This book is a photographic record of diesel multiple units (DMUs) operating throughout northern England.

The book does not have separate chapters, but is arranged geographically, starting in North Staffordshire and moving northwards along lines west of the Pennines to Carlisle, then south along the Settle and Carlisle line and via the Tyne Valley route to the east coast and the East Coast Main Line to Yorkshire.

Many types of the first- and second-generation diesel multiple units that saw service in the North of England are illustrated, including many types that are now extinct, and second-generation units introduced in the 1980s and still in service today.

Published in August 2025 by Amberley Publishing and written by Martyn Hilbert, this soft-cover book measures around 165 mm x 234 mm, has 96 pages, and 180 colour photographs.

It has a published price of £15.99, but at the time of writing, it can be purchased for £14.39 from Amberley Publishing and for £14.74 from Amazon.

The photograph at the top left below is typical of trying to categorise multiple units as either diesel or electric.

Many units are now hybrids, equipped for working on electric power or from diesel engines.

Although the image at top right was taken at York, and therefore falls within the remit of the book, it is really out of place as it is a Great Western Railway railcar and only qualifies for inclusion in the book by being in the National Railway Museum.

Although the captions are, in general, quite informative, far too many suffer from using the term “stood on”. Trains do not “stand on” a platform; they either arrive at, depart from, or are at the platform.

Both top photos also suffer from using abbreviations without having previously defined them, in this case, Transport for Wales (TfW) at the top left and Avanti West Coast (AWC) at the top right, although in practice, AWC is rarely used.

The book’s remit is the north of England, therefore the photo at the bottom right is outside its compass, as the location is Hawarden Bridge in North Wales.

The top left caption below informs us that the train is getting underway from the former junction station at Garsdale. It would have been informative to have included that the station was formerly known as Hawes Junction, the junction for Hawes, and was the scene of the Hawes Junction rail crash in 1910.

In some cases, there is information in the captions that is not supported by the accompanying photograph. One such instance is the caption at the bottom left, which refers to a hole in the wall that seems to be missing from the photo.

On reading the title, this would appear to be a book illustrating DMUs operated by train operator Northern rather than being a geographical definition of the term, but it soon becomes clear that the book is not restricted to DMUs by that operator.

Some images, such as the photograph of a GWR railcar at the National Railway Museum at York, seem to have been included because they were seen at locations in the north of England instead of seeing operational use in the area.

On a positive note, many of the photographs depict long-forgotten liveries or equally long-forgotten classes of unit.

Other than the minor comments accompanying the illustrations, the captions provide much information about the particular services and locations.

The quality and composition of most photographs are of a high standard and provide a good historical record of first- and second-generation DMUs in the north of England. As such, the book deserves a rating of 4.5/5.

The book is available to purchase from Amazon and Amberley Publishing.

We would like to thank Amberley Publishing for providing RailAdvent with a copy of the book for review.