Ian Allan Ltd

General information

Established in 1942, Ian Allan Publishing is a UK publisher which specialising in transport books.

In 1942 Ian Allan, then working in the public relations department for Southern Railway at Waterloo Station, decided he could deal with many of the requests he received about rolling stock by collecting the information into a book. The result was his first book, "ABC of Southern Locomotives". This proved to be a success, leading to the emerging of trainspotting as a national hobby, and from this the company was formed.

The company has grown from a small producer of books for train enthusiasts and spotters to a large transport publisher. Each year it publishes books covering subjects such as military and civil aviation, naval and maritime topics, buses, trams, trolleybuses and steam railways, including history, preservation and modern operations. The headquarters is at the western end of Shepperton railway station in Surrey.

Over 40 titles are published every year, these can be purchased via mail order, our website or from our bookshops located in London, Cardiff, Manchester and Birmingham.