee. This accounts for the title of the book, since the Committee first met in 1912, and it also provides a unique insight into the way the GWR dealt with this subject. In addition, the book quotes from the GWR Engineering Department Instructions of 1930 and 1933 as well as the Signal Department Painting Instructions of 1907.

Also included in the book are copies of numerous GWR documents; notes and sketches by the late Michael Morton Lloyd; and colour photographs from several sources of a number of ex-GWR buildings in GWR paint schemes. The author has received considerable assistance from other people with expertise in all matters Great Western, particularly from Keith Ettle and David Hyde, both of whom are also members of the Study Group. The result is a comprehensive work containing authoritative and detailed material.

A4, softbound, 88pp, including photographs, copy documents, & sketches. (Click on the cover image for a larger version).

Published for the GWSG by The Wider View


£14.95, members: £10.00 (postage & packing: UK £2.00, Europe £6.00, Overseas £8.00)


Front Cover: SALTNEY CARRIAGE & WAGON WORKS SALTNEY CARRIAGE AND WAGON WORKS

Tony Wood

This scholarly work is a definitive history of the GWR's Carriage and Wagon Works at Saltney near Chester. The author's diligent research has unearthed extensive information about the development of the Works, its place in the local community, and biographical details of personnel that worked there. With the documentary evidence that he presents it makes this publication an important part of the GWR's history.

The early history of the works is documented from its inception in 1847 under the Chester and Shrewsbury Railway through the expansion of the GWR. The works at Saltney, along with that at Worcester, provided a carriage and wagon manufacturing capability for the GWR before the establishment of those facilities at Swindon. It eventually closed in 1932 but the buildings saw use during World War II, but alas, not in railway use.

There follows a description of the carriage and wagon diagrams built at the works and illustrated with line drawings and photographs, many from the collection of David Hyde. There then follows a very well researched section relating to the senior staff at Saltney, including a comprehensive genealogy of many of them and easy to follow descendant charts. These will be invaluable to anyone researching the family history of these characters. Two of them deserve mention here: Joseph Armstrong who was later to become superintendent of the northern division at Wolverhampton, and then later the GWR's Locomotive Superintendent at Swindon; and James Holden who later achieved notoriety as Locomotive Superintendent of the Great Eastern Railway.

There are 20 pages of appendices which list the goods and passenger rolling stock that was constructed at Saltney. These include the lot numbers and the dimensions of the vehicles built, and will prove to be a valuable reference for researchers.

This is an excellent book that will prove of interest to all followers of the GWR, but in particular to those with an interest in goods and passenger rolling stock, and to anyone with an interest in the area of Saltney, especially those whose relatives worked in the works.

A4, softbound, 108pp, including photographs, diagrams, & drawings. (Click on the cover image for a larger version).

Published for the GWSG by The Wider View

£12.75, members: £10.00 (postage & packing: UK £3.00, Europe £7.50, Overseas £10.00)


Front Cover: GWR SWITCH AND CROSSING PRACTICE GWR SWITCH AND CROSSING PRACTICE
A Design Guide for 4mm Modellers

David J Smith

This book provides an informed account of an important but neglected aspect of GWR practice. Based on information drawn from official sources it relates primarily to the period from the mid 1930s to the mid 1950s, though reference is also made, where appropriate, to the practice in other periods. Its comprehensive coverage includes switches, crossings, leads, diamonds, compounds, catch points, crossover roads and much more besides. Photographs and specially prepared drawings illustrate various features of the prototype. Appendices on design calculations and the preparation of templates are complemented by a set of tables of dimensional data, all of which will enable the GWR modeller to design and build crossing work which is accurate and authentic in its portrayal of original items. Whilst invaluable for modeller, the book will have a wider appeal to anyone who has an interest in the subject.

The author, who is a recently retired chartered civil engineer, began his career in the mid 1950s with the Western Region of British Railways. He worked in the District Engineer's Office, Newport as well as in the Chief Civil Engineer's Office at Paddington and on New Works construction on site. His experience of permanent way was not only in design hut also in the laying in of new work and the relaying and maintenance of existing track. In the early 1960s, with the first Beeching report in prospect and the contraction of the railway system already wider way, he decided reluctantly and with regret to leave the railway industry and purse his career elsewhere in the sphere of municipal and county highway engineering. A long-standing interest in the GWR and is modelling, and an awareness of the lack of authoritative published information on that company's switch and crossing practice, led him to make good the latter deficiency in some measure by researching and writing this book.

A4, softbound, 152pp, with numerous drawings, tables and photos. (Click on the cover image for a larger version).

£14.95, members: £10.00 (postage & packing: UK £3.50, Europe £8.50, Overseas £13.50)


Great Western Locomotives

An index of selected items from the model press. Compiled by Martin Goodall.

 

SOLD OUT

Great Western Non-Passenger Coaching Stock

An index of selected items from the model press.

 

SOLD OUT

Great Western Goods Wagons

An index of selected items from the model press. Compiled by Martin Goodall.

 

SOLD OUT

Caerphilly Castle - the Journey Home

A selection of photographs by Ian Watson, with foreword by Steve Manchip

 

£2.00

A Preliminary Index of GWR Models

Compiled by David Bugler

 

SOLD OUT

GWR Iron Minks

Lewis, Lloyd, Metcalf & Miller

£8.00