Justin Smith
Member
How many of you have the Cobbs rail atlas ?
Do you think it is as fantastic as I do ?
When did you buy your copy and how much did it cost ?
Can you still buy the Cobbs atlas ? Research seems inconclusive as to if an expensive limited edition version is still available. If Cobbs is NLA I think that's very sad.
I love my Cobbs, it is my favourite book. I bought it in Aug 04 for £100, apparently the price was subsidised to the tune of a quarter of a million pounds by Sir James Colyer-Ferguson as a contribution to the history of railways.
I use it so much I have had it rebound in 2020 to stop the most used pages pulling out of the bindings.
Possibly sacrilegiously I have added all new lines and stations as they are opened / reopened (all in pencil, obviously...), plus, even more sacrilegiously, the motorways and other roads of interest with their opening dates. One of the most interesting projects was researching (and adding to my Cobbs) the opening dates - and varying course of - The Great North Rd / the A1. Round Newcastle was the most interesting. It originally went through the centre of Newcastle, then, on the opening of the Tyne Tunnel it diverted to the east in 1967. Finally, in 1990, when the DC Newcastle western bypass was opened, the A1's route changed to the West of Newcastle !
In fact I put loads of historical geographical info on it (e.g. the Rivelin tunnel supplying water from Derwent reservoir to Sheffield) so I can find it easily.
I would not sell my annotated copy of Cobbs even for £1000s.
Attached is a pic of my annotated Cobbs (area west of Edinburgh) :
Do you think it is as fantastic as I do ?
When did you buy your copy and how much did it cost ?
Can you still buy the Cobbs atlas ? Research seems inconclusive as to if an expensive limited edition version is still available. If Cobbs is NLA I think that's very sad.
I love my Cobbs, it is my favourite book. I bought it in Aug 04 for £100, apparently the price was subsidised to the tune of a quarter of a million pounds by Sir James Colyer-Ferguson as a contribution to the history of railways.
I use it so much I have had it rebound in 2020 to stop the most used pages pulling out of the bindings.
Possibly sacrilegiously I have added all new lines and stations as they are opened / reopened (all in pencil, obviously...), plus, even more sacrilegiously, the motorways and other roads of interest with their opening dates. One of the most interesting projects was researching (and adding to my Cobbs) the opening dates - and varying course of - The Great North Rd / the A1. Round Newcastle was the most interesting. It originally went through the centre of Newcastle, then, on the opening of the Tyne Tunnel it diverted to the east in 1967. Finally, in 1990, when the DC Newcastle western bypass was opened, the A1's route changed to the West of Newcastle !
In fact I put loads of historical geographical info on it (e.g. the Rivelin tunnel supplying water from Derwent reservoir to Sheffield) so I can find it easily.
I would not sell my annotated copy of Cobbs even for £1000s.
Attached is a pic of my annotated Cobbs (area west of Edinburgh) :