Last Days of Steam Western and Southern
Last Days of Steam Western and Southern

Author: Tony Butcher

Publisher:

Published: 2014-09-22

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 9780857042262

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In 1955, the Modernisation Plan had just been issued which showed that steam traction's future was doomed. In the Southern Region many old classes had kept working due to the Second World War and the subsequent austerity period. No the SR 4-4-0 classes gradually disappeared, hastened by the 1961 electrification of the Kent lines. The Western Region had a more balanced engine set of 4-6-0s and tank engines, but was to see steam finish earlier. In this book, Tony Butcher's black and white images portray the poetry and the power of these living machines.

Glory Days: Western Region Steam Around London
Glory Days: Western Region Steam Around London

Author: Kevin McCormack

Publisher: Amberley Publishing Limited

Published: 2019-09-15

Total Pages: 154

ISBN-13: 1445694565

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A photographic tribute to the former GWR in the postwar years up to the end of Western Region steam on 31 December 1965.

The Steam Rail Motors of the Great Western Railway
The Steam Rail Motors of the Great Western Railway

Author: Ken Gibbs

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2015-06-01

Total Pages: 183

ISBN-13: 0750965959

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Self-propelled carriages were a major innovation at the beginning of the twentieth century, and the GWR was quick to develop a large number of steam motor cars to link farms and scattered villages across the South West to the new branch lines. Their steam motor cars ran from 1903 to 1935, stopping during the war, and were so effective at making rural areas accessible they became victims of their own success. Wagons brought in to meet the high demand proved too heavy for the carriages and they struggled on hills. Soon the steam rail motor services were in decline. After its cancellation all ninety-nine steam carriages were eventually scrapped. Engineer Ken Gibbs reveals the unique GWR carriages, a window into early twentieth-century transport, and the modern replica he helped build, now the only way of viewing these charming historic vehicles.

The Last Days of Steam on the Southern
The Last Days of Steam on the Southern

Author: Alan Postlethwaite

Publisher: Alan Sutton Publishing

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 9780750912051

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A photographic tour around the old LSWR, when most of the services were still steam-operated, from tiny Victorian tank engines to the might of the BR standard designs, providing an evocative picture of the railway, its trains and people during the final decade of steam.

The Great Western Steam Retreat
The Great Western Steam Retreat

Author: Keith Widdowson

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2022-01-06

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 0750999772

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In mid-1964, Keith Widdowson got wind that the Western Region was hell-bent on being the first to eliminate the steam locomotive on its tracks by December 1965. The 17-year-old hurriedly homed in on train services still in the hands of GWR steam power, aiming to catch runs with the last examples before their premature annihilation. The Great Western Steam Retreat recalls Widdowson's teenage exploits, soundtracked by hits from the Beatles, the Kinks and the Rolling Stones, throughout the Western Region and former Great Western Railway lines. He documents the extreme disorder that resulted from that decision, paying tribute to the train crews who managed to meet demanding timings in the face of declining cleanliness, the poor quality of coal and the major problem of recruiting both footplate and shed staff. This book completes the author's Steam Chase series and provides a snapshot into the comradery that characterised the final years of steam alongside the long-gone journeys that can never be recreated.