Steam Memories No 1 In Pursuit of Steam in the 1960s

The final curtain came down on British Railways steam in August 1968. The build-up to that melancholy event was characterised by feverish activity among railway enthusiasts to capture as much as possible on film. As each region ‘modernised’, active steam became harder to find on BR, and enthusiasts turned their cameras towards humble industrial locomotives, and some even resorted to travelling abroad to get their steam fix. In this book we visit all six BR regions, from bucolic rural backwaters to grimy run-down engine sheds and unglamorous industrial sites and even briefly hop across the English Channel as we accompany photographer Derek Cooknell on his glorious 1960s odyssey in search of steam. These pages illustrate almost fifty different types of steam locomotives that Mr Cooknell captured for posterity, as well as many railway locations which have changed beyond recognition or disappeared altogether from the railway map.