CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE
BOOKS
European Railway Atlas – Enthusiast Edition
By M G Ball
AUTHOR Mike Ball openly admits his foray into the rail atlas market in the 1980s was “to help enthusiasts make sense of the mysterious and confusing geography of Europe’s dense railway network”, and over the years produced a series of regional of comb-bound books which many of us have bought. Country coverage is extensive, with 44 countries included and covering as far east as Belarus, the Ukraine and adjacent parts of Russia, as well as Syria, Turkey and even Iran.
Launched in time for Christmas is this great reference work which shows all of Europe’s railways in one hardback volume, including the UK.
This is a comprehensive and detailed work, and includes main and freight lines, major heritage and tourist lines as well as lines currently being electrified or where construction is planned or underway, such as HS2 and the East-West Rail project.
As an enthusiast atlas, it is more expansive than the tourist edition as it lists more than 23,000 locations compared to 8,000 in the tourist edition. At the back is a comprehensive gazetter, a list of the popular tourist railways by country, along with a multi-lingual key to the colours and symbols.
On each page are country flags, a map scale and outlines of these are covered and overlaps.
This atlas is an incredible detailed and comprehensive piece of work, which not only is an essential reference book for enthusiasts with European interests, but will also be extremely useful as a planning aid when widespread foreign travels by rail are permitted once again.
This book and other maps are available in either printed book format, PDF downloads or both, and via the authors website, plus you can download a sample of the atlas. Perfect for the reference shelf. CM
European Railway Atlas, 18 Maes-y-Waun, Chirk, Wrexham LL14 5ND, tel 01691 770 104 (afternoons, evenings and weekends only); Hardback; 178pp; 297x210mm; ISBN: 978-1-9161212-9-4; £24.95+£3.70 UK p&p. Order online at europeanrailwayatlas.com
The Blue Pullman Story
by Kevin Robertson and Mike Smith
THERE were only five ‘Blue Pullman’ units – three eight-car and two six-car sets – running for 13 years.
When introduced in 1960, they were ahead of their time in terms of comfort. Passengers sat in air-conditioned coaches, something offered as standard to today’s travellers.
They were not without their faults and ride quality problems were never fully solved. For some they were a missed opportunity, others would see them as a last hurrah of Pullman opulence, with the supplementary fare levied a disincentive to travel on them.
Sceptics may wonder how the authors have produced a book of this magnitude covering 390 pages. The answer
