British Railways Steam Locomotives 1948 1968

An exhaustive and monumental listing of every steam locomotive operated by British Railways from Nationalisation until the end of steam in 1968, now brought completely up to date in a second edition.

An account of each and every steam locomotive operated by the Nationalised railway between 1948 and 1968.

A comprehensive companion volume to Hugh Longworth's 'British Railways Steam Locomotives 1948-1968', this latest title provides a locomotive-by-locomotive allocation record from 1948 to1963.

Following the success of the author's 'British Railways Steam Locomotive Allocations', published in 2011, Hugh Longworth produced a complementary volume which gave the complete allocation history for every BR steam locomotive from 1948 to 1968, and this detailed reference book proved extremely successful. This has now been updated to provide an even more comprehensive approach to the subject.

This book describes the principal classes of steam locomotive working actively in Britain between 1948 and 1968.

During the twenty years in which Britain's nationalized railway operated mainline steam locomotives, a vast array of individual designs complemented the British Railways 'Standard' machines, built up to 1960. Such was the variety of motive power to be seen on the network that this 'early' period of BR's existence has proved to be the most enduring amongst enthusiasts and modellers. The ready-to-run market has reflected this popularity in terms of models and liveries available off-the-shelf. Despite constantly rising levels of detail, finish and performance, r-t-r models can never cater for every variation in components, equipment or livery that invariably arose within large and long-lived fleets. Nor can they offer particular running numbers and names to satisfy every customer, while older products may also require work to bring them up to the standard of contemporary offerings. Therefore, being able to change factory-applied decals, add period or individual locomotive-specific details, modify a livery or create an authentic weathered finish can prove vital to achieving a heightened sense of realism and individuality within our traction fleets. Aimed at modellers of all abilities and serious model railway enthusiasts, this book gives details of a wide range of techniques, materials and tools and is lavishly illustrated wtih 400 colour photographs.

First introduced in the early 1950s, the diesel multiple-unit represented an attempt to produce a vehicle that would replace steam traction on the countrys branch lines and secondary routes at a time when the railway industry was in desperate need of a cheaper alternative to steam in order to improve the finances of these increasingly unremunerative lines. Initially introduced in areas such as the north west of England, the West Riding of Yorkshire and East Anglia, the arrival of the new and much cleaner Diesel Multiple Units (DMUs) undoubtedly helped to stem both the loss of passenger traffic and improve, at least briefly, the economics of the lines over which they operated. Between the early 1950s and the start of the following decade, several thousand of these units were produced by a variety of manufacturers for service nationwide. However, despite the cost savings that these units represented, the financial position of the railways continued to deteriorate with the result that many of the lines for which they were designed were closed in the wake of the Beeching Report. Following refurbishment from the early 1970s onwards, many first generation DMUs were to survive in service until the late 1980s or early 1990s. Indeed a handful can still be found in operation almost 50 years after the first of the type entered service. Although most were scrapped after withdrawal, a significant number of these vehicles have been preserved on the nations heritage railways. In 2005 OPC published Hugh Longworths British Railway Steam Locomotives 1948-1968. This definitive listing of every steam locomotive operated by BR between 1948 and 1968 was one of the most successful railway titles of 2005 and was quickly reprinted on three occasions. Having examined the steam locomotive fleet in detail, Hugh Longworth now turns his attention to all of the first generation DMUs constructed. As with the earlier book, each type is covered in detail with information given about construction, technical specifications, entry into service, withdrawal and its fate. Alongside the detailed tabular material the book also includes some 125 mono illustrations recording the great variety of DMU constructed as part of the programme. Comprehensive in its coverage, this new addition to the OPC list will be sought after by all those modellers, preservationists and historians seeking a detailed reference work on the history of these first generation DMUs.