Bibliography

When the Great Eastern Railway Society was formed in 1973, the number of significant books about the GER could be counted on the fingers of one hand, albeit there were a number of smaller booklets and pamphlets also available. In 2007, the quantity is considerably larger, running, almost, to a couple of hundred. A review of those that were available on the Society's twentieth anniversary appeared in the Journal at the time - Number 74. Copies are available - to members only - but may be consulted at a number of libraries and other "corporate" members. For details see the relevant webpages - Membership and Journal. Book reviews have featured regularly in Great Eastern News and continue to do so.

A short "bibliography" relating to the Great Eastern Railway will be of interest to historians and some general readers and would include the following books; the first group dealing with general history and development of the railways in East Anglia:

A second group is more specific and include the memoirs of two railwaymen who had a significant relationship with the Great Eastern in recent times:

The locomotive stock has been dealt with in two works, and the engines absorbed by the GER's successor, the LNER, have been comprehensively covered by the Railway Correspondence & Travel Society in a series often referred to as the "green guide". It should be said, however, as our President reported in Journal 74, that a guide or review of the company's rolling stock remains to be written.

Brief details of the companies shipping stock have been described in a paperback. Shipping activities were commenced at the earliest stages of the railway's activities and continue to influence train running in East Anglia:

There have been a number of albums of pictures published since the first - seen at the top of this table. They include much information of use to the railway modeller. Some of these, and others, have been indexed by the Society. Details can be found in the Sales List on our Sales page.

Transport on rails in East Anglia was not entirely confined to railways and included a number of tramways. Whilst these are not entirely within the scope of the Great Eastern Railway Society, the distinction between a train and a tram is sometimes somewhat unclear - the Wisbech and Upwell Tramway being a case in point. Some books of interest in this connection are:

Finally, there is the work of George Ottley, and his associates, now running to three volumes, which describes the published written material available to a railway historian in the UK.

There are a number of specialist publishers of railway material and these are well described here. Amongst those of most interest are:

Ian Allan who are by far the largest and who have also taken on the titles formerly published by the Oxford Publishing Company. They have a mail order division, accessible through their website, and a number of shops located in major cities.

Middleton Press are publishers of line guides and include a number covering places in Great Eastern territory. The home page of the website includes a useful location search tool.

Society member Jim Connor - of Connor & Butler - was brought up in the East End and has written a number of railway titles. Most have appeared from his publishing "house", but some have also been published elsewhere.

Oakwood Press have issued a large number of railway titles over the years. Two line histories in the East Anglia area have recently been published. These were written by Society member Peter Paye who, over the years, has written a number of detailed line histories. Some are still available from Wild Swan, amongst other publishers, but many are out of print.

Irwell Press have a number of GER titles to their credit and of particular note are "Great Eastern Railway in Town and Country" now running to three volumes.

Capital Transport boasts a number of titles of interest to students of London's railways.

Pen and Sword have published many railway books, including several by Society members.

Pre-owned railway books can be found at a number of good second-hand bookshops. Often these specialise in a limited number of specific topics. Many can be searched via the Internet. Two good tools are Abebooks and Addall. Both websites require a little "personalisation" to ensure that they return results for second-hand books and in £ Sterling and so on.