The Twilight Of Steam Locomotives

Story and illustrations of the demise of the steam locomotive.

DIVA beautiful retrospective of American steam locomotives in their final years, featuring photography and recollections of the men who documented the end of the steam age. /div

This book is first and foremost the story of the enginemen and their steeds which brought the steam era to an end on the Southern. It is therefore primarily about locomotive performance but enlivened by stories about how that was achieved and also about the band of young men who followed the exploits of men and machines, day and night over those last two years. It includes a substantial contribution from an ex-Nine Elms fireman and many anecdotes about the enginemen. The book contains about eighty train running logs plus records of lineside observations, detailed descriptions of the work covered by the locomotives and crews from the various steam motive power depots, copies of the actual duty rosters posted at Nine Elms, together with a unique collection of about 150 black and white and color images taken in the 1965 to 1967 period covered by this book. It is the most comprehensive story of those last few years yet produced, and it is truly 'The Untold Story', a fine tribute to the enginemen who performed near miracles with their doomed and run-down fleet of locomotives, in the very different world of the mid-1960's railway, unequaled anywhere else in Britain.

This book is first and foremost the story of the enginemen and their steeds which brought the steam era to an end on the Southern. It is therefore primarily about locomotive performance but enlivened by stories about how that was achieved and also about the band of young men who followed the exploits of men and machines, day and night over those last two years. It includes a substantial contribution from an ex-Nine Elms fireman and many anecdotes about the enginemen. The book contains about eighty train running logs plus records of lineside observations, detailed descriptions of the work covered by the locomotives and crews from the various steam motive power depots, copies of the actual duty rosters posted at Nine Elms, together with a unique collection of about 150 black and white and color images taken in the 1965 to 1967 period covered by this book. It is the most comprehensive story of those last few years yet produced, and it is truly The Untold Story, a fine tribute to the enginemen who performed near miracles with their doomed and run-down fleet of locomotives, in the very different world of the mid–1960's railway, unequaled anywhere else in Britain.

An introduction to the history and workings of steam locomotives.

Magnetic North is an inspiring chronicle of the brief, bright moment when steam locomotives ran their final miles in Eastern Canada, a time when the certainty of their demise made their presence all the sweeter. From the moment Karl Zimmermann and Roger Cook packed their bags in May of 1958 and boarded a sleeper for Montreal, they were hooked on Canadian steam. They arrived just in time to see and record the end of an era. In a sense, Zimmermann and Cook have been collaborating on this book for 40 years. In carefully wrought essays and in photographs selected from among many hundreds made by the authors and other outstanding railway photographers, this book is a vision of classic steam railroading rendered with first-person immediacy. Exerpt from Magnetic North "With armstrong turntable, bucket coaling station, and two-stall enginehouse, La Malbaie reeked of small-time, steam-powered style; it was the epitome of old-fashioned railroading, still rich in humanity. It was labor-intensive to a fault, with stations sprouting train-order boards (and, inside, the operators or station agents to set them) and engine terminals where locomotives sometimes were turned by men with strong backs and strong arms and sometimes were fueled using derricks to wrestle hulking buckets to tender-top. If labor-intensive, it was also irresistible."