A treasury of photos capturing the end of an era in transportation history—the final decade of steam locomotives in Britain. Malcolm Clegg has been taking railway pictures since the early 1960s, and also enjoys access to collections taken by friends who were recording the steam railway scene during this period. In this book, he covers a wide variety of classes of locomotives that were withdrawn during the last decade of steam traction, examples of some of which are now preserved. This book is a record of his and other peoples’ journeys during the last decade of steam in the 1960s, with photographs and informative captions looking at steam traction in a wide variety of geographical locations around the British Railways network.
The disappearance of the steam locomotive in the land of its birth touched the hearts of millions, but when the government announced the Modernisation Plan for Britain's railways in 1955, under which steam was to be phased out in favour of diesel and electric traction, few people took it seriously. Steam locomotives were an integral part of our daily lives and had been for almost one and a half centuries. Furthermore, they were still being built in large numbers. It was popularly believed that they would see the century out and probably well beyond that. But the reality was that by 1968 a mere thirteen years after the Modernisation Plan steam traction had disappeared from Britain's main line railways. It was harrowing to witness the breaking up of engines, which were the icons of their day, capable of working long-distance inter-city expresses weighing 400 tons on schedules faster than a mile a minute. Top speeds of 100mph were not unknown.This book chronicles the last few years as scrap yards all over Britain went into overtime, cutting up thousands of locomotives and releasing a bounty of more than a million tons of scrap whilst the engines, which remained in service, were a shadow of their former selves; filthy, wheezing and clanking their way to an ignominious end. The pictures in this book are augmented by essays written by Colin Garratt at the time. Although steam disappeared from the main line network it survives in everdwindling numbers on industrial systems such as collieries, ironstone mines, power stations, shipyards, sugar factories, paper mills and docks. In such environments steam traction eked out a further decade and during this time many of the industrial locations closed rendering the locomotives redundant. The British steam locomotive was born amid the coalfields and was destined to die there one and three quarter centuries later.
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 of which examples 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 peoples journeys during the last decade of steam in the 1960s.
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.
The thrilling story of the last, and greatest, generation of steam railway locomotives in regular main line service: a story of invention, skill and passion, Giants of Steam reveals how the true advocates of steam's glory days pushed its design and performance to remarkable limits, taking these powerful and beautifully designed machines to new heights against a backdrop of the political upheavals and military conflicts of the mid twentieth century. Glancey tells the stories of the greatest of the 'steam men', the charismatic engineers who designed these machines and put them to use. Giants of Steam also reveals how steam design has continued to progress against the odds in recent decades, while enthusiasm for the steam locomotive itself is far from burning out.
China was the last country in the world to build steam locomotives. The final main line engines emerged from Datong workshops in December 1988 and production of steam locomotives for industrial use continued until 1999. The final few steam locomotives were withdrawn from service in 2003, making China the last country to use steam on its main lines. Total eradication of China's steam programme is set to coincide with the Olympic games in 2008. When this happens, it will be the end of the last mecca for fans of real steam. This is a photo essay detailing the end of this era.
Ken Gibbs tells the history of the engineering triumph that is a steam locomotive from the 1800s to the 1960s showing how each development changed the course of history.
