Last Updated on April 23, 2026
The 1950s was the last full decade in which steam trains operated in Great Britain. At the beginning of this period renovations were well under way in the aftermath of the Second World War, and it was also a time when there were many new innovations and services. The traditional dining-car had reappeared on long-distance trains, and a full evening dinner could also be enjoyed while speeding through much of Britain’s countryside. Design, too, enjoyed something of a renaissance, with twelve new standard designs of steam locomotives emerging from the newly formed British Railways in the carly part of the decade.
This book illustrates some of the wide range of locomotives which had been inherited from the former companies, together with variations in rolling-stock design. They are seen on day-to-day duties, on both main and branch lines, in many parts of England and Scotland. Here are named expresses such as the “Lakes Express’ and the ‘Royal Scot’ racing through the countryside, as well as the prestige Pullman trains like the ‘Devon Belle’, which served the local holiday resorts of south Devon.
A superb collection of over 170 high-quality black and white photographs, most of them unpublished, Steam in the Countryside: The 1950s evokes a period when steam trains could be seen at work in the open countryside, and will be of interest to railway enthusiasts everywhere.
Jacket Illustrations, front: On the former Midland and Great Central joint line a Fowler 0-8-0 goods locomotive leaves Strines in Derbyshire and heads for the Peak District with a loose-coupled freight in 1958; back: The London-Glasgow “Royal Scot’ near Shap summit in 1953, hauled by Stanier Pacific No. 46232 Duchess of Montrose. The rolling-stock is painted in the initial livery of the newly formed British Railways (copyright © Eric Oldham).
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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