Scotland’s Railways in the 1980s & 1990s
YOU DON’T get too many modern traction books wholly in black and white these days, but that was the film of choice for many in the 1970s and 1980s. This large format hardback book’s title says pretty much all you need to know, and inside across 200 pages and 350 images (typically two to a page) the text ‘travels’ right across the country, with a truly fantastic mix of photographs. The majority of the shots are the mid- to late-1980s and early 1990s. There is great variation of freight, local passenger, Intercity and infrastructure trains, as well as a few oddities – inspection saloons, locos assisting DMUS and so on. Traction is mostly as you might expect, a mix of Sulzer Type 2s, Class 37s and 47s, but just about everything that ran regularly in the region in that period is featured, including HSTS, DMUS, EMUS as well as Classes 08, 20, 60 and electric locos. However, the 06s, 40s, 46s and 55s that were seen north of the border in the early 1980s, had sadly gone by the time Peter Green was snapping and so aren’t included.
There are a few nice infrastructure pictures – such as signals and signalboxes – with and without trains. There are also a few steam photographs, both in preservation and on the main line, especially on the Fort William to Mallaig route. Most of the well-known classic locations are included, but there are also a refreshing number of off-the-beaten-track places, and several freight branch lines are heavily featured. There are even a smattering of scrapyard and depot images, so overall the variety included is superb. A very good book indeed, and very well priced. Highly recommended.