Railway Memories – Serie

With photographs supported by introductory text, track layouts, operating instructions and timetables brought to life by the reminiscences of people who worked in the area, "Railway Memories No 15" recalls the busy railway network serving the West Yorkshire towns of Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley during the 1950s and 1960s. It takes a fascinating and nostalgic look back at the stations, yards, signal boxes, colliery railways and the trains of such variety that no less than 46 differenct classes of locomotive are featured - not counting sub-classes or colliery and industrial locomotives.

Offers a look at the ever changing Leeds railway scene over a span of 50 years from the late 1940s to the 1990s. In 217 top quality photographs, this book features not only many steam trains of the past but diesels, electrics, stations, locomotive depots and goods yards. It also includes introductory text, track plans and other information.

With bygone railway scenes from all over Yorkshire, 184 pictures - 11 of them colour - illustrate the wide variety of diesel locomotives and multiple units to be found in the white rose county prior to the end of British Rail steam on 11th August 1968.

Tom Greaves gives his own account of the chaotic introduction of main line diesel locomotives during the late 1950s which was conducted primarily on the suburban network out of London's King's Cross station and with which he was directly involved. There, a multitude of untried and disparate locomotive types were launched into intensive commuter service almost overnight with inevitable consequences but out of which ultimately emerged a modern, cleaner and more cost-effective network. Railway Memories No.26 also outlines the array of measures taken in the 1950s to prolong the life of steam and make it more efficient before the diesels finally took over. The author charts his early years as a premium apprentice at Doncaster Works and takes us through his time as a locomotive shed master in the London area and as traction engineer at Sheffield and Leeds in the 1960s, concluding with a selection of amusing and fascinating anecdotes. A keen and accomplished photographer throughout his career, Tom Greaves also provides a treasure chest of rare steam and early diesel photographs.

Quite possibly the most comprehensive collection of pictures of Tyneside's railways during the great age of coal, steam and pioneering electricity ever brought together in one book. Lavishly illustrates the railways of North and South Tyneside plus the Tyne Valley route to Carlisle in an era ranging from the 1940s to the 1980s.