In the late 1950s Stephen Crook began photographing railways in earnest, deliberately recording older locomotives at work and determined to produce the best pictures possible. To show the locomotives to their best advantage, he relied principally on the traditional approach of choosing days when the scene was bathed in sunshine and combining a flair for pictorial composition with darkroom expertise, he was able to produce the highest-quality results. 'It was rarely just a question of visiting the nearest railway line and photographing whatever might happen to come along,' he writes, 'it was rather a matter of trying to guess which engines or routes had the least life expectancy, finding the opportunity and then finding the means to visit the relevant areas.

Also it was crucial to listen carefully to the weather forecast before actually committing myself to a journey; money and resources were scarce and scrupulous planning was essential... if all this made railway photography more difficult, it also provided the greater incentive and the greater satisfaction when everything fell into place.'