Mention the name Carlisle to any steam enthusiast of a certain age and they will probably conjure up an image of bygone days when Stanier and Gresley pacifics rubbed shoulders alongside each other within Citadel station whilst waiting to relieve incoming titled trains such as the Royal Scot and the Waverley. Such scenes, in addition to steam locomotives threading their way across a network of goods lines, and the city’s three surviving motive power depots, were all subjects captured on film by a number of young enthusiasts who lived in Carlisle during the final years of steam. It is the work of those cameramen, aided by others who visited the area, that will offer the reader an insight as to the variety that still prevailed at Carlisle during that time. Looking slightly further afield, images are also included which feature locomotives working hard on those steeply graded lines that radiated from the city towards summits with names to capture the enthusiast’s imagination, such as Shap, Beattock, Whitrope, and Ais Gill. This book, which illustrates in depth one of the country’s major steam centres, contains more than two-hundred photographs, presented in both color and black and white, the majority of which have not been published previously.

The disappearance of the steam locomotive in the land of its birth touched the hearts of millions, but when the government announced the Modernisation Plan for Britain's railways in 1955, under which steam was to be phased out in favour of diesel and electric traction, few people took it seriously. Steam locomotives were an integral part of our daily lives and had been for almost one and a half centuries. Furthermore, they were still being built in large numbers. It was popularly believed that they would see the century out and probably well beyond that. But the reality was that by 1968 a mere thirteen years after the Modernisation Plan steam traction had disappeared from Britain's main line railways. It was harrowing to witness the breaking up of engines, which were the icons of their day, capable of working long-distance inter-city expresses weighing 400 tons on schedules faster than a mile a minute. Top speeds of 100mph were not unknown.This book chronicles the last few years as scrap yards all over Britain went into overtime, cutting up thousands of locomotives and releasing a bounty of more than a million tons of scrap whilst the engines, which remained in service, were a shadow of their former selves; filthy, wheezing and clanking their way to an ignominious end. The pictures in this book are augmented by essays written by Colin Garratt at the time. Although steam disappeared from the main line network it survives in everdwindling numbers on industrial systems such as collieries, ironstone mines, power stations, shipyards, sugar factories, paper mills and docks. In such environments steam traction eked out a further decade and during this time many of the industrial locations closed rendering the locomotives redundant. The British steam locomotive was born amid the coalfields and was destined to die there one and three quarter centuries later.

The Southern region of British Railways was the last to make the transition from steam to diesel power, only withdrawing their last steam locomotive in 1967. Today, diesel-powered locomotives are still to be found on the routes to Weymouth and Exeter, despite being as much part of history as their steam ancestors.