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The Diesel Shunter Hardcover – 20 April 2017

by Colin J. Marsden (Author)

5 ratings

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Always popular, but long unavailable, this definitive history of the life and times of the diesel shunter, is now back in print. This classic history provides extensive coverage of the full range of these indispensable locomotives from the very earliest days under the 'Big Four' to the post-privatisation period. The author provides factual information about each type - dimensions, number series, power, speed etc - allied with a photographic selection that highlights the various liveries that the class carried in service.

Print length

240 pages
Language

English
Publisher

OPC Railprint
Publication date

20 April 2017
Dimensions

21.6 x 2.1 x 29.2 cm
ISBN-10

0860935795
ISBN-13

978-0860935797
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Product description

About the Author

Colin Marsden lives in Dawlish in Devon. One of the most well-known railway photographers and authors in Britain, spent many years as Modern Traction Editor of The Railway Magazine. He is the author of a number of books including the best-selling annual abc Rail Guide, abc Traction Recognition and abc DMU and EMU Recognition. His latest book is Britain's Scenic Railways: Dawlish.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ OPC Railprint; 1st edition (20 April 2017)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0860935795
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0860935797
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 21.6 x 2.1 x 29.2 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 1,741,370 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 7,610 in Railway Transport
- 90,457 in Travel & Tourism (Books)
- 225,000 in Home & Garden (Books)

Customer reviews:
5 ratings

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5

5 global ratings

5 star		85%
4 star		15%
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LM

Shunters common and rare - the complete guide

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 21 July 2022

Verified Purchase

Colin Marsden's books are some of the best that focus on the post-steam railway scene in Britain. This volume explores the diverse range of diesel shunters employed by our nationalised railways. Covering everything from initial experimentation by the Big-Four, through industry loans and nationalised dead-ends, Marsden brings us to the more successful 'standard' classes. No type, however few in number, seems to have been missed. One curiosity is the inclusion of the class 14, as these hydraulic transmission type 1's are often regarded as trip locos rather than shunters. This book, sadly only available second-hand, remains the ultimate guide to its subject.

Helpful

Darren

There are a number of similar books available which cover ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 3 July 2017

Verified Purchase

There are a number of similar books available which cover little more than what shunters were still around in the 1970s but this one is far more comprehensive, with plenty of photographs and adequate text. I have found one or two dubious or clearly erroneous entries in the technical specifications but in fairness to the author name me a book which does not contain one of two blips.

One person found this helpful

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MR P DEAN

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 2 May 2015

Love this

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 6 November 2009

A great book for all lovers if you like british shunters. It is a very nice books with fine diagrams and pictures from many diffrent diesels. The only miss in my eyes is the lack of color photos.
If the book had add some color pictures it had got five stars without any doubs.
thanks
/Torbjorn, Sweden

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

The humble British diesel shunter

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 10 June 2009

Shunting is not as important as it once was on the railways. In the modern age, the policy is that any new passenger trains are of the multiple-unit variety, so locomotive-hauled trains will eventually be phased out unless there is a policy change. I remember the old days of locomotive-hauled trains when some of them conveyed through carriages, detached by a shunter from the train and attached to a different train waiting at another platform. Meanwhile, freight trains now tend to be of the heavy duty single cargo variety, going directly from source to destination without requiring to load or unload freight, or to attach or detach wagons, along the way. The old style pick-up freight, stopping frequently to attach and detach wagons as it progressed, that was once commonplace on Britain's railways is now consigned to history. Thus, there is much less use for shunting locomotives than there once was, but some still survive in commercial service.

In the early days of steam trains, horses carried out shunting duties using special coupling rods unless the mainline locomotives did the work themselves. Later, purpose-built steam locomotives were designed and built for the purpose, but they weren't used everywhere, so horses and mainline locomotives continued to do some shunting operations. In 1932, the LMS created the first British diesel shunter by the unlikely method of rebuilding a steam locomotive, keeping the chassis and replacing the upper body.

The book covers the entire history of British diesel shunters from 1932 to when the book was written. It includes details for all British Rail classes as well as prototypes, experimental locomotives and those early LMS locomotives. The book provides technical details far more than I could comprehend but useful to modellers or those restoring heritage locomotives, together with operational histories, liveries and plenty of pictures. Sadly, all the pictures are in black and white except those on the jacket cover.

Whatever the future of the shunter on Britain's railways, I can't imagine they will be driven to extinction. In any case, some of them, like some of their steam predecessors, have been saved for posterity. This book provides a fitting tribute to a type of locomotive that always gets less than its fair share of attention, whether powered by steam or diesel - the humble shunter.

2 people found this helpful

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