In West Midlands Railways from Steam to Modern Traction author, Peter Tuffrey has compiled a collection of excellent photographs featuring locomotives on the railways in and around the West Midlands, during the transitional period when modern traction worked alongside steam engines. The pictures have been captured from the lineside, engine sheds, stations, marshalling yards and industrial locations.
Only 13 years elapsed from the announcement of the Modernisation Plan to the end of steam services, resulting in a transitional period existed where steam engines operated alongside new diesel and electric forms of motive power. The images look at the changing scene in the 1950s and 1960s on the area’s lines, which were formerly operated by the London, Midland & Scottish Railway and the Great Western Railway. Many of these companies’ locomotives could be seen, as well as British Railways’ Standard Classes. A number of new diesel classes and DMUs appeared and worked alongside these during the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Includes rare and previously unseen images in colour and black & white. The images are accompanied by thoroughly-researched, informative captions.
51 colour and 125 black & white photographs. Hardback. 144 pages.