The Great Western Steam Retreat: Chasing the Final Steam Trains in BR’s Western Region, Wales and the...

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Keith Widdowson

The Great Western Steam Retreat

Chasing the Final Steam Trains in BR’s Western Region, Wales and the Welsh Marches

Keith Widdowson

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Paperback

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English

The History Press Ltd
06 January 2022

Autobiography: general; Memoirs; Social & cultural history; Steam engines; Trains & railways: general interest

One man's personal travelogue of his journeys throughout BR's Western Region, Wales and the Welsh Marches during the final months of steam.

In mid-1964, Keith Widdowson got wind that the Western Region was hell-bent on being the first to eliminate the steam locomotive - the target date being December 1965. Upon realising the significance of the situation, he hurriedly homed in on train services still in the hands of GWR steam power, aiming to catch runs with trains prior to their premature annihilation. The extreme external disorder during the final years of steam provided the photographer the opportunity to capture the steam locomotive in a never-before-witnessed condition, with steam/smoke escaping from a multitude of new outlets never intended as such by their designers, such problems being particularly acute throughout the WR. This illustrated book completes the steam chase series, detailing the author's teenage exploits chasing steam throughout Britain a scenario never again to be repeated.

AUTHOR: Keith Widdowson is a retired BR employee who made it his mission to capture the last days of steam on the railways around Britain. His mother got him his job at BR because she'd noted his 'obsession with timetables'. He books include The Great Steam Chase: Journeys on the Southern Railway, Scottish Steam's Final Fling, Riding Yorkshire's Final Steam Trains and Confessions of a Steam-Age Ferroequinologist for The History Press. He lives in Kent.

24 colour, 200 b/w illustrations

By: Keith Widdowson
Imprint: The History Press Ltd
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9780750998079
ISBN 10: 0750998075
Pages: 240
Publication Date: 06 January 2022
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Keith Widdowson's 45-year career with British Railways began in June 1962, the majority of it spent diagramming locomotive and train crews. Now retired, he has written several books on his steam-chasing travels. He also writes articles for railway magazines and is a member of the Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway.