The Branch Line Society

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Sales

The Society offers for sale to members only a number of publications which are sold with a significant discount from the Recommended Retail Price.

Members receive a free copy of the "Guide to Minor Railways" when this is published.

Non-members should note that the Guide to Minor Railways booklet is available from the Sales Officer at a price of £5.00 which includes post and packing.

The Sales Officer is also able to supply - to members only - books and maps from a variety of publishers.

Generally, the Society will try and sell those books which are of interest to a significant number of members and which can therefore be purchased by the Society in bulk and the discount received passed on to members.

Details of books for sale through the Society are shown below. All prices include Post (2nd class) & Packing.



The Beaten Track Volume 3
Compiled by our member Andy Chard, 'The Beaten Track' illustrates the changing and somewhat tired face of the railway network in the 1970-1985 era. Various railway locations, loco types and longstanding practices were disappearing. Over 250 images, all in colour, have long, well researched captions. The reader is taken to a combination of well known and rarely photographed very obscure parts of the network. These include long gone lines to industrial sites, such as the numerous collieries, power stations and steelworks that relied on rail transport. A wide range of traction is depicted, with plenty of main line locomotive classes, their industrial counterparts and a variety of multiple unit types, highlighting how diverse the rolling stock of the 1970s and early 1980s actually was. All photos are in colour and the vast majority have never been published or shared online before. Again, the book has a selection of our Treasurer, Ian Mortimer's, superb and fascinating photos with outstanding images from new contributors who have come forward with previously unseen images after reading the previous two similar books in this series (Limited stocks still available, see below). These previous books were very popular with our members - those that have them will certainly want to acquire this one; those that don't have them should!

Cover price £34.95 Members Price just £27.00 including Royal Mail delivery

Platform 5's British Railways Locomotives & Coaching Stock 2023
The definitive guide to all locomotives, coaching stock and multiple units that run on Britain’s main line railways. It contains complete fleet lists of every item of rolling stock with owner, operator, livery and depot allocation information for every vehicle in service.
This essential reference book is fully updated to early 2023 and includes details of all new rolling stock on order for delivery in 2023.

RRP £29.95 Members Price just £26.50 including Royal Mail delivery

TRACKmaps Book 3: Western & Wales. Seventh Edition (Sep 2023)
This 60-page publication covering Wales and NR Western Region is now compiled by our member Martyn Brailsford. There are updates on every page and some have been restructured for clarity (particularly Bristol Parkway) with two extra pages of maps provided. The Elizabeth line is included to Abbey Wood and Pudding Mill Lane Jn as are small parts of adjoining routes (particularly to Worcester/Worcestershire Parkway) along with private/heritage and industrial railways in the area. Changes in the five years since the last edition include new stations at Bow Street, Corwen, Reading Green Park, Marsh Barton, Portway Park & Ride and Worcestershire Parkway. The Okehampton line is now part of NR, reopened to passengers; the Elizabeth line has opened and the Llanelli & Mynydd Mawr Railway is in.
Updates include curtailed GWR electrification, the discontinuous electrification of the Cardiff Valleys with many infrastructure changes plus the new Taffs Well Depot and the layout planned at Onllwyn, Gobal Centre for Rail Excellence (with electrification of the 6.9km outer test circuit).
Signalling control areas are updated and, for the first time, OHLE neutral sections, Electric Control Room areas and disused signal boxes, expected to remain, are shown. The comprehensive index includes Welsh language names and, as is now TRACKmaps standard, platform lengths are given in metres rather than coach lengths which do vary. Most of those named in the 'Acknowledgements' are our members; updates/amendments are always welcome for future editions and other books.

Cover Price £16.95 Members Price just £12.50 including Royal Mail delivery

TRACKmaps Book 4: Midlands & North West
72 pages with 53 colour maps showing North West & Central Region from London to the Scottish Border plus the Midland Main Line.
Shows latest track level detail including, amongst many other changes, latest station openings, continuing electrification, 4 tracking from Bedford to Kettering and transfers of signalling control.

RRP £17.95 Members Price just £12.50 including Royal Mail Delivery

Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland 12th Edition (Schweers & Wall)
A fully revised and updated 2023 edition of this definitive colour atlas of Germany’s railways in 1:300 000 scale. Shows all lines with identification of double track, single track, narrow gauge lines, freight only, not in use, former line now removed, rack lines and lines under construction. Colours are used to show lines of different electrification voltages and German timetable numbers are shown beside passenger lines. Also shows all stations, halts, junctions, yards, freight facilities, preservation centres, museum lines, tramways and funiculars, plus all general geographic features including rivers, motorways and canals. Includes enlargements of major centres, index maps and a full index to stations and other significant places. Key in German, English, French and Dutch. Large format hardback. 256 pages.

Your Sales Officer has secured a 10% discount from the RRP of this fantastic publication. Priced £45 plus £3.75 P&P or free delivery to BLS railtours.

TRACKmaps Book 1 Scotland & IOM Dec 2021
The new 7th Edition is now available: Since the November 2017 Edition this publication, used by the industry, has been comprehensively revised and updated by Martyn Brailsford, with help from various Society members, to the usual very high standard. There are changes on virtually every page.

Cover price £14.95 excluding P&P; price to our members £12.50 including UK P&P.

SPECIAL OFFER: Own the complete set of latest Trackmaps (excl Ireland)


RRP £77.75 Members Price just £57.50 including Royal Mail Delivery.

Scottish Railway Atlas - Then And Now
This new atlas from Crécy (publishers of many railway books) by Paul Smith & Paul Jordan is now available via your Sales Officer. Cover price £20 but only £15 to our members including UK P&P. It is hardback, A4 with 144 pages. The first section is the tried and trusted 'Then & Now' format, the left-hand page with a 'Then' map (in this book 100 years ago - 1920) and a right-hand page with 'Now' listing any remaining features. All maps are in colour. The rest of the book is an index of passenger stations, goods stations, branches and junctions for the 'Then' maps. The Index is almost three quarters of the book as it has a photo of every station currently in use. For closed stations, each entry gives their OS map reference, site status description and a small station map. All stations indexed have a chronology with the date of opening, closure dates if applicable, and any changes to their names that were made. Other sections have information on British Railways Scottish Region MPDs with closure dates and locations, heritage lines, major structures on the network, signal boxes and a listing of the Scottish railway companies which became constituents of the LMS and the LNER.

The current stock of all available books is as follows (all prices include P & P)
From Crecy Publications 
Liverpool & Manchester Atlas£21.00
Southern Railway Atlas£19.00
Then & Now Atlas£14.00
Bakers Atlas£15.50
Scottish Railway Atlas - Then & Now£15.00
From Platform 5 
Locomotives & Coaching Stock 2023£26.50
Railways of Manchester£31.00
The Beaten Track Volume 1£27.00
The Beaten Track Volume 2£27.00
The Beaten Track Volume 3£27.00
From Trackmaps
Book 1 - Scotland & IOM£12.50
Book 2 - Eastern£12.50
Book 3 - Western & Wales£12.50
Book 4 - Midlands & North West£12.50
Book 5 - Southern & TFL£12.50
 
Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland£48.75

Orders for all the above can be made via an Email to the Sales Officer (See contacts page) and an electronic invoice will then be raised for payment or, alternatively a cheque (payable to “Branch Line Society” ) can be sent by letter - address at the back of BLN.