STEAMING THROUGH THE CHILTERNS AND THEREABOUTS PHOTOGRAPHS BY H.C. CASSELEY, Goose Publishing. No price advised

Henry Casserley must rank as one of the greatest and most-prolific railway photographers of the 20th Century and this evocative book features his work in and around the Chiltern escarpment, not far from his home, from pre-War days up to the first WCML diesels and electrics. It is a fantastic compilation. All of the principal – and most of the minor – lines are featured, especially the ex-LNWR main line, which he could photograph from his garden (he deliberately chose to have his house built on a site overlooking it because of that). The selection is compiled by Robert Freeman, whom I suspect could be classed as an ‘anorak, judging by the photographs of him, and Mary Casserley, the granddaughter of HC. Robert has written the captions, which, despite his concerns and reservations about them, are really rather good – lucid and generally informative, assisted, of course, by the photographer’s ‘meticulous records’. It really is a stunning selection of images, illustrating what could be described as the most exciting time to live if one were a steam railway enthusiast. The book makes a fitting sequel to the previously-published Steaming Through Berkhamstead, and this is acknowledged by Chris Green, who provides the Introduction to this one. A clear map as a frontispiece shows us exactly the areas covered by the photographs. What a wonderful selection, including everything between the ‘Turbomotive’ under BR ownership to a ‘Dean Goods’ equipped with wartime pannier tanks as well as its tender! Most of the images have reproduced very well, if rather small in places. I admit to not being a fan of seeing pictures arranged like rather jumbled postcards on the page, though I love the inclusion of the old tickets. Some of the larger and full page images have reproduced less-well, which is odd, given the quality of the equipment used by HCC. Other than for reasons of self-indulgence, I can see no reason for including the up-to-date colour shot on page 58, taken at Aylesbury. Yes, we all know how much the railway scenes have changed, but do we need reminding of how much has been lost? Another thing I’m not sure about is what appears to be ‘distressing’ on some of the pages as backgrounds to the images. Some look like greasy finger marks or teacup stains. Is this deliberate? Minor subjective criticisms of mine aside, don’t be deterred from acquiring this work. It’s a fantastic record of railway scenes long gone and the like of which we’ll never see again.