This book, covering the final years of steam on Britain’s railways, presents a wonderful array of over 200 color photographs, many of them previously unpublished. All the imagery is reproduced from original transparencies that have remained carefully preserved away from daylight since the day they were taken, so the original vividness of color remains – a rare quality. This book will delight today’s railway enthusiasts who are looking for new material.
A sequel to the author's 'British Railways Goods Wagons in Colour', this volume starts with a look back to the 1960s and shows the development of British freight stock to the present day. The trains in which the wagons run, the depots they serve and the background to their introduction, plus a look at Irish freight developments and narrow gauge wagons are all included. Modellers and all interested in railway freight stock will want to add this volume to their collection.
The first colour book to explore the development of coaching stock with vehicles from over 30 different railway companies, including London Transport and Great Northern Railway of Ireland. From a personal archive of colour images, the author has selected an outstanding compilation, tracing coaches from early examples to BR Mark 1s. Diesel railcars and electric stock are included, all with lengthy and informative captions.
This attractive, large-format book shows steam locomotives at work throughout the country, in all weathers and in a year-by-year presentation, accompanied by the author’s knowledgeable commentary. Good-quality colour photographs of the last days of the steam age are rare. Many of those that do exist have been published repeatedly, but the 250 colour photographs featured in this book, taken between 1958 and 1968, are an exception. It is believed that the photographer and author, 76-year-old Gavin Morrison, has Britain’s largest personal collection of color slides still in the hands of the original photographer.
British Rail was a success. It successfully carried millions of commuters to and from their jobs every day; organised its trunk route services to yield a profit under the brand name ‘Inter-City’; pioneered world-beating research and technological development through its own research centre and engineering subsidiary. It transformed the railway system of Britain from a post-Second World War state of collapse into a modern, technologically advanced railway. It did all this despite being starved of cash and being subjected to the whims of ever fickle politicians. British Rail, A Passenger’s Journey is the story of how all that was achieved, seen from a passenger’s perspective.
Designed specifically for modellers of the modern scene, this new book provides a comprehensive reference to all the livieries that have come and gone on the network since the wholesale privatization of the mid 1990s. It is now more than seventy years since the first DMUs made their first appearance on the British railway system and more than fifty years since DMUs were introduced onto the BR network in large numbers. On the privatized railway of the 21st century, virtually all nonelectrified passenger services are now operated by DMUs of one design or another and, on the preserved railways, many examples of the first generation of stock continue to earn their living. Although initially ill-favored, as the years passed, so the humble DMU has attracted an ever-growing army of enthusiast fans.
As Britain moved from austerity to prosperity in the 1950s and 1960s, it became clear that British Railways needed to modernise its equipment and rationalise its network if it was to hold its own in the face of growing competition from road and air transport. After attempting to maintain pre-war networks and technology in the 1950s, a reversal of policy in the 1960s brought line closures, new liveries and the last breath of steam, as Dr Beeching and his successors strove to break even and build a new business from the old. From Britannia to the 'Blue Pullman', Evening Star to Inter-City, Greg Morse takes us through this turbulent twenty-year period, which started with drab prospects and ended with BR poised to launch the fastest diesel-powered train in the world.
This informative, illustrated guide to the British Railways locomotive series covers its full production lifespan, from 1962–1965. In the early 1960s, the Bo-Bo diesel-electric locomotive known as The Clayton was conceived as the new standard for British Railways, superseding other Type 1 classes. While the early classes suffered from poor driver visibility, the Claytons were highly successful and popular with operating crews. However, the largely untested high-speed, flat Paxman engines proved to be highly problematic. As a result, the Claytons were eventually withdrawn from BR service by December 1971. Anthony Sayer draws on considerable amounts of archive material to tell the full story of these ‘Standard Type 1’ locomotives and the issues surrounding their rise and fall. Further sources provide insights into the effort and money expended on the Claytons in a desperate attempt to improve their reliability. Supported by over 280 photographs and diagrams, dramatic new insights into this troubled class have been assembled for both historians and modelers alike.
