Brian J. Dickson – författare

R.J. (Ron) Buckley’s photographs illustrate the locomotive scene in Scotland, witnessed across his long career on the railways. This evocative collection of images commemorates the age of steam and reveals the changes wrought across that era, from the 1930s ex- Highland ‘Castle’ and ‘Clan’ 4-6-0s and the graceful looking ex-Great North of Scotland 4-4-0s, to the ex-North British ‘Glen’ and ‘Scott’ 4-4-0s, the Caledonian 4-4-0s, numerous 0-6-0 classes and the few Glasgow and South Western locomotives still working. By the early 1950s all the ex-Glasgow and South Western locomotives had gone and there were few ex-Highland or Great North of Scotland locomotives in service, but many ex-North British and Caledonian locomotives could still be seen. It is a must-have volume for Scottish railway enthusiasts.

R.J. (Ron) Buckley’s photographs show the changing locomotive scene taking place throughout the counties of Northumberland, Durham and Yorkshire, illustrating from the later 1930s those pre-grouping classes that were still working. These included the work of such well known designers as Wilson Wordsell and Vincent Raven of the North Eastern railway, John Aspinall of the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway and Samuel Johnson and Henry Fowler of the Midland Railway. Ron’s later photographs, from 1946 onwards, continue to show remaining working pre-grouping locomotives and also portray the newer designs of William Stanier, Charles Fairburn, Edward Thompson and Arthur Peppercorn, as well as standard examples designed under Robert Riddles.

Ron Buckley’s striking photographs show the changing locomotive scene throughout the Great Western Railway and its successor the Western Region of British Railways from the mid 1930s until the end of main-line steam traction in the mid 1960s. Whilst the modern express passenger locomotives plied the main lines, a wealth of pre-grouping locomotives carried out the more mundane suburban passenger, branch-line and shunting work. Many routes continued to be worked by a series of ageing Victorian 4-4-0s and 0-6-0s until after the grouping when the Great Western supplied a series of very able 4-4-0s and later 4-6-0s, which continued operating into the 1950s and ’60s when some of the British Railways Standard classes started to appear. Great Western Steam is an evocative retrospective of a treasured and iconic company.

Ron Buckley's photographs show the changing locomotive scene taking place from the later 1930s throughout the East Midlands and East Anglia, illustrating pre-grouping locomotive classes still working across Lincoln, Cambridge, Norfolk, Suffolk, Nottingham, Leicester, Northampton, Bedford, Hertford, Buckingham and Essex. During later LNER days, locomotives of the Great Eastern and Great Northern Railways continued working the many secondary routes and branch lines while the main East Coast saw from 1935 the appearance of Nigel Gresley's streamlined class A4 locomotives working the high speed passenger traffic between Edinburgh and London. The LMS influence saw many former London and North Western and Midland Railway locomotives handling both passenger and goods traffic especially the product of the many collieries in Nottinghamshire.

Beginning in 1936, just two years after Ron Buckley started what was to be almost half a decade working for the railways, London Midland Steam shows the changes in locomotive power taking place throughout the London Midland and Scottish Railway and its successor, the London Midland Region of British Railways. The photographs show the design work of Samuel Johnson, Henry Fowler, John Aspinall, George Hughes and William Stanier, featuring celebrated locomotives such as Fowler’s three-cylinder ‘Royal Scot’ class and Stanier’s impressive ‘Princess Royal’ and ‘Princess Coronation’ classes, as well as the ‘Black Five’ and ‘Jubilee’ classes. With previously unpublished images from Buckley’s archive and expert captions from Brian Dickson, London Midland Steam is a unique look at the glory days of steam.

The ‘Big Four’ railways had experimented with diesel-powered shunting locomotives from 1933 with the Great Western Railway seeing the advantages of operating diesel-powered railcars, and doing so successfully from the same date. The 1955 ‘Modernisation Report’ predicted the end of steam power and laid out the basis of the ‘Pilot Scheme’ for the introduction of main-line diesel locomotives to British Railways. A number of these hastily designed classes of locomotives were found wanting in terms of power and especially reliability, but pressure to forge ahead with their introduction meant that the numbers constructed were unrealistic and, in consequence, many had very short operating lives. Fortunately, the ‘Pilot Scheme’ did bring forward some excellent reliable classes of locomotives that were produced in large numbers, with examples surviving into the modern railway operating companies and the preservation scene. Early and First Generation Green Diesels in Photographs brings together the work of four photographers – Ron Buckley, Robert Butterfield, Andrew Forsyth and Hugh Ramsay – charting the development of diesels in their photographs from 1949 to 1966.

Robert Butterfield had a lifelong passion for railways. He devoted his career to working for British Railways and was a dedicated enthusiast, photographer and railway modeller. He travelled extensively in the London Midland, Eastern, North Eastern and Scottish Regions and on these journeys accumulated a large collection of stunning photographs, often featuring his favourite classes: Princess Coronations, Royal Scots and Jubilees. After forty-three years of service he spent his retirement happily chasing steam specials, particularly on the Carlisle to Settle line. Here Brian J. Dickson has compiled a beautiful collection of Robert Butterfield’s railway photographs, providing a window into the past looking back at steam in the 1950s.

Andrew Grant Forsyth’s photographs show the changing locomotive scene throughout Scotland after the nationalisation of the railways in 1948. Forsyth visited Scotland almost every year, and between 1948 and 1966 he was fortunate to be able to photograph the graceful-looking ex-Great North of Scotland 4-4-0s, the ex-North British Railway ‘Glen’ and ‘Scott’ 4-4-0s, the Caledonian 4-4-0s and numerous 0-6-0 and tank locomotive classes remaining from both those companies.Also reproduced are many examples of the London and North Eastern Railway express locomotive fleet, together with locomotives of former London Midland and Scottish Railway and examples of the post-nationalisation Standard locomotives of British Railways. Scottish Steam 1948–1966 is a stunning collection of Andrew Grant Forsyth’s photographs, providing a unique insight into a shifting time.

Andrew Grant Forsyth’s impressive catalogue of previously unpublished photographs portrays the work of locomotives from all parts of the former LNER territories between 1947 and 1958. On trips to sheds and stations across eastern England, he photographed a wide variety of stock, including the former Hull and Barnsley Railway tanks, North Eastern Railway ‘Q’ Classes, Nigel Gresley’s Class A3 and A4, and the Arthur Peppercorn ‘Pacifics’. From Newcastle to north London, East and North Eastern Steam is a valuable collection that provides a unique insight into the changing scene of locomotive power in the mid-twentieth century.

In The Last Ten Years, author Brian J. Dickson presents stunning colour photographs from the collections of three enthusiasts of the Seafield Railway Club in north London.Meeting regularly at New Southgate station to record the steam-handled traffic, their focus was initially on all things connected with the former London and North Eastern Railway, but as steam traction became restricted to smaller and smaller areas of operation, regular visits were made further afield, to the north-east of England, Scotland and the former London Midland and Scottish Railway sheds and lines.This record of steam locomotion in its final years of mainline usage, from 1959 to 1968, is sure to enhance any steam railway enthusiast’s library.