Book Review: LNER 4-6-0 Locomotives – Their Design, Operation & Performance

Released just a few months ago, this new book from Pen and Sword, written by David Maidment, is part of their Locomotive Portfolio series.

Measuring around 25cm x 26cm, the book has 380 pages and has a published price of £35, but can be picked up on Amazon for around £25 (at the time of writing).

The book covers the design, construction, operation and performance of all LNER-designed 4-6-0 locomotives that ran between 1923 and 1968.

Over 400 photos feature in the book, some of which are colour, and many are previously unpublished pictures from the Manchester Locomotive Society, in Stockport.

The book is split into seven chapters and also has a comprehensive appendix.

Chapter 1 is about the LNER engineers: John Robinson, Stephen Holden, Wilson Worsdell, Sir Vincent Raven, Sir Nigel Gresley and Edward Thompson.

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Chapter 2 covers the Great Central 4-6-0s before LNER

Chapter 3 looks at the North Eastern 4-6-0s

Chapter 4 is about the Great Eastern 4-6-0s

Chapter 5 has information about Gresley’s B17 Sandringham and Footballers.

Chapter 6 features the Thompson B1s

Chapter 7 then looks at the Thompson rebuilds.

As in previous books by David Maidment, the chapters are followed by the appendices, which includes technical information of the classes along with drawings. As you would expect, this includes details of the wheel diameter, boiler pressure, weight, water capacity and tractive effort among other statistics.

Many of us will have seen B1s No. 61306 Mayflower and 61264 in real life, and many will be following the construction of 61673 Spirit of Sandringham, and it is great to be able to look back on all the many variations of 4-6-0s that once existed.

The format of the book means you can dive in at any point to explore the photos as well as find further information in the surrounding pages.

The book is available to purchase from Amazon as well as from Pen & Sword

Did you know that you can get 25% off selected Pen and Sword books as a RailAdvent Plus member? Click here for details.

We would like to thank Pen & Sword for providing us with a copy of the book for review.