A Race Against Time

A Race Against Time

Photographing the last years of steam on Britain's Railways 1962-1971

In their teenage years from 1962, Don MacKinnon and Alan Kreppel recorded all they could of the rapidly dwindling steam operations in Britain. By August 1968 steam had disappeared from British Railways and by the summer of 1971 all British operations had gone except on the preserved lines and the dwindling industrial operations. Living in South Essex they travelled the length and breadth of Britain, mainly during school and college holidays. From Weymouth to Aberdeen many iconic locations were photographed including the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, the Stanton and Staveley Steel works at Ilkeston and numerous major railway junctions.

The South Western mainline from Waterloo, Shap, the coal operation around Blyth and the last of the Gresley A4 Pacifics in Scotland plus the survivors of the 'Jubilee' class are covered in depth. Many historic locomotives were recorded just before their final disappearances as were the last operations on the Longmoor Military Railway in Hampshire. With the stamina of youth, photographing into and through the night was not a problem. Appearing for the first time, the night photographs taken by the late Don MacKinnon with his Rolleiflex and Leica M3 cameras are probably amongst the best of any British railway photographer of the era.

Hardback, 442 pages, black & white photographs