Steam Railways: Final Operations in the Southern Region and the Early Preservation Years

By David Reed (paperback, Amberley, 96pp, £15.99, ISBN 9781398110137).

A primarily image-based publication with accompanying notes, the unique selling point for this book is that none of the images have ever been published before!

The author – balancing his teenage pocket money for processing and buying film with purchasing magazines and model railway equipment – caught many atmospheric and overlooked everyday scenes as main line steam approached its end.

The book is divided into several sections, with the first dedicated to the first few months of 1967. Although some of the images are, by the author’s own admission, less than pin-sharp in clarity, they do nevertheless show moments of interest, such as a 5MT on shed with the ‘Doom Day’ date chalked on an adjacent wall.

As the title implies, the focus is on the Southern region areas and primarily of Basingstoke, Bournemouth, and Eastleigh sheds and stations, with the odd scene from Poole for good measure.

Several to-be-preserved locomotives are highlighted from their final days prior to withdrawal.

Scenes from the final days of London Transport steam give way to the sombre moments of lines of withdrawn locomotives awaiting their final journeys from sheds, such as Salisbury, to scrap yards to meet their ends.

David goes on to capture many of those to-be-preserved engines during their spell at Barry scrapyard, as well as the shortlived preservation set-up at the Longmoor Military Railway before the very early days of the preserved era.

FASCINATING UNSEEN STILLS FROM A TURNING POINT