Published in November 2020 by Pen & Sword, this hardback book is in landscape format, measures around 28.6 cm x 22.4 cm, has 224 pages, and 250 colour & black and white photographs and illustrations. It has a published price of £30, and at the time of writing it can be purchased online from Pen & Sword for a 10% discount and from Amazon for £21.10.

For several years, Pen & Sword has been publishing detailed histories of individual locomotive classes under its “Locomotive Portfolios” series, with both steam and diesel and electric sub-series. This book continues that theme, but with a study of Oliver Bulleid’s range of locomotives rather than a single locomotive class.

The author worked in the Southern Region and during his early career, he took part in the overhaul and rebuilding of Bulleid locomotives. He also met senior engineers who worked with Bulleid in Britain and Ireland, and his narrative echoes someone with sound experience and understanding of locomotive engineering.

Whilst there have been many books published on Bulleid and his locomotives, this book with its 25 chapters describing 19 classes stands out in the way it is written by someone who is obviously knowledgeable in his subject and can describe technical information in layman’s terms.

At first sight, I was surprised to see photographs of many non-Bulleid Southern locomotives, such as King Arthurs, Lord Nelsons, and Schools, but it soon became clear that their inclusion was due to Bulleid’s work on modifications to their designs.

Of particular interest is the chapter on the ill-fated Leader class, and how the class was developed through trials with Brighton Atlantics. Although the design was innovative, it was unsuccessful and the project was cancelled after Bulleid had left British Railways.

Although his Merchant Navy and West Country/Battle of Britain Pacifics are Bulleid’s best-known designs, a significant part of the book deals with diesel and electric locomotives. He had a role in the electrification of the Southern Railway, including the two electric locomotives CC1 and CC2, later BR 20001 and 20002. There is also an interesting chapter on the 350 hp 0-6-0 diesel-electric shunters that were ordered by Maunsell but whose construction was overseen by Bulleid.

Surprisingly, there isn’t a chapter on the two double-deck electric multiple units which Bulleid designed for the Southern Region. It could be argued that as they aren’t locomotives they don’t warrant inclusion, but surely that is counterbalanced by their historic interest.

A minor error occurs in the chapter on the CIÉ’s B Class A-1-A -A-1-A diesel electrics which the author asserts that the only other locomotive with this wheel arrangement to have run on a main line railway in the British Isles was the British Rail Class 31. Both the Western Region’s North British Class 41 diesel-hydraulics numbers D600 to D604, and the gas turbine No. 18000 had this wheel arrangement.

Mention must also be made of the author’s blurb, which states incorrectly that the volume describes in some detail the railway he grew up on: the South Western, its main lines, key railway centres and the fascinating myriad of secondary routes and branch lines.

The last chapter provides a pleasing finale to the book, with a glimpse of preserved examples of Bulleid’s locos, including static museum exhibits and working locomotives on both heritage railways and the main line.

No book on Oliver Vaughan Snell Bulleid would be complete without coverage of his Merchant Navy and West Country/Battle of Britain Pacifics with their unconventional outline as seen below. Bulleid also adopted his own class numbering system, which incorporated the locomotive’s wheel arrangement where 21C indicates two pairs of bogie wheels, one pair of trailing wheels, and C equals three pairs of driving wheels.

With 24 pages devoted to Bulleid’s unrebuilt Merchant Navy and West Country/Battle of Britain Pacifics, and another 22 to their rebuilt versions, but just six to his Q1s, there seems to be a large unbalance in the coverage of different classes.

As well as designing steam locomotives, Bulleid collaborated with Alfred Raworth on electric locomotives for the Southern Railway. Here we see two examples of his work, although 20003 on the right wasn’t built until after Bulleid had retired.

Bulleid’s Class Q1s are what could be termed Marmite locos – you either like them or hate them. Regardless of personal opinions, there is no doubt that performance-wise they were a credit to his achievements.

For much of his career, Bulleid seemed to be surrounded by controversy, none more so than his Leader Class shown below. Soon after he retired, the development of the Leaders was stopped and the five examples that had been built were scrapped.

After his retirement from British Railways, Bulleid joined CIÉ in Ireland, but he was soon courting controversy once more with an attempt to produce a locomotive that burned turf, which Ireland had in abundance but no coal. His unconventional experimental locomotives are shown below.

The book is available to purchase from Amazon and from Pen & Sword.

We would like to thank Pen & Sword for providing RailAdvent with a copy of the book for review.