One of a series of books produced by Ian Allan in the early 2000s on Irish railways, notable for drawing on the knowledge and perspectives of Irish authors and enthusiasts. We therefore get to see photographs less often seen in the UK. Reproduction is good, the accompanying (contemporary) map for once covers everywhere mentioned in the text and the captions are informative. About the only issue I have with the book is that one photograph is duplicated (a photograph of a D17 class engine at Tuam first appears at the top of page 25 and then returns, larger, at the bottom of page 54), but the duplication is in context and it's a reasonable picture. I only mention it because it will have prevented another picture appearing in its place. I did think it had happened again with a picture of the Drumm battery railcar (page 7 and middle of page 79) but these are actually two different, if very similar, pictures and such an unusual subject that this can be excused.

Aa the Great Southern Railway had a comparatively short existence, some of the photographs show typical GSR scenes but were taken in CIE days. I have no problem with this. Overall, the book is recommended. ( )