The Last Steam Railways

Photographs by Stephen Dupont Introduction by Mark Tully This is an extraordinary photographic record of the last steam trains in India that captures not only the fascination of the steam engine but also the sense of past which will never be revisited. It is not, however, simply a book for railway enthusiasts; these are images of great emotional power that embrace not only just the magnificence of steam but also portrays the dignity of a workforce in an industry on the verge of extinction. 70 duotone plates.

A spectacular, historical perspective and photographic gallery of the last working steam railways in China--the world's largest major concentration of steam locomotives in the 21st Century. In the last half of the 1900s, China built ten thousand coal-burning steam locomotives across the country. These powerful engines ran in a variety of settings, from an open cast coal mine near the Siberian border to the semi-tropical remote hills of Sichuan, powering passenger trains that stretched one thousand kilometres across Inner Mongolia and pulling the local trains on forestry railways in the countryside of northern China. Then, in 2001, Chinese Railways retired almost all its steam locomotives. Nonetheless, some regional, local and industrial operations continued using steam for another decade or more. The photographs and photo essays in this book are a result of visits to dozens of these often-remote railways where steam was still being used. They highlight the skills of workers as they overhauled and maintained the locomotives and reflect on the lives of the people who depended upon them in a rapidly changing world. The Last Steam Railways: Volume One chronicles the last two decades of China's fascinating and picturesque steam railways in a visually dramatic and authoritative presentation. This is the first of three volumes that take the story of the last steam railways across Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. With over five hundred original colour photographs, graphics, maps and tables, this is a spectacular addition to any history collection.

China was the last country in the world to build steam locomotives. The final main line engines emerged from Datong workshops in December 1988 and production of steam locomotives for industrial use continued until 1999. The final few steam locomotives were withdrawn from service in 2003, making China the last country to use steam on its main lines. Total eradication of China's steam programme is set to coincide with the Olympic games in 2008. When this happens, it will be the end of the last mecca for fans of real steam. This is a photo essay detailing the end of this era.

'A delightful book ... the perfect companion as you wait for the 8.10 from Hove' Observer After the Beeching cuts of the 1960s, many railways were gradually shut down. Rural communities were isolated and steam trains slowly gave way to diesel and electric traction. But some people were not prepared to let the romance of train travel die. Thanks to their efforts, many lines passed into community ownership and are now booming with new armies of dedicated volunteers. Andrew Martin meets these volunteer enthusiasts, finding out just what it is about preserved railways that makes people so devoted. From the inspiration for Thomas the Tank Engine to John Betjeman's battle against encroaching modernity, Steam Trains Today will take you on a heart-warming journey across Britain from Aviemore to Epping.

Now available from Harbour Publishing! A lavishly illustrated volume of Klondike frontier history.

Photographs and text introduce the reader to the people and places associated with the Norfolk and Western Railway which in the 1950s was the last American railroad to utilize steam engines.

The disappearance of the steam locomotive in the land of its birth touched the hearts of millions, but when the government announced the Modernisation Plan for Britain's railways in 1955, under which steam was to be phased out in favour of diesel and electric traction, few people took it seriously. Steam locomotives were an integral part of our daily lives and had been for almost one and a half centuries. Furthermore, they were still being built in large numbers. It was popularly believed that they would see the century out and probably well beyond that. But the reality was that by 1968 a mere thirteen years after the Modernisation Plan steam traction had disappeared from Britain's main line railways. It was harrowing to witness the breaking up of engines, which were the icons of their day, capable of working long-distance inter-city expresses weighing 400 tons on schedules faster than a mile a minute. Top speeds of 100mph were not unknown.This book chronicles the last few years as scrap yards all over Britain went into overtime, cutting up thousands of locomotives and releasing a bounty of more than a million tons of scrap whilst the engines, which remained in service, were a shadow of their former selves; filthy, wheezing and clanking their way to an ignominious end. The pictures in this book are augmented by essays written by Colin Garratt at the time. Although steam disappeared from the main line network it survives in everdwindling numbers on industrial systems such as collieries, ironstone mines, power stations, shipyards, sugar factories, paper mills and docks. In such environments steam traction eked out a further decade and during this time many of the industrial locations closed rendering the locomotives redundant. The British steam locomotive was born amid the coalfields and was destined to die there one and three quarter centuries later.

China was the last country in the world to manufacture and operate steam locomotives. By the early 1980s, there were an estimated 10,000 operational steam locomotives in the country, but by the 1990s, diesel and electric locomotives started to replace them on the main lines and the number in service reduced substantially as the millennium approached. The last steam locomotives were finally withdrawn from China Rail in 2003. After that, some continued to operate heavy freight trains on local railways for a short while, but most were deployed for use on the country’s industrial railways, mainly at coal mines and steel works. This trend continued into the first decade of the 21st century, but subsequently, the number of steam engines in service declined substantially and were confined to just a handful of industrial locations. Steam rail operations in China are now facing extinction. The modernization of the railways with the switch from steam to diesel, the closure of unsafe and loss-making collieries and China’s drive to reduce pollution and combat climate change from burning coal, have all conspired towards the demise of the industrial lines operating steam in China. This book looks at the last of the standard-gauge steam operations in China, including Sandaoling, the last steam-worked opencast coal mine in the world; Fuxin, a coal-mining city in Liaoning Province, which until recently, operated the largest surviving fleet of SY locomotives; Baiyin, in Gansu Province, which operated some of the last steam-hauled passenger trains in the world; and Wu Jiu, a remote coal-mining outpost in Inner Mongolia. Beautifully illustrated with over 120 color photographs and a description of the operations, this is a striking portrait of the last of the world’s operating steam trains.