This large format book covers miniature railways of all sizes, in Britain and Germany, up to the mid 1930s. Strauss seems to have been a bit of an anglophile, and wrote enthusiastically about visits to the UK where he was entertained by Bassett Lowke, and Holder, among others. He refers to Bassett Lowke and Greenly as the 'fathers' of miniature railways, and also has a bit on Blakesley Hall. There is a good selection of large format photographs.

Unfortunately the promoters of the English edition elected to 'correct' one or two facts in Strauss's original text, so you need a German edition to read what he originally wrote. There are few of these around as most were destroyed in the War.

Woodcock was a notable character in the miniature railway world during the 1950s to the early 70s. He built a number of very nice 10¼in gauge locomotives, including a Metropolitan Railway 4-4-0 and a Great Eastern Railway 0-4-4.

In this book he 'set down what he knew' about the history of miniature railways, together with chapters on railways and builders, much of it as told to him by Henry Greenly, George Flooks, Fred Smithies and Waller Martin. He seems to have worked more from memory than documentary sources, and in some ways later titles make this one look a bit incomplete relative to such wide objectives. Nevertheless the book is still valuable, especially the sections which the author wrote from first hand experience.

This book wasn't well bound and I think that a fair number of copies have disintegrated over the years. Consequently it's hard to find (probably not a great number were printed in the first place)

I'm proud to say that the miniature locomotive that I drive was designed by Greenly. It was his genius for design that lead to the growth of miniature railways in this country up to the 1930s, from defining the 'standard' gauges, to building the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway. There is no doubt that had he not applied his talents to miniature gauges he would have made a name for himself working for one of the main line companies.

This is the story of the man, written by his daughter Elenora Steel, and her husband Ernest. It's a fascinating tale throughout. There are one or two minor errors in the railway facts and figures, but don't let that put you off from reading about one of the 'great men' in our world.

One of a long series of pictorial albums produced by this publisher during the 1970s. In this one Robin managed to get a really good selection of photographs from sources such as Bassett Lowke, the Holder family, and George Barlow. Some of these are reproduced whole page.

A bit over the top on the Ravenglass & Eskdale, I recall, but we will excuse this. A really good photo album.

When this book came out everybody hoped it would be the once-and-for-all history of the man, the firm, and all their endeavours. This it certainly is not, but it does have the virtue of having been written by an 'insider', Roland Fuller, who was Bassett-Lowke's right hand man within the firm over many years. Alas Fuller died before the book was published.

The great majority of this book is a photo album; only a few photos are of miniature railway subjects, and those are poorly captioned; the views are interesting however, and have not appeared elsewhere.

This book's real virtue is in its text describing Bassett Lowke's enthusiasm during the height of their miniature railway activities, and the unusual devolved workings of the firm.

A competent photograph album of miniature railways both current (then) and historical, written by my predecessor as Editor of the Heywood Society Journal. There's also a lot of information in the extended photograph captions.

An example of a (doubtless) well meaning author who was really defeated by the intricacies of our subject. The idea was to divide the country into regions and then examine seaside lines, past and present, in each.

The strength of this book was in the photographs, which made it worth the modest cover price, but as for the text it was really just a case of ugh!

This lavish title received some great reviews in the USA and has sold two print runs in quite a short time. Focusing on lines in the States it covers 7½in gauge up 15in, including chapters on the Wabash, Frisco & Pacific Railroad and the Redwood Valley Railway. Great tributes are paid to achievements like these, but in my view it still leaves scope in the future for a more practical idiot's guide to Master Railroad Building to be written in the future.

Since writing this book Steve Booth has gone on to prepare a series of videos called 'Railroading in a Land of Giants'.

This book relates the history of the firm's miniature railway activities up to when the firm was sold.

As well as manufacturing locomotives, rolling stock and track, Cromar White were commissioned to install a number of complete railways for their customers, right from the initial survey. As well as relating history, this book includes valuable advice on how to set about building a railway of your own.

This book was the first attempt at a thorough history of the 15in gauge in this country. On the whole it has stood the test of time even if in places (especially the ambitious tables of Little Giant and Barnes locomotives) a few errors crept in. Includes a reasonable selection of groups of photographs.

The final chapter 'New Lamps for Old' is an inspirational piece of writing and if I can get permission from Robin I will publish this on the Internet soon.

Volume 2, dealing with smaller gauges, has still not yet been written!

A great book, really three books in one, building upon 'Miniature Railways Volume 1' with the benefit of further research and better production and layout. David Mosley is an Education Officer at the National Railway Museum and Peter van Zeller a full time driver at the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway (a fellow Greenly engine driver!).

My only disappointment with this title was the way in which the history chapters had to swing along in order to fit the space. Peter said at the time that they really had enough material for two books. Perhaps one day this book can be rewritten in an updated and expanded form.

An exemplary title this one, in my opinion. It took one subject and really dealt with it well. A very readable story about the ups and downs of this line which particularly flourished during the 1950s. Also includes a chapter on Commander Parkinson's railway at Great Yarmouth during the 1930s.

Although it closed in 1962 the Sutton Miniature Railway is still remembered with affection locally. This title, well produced with a modest cover price, achieved good local sales and was completely sold out only two years after publication - a just reward for its author.

All the equipment from this railway went into store when it closed, and may yet emerge into the limelight at a future date and thereby arouse further nostalgia for the SMR.

Published in a limited edition of 600 copies, this lavish hardback book has been a labour of love for both of its authors. For Robin Butterell 'Little Giants' have been a source of fascination for more than fifty years. John Milner was brought up with Bassett Lowke model railways, and has applied to this title his exacting standards of railway publishing, together with a whole raft of previously unseen photographs and drawings.

'Little Giants' have a complicated story, especially when one includes all of the railways upon which they have ever operated, and other locomotives such as Barnes Atlantics, which are classed as 'near relations'. Even in 216 pages not every detail of every railway could be included. But there is no doubt that in dealing with the 15in gauge enterprises of the Bassett Lowke era this book will never be surpassed.

Bullock was a talented engineer who built a series of very powerful 10¼in gauge locomotives during the 1930s. He built a line of his own in order to demonstrate them, and this was taken over and revamped to become the Surrey Border and Camberley Railway.

This is his story, written by his son Ken. A good read, including some priceless anecdotes.

This is the once and for all history of Matthew Kerr's remarkable railway at Arbroath. The story began in 1935 when Matthew Kerr Snr purchased some 7¼in gauge railway equipment, which he installed in West Links Park on a site adjacent to the LNER main line. In 1938 the line was rebuilt to 10¼in gauge, in which form it is still in operation today.

Matthew Kerr's archives covering his own railway and other miniature railways around the country (which Kerr Snr would visit during the winter months) are a totally fascinating historical collection. It was great to see this book which has at last enabled the story of KMR to be told in full.

It seems remarkable that 7¼in, the most popular miniature gauge, has had so few books about its history. Perhaps it is because the hobby is so diverse; engines have been constructed in garages and sheds, and it would be a brave man who wrote a book attempting to cover all of them.

Louis Shaw was not only very early in this field, but ran his locomotives commercially, first in Derbyshire during the 1920s and then on the Lincolnshire coast at Mablethorpe. I masterminded production of this title, which uses the collection of photographs that survived in hands of the Shaw family; just fabulous period photographs.

It took great patience to persuade the 7¼in Gauge Society to publish this, which they finally did in 1988.