Book Launch

This column normally focuses on the activities of the Moseley Railway Trust at it's Apedale base, and also leans towards the engineering side of things. That's because the author is an engineer (and has a sistificate thingy to prove it). So, the other activities of the Trust are sometimes overlooked. Unlike many such bodies, MRT takes the "museum" side of things very seriously. The production and publication of books and other learned treatise is a key part of this element of the Trust's work. Probably the best-known such work is the legendary A Guide to Simplex Locomotives book, described as the definitive work on the subject (not by the authors either, which makes a nice change). This book, into its nth reprint, is still available. However, the point of all this is to bring your attention, dear reader, to the MRT's latest venture in this area. We have teamed up with Railway Gazette International who publish a very grown-up magazine about proper trains to reprint their 1920 special edition on War Transport. Back in 1920, this would have been the first time that most readers would have become aware of the machines and techniques used to achieve the recent victory – much of it had been secret until then. Since 1920, copies of this special edition have been highly prized collectors’ items. We have had the original professionally scanned and enhanced, to maximise the reproduction of the many pictures. New colour covers and a foreword have been added. The book is “A4” size, and contains 160 pages. We currently expect the book to be published in mid-September 2013. This, therefore, is your Big Chance to get this book at a worthwhile discount in advance. Call in at the Apedale shop if you're in the area for the pre-publication offer, or get in touch here and we'll e-mail you the flyer.