Tag Archives: Trains and Railways

This volume covers the final decade of British steam, looking at steam traction in a wide variety of geographical locations around the British Railways network.

The book covers a wide variety of classes of locomotives, that were withdrawn during the last decade of steam traction, some examples of which are now preserved.

Malcolm Clegg has been taking railway pictures since the early 1960s and has access to collections taken by friends who were recording the steam railway scene during this period.

This book is a record of his and other people’s journeys during the last decade of steam in the 1960s.

My Review

This book is a collection of photographs from the 1960s of steam engines. The author has clearly been taking pictures for a long time and this was an interesting time in British transport. When the rest of the world was moving to diesel and electric, Britain stayed with steam. Then the government destroyed the network in favour of motorways and private transport, because the minister in charge had a vested interest in road building. New engines were scrapped when they still had thirty years of working life in them. What a travesty!

The book is substantial and covers a large range of engines, with captions giving details of the engine pictured and the place, if known. The images are in black and white which adds to the nostalgia of the book. The book is glossy and substantial, which is useful for those who are interested in trains of the era, reconstruction and reclamation of trains that they might find, or railway model enthusiasts.