Book Description

This book is the Supplement to 'Twilight of Southern Steam -The Untold Story 1965-1967', published by Pen & Sword. That book told the full story of those last frantic 30 months and is first and foremost the story of the enginemen and their steeds which brought the steam era to an end on the Southern. It is therefore primarily about locomotive performance but enlivened by stories about how that was achieved and also about the band of young men who followed the exploits of men and machines day and night over those last two years. There are chapters about the locomotives and enginemen, followed by a chapter covering each of the years 1965, 1966 and 1967 plus a chapter about life on the footplate. It contains about 80 train running logs, 150 photographs and 52 other tables. In order that the book could be contained to a reasonable size and to ensure it flows nicely and appeals to the more general rail enthusiast, the number of train running logs was restricted and a decision made to publish this Supplement containing approximately 450 performance tables, including the 80 from the original book and more than 130 which were received too late to be included in the original book, together with a mainly fresh set of images and some limited text. This is the resulting book which will appeal mainly to the train timing fraternity. All of the logs have been checked for authenticity and accuracy and it is quite astonishing that such high levels of certainty were achieved in pre GPS days, mainly using 1/10th second stopwatches and the tiny LSWR mileposts. Many quite ordinary logs are included as well as some off he well beaten track of the main line. It is intended to be THE definite work on the subject and it's doubtful if any significant train performances are missing, such was the depth of research behind this book. What is quite clear is that the loco performances and high speed exploits were unequalled anywhere else and were a remarkable tribute to the enginemen and their locomotives.