Book search

JayM481 · May 14, 2021, 08:45:54 PM

Here in the wilds of Canada it's difficult to find books about British railway topics beyond general histories. I've googled all of these, and most active hits are EBay, where asking prices can be wildly variable, and final price often compounded by the Global Shipping money grab. In some cases a reasonably priced book has a shipping and customs cost of three times the price of the book itself. I realize that books are problematic for shipping costs, due to weight, but the ebay prices are crazy.

Anyway, I'm looking for the following books at this time:

Illustrated History of Southern Wagons Vol 3 SECR
Bogie Carriages of the South Eastern & Chatham Railway
Southern County Stations: 2 South Eastern & Chatham Railway
Branch Lines of the Southern Railway vol 1

If anyone knows a seller who is willing to ship to Canada, and who hasn't tacked am £80+ price on a used £30 book, please point me in the right direction. Unfortunately my Google-fu is only getting EBay, Amazon and the usual things like Goodreads etc. which show items out of stock (unsurprising , as I believe all of those books are out of print).

I appreciate any help offered. Thanks.

Jay

crewearpley40 · May 14, 2021, 08:56:31 PM

Jay have you tried ? https://www.abebooks.co.uk/9780860934936/Illustrated-History-Southern-Wagons-Volume-0860934934/plp and https://www.abebooks.co.uk/9780853614555/Bogie-Carriages-South-Eastern-Chatham-0853614555/plp not my era but I stumbled across as I was searching for a br loco book

crewearpley40 · May 14, 2021, 09:02:42 PM

Stations https://www.abebooks.co.uk/9780711015005/Southern-Country-Stations-South-Eastern-0711015007/plp

AlexanderJesse · May 14, 2021, 09:40:58 PM

Explicetely mentions Canada for shipping: https://rail-books.co.uk/collections/publishers-ian-allan-and-opc/products/an-illustrated-history-of-southern-wagons-volume-three-secr-9780860934936

JayM481 · May 14, 2021, 10:00:39 PM

Thank you both. I'm a bit unsure about Abebboks, as it looks a lot like a variation on Amazon (an aggregator of thard party sellers). If anyone has used them, I'd appreciate any assessment of their service.

Thank you for that Rail Books link Alexander. It may be just the thing. Unfortunately if it came up in my search it was pushed way down by Google's algorithm.

AlexanderJesse · May 14, 2021, 10:33:17 PM

It only came up once for me. Adding your volume info or just repeating the search made it disappear! But a bit of stubbornityfrom my side made it reappear

In another secondhand book shop volume 3 was unavailable, so I searched for GWR... and now I have a list 50 books to select from for me

JayM481 · May 14, 2021, 10:44:21 PM

Sorry, not sorry

Platy767 · May 15, 2021, 12:32:47 AM

Quote from: JayM481 on May 14, 2021, 10:00:39 PM
Thank you both. I'm a bit unsure about Abebboks, as it looks a lot like a variation on Amazon (an aggregator of thard party sellers). If anyone has used them, I'd appreciate any assessment of their service.

Yes. I'm an abebooks customer many times over many years. Book sellers are not your typical ebay sellers. Use with confidence. In covid times I always verify the post charges with the book seller before placing order. I recently bought "Practical Electronics for Railway Modellers" from Awesome Books (and they are awesome) and the post was only 3 quid.
Mark

Sorry, I should add that I'm in Australia and the book sellers are in the UK.

JayM481 · May 15, 2021, 02:11:54 AM

Thanks, that gives me the confidence to place an order.

BlythPower · May 15, 2021, 07:39:40 AM

Have you come across The Transport Store?
https://www.transportstore.com/Gould-David-Bogie-Carriages-Of-The-South-Eastern-Chatham-Railway-Book-5662-1.cfm

It looks like they post worldwide.

JayM481 · May 15, 2021, 06:33:32 PM

Thank you.

railsquid · May 16, 2021, 12:26:03 AM

Quote from: JayM481 on May 14, 2021, 10:00:39 PM
Thank you both. I'm a bit unsure about Abebboks, as it looks a lot like a variation on Amazon (an aggregator of thard party sellers). If anyone has used them, I'd appreciate any assessment of their service.

I've used Abebooks from time to time when looking for slightly obscure railway literature, very useful service as it's basically a single platform for independent second-hand sellers. Never had any problems with getting books sent to Japan, postage has been reasonable.

OffshoreAlan · May 16, 2021, 01:21:01 AM

Another vote for Abebooks - used them very successfully lots of times.

Stuart Down Under · May 16, 2021, 09:29:04 AM

Abe Books were bought by Amazon back in 2008!

For folk outside UK, try Book Depository (also now owned by Amazon). They were started by a friend of mine. Prices are always shown inclusive of postage. They check the buyer's IP address, and adjust the price accordingly.

Papyrus · May 16, 2021, 12:01:56 PM

Quote from: Platy767 on May 15, 2021, 12:32:47 AM
Quote from: JayM481 on May 14, 2021, 10:00:39 PM
Thank you both. I'm a bit unsure about Abebboks, as it looks a lot like a variation on Amazon (an aggregator of thard party sellers). If anyone has used them, I'd appreciate any assessment of their service.

Yes. I'm an abebooks customer many times over many years. Book sellers are not your typical ebay sellers. Use with confidence. In covid times I always verify the post charges with the book seller before placing order. I recently bought "Practical Electronics for Railway Modellers" from Awesome Books (and they are awesome) and the post was only 3 quid.
Mark

Sorry, I should add that I'm in Australia and the book sellers are in the UK.

Agree with all of that, except that the sellers are not just UK based. Some at least are in the US, and my wife found a music book she wanted, the only one available it seemed, in Tasmania! I think Abebooks is brilliant - keeps independent booksellers in business. Didn't know they were owned by Amazon, though...

Cheers,

Chris