This fascinating volume tells you everything you need to know about how to build an 00 gauge Tilbury Tank locomotive or, indeed, any similar type of tank. Written in an engaging, encouraging and easily understable style, this new work is a worthy successor to the author's first book, Scratch-Building Model Railway Locomotives, which was short-listed for the Ian Allan Railway Book of the Year Awards in 2014. Containing scale diagrams, step-by-step photos, sketches and specially commissioned artwork, the book celebrates the history of Tilbury Tanks and demonstrates a range of different techniques that will prove invaluable in constructing models of these charismatic little locomotives. If you have not yet taken the plunge and begun scratch-building, or if you want to complement your growing scratch-building skills and knowledge, this is the book for you. Considers how to begin the process of scratch-building a particular prototype, with particular reference to problem-solving and research; discusses the tools, products and materials used to build the model and examines how to complement scratch-building with etched parts and castings; covers the more complex tools and jigs that are employed for impressing rivets, rolling boilers and soldering chassis; examines the fault-finding methods used in order to get a simple chassis successfully up and running; explains the choices involved in providing springing and beam compensation; provides simple solutions for achieving a good paint finish. Brimming with useful hints and advice, this new book tells you everything you need to know about how to build an 00 gauge Tilbury Tank locomotive, or any similar tank and is beautifully illustrated with 286 colour photographs and diagrams including sketches and specially commissioned artwork.

Have you ever dreamed of being able to make a beautiful model locomotive from scratch? Do you have a favourite locomotive that you would love to reproduce in model form? Are you itching to start such a project and feel you need a helping hand? If so, this is the book for you. Using step-by-step text and illustration, this new book demonstrates how to construct a model of a pleasing J15 class, 0-6-0 steam locomotive in 00 gauge. It also explains how models of other locomotives can be built by adapting the methods covered in the book. Alternative options for chassis construction, other gauges and scales are considered as well as how to build a simple diesel locomotive.

The stories of Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends have delighted generations of children and adults, but what do we know of the man who created them? A devoted pastor and family man, the Reverend W Awdry first started telling the stories in order to amuse his own children, with no idea that the characters would lead to a global phenomenon that now, seventy years after their first appearance, shows no signs of waning. In this fascinating and warm biography, prolific author Brian Sibley brings to life one of the most eminent children's writers of the twentieth century, tracing his story from his Edwardian childhood through his time at University and into World War 2. A convinced pacifist, Awdry was thrown out of one curacy and denied another, because of his beliefs. Never afraid to fight for what he thought was right, he argued with his publishers and his illustrators, demanding the best for his favourite creations - the trains and their friends.

Amateur Craft provides an illuminating and historically-grounded account of amateur craft in the modern era, from 19th century Sunday painters and amateur carpenters to present day railway modellers and yarnbombers. Stephen Knott's fascinating study explores the curious and unexpected attributes of things made outside standardised models of mass production, arguing that amateur craft practice is 'differential' – a temporary moment of control over work that both departs from and informs our productive engagement with the world. Knott's discussion of the theoretical aspects of amateur craft practice is substantiated by historical case studies that cluster around the period 1850–1950. Looking back to the emergence of the modern amateur, he makes reference to contemporary art and design practice that harnesses or exploits amateur conditions of making. From Andy Warhol to Simon Starling, such artistic interest elucidates the mercurial qualities of amateur craft. Invaluable for students and researchers in art and design, contemporary craft, material culture and social history, Amateur Craft counters both the marginalisation and the glorification of amateur craft practice. It is richly illustrated with 41 images, 14 in colour, including 19th century ephemera and works of contemporary art.

Now available in paperback, this is the first academic book to study railway enthusiasts in Britain. Far from a trivial topic, the post-war train spotting craze swept most boys and some girls into a passion for railways, and for many, ignited a lifetime’s interest. British railway enthusiasm traces this post-war cohort, and those which followed, as they invigorated different sectors in the world of railway enthusiasm – train spotting, railway modelling, collecting railway relics – and then, in response to the demise of main line steam traction, Britain’s now-huge preserved railway industry. Today this industry finds itself riven by tensions between preserving a loved past which ever fewer people can remember and earning money from tourist visitors. The widespread and enduring significance of railway enthusiasm will ensure that this groundbreaking text remains a key work in transport studies, and will appeal to enthusiasts as much as to students and scholars of transport and cultural history.