The Last Decade of British Railways Steam

The final years of steam is currently the most modelled period amongst UK railway modellers and The Last Decade of British Railways Steam provides a great source of inspiration from one of the finest railway photographers. Gavin Morrison has assembled some of his best pictures into a really interesting volume. The Last Decade of British Railways Steam is arranged into 10 chapters, each covering a single year. Each chapter starts with an overview of the period that puts the photographs into context and this helps set the scene, and the urban shots in particular capture the history of the railway and the industrial landscape of the time. Every photograph is in colour, and as there are relatively few colour photographs from the period many of them have been published on numerous occasions, so its refreshing to find a book that is largely made up of shots that I’ve not seen before. Each image is accompanied by some really informative text from Gavin Morrison that makes this a really first rate publication, with dates times, train details and locations recorded with superb detail. I particularly enjoyed Gavin’s personal reflections of this period in his life, coinciding with the demise of steam, which he documents in his knowledgeable way. The book provides a great feel from a contemporary witness of the changes in BR which resulted in the end of steam in 1968. The photography in the book is predominantly north country and Scotland which reflects where Gavin Morrison lived during the period but there are enough photographs of southern England and Wales to satisfy most readers.

Gavin Morrison is a well-known railway photographer who has compiled more than 60 books since taking up railway photography in 1949. Gavin has Britain’s largest personal collection of colour slides still in the hands of the original photographer, and this book brings over 250 of them to print in what could easily be described as “The Best of……”

This is the sort of book to pick up and browse on numerous occasions. The Last Decade of British Railways Steam by Gavin Morrison is highly recommended