David Christie – författare

In 1973 David Christie moved house from Essex to Scotland, but it wasn’t till 1974 that he discovered the joys of sailing on Calmac’s ships. An initial sail on King George V at Oban in her last season was a great introduction but mostly, over the next three years, I focussed on Queen Mary on the Clyde, now safely back in Glasgow at the Science Centre. Most of the Clyde piers are covered, with emphasis on Rothesay. Ferries also feature with old and new on the Rothesay and Dunoon runs and the smaller boats at Largs. The west coast features with Oban as the main terminal, then Mallaig, before a session on the pre-bridge Skye ferries. A single visit to Ullapool finishes this journey back to the seventies.

Driven by the sudden realisation that steam had all but disappeared on his ‘local’ GE line, David Christie set about initially recording the London termini, but was then spurred on to record as much as possible on the whole of BR before it was too late.With the earliest image captured in September 1962, and the latest coming with the August 1968 last runs, the author offers a wonderfully nostalgic look back at the final days of steam power on Britain’s rail network, taking in a diverse range of locations – from London to Carlisle, Newcastle, central Scotland, Shrewsbury, Salisbury, and the Isle of Wight – to capture a variety of locomotives in full colour.Featuring such events as the last express services using A4s in central Scotland, and the last BR express services from Waterloo, David Christie’s superb collection of photographs offer a tantalising look back at a time now past.

In September 1962, the author started revisiting his boyhood trainspotting haunts at the London terminals – this time armed with a newly purchased camera loaded with colour slide film. A few days were thought adequate to record mainly steam at Kings Cross, Euston and Paddington but after many viewing sessions of the resulting slides over the winter, there was enthusiasm for more visits in 1963. So began a period over the next four years of travelling by train, via the London terminals, all over the rail system to seek out steam.Although steam was the priority, diesels were not ignored – especially the early livery variants. The decade finished up with several Specials being recorded from Kings Cross, with LNER-liveried Flying Scotsman then the only standard-gauge steam loco allowed on BR. Kings Cross, Paddington, Euston, Marylebone, Waterloo and Victoria all appear in this collection, as well as the author’s ‘home' terminal, Liverpool Street.

From author David Christie’s home town in Essex, the Green Line route 721 (by RCL) was the usual way of getting to London – into Aldgate, one of his haunts as a young spotter in the ‘50s. From there a walk along to Bank, Aldwych, Trafalgar Square then Whitehall to Parliament Square, returning via the Embankment, invariably followed. This route was generally repeated when, in 1967, he started photographing LT buses. The author was able to capture the last of the RTLs in service, and on later trips to concentrate on the Routemasters. Also featured is the Vintage Route 100, using a 1930-built ST, which started in 1972.With a stunning array of superb photographs, this is a wonderfully evocative and nostalgic look back on an iconic period in London’s transport history.

Starting with a day trip (by air from Blackpool) in 1970, this book covers the rest of the decade with visits in 1971, 1972, 1976 and 1979. The island was a fascinating place for a transport enthusiast, with the traditional Douglas Corporation buses, horse tramway, Manx Electric Railway and the steam railway – not forgetting the Snaefell Railway and the lovely old Steam Packet Co. ships. These traditional ships were the main loss in later years, but changes had also occurred prior to David’s final visit, with the loss of the Douglas livery (all buses now being under a ‘National’ fleetname) and the rationalisation of Douglas railway station.With a range of interesting views and fascinating subject matter, Isle of Man Transport in the 1970s will appeal both to those who have visited the island and general transport enthusiasts.

The London to Brighton run, held each year by the Historic Commercial Vehicle Society, is a key date in the diary of any vintage vehicle enthusiast or member of the preservation community. David Christie attended the run on a number of occasions between 1968 and 1987, and the images included here document the wonderful variety of commercial vehicles that could be seen – all captured in stunning full-colour photography. Vehicles featured include buses, steam wagons, heavy lorries and some lighter vehicles. These images were captured at various spots along the route, finishing at the sea front in Brighton.Immensely evocative and immaculately preserved, these photos act as both an important historical record and a triumphant celebration of our motoring heritage.

The deregulation of the bus industry in 1986 led to the formation of new bus companies in Central Scotland such as Clydeside, Kelvin, Strathtay and Magicbus (Stagecoach). These companies seem to have hit on the idea to use redundant London Routemasters and to provide conductors to speed up services.During the next few years these were a common sight in Glasgow, Perth and Dundee and were duly recorded by the author. Some 240-odd operational RMs were involved, with over fifty additional vehicles for use for spares. Most of the buses received a complete repaint by LT before being delivered to Scotland – and the new liveries were a sight to behold! This ‘invasion’ didn’t last for long, though, and all this came to an end in 1990–2.

This book covers many variants of the long-lived Leyland PD marque, photographed throughout Britain from 1967 into the seventies. Coming from the south, the author was more familiar with the AEC and the more throaty sound of a PD2, even from London’s RTLs, was a touch exotic. The author documents buses from East Anglia down to the South Coast, before travelling up to the Midlands, then into true Leyland territory of Lancashire and Yorkshire, to finish up in Scotland.The author was born in Romford, Essex, in 1943 but relocated to Scotland in 1973. All photographs are in colour from the original slides, which have been digitally restored.

From 1967 to the late 1970s author David Christie visited many towns and cities in Britain, photographing the remaining traditional buses in service. This book concentrates on one marque – the AEC Regent, which was to be found generally in its Mk III variant and more so in the southern counties. ‘Up North’ was generally Leyland country, and a companion book covers the PD Leylands.Travelling from Romford in Essex, the author’s home town, and starting with a brief LT selection, we call in along the South Coast before heading north to the Midlands and the Isle of Man, then on to Scotland, where the author relocated in 1973. All the photographs are in colour, originally in slide form, from which they have been digitally restored.

Bradford had the distinction of running its trolleybus system for over sixty years, being, along with Leeds, the first to operate in Britain. Both systems started in 1911 and Bradford went on to become the last trolleybus operator in Britain, the system closing in 1972.This book is a collection of photographs recorded from 1969 to 1972. For system complexity, and scenically, Bradford was ideally suited to trolleybus operation with the long gradients on its routes out of the city centre. The fleet numbered some 100 vehicles in 1969, mostly rebodied wartime chassis - however, there were also three classes retaining their original bodies, which have been recorded within. Some twenty or so have been saved for preservation, mostly at the Sandtoft Museum near Doncaster.