In 2011 STEAM - Museum of the Great Western Railway in Swindon received a bequest from the late Brian Harry, an avid collector of GWR related memorabilia. Now known as the Harry Collection it comprises of hundreds of GWR artefacts, including nameplates, tender plates, cabside numberplates and totems. The collection also holds around 40, 000 photographs.
In The Unseen Great Western: Images from the Harry Collection at STEAM – Museum of the GWR, Swindon Kevin Robertson has produced a book which he describes as “unlike any other. Not unduly technical, not full of reminiscences and anecdotes, instead it is a small tribute to one man who was an avid collector of images (and hardware)”. He hopes that, as with himself, the photographs reproduced in this book will have been similarly unseen to the reader.
Mr Harry spent years collecting images of the railway that he admired, with the photographs coming from various sources. The majority of the photographs presented in this book feature rolling stock and locomotives, with a few images covering the early BR era. All images are accompanied by extensive, informative, captions.
131 black & white photographs. 104 pages.