The Regional Handbooks cover the industrial railways in each area of the UK. These were the first IRS publications, started right back in 1947, and by 1966 we had covered all of England & Wales (but Scotland had to wait until 1976!). Since then we have been constantly up-dating our data and issuing new versions of these books. The amount of information has grown so much over the years that it has been necessary to split the regions into smaller areas to keep the books to a reasonable size and cost. For example Nottinghamshire, which was once grouped with Derbyshire & Leicestershire in "Book 'B' - East Midlands", now has a book of its own. That first book had a 4.2 x 5.4in format, of which Nottinghamshire covered just 31 pages - the new version has 384 larger pages for Notts alone!
The content of the Regional Handbooks varies to a certain extent, depending on the ideas of the individual editor. However all of these books cover all the industrial railways in each region, as well as those contractors and locomotive dealers. Preservation sites in the region are also covered, as are the more interesting lines that were worked without the use of locos. All known locos at each location are listed and there is a short history of each company or location. There is a general map of the region, with sectional maps showing the location and principal lines of each site. In latest books these maps are also in colour. Indexes are included for locations and for locomotives. There is also a separate section of black & white photos of a representative selection of locos.
Unless otherwise stated, all books in this section have A5 page size (5.7 x 8.3
in),
with stitched sections and laminated board covers (hardback) or laminated card covers
(softback)
It has always been the intention of the IRS to publish full historical Handbooks covering all regions of the United Kingdom. However for various reasons, largely due to limited volunteer resources, such books have yet to appear for certain areas. Books were published for these areas in the past, but some have not been revised for many years, and new 'full' Handbooks are not likely to appear for many more years yet. In order to make some progress with the Lancashire book (one of the oldest, unrevised books), the IRS committee sanctioned the production of Interim Pocket Books for the area, effectively updating the old Lancashire Pocket Book of 1952. These are being published as a pilot scheme in limited quantities, to cater for the needs of those members who have an interest in historical affairs. Since then further IPBs have been published on Yorkshire, another area whose last full books were published many years ago.
In theory an IPB basically consists of the text of the old Pocket Book, amended in accordance with the Bulletins issued for that book, then further amended with data from the 12 issues of the EL books, and any other readily available additional information. However this series will not have the thorough vetting by the IRS Historical Records Officer, that would hold up work on other, full Handbooks. It is hoped that these IPB books will bring forth comments, corrections and additional information from readers, all of which will be carefully recorded for use in the full Handbook when that finally arrives.
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'Industrial Locomotives of the West Midlands' ISBN 978 1 901556 67 4
'Industrial Locomotives of the
East Midlands' Reprints - see here for more details |
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'Industrial Railways & Locomotives of Essex' by Robin Waywell & Frank Jux ISBN 978 1 901556 65 0 (hardbound) ISBN 978 1 901556 66 7 (softbound)
372 pages of text,
including 35 pages of full colour maps,
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'Industrial
Railways & Locomotives
of Lincolnshire & Rutland' by Philip Ashforth, Ian Bendall & Ken Plant ISBN 979 1 901556 62 9 (hardbound) ISBN 978 1 901556 63 6 (softbound)
320 pages of text,
including 14 colour maps,
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'Industrial
Railways & Locomotives
of the County of London' by Robin Waywell & Frank Jux ISBN 978 1 901556 51 3 (hardbound) ISBN 978 1 901556 52 0 (softbound)
232 pages of text,
including 24 pages of full colour maps,
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'Industrial
Railways & Locomotives
The first part of a complete revision of the Handbook for this heavily industrialised county 6.6" x 9.5", 492
pages with 181 photos and |
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'Industrial
Railways & Locomotives
The second part of a complete revision of the Handbook for
this heavily industrialised county. 6.6" x 9.5", 416
pages with 271 photos, |
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'Industrial
Railways and Locomotives
369 pages of text,
43 maps & 64 B&W photos |
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'Industrial
Railways and
124 pages of text,
7 maps & 32 B&W photos Note - this is basically an 'IPB' book |
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'Industrial
Railways and Locomotives of Worcestershire' Preliminary Draft ISBN 978 1 901556 32 2
60 pages of text +
8 pages of maps (no photos) Note - this is basically
an 'IPB' book |
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'Industrial
Railways and Locomotives of West Yorkshire' Preliminary Draft ISBN 978 1 901556 31 5
188 pages of text +
12 pages of maps (no photos) Note - this is basically
an 'IPB' book
An extra "Index
of Owners & Locations" for this book is |
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'Industrial Locomotives of Yorkshire : 162 pages of text, including 4 pages of maps (no photos). |
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'Industrial Locomotives of Lancashire : 100 pages of text, including 4 pages of maps (no photos). |
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'Industrial Locomotives of Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire
& Northamptonshire' 412 pages of text, including 40 4-colour maps + 96 photos. |
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'Industrial Locomotives of Nottinghamshire' 384 pages of text, including 23 pages of four-colour maps + 95 photos. £19.95 (soft cover) £24.95 (hard cover) |
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'Industrial Locomotives of North Wales'
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'Industrial Locomotives of Dyfed & Powys'
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'Industrial Locomotives of West Glamorgan'
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'Industrial
Locomotives 384
pages with 95 black & white photos and 19 colour maps |
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'Industrial Locomotives of Gwent'
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'Industrial Locomotives of North Staffordshire'
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'Industrial Locomotives of
South Staffordshire'
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'Industrial
Locomotives of East Anglia'
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'Industrial Locomotives of West Midlands'
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