Does anyone know of a good site or book that has a fairly comprehensive list of UK steam locomotives and the rough dates between which they were used (and the lines?). It would be useful, particularly for modellers (i.e. me) to make sure they have some sanity check in the liveries/types/lines that they model.
TIA
Luke
The most detailed info. is probably the multi-volume series of loco histories by the RCTS, but not all are still in print, it would be expensive to buy the entire series in one go, and they haven't completed the LMSR steam series yet (GWR, LNER & SR series are all complete) They give building & withdrawal dates plus info about the type of work undertaken, etc.
If you can find any Ian Allan ABC of locos, of which there have been various reprints, these will tell you which locos were in service at the year each book was originally issued. A google search for Ian Allan should find their website. No info about type of work, but some issues contained shed allocations. Some railwayana stalls at preservation centres may have second-hand copies of the books or of the Ian Allan locoshed books.
Bevan
You could always just ask on here ?
Pieman
"piemanlarger" wrote
Yes that would be feasible for individual locos or loco types but not for the entire UK loco fleet.
John.
If he's rich enough to buy models of the entire uk loco fleet, he's rich enough to employ a researcher!
I guess we can handle his one or two purchases at a time? Indeed, if he is wise and buys from someone like yourself John, you can advise at the time of buying.
Coo. That's quite something that you're asking for.. I'd suggest maybe Nicholas Wood's treatis on the steam engine (originally published in the 1830s, there have been reprints since..), backed up by the two sets of procedings from the 1998 and 2001 Early Railways conferences (both published by the Newcomen Society) for the pre-1825 stuff, though note that there's only one contemporary colour image of any steam locomotive from that period (the Wallsend colliery Chapman/Buddle engine). For the 19th century up to the 1870s you're probably best with Ahrons (The British steam locomotive, 1825-1925), though he doesn't say a lot about colour schemes. This book is long out of print but specialists can find it for you - I paid about 40 UKP for mine. For 1870s onwards things get easier - Ahrons
6-volume set on locomotive performance and running does mention colour schemes in use to some degree, but the only colour images you'll find for most things are Hamilton-Ellis' reconstructions. In the case of some of the smaller railways it's kind of anyone's guess exactly what the livery used was (easier with locomotives than stock, mind- I've long since given up on ever finding out what the goods stock livery used by the Manchester & Milford at /any/ stage in its life was..). Things should generally be easier with the bigger companies and later periods, but the habit of companies like the L&NW and the NER of rebuilding (or 'rebuilding' engines) make it very hard to say exactly when a given engine was in use (and then there's complications like different locomotive works within the same company modifying engines in their own way and painting them very differently from others - Swindon/Wolverhampton on the GW, Leeds/York/Darlington /Gateshead on the NER, Glasgow/Perth on the CR are examples..)
I think it'd be more of an encyclopaedia than a book, frankly!
Ian Allan Combined Volume 1960 is currently available. I have two left in stock at the Great Central Railway.
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