Sunday, May 11, 2008
An EMU Bookshelf
Disclaimer: I get an affiliate fee if you purchase anything via the links in this article. If that bothers you go directly to amazon, or purchase your copy somewhere else.
Book authors seem to devote a lot of time to writing books about locomotives. Indeed every class of diesel has at least one entire book about it, sometimes several.
But for those of us who are fans of EMUs the local bookshop is something of a desert. However, if you look hard enough there are a number of good books available, even though it often means buying second hand.
I’ve put some details below of the books which I have in my collection, which I hope will be of interest to anyone researching the subject area. If you have any suggestions for other books to add to the list, feel free to email me.
British Rail Fleet Survey 10: Third Rail dc Electic Multiple Units by Brian Haresnape and Alec Swain, ISBN 0711017603.
The British Rail Fleet Survey series is probably the definitive series on the history of British Rail motive power between the modernisation plan and the late eighties. Whereas most other books I’ve listed here are mainly photograph based with a small amount of text, the books in this series have a good amount of textual content.
The 3rd rail EMU book starts with about thirty pages on the general history of third rail EMUs, then follows with two to four pages for each class which ran on BR during the eighties (the most recent class described are the 442 5-WES units). Each chapter (one per class) describes the history and some technical details of the units along with a number of (black and white) photographs and, occasionally, a simple engineering drawing. Liveries cover a selection of those carried during the units careers.
This book covers both southern and non southern 3rd rail units, as well as the dual voltage classes 313 and 319. Book 11 in this series
Motive Power Recognition 3: EMUs by Colin J. Marsden, ISBN 0711015694
This series of books was one of my must haves during my spotting days in the eighties with the A5 format making them useful pocket references. The EMU book covers all classes of EMU which where active on BR during the mid-eighties. All photos are in black and white with units being in liveries which where current at the time of publication (ie mainly blue and grey).
Primarily pictorial in nature the book has, generally, two to four pages for each class starting with basic technical data followed by well captioned pictures. As befits the title of the book the captions mainly refer to the distinguishing details between each class, and vehicles within each class. The shots of individual cars make useful references for the modeller.
British Railway Pictorial: First Generation Southern EMUs by Kevin Robertson, ISBN 0711030871
With the electrification of the southern railway system starting over a hundred years ago (and, indeed, before the formation of the southern railway) you could spend a long time debating what constitutes a ‘first generation’ EMU. For the purposes of this book it is anything up to and including Mk 1 based units, with the exception of the earliest types.
The book starts with a listing of the various types of EMU stock, but again there is nothing listed before 1914. The earliest EMUs were a varied collection of converted coaching stock and there are few photographs of them around, so maybe this omission can be forgiven.
Organised in roughly chronological order this A4 format book is a collection of black and white photographs illustrating the various types, usually with three photographs per page. Most units are in BR green livery.
Southern Electric by John Glover, ISBN 0711028079
This book is a revised edition of the books of the same title by G. T. Moody, the first edition of which was published in 1957. It gives the definitive history of the electrified southern region from it’s earliest days to the late nineties.
Whilst not strictly a book ‘about’ EMUs its content will surely be of much interest the the EMU enthusiast. In A4 format with many illustrations (in black and white) it covers the history of each electrification scheme and much more besides.
Southern Electric Slam-Door Stock: The Final Years by Roger Palmer, ISBN: 0711031088
The content of this photograph based book accurately reflects it’s title, it covers the remaining slam door stock running on Network Rail in the early 2000s. In landscape format with one photo per page, and every shot in colour, it covers the gamut of privatisation liveries to be found at that time.
Captions concentrate on details of the location and service with very little about the units themselves other than the numbers. One neat touch is the picking out of the location in bold text which I found helpful when flicking through the book.
A Southern Electric Album by Michael Welch, ISBN 1854142704
Another photographically based book but one which is distingished by it’s detailed captions which show the author has great knowledge of both the locations, the units and the services. In a slightly smaller than A4 format and with every picture in colour the book covers not only Emus but also has a few shots of 3rd rail locomotives including one of the 20002 prototype.
Organised in geographical order, starting in the west and progressing eastwards images show a wide selection of ‘first generation’ units in both BR green, all over blue and blue-grey liveries.
Southen DEMUs of Michael Welch, ISBN 1854142879
Whilst not strictly and EMU book, the southern DEMUs where effectively EMUs with diesel engines so I feel this book is worth covering here. Compiled and written by the same author as the previous title, this is in the same style with a similar depth to it’s captions, often covering the entire history of the unit depicted.
Again this book is fully in colour and whilst concentrating on green, blue and blue-grey liveries it also has a few images in Network SouthEast and privatised liveries.