A popular feature of our publishing programme for a number of years has been our facsimile reprints of selected titles from the famous Ian Allan Publishing abc series that first appeared in the 1940s. These modestly priced reprints are welcomed by both the enthusiasts who may have used them when they first came out and also by those not around at the time they were first published. They provide wonderful, nostalgic snapshots of a railway scene which has long since disappeared.

The volume selected for reissue this Spring is abc British Railways Locomotives Combined Volume Summer 1959. This is in effect two books in one, abc British Railways Locomotives and the Locoshed Book. The abc lists all the locomotives which were in service at that time and the Locoshed book shows where those engines were allocated at the time the listings were compiled.

The year covered in this volume is a particularly interesting one. By now, many of the new diesel classes conceived as a consequence of the BR modernisation plan of 1955, were coming into service though the steam locomotive was still supreme across most of the network, and indeed, new BR Standard steam locomotives were still under construction. As with all of these facsimile reprints, this volume provides a wonderful, nostalgic snapshot of a railway scene which has long since disappeared and will be enjoyed by enthusiasts of both steam and modern traction.