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Book Reviews
books that visitors to this site may wish to purchase
AROUND THE GLASGOW TRAMWAY SYSTEM
with Peter Mtchell
By Hugh McAulay & Charlie Loarridge
On Tuesday 4th September 1962 an estimated quarter of a million people turned out on the streets of Glasgow, in pouring rain, to bid a fond farewell to a form of transport
that had been seen in the city since 1872 when horse trams started to ply their trade. On the 13th October 1898 the first electric routes operated, with some of these trams
remaining in services for over sixty years.
All of the photographs in this book were taken by Londoner Peter Mitchell who visited Glasgow on ten occasions between 1951 and 1962 during which time he took more than
a thousand images of the city’s trams. The authors have used a new approach when compiling this book, as it details routes by groups rather than singly. All the images
are either to half or full-page configuration which allows readers to study the trams and the background in which they worked in great detail.
The book portrays the city streets of Glasgow, its suburbs and the routes beyond its boundary. Standards, Coronations and Cunarders trams are shown to good effect with each
picture having the date and time it was taken. Many believe that Glasgow was the greatest tramway city in the United Kingdom; this book illustrates why they think that.
The procession of twenty cars from Dalmarnock depot to Coplawhill Works is shown and, despite th inclement weather, the views benefit from someone with a good knowledge
of camera settings.
An animated dialogue of a tramway enthusiast driving 488 many miles around the city on the 3rd June 1961 is compelling reading. The opportunity has been taken to include what
is a unique photographic record of tram 1282 taking part on a special run from Dalmarnock to Clydebank and back on Thursday 6th September 1962. A loose-leaf map drawn by
master cartographer John Gillham is included; this allows the reader to follow each service and complements the way in which the authors describe them in each chapter.
Price: £42 [GBP] ISBN:
This 228 page book, comprises of 406 monochrome images.
To purchase, please visit: Adam Gordon Publishing.
It is also available through the London Transport Museum and Amazon.
email enquiries to Barney or call 07795 201 502
London's Last Trams
By Hugh Taylor
The author has brought together a variety of information on the last years of the capital's first generation tram system, including several interesting individual perspectives from
enthusiasts and tram crews. Numerous reproductions of newspaper articles, staff notices and leaflets produced by London Transport enhance the story considerably.
Hardback 184 pages with 16 pages of colour photographs
Price: £28 [GBP] plus £2.80 P&P ISBN: 978-1-874422-94-5
Available in all good book stores and from the publisher:
Adam Gordon, Kintradwell Farmhouse, Brora, Sutherland, KW9 6LU
Payment by cheque or through the Paypal system.
What Terry Russell says about this book:
I could only scan through it when I initially unpacked it but found I could not put it down and finally had to force myself and get on with building tram bits for customers. I love anecdotes
and stories and you have found plenty. This is not just another London Tram book but a history of the demise of a great system without being a morbid tome.
Well done Hugh, it must be a winner.
I think you should now fill in the gap 1933 - 1950. I worked with an engineer - a bit of a UNI type who was on the top of the last 46 and made off with the route stencil, the starting bell dome AND
the used ticket box. One day, knowing I was a tram nut he asked if I would like them. He brought them to me covered in dirt and snail trails as they had been just dumped in his parents garden.
They have been preserved by me ever since.
The Colours of Yesterday's Trams
By Martin Jenkins and Ian Stewart
Virtually all the systems which survived after 1945, and even some pre-war ones,
are seen in colour. The systems are featured in order of closure and every effort has been made to include previously unpublished images. The work of the major early colour photographers is also recognise.
The authors have selected images depicting the fascinating range of car types in each fleet. They also set out to show trams in a rich variety of settings including bustling city centres, suburban streets,
windy hillsides, leafy suburbs, industrial neighbourhoods, rural backwaters, steep gradients and cross-country reserved tracks.
Hardback 176 pages
Price: £25 [GBP] ISBN: 9781854143563
Please order direct from: Capital Transport Publishing
Trolleybus - Miniatures, models and the real things
By Ashley Bruce with Gottfried Kure
After four years of research, acquisition and compiling, collaborators Ashley Bruce and Gottfried Kure have produced a near definitive work on the obscure and yet surprisingly nostalgic
subject of the Trolleybus in miniature.
The result is an encyclopedia of the world's trolleybuses through the ages, seen as they once were and how they now exist in miniature.
Printed in full colour, with 416 pages and over 1532 photographs, diagrams and illustrations.
Price: £35 [GBP] ISBN: 978-0-904235-23-4
Please order direct from: Trolleybooks
Portsmouth Trolleybuses
By David R H Bowler
This latest definitive trolleybus system history from the pen of David Bowler, author of the Bournemouth and Nottingham histories, features the UK's only island city - well-known to
anyone who served in the Royal Navy or holidayed in Southsea.
Commencing with a brief introduction to the tramway system the book charts the developments of the trolleybus in Portsmouth from the first unfruitful council discussions, to the initial
experimental route, the tram to trolleybus conversion programme, the city's baptism by fire in the Second Word War, the post-war recovery and heyday's, through to the rundown of
operations in the early 1960s and closure in 1963.
The book is accompanied by 17 appendices covering everything from the vehicles to power supply, and some 50 maps or plans. The many mono and colour photographs show both the
vehicles in detail and show how the trolleybuses were an integral part of the "Pompey" scene for almost 29 years. If you are interested in British trolleybuses this book belongs
in your personal library.
Hardback A4, 383 pages and profusely illustrated
Price: £48 [GBP] plus £2.80 P&P ISBN: 978-1-874422-969
Available in all good book stores and from the publisher:
Adam Gordon, Kintradwell Farmhouse, Brora, Sutherland, KW9 6LU
Payment by cheque or through the Paypal system.
Around London by Trolleybus - Part 1
By Hugh Taylor
This is the first of two volumes using the best of the best London trolleybus photographs available. This part deals with south, west and north-west London in a clockwise direction.
It commences at Dartford and concludes at Mornington Crescent. In the main, the text does not use material that has been used before, but details new information that the author
has obtained.
This hardback book, with front and back colour covers, has 184 pages of which sixteen are in full-page colour.
Price: £32 [GBP] plus £2.80 P&P ISBN: 978-1-874422-98-3.
Available at the main transport outlets and from the publisher:
Adam Gordon, Kintradwell Farmhouse, Brora, Sutherland, KW9 6LU
Payment by cheque or through the Paypal system.
Around London by Trolleybus - Part 2
By Hugh Taylor
This is the second volume of the crème de la crème of London trolleybus photographs. This part deals with north, east and central London in a clockwise direction. It starts at Enfield
and concludes at Camden. Included are views of traction wires dropping to the ground in Tottenham, the first ever view of trolleybuses in West Ham Works, a 685 in Finden Road loop,
and the only known photograph of a route 565 in revenue service.
This hardback book has 200 pages of which sixteen are in full-page colour. As in part one, new information is given in the text along with London Transport paperwork items.
Price: £35 [GBP] plus £2.80 P&P ISBN: 978-1-874422-99-0.
Available at the main transport outlets and from the publisher:
Adam Gordon, Kintradwell Farmhouse, Brora, Sutherland, KW9 6LU
Payment by cheque or through the Paypal system.
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