NEVER AGAIN – ENCORE

BACK in 2019 came the publication of a highly acclaimed four-volume set of books called Never Again – The Complete Works, a compilation of black and white images taken by members of the Master Neverers Association. This was a group of steam fanatics who travelled the country in search of the last workings of BR steam, often gaining permission of shedmasters to clean the loco before they photographed it down the line.

At the time, it was thought the box set was a one-off and sold out, but buoyed by the success, and with the group of photographers having around 100,000 negatives, along comes a second three-book boxed set.

This new collection – Never Again, Encore – delves into the earlier material taken by MNA members between 1950 and 1968, so very much the pre-Beeching era and portrays the railway before the big raft of line closures.

With many pictures published for the first time, geographical coverage is pretty much most of the country; the

GWR routes through the Midlands, the

Waverley Route, around Carlisle,

Devon and Cornwall,

East and West Coast

Main Lines, the Isle of

Wight, Hayling Island, the

Medway Valley, Blackpool, the Killin branch, Glasgow-Aberdeen and lots more.

Nicely split into chapters grouping complementary images together, the books are mainly black and white, but there is some colour too. Pictures range from shed and station scenes to locos in full cry on the summits of Ais Gill, Shap, Beattock or Whitrope to beautiful scenic shots of steam in remote and desolate landscapes.

Because of the wide spread of lines, there will be something for everyone in this collection. It’s hard to single out particular pictures but many taken on the Waverley Route, Shap and in Scotland are absolute classics. There are previews on the website to assess before ordering too.

The book itself is printed on quality art paper, and a lot of hard work has gone into the scanning and reproduction work to get the best from the negatives and slides, particularly when back in the day photographers were not always blessed with the quality of cameras and lenses available today which we tend to take for granted.

That hard work has paid off, and the result is a sumptuous well-produced box set to grace any bookshelf, and the contents will evoke many memories for readers of a certain age. Make sure you’ve secure bookshelves, this set weighs 5.5kg! There will be a third instalment planned for 2022, so even more to look forward to.

It’s a set of books you will return to time and time again to wallow in steam nostalgia of the 1950s and 60s, each time spotting something different. CM

Never Again Publishing www.mnabooks.com/ neveragainencore

648 pages over three volumes, boxed. £105+£15 p&p