London Midland Region

During the last years of steam traction, many enthusiasts travelled the length and breadth of the country recording the diminishing numbers of steam locomotives which were still at work. A number of photographers and other enthusiasts got involved in cleaning the locomotives involved in these workings to ensure that the locomotives due in service were in as presentable a condition as possible. One of these photographers was David Williams. During the decade leading up to the demise of steam in August 1968, he took countless thousands of photographs covering steam on the main line.From this collection of photographs, the bulk of which is previously unpublished, Ian Allan Publishing is producing a new series of pictorial books featuring each of the BR regions. The first title in the "Last Years of Steam" series features steam workings in the author's native London Midland Region. Drawing upon his own collection, supplemented where necessary with the work of other photographers, the author provides an extraordinary record of the final years of LMR steam ranging in scope from the great Stanier Pacifics on the West Coast main line to the humble shunters. With nostalgia for the 1960s and the transition from steam to diesel growing ever stronger, this new series from Ian Allan Publishing is ideally timed to capitalise on the burgeoning interest in the period.