The Steam Railway Western Scotland

Bill Smith travelled extensively throughout Scotland during the 1950s and 1960s recording the changes as the older pre-grouping steam classes disappeared, to be replaced by the new Standard types and modern diesel power. His photographs also depict much of the infrastructure which was being demolished or replaced at the same time, as well the environment through which steam railways passed, ranging from Glasgow tenements, through wild moorlands to dramatic Highland scenes. Bill’s images encompass much variety, from graceful 4-4-0s, often in beautifully clean conditions, to the work-stained Caledonian and North British 0-6-0s hauling coal trains around the unsung and little-photographed colliery and steelworks lines of Lanarkshire and Ayrshire. LNER’s B1s, V2s and LMS Black 5s, as well as examples of express passenger power from both companies and the newer BR standard types, are also portrayed, along with out-of-the-public-eye industrial steam workings.