Steam Across Four Continents

When mainline steam finished in the UK in 1968 many rail enthusiasts put their cameras away. A few dedicated followers continued to record the industrial scene as many small tank engines of various builds could still be found at work in collieries and the like. There was an alternative. Steam was still active in many countries around the world and could be seen in great numbers in such places as China, India and Pakistan and some of what were then Eastern European countries behind the Iron Curtain. It was not easy to reach these destinations, but there were organisations that specialised in arranging trips to observe and photograph locomotives operating in these countries. Mike Rhodes embarked on a series of these overseas jaunts during the first half of the 1980s, visiting China, East Germany, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Turkey and California in the United States. He also made trips to some of the Welsh narrow-gauge railways, to capture their rich historical industrial heritage.