Appendix 7 - Useful Websites for British Railway Modellers

Useful websites

There are a great many 'links pages' listing railway related web sites, some containing hundreds of links. I would not be able to maintain such a page so here I have concentrated on listing sites that I visit personally so that I will notice broken links when they occur. I have been advised to add a disclaimer to the effect that the sites listed here are the property and responsibility of their owners and I cannot accept any responsibility for the content of those sites or other linked sites.

Sites relating to specific lines

Most sites relating to specific lines are covered in the Livery section and Appendix Two, however some sites contain a wide range of information which may be of interest to modellers

West Country Railway Archives
A site covering all the lines in the South West of the country with some interesting information on each of the companies covered.

Sites of specific interest

Unusual Locomotives
This site contains a wide ranging collection of descriptions (often illustrated) of unusual locomotive types with a fair bit of technical info thrown in. Worth a look even if unusual locos are not your thing.

Rail Signs
A site showing a wide range of signals and trackside signs from various periods of the British railway system. Well worth a visit.

British Railways 1960
This site contains a wealth of detail culled from various official publications produced by the British Railways Board for distribution to their staff. The site's author is himself a railwayman who worked in a Manchester goods yard during this period. There is a compnion site dealing with Manchester specific lines and stations -
British Railways in the Manchester Area

Watercress Line, goods shed restoration
A well produced site including some useful photographs and drawings showing the interior of the shed and the agents office.

Trackbed - maintained by Philip Toogood
Trackbed is a truly epic site, listing all the railways of Britain with potted histories of each. Essential reading.

Mikes Railway History - The way it was in 1935.
A fascinating site containing a lot of useful photographs and covering a wide range of rail related topics, mostly British but with odd elements of foreign lines (including an article on the freight-only city centre West Side line of the New York Central Railroad Company, fascinating).

British Railways in the 1950's A collection of railway pictures and information
This site is a mine of useful information, recommended.

Trainweb.org
Trainweb is a wide ranging site hosting a collection of railway related web pages and offering something for everyone. A lot of technical info is included, much of it by acknowledged experts in their field. This site has a sub section specifically on technical matters, Railway Technical Web Pages, well worth a look.

The Railway Centre This particular page provides extensive details on all British DMU classes including technical details on each class and a separate recognition page for each type.

Science and Society Photographic Collection This site has a large collection of photographs available on its searchable web site. Well worth a visit, not only for the railway related material but for all the rest of the strange and wonderful things they have on file.

S&HLR Traffic Patterns
A useful, informative and generally interesting overview of traffic on a British (GWR Swindon & Highworth Light Railway) branch line.

Notes for modellers of British N scale
A site compiled in 1997 but still worth a viewing outlining one American modellers views on the available British N models.

ukrecmodelsrail.co.uk
An unofficial website for the newsgroup uk.rec.models.rail both this site and the news group are well worth supporting.

Model Rail Express
An on-line magazine for railway modellers.

The Unofficial Shelvoke & Drewry Site
A site created by Brian Carpenter, a site devoted to the public service and goods road vehicles built by this firm. Some lovely vehicles with useful photographs of the prototypes in service from the 1920s to the 1980s.

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