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ABC Rail Guides

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Peter C

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You’ll be double disapointed in regards to London Underground as in the 2019 and 2020 editions they started listing out the fleet in the same detail as they do light rail, so that has gone as well.
I suppose I should be somewhat glad, then, that I didn't get the 2019 or 2020 versions; I'd have been even more annoyed!

They’ve also removed southern Irish rail from the guide, with the author making a robust point in multiple places that they don’t cover any other European countries so why should they include Ireland. I’m not entirely sure that is a valid comparison and a few pages detailing Irish Rail and the Dublin Luas never really harmed anyone.
I also noted that the book was "not aimed as a 'mark-them-off' spotter's book", which I don't quite understand; that's what the ABC rail guides have, to the best of my knowledge been, since their creation.

-Peter
 
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You’ll be double disapointed in regards to London Underground as in the 2019 and 2020 editions they started listing out the fleet in the same detail as they do light rail, so that has gone as well.

They’ve also removed southern Irish rail from the guide, with the author making a robust point in multiple places that they don’t cover any other European countries so why should they include Ireland. I’m not entirely sure that is a valid comparison and a few pages detailing Irish Rail and the Dublin Luas never really harmed anyone.
That’s a big “avoid” from me then. The British Isles were always considered the home turf of the guide, and of rail and sea services in particular, the Republic of Ireland is not foreign to the UK by law, and anything that smacks of isolationist pique should never be part of our interest.
 

Andyh82

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I recently got the Rail Guide 2021 and we're of the same opinion - I much prefer the 2017 and 2018 versions I have (the most recent one I had before the 2021 one was the 2018 version) from a presentation standpoint and I think a lot of the things which made the book better than others on the market have been taken away (i.e. colourful pages, relevant pictures, nice descriptions in captions, etc.).
I've always been annoyed that the London Underground section is just a few pages at most and never has any of the detail like the rest of the book has, but the Light Rail and Trams section was always a nice addition. The removal of these pages has made way for pages which would have been perfect pre-internet (e.g. scrapyard locations and contact details, railtour operators, etc.) but nowadays are useless. The Departmental stock section has also been removed.

According to the bit at the start, they've gone back to their original format. I've not seen many of these books myself so I can't say how true to the original format this edition is, but it's a step in the wrong direction. I bought the Platform 5 books back in 2017 and found them very good for what they needed to do and so instead of buying them all separately again, I'm currently waiting for the combined volume for 2021 to come out and then to compare it with the ABC version. I'll then go with the one I find easier/better to use.

-Peter

An interesting development on this topic of the ABC Rail Guide taking a turn for the worse with the 2021 edition.

A new ‘bookazine’ has appeared in recent weeks, “Rail 123 Traction and Rolling Stock Guide 2021-2022”, basically a listing of all rolling stock, in the hybrid better than a magazine, but not quite a book format.

Edited by Colin Marsden

In the foreword at the start introducing this new publication he says “many inferior products now cost around £25… Rail 123 brings you more information for just £9.99”

ABC Rail Guides cost, you’ve guessed it £25

Therefore it sounds to me that maybe Colin was binned off from editing the ABC guides, rather than retiring from them, if he’s basically now critical of them in a different publication?
 

Peter C

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An interesting development on this topic of the ABC Rail Guide taking a turn for the worse with the 2021 edition.

A new ‘bookazine’ has appeared in recent weeks, “Rail 123 Traction and Rolling Stock Guide 2021-2022”, basically a listing of all rolling stock, in the hybrid better than a magazine, but not quite a book format.

Edited by Colin Marsden

In the foreword at the start introducing this new publication he says “many inferior products now cost around £25… Rail 123 brings you more information for just £9.99”

ABC Rail Guides cost, you’ve guessed it £25

Therefore it sounds to me that maybe Colin was binned off from editing the ABC guides, rather than retiring from them, if he’s basically now critical of them in a different publication?
Thanks for sharing this - I knew of Colin's Traction and Rolling Stock Guide bookazine-type things, but not of that line at the beginning. I wonder if it may also be a case of he did finish with the Rail Guide books of his own accord, but now doesn't like the way the series has gone? I'd agree with him if that was the case.
The 'Rail 123' name is new. It used to just be "Traction and Rolling Stock Guide 20xx-20xx".

-Peter
 

Andyh82

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Thanks for sharing this - I knew of Colin's Traction and Rolling Stock Guide bookazine-type things, but not of that line at the beginning. I wonder if it may also be a case of he did finish with the Rail Guide books of his own accord, but now doesn't like the way the series has gone? I'd agree with him if that was the case.
The 'Rail 123' name is new. It used to just be "Traction and Rolling Stock Guide 20xx-20xx".

-Peter
This ‘Rail 123’ is new, described as a sister publication. It’s basically just stock listings, but extends to preserved units, light rail, London Underground, Ireland etc etc, the Rolling Stock Guide goes into more detail about each class with more photos.
 

Peter C

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This ‘Rail 123’ is new, described as a sister publication. It’s basically just stock listings, but extends to preserved units, light rail, London Underground, Ireland etc etc, the Rolling Stock Guide goes into more detail about each class with more photos.
Ah yes - I've just had a look online and it's definitely different to the "Traction and Rolling Stock Guide" editions I've got: https://shop.keypublishing.com/prod... 123 Traction & Rolling Stock Guide 2021-2022
The 'original' (for want of a better term) rolling stock guides in this same bookazine form from Colin J. Marsden went into a fair bit of detail about each class - do you know if this does the same, or if it covers on-track plant too? The ABC Rail Guide 2021 doesn't cover on-track plant, despite this being a feature of the earlier (well, at least the 2017/2018, the earliest editions I have) editions.

-Peter
 

nicolaboo

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Having read through this, I'm still unsure as to what to buy for myself.
I could do with an upto date stock list of D/EMUs, as they change more frequently than the few remaining passenger locos.
I don't need a list of carriages any more, but required something to 'tick off' for motive traction.
Looks like I'll have to keep researching.
 

Mike99

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I'm a bit undecided, which is the better one to purchase ( for the old fashioned ticking off or underlining having seen a unit or traction unit) £9.99 for Colin J Marsden or £17.99 on Amazon for Pip Dunn's book?
 

Peter C

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Who here cannot wait for Rail Guide 2022?!
I'm interested to see if it'll have the same format as the 2021 edition, or if it'll have been improved. I'd ideally like to see the pre-2021 format return as I found that much nicer than the 2021 version.

-Peter
 

Chris1963

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Does anyone have a copy of the December 1980 ABC Rail Guide for sale? I've tried e-bay but the nearest one available is the June 1980 edition, which I don't need. So if anyone can assist, I'd be very grateful.
 

Taunton

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I'm a bit lost here, there have been multiple "ABC" rail publications.

- The timetable, published very regularly for a long period, which concentrated on London and arranged the timetables alphabetically by destination.

- The Ian Allan spotters books, also longstanding but now ceased, which were always marketed as "ABC" as well.

- What is discussed above, which seems to be none of these.
 

hexagon789

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I'm a bit lost here, there have been multiple "ABC" rail publications.

- The timetable, published very regularly for a long period, which concentrated on London and arranged the timetables alphabetically by destination.

- The Ian Allan spotters books, also longstanding but now ceased, which were always marketed as "ABC" as well.

- What is discussed above, which seems to be none of these.
This: https://www.crecy.co.uk/abc-rail-guide-2022

(Link to ABC Rail Guide 2022 on Crecy Publishing's Website).

It's essentially an alternative to the Platform 5 Combined rolling stock books.
 

Andyh82

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Have they reversed any of the changes they made with the 2021 edition when the new editor took over?
 

theblackwatch

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Trams, light rail and LU are all covered, as is Ireland. With regard to errors, the Coaching Stock info is certainly improved but I have noticed one or two mistakes. Pictures appear to be located in a suitable place rather than "plonked in at random" (as was described in #28 on this thread).

I've always thought of this title as a reference book rather than a 'ticking off' one. There are other titles (Platform 5/ICRS/NREA) which cover the latter market.
 
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