Since becoming more interested in G, LGB in particular, and being taken by the company's more Austrian prototypes I very recently bought this excellent title from the Middleton Press online store (http://www.middletonpress.co.uk/ < Link To www.middletonpress.co.uk) - which is very well priced compared with Amazon and the like for the MP titles with free delivery and excellent turn around of orders. Big thumbs up on that side of things.
Austrian Narrow Gauge (featuring steam in the Alps) by John Organ.
Those familiar with the Middleton Press will recognise the size, format and layout. They describe them as a Railway Encyclopedia - which if you bought every book would need quite some space. The book is a good size, between A5 and A4, hard backed with a glossy printed cover and no dust jacket to get torn or damaged. Reasonable thickness, not too heavy to hold if sat in an arm chair.
Content wise, first impressions are good. It follows a tried and tested layout - starting with a description of the various steam locomotives that have operated, and a cursery description of some of the diesels, before having sections on areas of Austria and there railways. Sections start with a text description and route map, followed by lovely atmospheric photos with good quality captions.
As an overview it covers the lot, perhaps a little more on the rack railways than I would like but the title does a good job of covering the narrow gauge (both 760mm and 1m, steam, diesel and electric, old, closed, modern and preserved) lines across the country.
I look forward to a few quiet evenings, coffee, biscuit and my favourite arm chair - soaking up the atmosphere, understanding the different characters of each line and trying desperately to avoid starting an indoor HOe version of the ZB or Steyr valley lines as well as my LGB outdoors!
Austrian Narrow Gauge (featuring steam in the Alps) by John Organ.
Those familiar with the Middleton Press will recognise the size, format and layout. They describe them as a Railway Encyclopedia - which if you bought every book would need quite some space. The book is a good size, between A5 and A4, hard backed with a glossy printed cover and no dust jacket to get torn or damaged. Reasonable thickness, not too heavy to hold if sat in an arm chair.
Content wise, first impressions are good. It follows a tried and tested layout - starting with a description of the various steam locomotives that have operated, and a cursery description of some of the diesels, before having sections on areas of Austria and there railways. Sections start with a text description and route map, followed by lovely atmospheric photos with good quality captions.
As an overview it covers the lot, perhaps a little more on the rack railways than I would like but the title does a good job of covering the narrow gauge (both 760mm and 1m, steam, diesel and electric, old, closed, modern and preserved) lines across the country.
I look forward to a few quiet evenings, coffee, biscuit and my favourite arm chair - soaking up the atmosphere, understanding the different characters of each line and trying desperately to avoid starting an indoor HOe version of the ZB or Steyr valley lines as well as my LGB outdoors!
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