Book recommendations sought - GSWR / GSR

[Mol_PMB]

Can anyone recommend good books on the GSWR and/or the GSR, either general histories or with a focus on rolling stock?

At present I'm trying to piece together the details of the 5'3" gauge wagons inherited by CIE. I've made a lot of progress based on photos, and there is some detailed info in books on the smaller GSR constituents (e.g. CB&CSR, MGWR, WL&WR)

Most of the smaller Irish railways seem to have their own dedicated books, sometimes two or three titles on the same obscure branch line. But I've struggled to find much on the GSWR and GSR - am I missing something?

 

I do have 'The Great Southern and Western Railway' by K.A.Murray and D.B.McNeill, published about 50 years ago. For its time, it's good, but with only 200 small pages and 50 pictures (most of which are formal loco portraits) it's nothing like as detailed as more recent works on other lines. There is only one page of text on goods wagons and not much more on carriages, and not even an overview of the quantities of rolling stock.

I also have 'Great Southern Railways' by Donal Murray, a useful picture album but not attempting to provide a formal history or any details or statistics on rolling stock.

'Irish Broad Gauge Coaching Stock' by Des Coakham, with such a broad subject cannot cover any railway in great detail and the GSWR and GSR sections can only provide a brief overview and a few examples which tend to focus more on the oddballs than the typical.

 

I am aware of two large tomes focusing on locomotives: 'Locomotives Of The Great Southern & Western Railway' by Jeremy Clements, Michael McMahon, Alan O'Rourke; and Locomotives Of The GSR' by Jeremy Clements, Michael McMahon. I don't have these, and my interest isn't really in the locomotives, though I might consider buying them to peer into the background of photos looking for more interesting things like wagons and carriages.

Does anyone on the forum have these? Would you recommend them?

 

In the IRRS journals, there's a very useful article 'GSR Coaching Stock, 1924-44' by B Pender, but I haven't found much on the GSWR, or much info on wagons of either company.

 

Is there anything else that I should look to add to my library?

 

Many thanks,

Mol

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Flying Snail]

On 25/5/2025 at 2:14 PM, Mol_PMB said:

I am aware of two large tomes focusing on locomotives: 'Locomotives Of The Great Southern & Western Railway' by Jeremy Clements, Michael McMahon, Alan O'Rourke; and Locomotives Of The GSR' by Jeremy Clements, Michael McMahon. I don't have these, and my interest isn't really in the locomotives, though I might consider buying them to peer into the background of photos looking for more interesting things like wagons and carriages.

Does anyone on the forum have these? Would you recommend them?

I have both. They are very good references for GSWR & GSR locomotives, with good photos of locomotives. However, the focus of the photos are very much on the locomotives - there's occasional shots of carriages and wagons in the background but I wouldn't recommend them for that purpose. The Locomotives Of The GSR book also has other motive power such as the various railcars and inspection vehicles as well as the Drumm battery trains.

[jhb171achill]

It's true - this is one of many large gaps in Irish railway literature! Other than what's been mentioned I'm aware of nothing significant.

[Mol_PMB]

Many thanks, both.

For completeness I should also mention Martin Bairstow's 'Railways in Ireland - Part Four - Great Southern & Western' which gives a brief route-by-route history of the lines geographically within the GSWR region. Most photos are from more recent eras (GSR, CIE, and modern ones). It's strongly geographical with very little about the history of the company itself. Not a bad book, but nothing about rolling stock.

I have found a secondhand copy of the GSWR locos book at a good price, so I've ordered that to fill another inch in my Irish railway bookshelves!