ROBERT ADLEY - In Search of Steam. 1962-68

Great Britain, Blandfford Press, 1981. First Edition, Binding: Cloth, Fine/Very Good. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall 0713710918 Hardback Hardcover The author's mission was to photograph in colour (at a time when colour photography was still comparatively rare) the last days of working steam in Britain. As a result of this Odyssey, which took the author and his camera throughout the four seasons of the year to railway station, engine shed, shunting year, countryside bridge and embankment, he has compiled an impressive collection of over 1,000 colour transparencies. His book displays sixty-four colour subjects in all their glory. Even the macabre scrapyard evokes an acute nostalgia for another forgotten way of life. It describes how the railways grew in Britain and in many cases faded away. The historian will have much to learn from the Ordnance Survey maps, which the author has ingeniously used to illustate the changing pattern of the British railway systems throughout the years. The author's fast and often amusing text, full of anecdotes and on-the-spot detail, will fascinate railway enthusiasts throughout the land.