Wild Swan Publishing

Wild Swan produce a range of specialist titles
covering railway histories and railway modelling

A comprehensive and detailed guide to the preparation, painting and lining of model locomotives and rolling stock.

Profusely illustrated in colour the methods, tools and 'tricks of the trade' used to recreate the most complex locomotive liveries are fully described. The book is completed with chapters covering coach liveries, which often feature the most intricate lining on complex panelling. The LNER teak livery is demonstrated, with the creation of effective wood grain effect, along with detailing of coach interiors.
Ready-to-run models are not ignored, with many examples being painted into different liveries and corrections to the factory finish.

An ideal guide to the creation and alteration and finishing of your models to be a specific fleet, uniquely completed by your own hand. 154 pages, US Letter size (11in x 8.5in) softback.

£21.95
Warehouse: 2
Fast delivery from Warehouse.
(Product Ref 76552)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030

A comprehensive guide to replicating the effects of age, weather, wear and tear on railway rolling stock and buildings. Starting with a discussion of materials and techniques, chapters are included covering the weathering of steam and diesel locomotives, passenger coaches and goods wagons. Practical projects are described in the text with illustrations showing prototype and models being created using the techniques used.

126 pages. Soft cover.

£16.95
Warehouse: 2
Fast delivery from Warehouse.
(Product Ref 64102)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030
An excellent reference book for scenery and landscape construction for model railways. Full of ideas and methods, plus the tips and tricks used on many awe-inspiring layouts to create an effective scenic setting.
£12.95
Warehouse: 1
Fast delivery from Warehouse.
(Product Ref 56867)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030
A high quality pictorial album illustrating the railway and traffic of the 1950s and 1960s in an area of great importance to the Great Western and later Western Region of British Railways. Includes large scale OS map extracts which show the huge scale of the steam age railway in this busy area.
Author - John Hodge. 100 pages. Hardback
£19.95
Warehouse: 1
Cardiff: 1
Fast delivery from Warehouse.
(Product Ref 103492)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030
Further coverage of this main line from the busy yards of Severn Tunnel Junction to Ebbw Junction on the West of Newport. Superb photographs coupled with large scale OS map extracts to the same high quality as part 1
Author - John Hodge. 116 pages. Hardback
£21.95
Warehouse: 1
Cardiff: 1
Fast delivery from Warehouse.
(Product Ref 9433)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030
More superb photography as John describes and illustrates the section of main line closest to his home, from west of Cardiff (covered in part 1) on through St Fagans to Bridgend. As with all the books in this series, the traffic and trains running off the main line onto branches and industries are also well featured.
Author - John Hodge. 100 pages. Hardback.
£22.95
Warehouse: 2
Fast delivery from Warehouse.
(Product Ref 99777)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030
The fourth part of John's photographic survey of the Great Western's South Wales main line, covering the line as it sweeps West and then North West from the rural landscape of South Glamorgan through to the heavy industries along the coastal strip and on into Swansea.
Author - John Hodge. 171 pages. Hardback.
£28.95
Warehouse: 1
Fast delivery from Warehouse.
(Product Ref 95999)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030
We continue our pictorial journey along the South Wales main line, travelling from Swansea to Llanelly, via both the main line and Swansea District lines. As in previous volumes, John Copsey has provided extensive information on train workings which add much to the value of these books.
Author - John Hodge. 112 pages. Hardback.
£29.95
Warehouse: 1
Fast delivery from Warehouse.
(Product Ref 107232)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030

This book is a photographic record of the "lesser man made features" of our environment that stand witness to and remind us of times not long past. For the most part they are everyday unremarkable things that were commonplace from Victorian times up until the second half of the last century, but which have since been largely swept away by the constant tide of modernisation. The author's fascination with these "unconsidered trifles" as he has named them (taking his cue from Autolycus in "The Winter's Tale") grew out of his hobby of building transport models of both road and railway subjects and his conviction that these models should reflect as accurately as possible the periods in which they are set.

Most of the pictures in this book have been taken in the last three or four years and show subjects which for the moment still exist and all of which are visible from public roads or footpaths. These images provide a rich visual source of these minor details, ideal for modellers and artists who wish to re-create scenes from our recent past.
Softback  -  64 pages

£14.95
Warehouse: 2
Plymouth: 1
Fast delivery from Warehouse.
(Product Ref 116443)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030

Memories Of The Withered Arm by Peter Barnfield. Wild Swan Publications

Recollections and beautiful pictures of a lost railway network, the landscape it ran through and the people who used it. This is a new edition of a booklet Peter published 20 years ago, this book including Peter's own photographs from the period. Most of the images presented in this book are photographs that Peter took on the journeys described and relate directly to them, while others are from other visits made to the locations in the same period. It is a huge privilege to have been entrusted with publishing Peter's material, a lot of which hasn't been seen in print before, and it gives me great pleasure to see his wonderful images together in one book. The book also includes a chapter from Peter discussing the background to the story and his approach to photography, including details of the cameras used.

Author & Photographer Peter Barnfield. 96 pages, softback, 2016

£14.95
Warehouse: 1
Fast delivery from Warehouse.
(Product Ref 40059)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030
Wild Swan Modelling with Plastic Structure Kits by Iain Rice 0906867711
A newly revised and enlarged 2014 edition of this book on the construction, alteration and detailing of plastic structures.
Subtitled 'Getting the Best from the Willsa dn Ratio Ranges' accomplished modeller and layout designer Iain Rice sets out to demonstrate the use and adaptation of kits from the Wills range. He describes effective methods for customising, detailing, painting and finishing models in an easy-to-read format illustrated with sketches and photo sequences.
£24.95

Cardiff: 1, Gloucester: 1
Delivery from stores takes a few days longer!
(Product Ref 45693)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030
Somerset and Dorset Swansong - Last Days of a Steam Railway by Bob Bunyar and Wild Swan Publishing
This book focuses on the last weeks of normal services over the Somerset and Dorset Railway from Bath to Bournemouth, concluded by the final weekend in early March 1966.

Produced in a portfolio format to properly present the photographs, many of which have not been published before, the illustrations are accompanied by a description of the the line and events during the final weekend. Featuring the S&Ds mix of LMS, Southern and BR steam ranging from the smallest of tank engines to Bulleids' light pacifics and the mighty 9Fs, the S&D had stiff grades and open countryside, providing a wide choice of settings for the railway photographer.

Even 50 years after closure the unique flavour and atmosphere of the Somerset & Dorset continues to attract enthusiasts, many of whom know the line only from the superb photographic record.
£14.95

Plymouth: 1
Delivery from stores takes a few days longer!
(Product Ref 21998)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030
In this new book photographer and diesel hydraulic enthusiast Andrew Vines takes a retrospective pictorial look at all of the classes of locomotives that were built for the Western Region of British Railways. Destined to have short lives in service, they have been the subject of much discussion and interest since their demise and have achieved near mythical status in the minds of some enthusiasts.
This book does not repeat the several detailed histories that have been written on these locomotives, but rather gives an informed commentary and much information on what they were about, where they operated and the types of traffic that they handled. The photographs have with a few exceptions not been seen in print before. They feature the work of some well known photographers, but also many unknown recorders who troubled to point their cameras at what was then the largely unloved modern part of a rapidly changing scene.
128 pages hardback.
£23.95

Stroud: 1
Delivery from stores takes a few days longer!
(Product Ref 116441)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030
Wild Swan Plastic Bodied Locomotives Book by Tim Shackleton
£14.95

Must be ordered - delivery as soon as possible.
(Product Ref 67262)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030

A refreshing look at layout design, concetrating on modestly-sized fully scenic projects. an experienced layout designer, Iain Rice addresses the factors of space, money, time and satisfaction to produce a layout designed for operational interest and scenic effect. The text is liberally sprinkled with photographs, sketches and layout designs to illustrate the points under discussion.

£9.95

Must be ordered - delivery as soon as possible.
(Product Ref 55365)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030
£12.95

Must be ordered - delivery as soon as possible.
(Product Ref 55410)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030

Geoff Kent starts a useful guide to building, upgrading and detailing 4mm scale wagons for OO, EM and P4/S4 gauges.

This book covers open wagons, including traffic, mineral and hopper types to many different designs. Geoff demonstrates how to use and modify kits to create accurate models of wagons to slightly different designs or for special purposes. Prototype photographs are used to show how wagons really looked and most interestingly, just how small a 16-ton pile of iron ore really is.
86 pages of useful project ideas and practical demonstrations described and illustrated.

This series is recommended for 4mm scale wagon builders, helping you build a distinctive and unique models from plastic and metal kits, progressing to 'kit bashing' and straightforward scratch building projects to model specific prototypes. The projects and techniques can easily be transferred into other scales, making the series a very useful reference for modellers working in other scales to create realistic wagons.

£12.95

Must be ordered - delivery as soon as possible.
(Product Ref 69084)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030

Written by Ian Pope and Paul Karau this two-volume series provides an excellent record of the Great Westerns' Forest of Dean branches.

Volume one covers in detail the route from the Gloucester-Newport line at Newnham, into the forest, past the well-known Eastern United colliery to Cinderford. Along the way each station and siding is described and illustrated. Information is provided not only on the railway but also the customers it served and their business.

£25.00

Must be ordered - delivery as soon as possible.
(Product Ref 77961)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030

The second part of Geoff Kent's useful guide to building, upgrading and detailing 4mm scale wagons for OO, EM and P4/S4 gauges.

This book covers box vans, both general purpose and special traffic vehicles and tank wagons of many different types and designs. Over 160 pages of useful project ideas and practical demonstrations described and illustrated.

This series is recommended for 4mm scale wagon builders, helping you build a distinctive and unique model from a plastic kit, then progressing to kit bashing and straightforward scratch building projects to model specific prototypes.

£14.95

Must be ordered - delivery as soon as possible.
(Product Ref 77927)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030

Written by Ian Pope and Paul Karau this two-volume series provides an excellent record of the Great Westerns' Forest of Dean branches.

Volume two covers the branches in the Forest of Dean, starting with the Churchway branch from Bilson on the Cinderford line. Next the Whimsey branch is covered, including the interesting goods yard at Whimsey, later the site of Berry Wiggins depot and the Admiratly use of the Hawthorns tunnel during WW2.

£27.95

Must be ordered - delivery as soon as possible.
(Product Ref 77962)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030

Following on from Geoff Kents' series, in this book John Hayes presents a modelling guide to the common coal wagon.

Many thousands of company and private owned wagons have served on Britains railways. Built by hundreds of builders and maintained by hundreds of repair depots their design, although laid down in specification by the RCH was almsot as varied as their liveries! John deals with structural and detail differences, showing how a more accurate model can be constructed of a specific wagon. He then provides an excellent guide to the lettering and weathering of your wagons, using transfers and hand painting to create a realistic replica of a real wagon at work.

This book covers box vans, both general purpose and special traffic vehicles and tank wagons of many different types and designs. Over 160 pages of useful project ideas and practical demonstrations described and illustrated.

This series is recommended for 4mm scale wagon builders, helping you build a distinctive and unique model from a plastic kit, then progressing to kit bashing and straightforward scratch building projects to model specific prototypes.

£14.95

Must be ordered - delivery as soon as possible.
(Product Ref 77958)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030
The third part of Geoff Kent's useful guide to building, upgrading and detailing 4mm scale wagons for OO, EM and P4/S4 gauges. This book covers flat wagons, including container wagons and containers, plus goods brake vans in over 150 pages. The final chapter covers finishing of your models with painting, loads and realistic weathering.
This series is recommended for 4mm scale wagon builders, helping you build a distinctive and unique model from a plastic kit, then progressing to kit bashing and straightforward scratch building projects to model specific prototypes.
£16.95

Must be ordered - delivery as soon as possible.
(Product Ref 56961)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030
£8.99

Must be ordered - delivery as soon as possible.
(Product Ref 85449)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030
£8.99

Must be ordered - delivery as soon as possible.
(Product Ref 91032)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030
£5.99

Must be ordered - delivery as soon as possible.
(Product Ref 73050)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030
Wild Swan LMS Lineside Handbook Part One - Anderson & Twells 9781905184316
The LMS Lineside Handbook provides the LMS modeller with an extensively illustrated reference to the stations, buildings, signage and lineside equipment of the LMS railway.

Part one covers stations, crossings, station lamps, nameboards and a vast range of signage is visible in context. Several structures are illustrated with photographs and drawings providing a sample of small station buildings, station canopys with details of brackets and footbridges. These can easily be adapted  by the modeller to suit their own layout while retaining the essential 'house style'.

112 pages, A4 format, softback.
£16.95

Must be ordered - delivery as soon as possible.
(Product Ref 33391)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030
Wild Swan LMS Lineside Handbook Part Two - Anderson & Twells 9781905184637
The LMS Lineside Handbook provides the LMS modeller with an extensively illustrated reference to the lineside signage, and station platform equipment of the LMS railway.

Part two covers a range of lineside and station signs, including cast iron weight limit and trespass signs, followed by a vast selection of platform fixtures, covering timetable and poster boards, platform numbvering and station bench seats. Finally there is a section devoted to platform barrows and trolleys which will be sure to provide enough for the porters of even a large station without duplication!
The book is copiously illustrated with views of LMS stations, many showing much more than just the subject, allowing a period scene to be created. Drawings and diagrams of the major and standard fixtures allow other features to be gauged against them and placed together to create an atmospheric scene.

102 pages, A4 format, softback.
£17.95

Must be ordered - delivery as soon as possible.
(Product Ref 98365)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030

Locomotive Modelling From Scratch and Etched Kits Part One

Geoff Holt    108 pages    Softback    2012

This book, it seems to me, is both a practical guide to the business of model locomotive construction and also an interesting account of how the hobby has changed and developed since The Second World War. Geoff's own model building "career" started with a chance friendship with a like minded German prisoner of war and has since involved him since with many of the leading names in the hobby. Very well illustrated throughout with colour photography and numerous sketches and line drawings, the book starts with a more or less general introduction to tools, materials and techniques before embarking upon a "signature model", the Great Central's "Immingham" class 4-6-0. Two of these are to be built in 7mm scale, one from scratch and the other from a kit, and this first volume will take us as far as the rolling chassis, with part two due next year taking us to the completion of the job. Well written, informative and a novel approach to its subject, all as well produced as you would expect from Paul Karau and Wild Swan.

£24.95

Must be ordered - delivery as soon as possible.
(Product Ref 92532)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030

Locomotive Modelling From Scratch And Etched Kits Part Two

Geoff Holt    144 pages    Softback    2013

The second part of Geoff Holt's personal approach to locomotive building, getting down to the "nitty gritty" of actual building from the running plate and upwards, through to traction testing and painting, with a final chapter covering the basic use of a lathe. Geoff sadly passed away just after having completed the proofs for this second volume, but this and the earlier volume on his art and craft form a very fine and fitting tribute to the man and the beautiful railway models that he created. As well produced as you would expect from Wild Swan, with more colour than has been usual and all very clearly and informatively laid out.

£26.95

Must be ordered - delivery as soon as possible.
(Product Ref 95263)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030
Wild Swan Authentic Model Railway Operation - Martin Nield AMRO
Wild Swan Publishing - Authentic Model Railway Operation by Martin Nield
When running our model railway layouts it is easy to forget that those train loads of passengers and goods are supposed to be going somewhere and the railway companies had rules, methods and procedures to ensure they got there safely.
"This is a highly readable book which demonstrates and discusses the various ways in which we can make our model railways more realistic from an operational point of view. Although Martin himself is a confirmed Lancashire and Yorkshire modeller, the whole book applies to any British railway operation right up until the end of the "traditional" railway in the Nineteen Eighties. The illustrations are really good, crisp and clear shots of various relevant model railways, nice relevant paperwork and ephemera and proper inspiring "Northern Grit" prototype photographs. I think thet text is perfectly balanced between not baffling a "beginner" whilst still providing much of interest to a more experienced modeller. I hope this book does well, because traditional railway operation is rapidly becoming ancient history, and there has been relatively little published on the subject in recent years."
Author : Martin Nield    60 pages    Softback
£13.95

Must be ordered - delivery as soon as possible.
(Product Ref 100974)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030

A 158-page book covering the construction of 4mm scale locomotive chassis for many different types of locomotive. All parts of the chassis are dicussed and described with major points illustrated with photographs and clear diagrams. Solid chassis designs start the book, then bogie and pony trucks are introduced, including tips of ensuring your model locomotive remains well balanced and able to negotiate changes of curve and grade. Iain then moves on to describe compensation methods before rounding out the book with a description of chassis deatiling, including cylinders and valve gear.

£13.95

Must be ordered - delivery as soon as possible.
(Product Ref 67260)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030
£24.95

Must be ordered - delivery as soon as possible.
(Product Ref 95264)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030

A profile of the Stanier Princess Royal class by David Hunt, Bob Essery and Fred James. Between them these three authors have collated and interpreted thousands of records and documents to bring new light to the design, development, testing and modifications made to this class of pacifics throughout their working careers. A career which, for two of the class, will continue into the future.

Produced in association with the National Railway Museum whose archives contain many of the works drawings and official test documents used to refine the locomotives.

£14.95

Must be ordered - delivery as soon as possible.
(Product Ref 77956)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030

Written by Ian Pope and Paul Karau this is the first in a series of books which document the history and lines of the Severn & Wye Railway in the Forest of Dean.
This book is the first of a series sets out to cover not only the railway network itself, but to place it in its proper context against the transition of the area from a medieval Royal hunting ground, supplying timber for the great naval fleets in the days of sail, through to a centre of industrial activity based on the local coal and iron ore deposits. The history of the Severn & Wye and Severn Bridge Railway is traced in detail from its inception as a horse-drawn tramway, through its conversion into a fully-fledged railway network and the later takeover by the Great Western and Midland Railways.
The southern section of the line from the junction with the Great Western at Lydney to the once great industrial centre of Parkend is then covered in great detail, with particular emphasis on the railway connected industries which were the lifeblood of the railway system.

£19.95

Must be ordered - delivery as soon as possible.
(Product Ref 116444)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030

Written by Ian Pope and Paul Karau this is the first in a series of books which document the history and lines of the Severn & Wye Railway in the Forest of Dean.
Volume 1 traces the history of the Severn & Wye and Severn Bridge Railway and illustrates the line from Lydney to Parkend.
Volume 2 continues this coverage from Coleford Junction through the verdant heart of the Forest to Cinderford.
The history of the railway is closely linked with that of the industries which it served, the extensive coverage of major collieries such as Cannop and Trafalgar providing a counterpoint to the timeless charm of Bicslade's tramroad and stoneworks. The story concludes with a detailed account of the S&W's last major undertaking, the opening of an extension to Cinderford, built after takeover by the Great Western and Midland Railways.
Softback 174 pages

£21.95

Must be ordered - delivery as soon as possible.
(Product Ref 116445)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030

Written by Ian Pope and Paul Karau this is the first in a series of books which document the history and lines of the Severn & Wye Railway in the Forest of Dean.
From the 1840s housecoal collieries were developing along the ridge to the west of Cinderford and by the 1860s were coming into full production. The Severn & Wye was losing a large quantities of this coal traffic to the Great Western's Forest of Dean Branch despite Bullo Dock being much smaller than Lydney Docks.
The Severn & Wye was not well placed to serve such collieries as Lightmoor, Foxes Bridge and Crump Meadow, so sought powers for the construction of a line of railway to serve the centre of the Forest, penetrating into an area other concerns may have thought was theirs. Despite opposition from the Forest of Dean Central and Great Western Railways authorisation for the six mile Mineral Loop was gained in the 1869 Parliamentary session. Construction was complete by mid-1872 and it is the story of the Mineral Loop and the collieries it served that forms the subject of this fourth book in the series covering the Severn & Wye Railway.
Softback 174 pages

£29.95

Must be ordered - delivery as soon as possible.
(Product Ref 116446)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030
Giles Favell provides a useful and practical guide to the application of radio control systems to models with the emphasis on projects which would be of interest for model railways.

Under production. Price and release date TBA.
£0.00

Must be ordered - delivery as soon as possible.
(Product Ref 116442)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030
The Wantage Tramway by Nicholais de Courtais. Wild Swan Publications

A much enlarged edition of the author's 1981 book describing and illustrating the roadside tramway that ran from the Great Western main line at Wantage Road to the town of the same name. Indisputably one the most idiosyncratic and delightful of Britain's diverse collection of light railways and tramways, this new edition contains a wonderful collection of images together with a surprisingly large number of recollections of both using and working on the line, collected over a period of years by the indomitable Chris Turner. Hopefully this will prove irresistible to followers of light railways and quaint English institutions alike!

Author Nicholais de Courtais. 96 pages, softback, published 2017

£18.95

Must be ordered - delivery as soon as possible.
(Product Ref 40057)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030

Memories Of West Country Railway Journeys 1960-1962 by Peter Barnfield. Wild Swan Publishing

Railway journeys on ex GWR lines in the West Country, recalled from notes made at the time and profusely illustrated with the author's own photographs, taken on the journeys described but also on other dates too. Having said this is all ex GW, the book includes a particularly delightful journey from Evercreech to Burnham on Sea which takes us all the way from page 48 to page 73.
Unlike Peter's earlier "Withered Arm" book covering the former Southern route to Plymouth and with which this volume is physically uniform, this book includes a number of views of diesels and multiple units, which had started to operate over Western lines by the time of these journeys.

Author & photographer Peter Barnfield. 120 pages, softback, 2017

£14.95

Must be ordered - delivery as soon as possible.
(Product Ref 98905)
Cookies are disabled.
To place an order please call 01453 377030
Have a question? Contact us