Last Updated on April 23, 2026
When steam locomotion was finally dispensed with by British Rail as ‘outmoded and uneconomic, it was left to private groups and individuals to fight to preserve an integral part of our industrial heritage. Such preservation of working steam has proved successful beyond expectation and is due solely to the dedication and professionalism of these bodies. Steam centres, preserved lines and railways draw each year an increasing number of enthusiastic and informed visitors.
In the early days of the railway networks each company was privately owned and each set about the task of building locomotives best suited to its needs and budgets. A particular aim of this book has been to present examples of as many different kinds of working locomotives as possible, irrespective of their operating gauge and without too much deference to the exact meaning of the word ‘preserved”. Thus we are shown pictures as wide ranging in scope as the Vale of Rheidol Railway, the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway and the locomotives King Haakon 7, the Flying Scotsman and Greene King. The omission or indeed inclusion of locomotives and lines is therefore not intended to be indicative of their relative importance or popularity!
Both authors are railway enthusiasts and freelance photographers and their skill and dedication to their subject is reflected in the quantity and scope of this fine tribute to the remaining steam locomotives in the British mainland.
The jacket illustrations are back Blackmore Vale on its way to Horsted Keynes from Sheffield Park, September 1978, and front USA tank No. 72 on the Worth Valley Railway, hauling a works train from Keighley, August 1979 (John H. Cooper-Smith).
160 black and white photographs
A BATSFORD BOOK
This book was previously for sale at Margot’s Books. The shop is now closed — this post is kept as an archive record only.
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