Simplex Locomotives at Work by Alan M. Keef

This paperback book is simply a celebration of the Simplex, being a collection of photos of these small yet characterful locos working around the globe. About half of the book is dedicated to locos working here in the UK, but the rest of the world has not been forgotten, featuring industries varying from Swedish timber yards, to Australian sugar cane to African gold mining to Malaysian palm oil to logging in Borneo.

Not all of the photos are of industrial railways though, pleasure and preservation also feature, often using photos of the same loco in industrial and later pleasure/preservation use.

Both narrow and the scarcer standard gauge Simplexes get a viewing, and pretty much every model of loco that Motor Rail made is shown, although some bear scant resemblance to anything coming out of Elstow Road in Bedford, once the home of Simplex Works and now a housing estate.

All photos have extensive and informative captions, hardly surprising as Alan Keef Ltd (the auther's company) are the successors to Motor Rail and therefore have access to Motor Rail's archives. Photos are a mixture of black and white and colour, and are clearly reproduced and the book well laid out, as can be expected from Lightmoor Press.

Highly recommended to any lover of industrial railways, especially those odd little narrow gauge lines.

Simplex Locomotives at Work, Alan M. Keef, Lightmoor Press, ISBN: 9781911038 55 9

Paul.