John Gilks's previous photographic album on the pioneering days of diesel on British Railways was a great success. This companion volume is packed with another brilliant collection of rare and evocative shots of early diesel locomotives and multiple units on cross-country and branch lines that have long since closed. The arrival of the diesels and the passing of steam overlapped with the line closures of the Beeching era. It was these massive changes that provided John Gilks with the challenge to travel the railway network by train and car as comprehensively and quickly as possible. Armed with his camera he covered 36,000 miles in 18 months! Other photographers lamented the death of steam and put their cameras away; John Gilks's remained in full use to record the changing scene.

This remarkable album captures the vivid contrasts of the then-new diesels moving amongst the traditional features and architecture of the railway world: a doomed landscape of handsome stations and humble cottages, semaphore signals and signal boxes, cattle docks and goods yards, level crossings and bridges, viaducts and tunnels. The wealth of poignant and fascinating detail will undoubtedly appeal to many rail enthusiasts and industrial historians.

The book features:
* Main-line diesels * One-coach trains * Station architecture * Branch-line termini * Signals and signal boxes
* Viaducts and bridges * Railwaymen