After the Second World War, Britain's railways were rundown and worn out, requiring massive investment and modernisation. The 'Big Four' railway companies were nationalised from 1948 and the newly formed British Railways embarked on a programme of building new 'Standard' steam locomotives to replace older types. These started to come on stream from 1951. This programme was superseded by the 1955 scheme to dieselise and electrify many lines and so the last loco of the 'Standard' types was built in 1960 ? and the steam locomotives had been swept entirely from the BR network by 1968. This series of books, 'The Geoff Plumb Collection', is a photographic account of those last few years of the steam locomotives, their decline and replacement during the transition years. Each book covers one of the former 'Big Four', in the form of the BR Regions they became: the Southern Railway, London Midland & Scottish Railway, Great Western Railway and London & North Eastern Railway, including some pictures of the Scottish lines of the LMS and LNER. The books are not intended to convey a complete history of the railways but to illustrate how things were, to a certain extent, in the relatively recent past and impart some information through comprehensive captions, which give a sense of occasion ? often a 'last run' of a locomotive type or over a stretch of line about to be closed down. The photos cover large parts of the country, though it was impossible to get everywhere given the overall timetable of just a few years ? mainly when the author was still a schoolboy with limited time and disposable income to get around. Pictures are of the highest quality that could be produced with the equipment then available, but they do reflect real life and real times. In simple terms, a look at a period not so long ago but now gone forever. AUTHOR: Geoff Plumb is a lifelong railway enthusiast, born in Sheffield in March 1949. From an early age he took thousands of photos, the vast majority in colour, documenting the decline and fall of steam locomotives. His interest in photography led to a forty-plus years career as a professional television cameraman, employed by London Weekend TV and Granada TV before going freelance in 1997, though now retired. His interest in railways was encouraged by his father Derek from the age of about 2 years old in the Sheffield area, first taking up railway photography (Black & White) as a schoolboy hobby in 1962, aged thirteen. He started taking 35mm colour slides in 1963 on a Voigtländer Vito CLR camera which saw him through to the end of steam in the UK in 1968. He then began travelling abroad in search of steam and upgraded to Pentax SLRs, on which the majority of his 30 odd thousand colour slides have been taken. He is still active, nowadays with digital SLRs, continuing with Pentax equipment. Many of Geoff's photos have been published in magazines such as The Railway Magazine and Steam World, and in books including Red Panniers ? Last Steam on the Underground. A series of photo books by Geoff is in the process of being published by Pen & Sword, and Royal Mail has even used a couple of his photos on specialist stamp issues! Geoff has an active photo gallery website at www.plumbloco.co.uk where many of his pictures can be seen, this is continually being updated. 162 colour illustrations
