Published in November 2021 by Amberley Publishing and written by Andrew Cole, this softcover book comes in the usual Amberley format of around 234 mm x 165 mm with 96 pages and 180 colour photographs. It has a published price of £15.99, but can be obtained online from Amberley Publishing for £14.39 or from Amazon for £12.46.
My first reaction in reviewing this book was complete amazement that so many diesel shunters have been preserved, with well over 200 having been saved from ending their days in a scrapyard.
The book covers all classes of diesel shunter, from Class 01 to Class 14 except for Class 13, of which three examples were built for use in Tinsley Marshaling Yard in Sheffield but none were saved for preservation.
The author has done a good job in sourcing photographs of examples of every class covered by the book, even though two classes have only one locomotive preservation, another class has two, and two other classes have four preserved examples.
In the same way that main line locomotives sport a range of liveries, so do diesel shunters, and the book contains many examples.
The fact that so many diesel shunters have been preserved is in many ways thanks to the www.heritageshunterstrust.com. Many of the shunters illustrated in the book are owned by the trust, although many others are from preservation sites across the country.
With 56 examples saved for preservation, Class 03 diesel shunters account for the second-largest class destined for further use. In the pages below, the author shows the contrasting states in which preserved shunters may be found.
Just four Class 05 diesel shunters have been saved for preservation, all of which the author has managed to illustrate.
Only one Class 06 shunter has been preserved, and that is shown on the left page below. In contrast, seven Class 07s such as those on the right are enjoying a future life.
The workhorse of the diesel shunter preservation movement is undoubtedly the Class 08, of which over 80 are to be found throughout the country in a range of liveries. Some of them are named, such as 08590 Red Lion at the top left and G.R. Walker at the bottom right below.
The Class 14s were more at home on trip workings rather than shunting duties, but because of the decline in the work for which they were designed they had a short life in British Railway's service. As a result, many of them were sold on for industrial use, mainly to the National Coal Board and British Steel Corporation. Nineteen examples have been preserved, of which we see five below.
In summary, this book clearly shows that when many locomotives were withdrawn from British Railways' service they were not destined for the scrapheap. The superb finish of some of the ones illustrated in are testament to many hours of work by volunteers. A balanced selection of photographs is a credit to the author who has done an excellent job in producing this book that deserves a place on the bookshelf on anyone interested in diesel shunters and is great value for money.
The book is available to purchase from Amazon for around £12.46.
We would like to thank Amberley Publishing for providing RailAdvent with a copy of the book for review.
