Wet Saturday Shopping

I moved house 4 years ago and had to make some sacrifices when it came to my collection of books, especially those to do with railways. It went further – I had to promise not to buy any more as our new home is short on storage and bookshelves.

I’ve also known for some time that railway books in particular do not retain their value as the secondhand market for such items is almost none existent.

The problem is I cannot pass a secondhand book shop without buying something railway related. When I do buy a railway book it has to fit my criteria which is:

1. Anything to do with 76084
2. Anything to do with BR Standards
3. Anything to do with Motive Power Depots

So today we visited a large ‘antiques centre’ and I was overwhelmed with the number of railway books I found without really looking hard. Usually at such places I race ahead whilst my dear wife devours each stall. Today it was the opposite. I started looking through collections of photographs which really is time consuming in the hope of seeing anything that fits my criteria.

I came to one stall and a book called ‘BRITISH RAILWAYS Engine Sheds – London Midland Matters’ by Chris Hawkins, John Hooper and George Reeve which only ticks my third box took my fancy. I flicked through the pages as you do and thought this could be interesting so carried it round for the next 2 plus hours (lunch was in there somewhere). I found a limited edition OO gauge bus for my 1960’s steam/diesel crossover layout and was content to leave the establishment with 2 purchases.

As I drank the obligatory brew on arriving home I thumbed through the book. Being mildly dyslexic I had a little difficulty with the Times New Roman typeface (a well known fact which also goes to explain why this blog is produced in something else). I had no difficulty, however when arriving at page 85 on recognising the Midland Coaling Stage of Hellified Shed nor the locomotive posing by it. To my complete surprise and delight it was 76084. The photograph was taken by a T J Edgington in 1961. Interestingly, 76084 has only 2 Overhead Wires Warning flashes on her front steps.

Going back to my criteria for railway book buying two boxes are now ticked and in the words of the prophet Meatloaf ‘2 out of 3 ain’t bad’. This new book will be added to my collection of all things 76084/Lower Darwen.

I’ve yet to put the bus on my layout – that will have to wait till another time.