The Last Years of South West Steam

Last Years of South West Steam looks at the region in the 1950s and 1960s as steam traction ended. This is done using 230 evocative colour and black-and-white images. A number of important routes pass through the area, including the Great Western Main Line from Paddington to Penzance and the South Western Main Line between Waterloo and Weymouth. Several local lines and branches also connected places in the South West. Many of the classes that worked in the region are present. These were mainly ex-Great Western Railway designs, such as Collett’s Castle, Hall, Grange and Manor Class 4-6-0s or the numerous 5700 and 8750 Class 0-6-0PTs, 5101 and 6100 2-6-2Ts, whilst Churchward’s 2800 Class 2-8-0s and 4300 2-6-0s were still employed. Some ex-Southern Railway classes feature, such as the West Country Pacifics, Maunsell’s N Class 2-6-0, Drummond T9 Class 4-4-0, Adams 415 Class 4-4-2T, Drummond M7 Class 0-4-4T, etc.