Description
Locomotives: Their Construction, Maintenance and Operation
by A. Morton Bell — Seventh Revised Edition (1949), in Two Volumes
Printed by Balding & Mansell Ltd.
This substantial technical set, weighing roughly 3 kg in total, was produced for practical use by engineers and apprentices rather than as display volumes. Bound in maroon buckram with gold gilt lettering on the spine, both volumes remain solid and well-preserved for their purpose.
Volume I shows a slight bend to the front panel (see gallery for example). The bindings are secure with no seam splits, and the pages are clean and unmarked. The set contains numerous black-and-white photographs, detailed technical diagrams, and a colour fold-out plate.
A. Morton Bell’s Locomotives was one of the standard reference works for railway engineers and mechanics throughout much of the 20th century. It was first published in 1910 and regularly revised to reflect new developments in locomotive technology. The seventh revised edition, issued in 1949, is especially interesting because it documents a transitional period in rail transport — when steam locomotives were still dominant, but electric and internal-combustion traction were rapidly expanding after the Second World War.
These volumes cover design and construction principles, maintenance procedures, and mechanical systems in detail, with sections on boiler operation, valve gear, lubrication, fuel economy, and emerging electric traction methods. The author writes from the perspective of practical engineering, making the work valuable not only to historians but also to restorers and preservationists interested in authentic mid-century locomotive practices.
Watch the Discussion
I talked a bit about this set — along with another railway title currently in stock — in a recent vlog on my Collectors Blog:
🚂 Locomotives & Legacy: Two Collectible Railway Books
🔗 https://ashtreebooks.com/%f0%9f%9a%82-locomotives-legacy-two-collectible-railway-books
🎥 You can also watch it right here:
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