Comments: Softcover, 48 pages, black-and-white photos, seven color plates
ISBN: 978-1-4728-1639-9
Price: $18
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
From the publisher: World War I was the golden age of the railway gun. Even though none of the armies possessed any railway artillery pieces at the start of the conflict, and the very idea was comparatively new, more railway guns were used during this war than in any other. Designed to break the stalemate of trench warfare, the first railway guns were simple, improvised designs made by mounting surplus coastal defense, fortress, and naval guns onto existing commercial railway carriages. As the war dragged on, railway artillery development shifted to longer-range guns that could shell targets deep behind enemy lines. This change brought much larger and more sophisticated guns, often manufactured by mounting long-barrel naval guns on specially-designed railway carriages.
This book details the design and development of railway guns during World War I, from the very first basic designs to massive purpose-built monsters. Accompanying the text are many rare, previously unpublished photographs and color illustrations depicting how these weapons were used.
FSM says: You’ll get a bang out of reading about and seeing these behemoths in various stages of deployment and speculating on how you can mount artillery on your buddy’s model railroad layout.