Published in January 2022, this soft-cover back from publishers The History Press and written by Keith Widdowson measures around 15.6 cm x 23.4 cm, has 240 pages.

190 black-and-white photographs, maps, timetable extracts, and 25 colour illustrations. It has a published price of £16.99, although the publisher does not offer the option of purchasing it directly but provides links on its website to Waterstones and Hive.co.uk, from where it can be purchased for £12.89. At the time of writing it can also be obtained online from Amazon for £11.55.

For those of us who were around at the end of steam, the narrative captures our experiences of the time and takes us back to when the search for steam became a quest for the holy grail. It is not an endless sequence of trains caught and what was the engine up front. Rather, it recalls the authors’ trainspotting adventures, backed up where appropriate by notes made at the time which were of variable detail.

This is not a technical book detailing the increasing-accelerating run-down of steam on the Western Region, but the author’s own recollection of what he found at the time. From start to finish, the book is an interesting story rather than a collection of facts and figures, backed up with plenty of interesting photographs. Of great interest are copies of some of the author’s own handwritten log books.

Unfortunately, the author’s countless hours of hard work have been let down by the use of paper stock more suited to a paperback novel. Also, the reproduction quality of many of the photographs leaves a lot to be desired, with many of them flat and lacking contrast.

Keith Widdowson, the author, has done well to include timetables relating to his journeys, which will trigger memories for many readers with their long-closed stations. The pages below will bring back more than memories as they tell the story of the author’s journey across what was, until the line closed, Britain’s tallest railway viaduct.

The captions to the right-hand photos highlight significant failings throughout the book, where a poor choice of font causes numerals to nearly merge into each other. This is clear in the first line of the top photo where two “1s” in the time 1105 run into each other.

Using his own notes from the time, the author has produced a compelling story of his often-fruitless search for steam-hauled trains at a time when the Western Region managers were doing their best to eliminate them from the network. It is not a technical book, but describes the author’s often frustrating journeys to search out that last pocket of steam. An interesting story without lots of facts and figures. Unfortunately, the author’s efforts have been let down by inappropriate paper stock, poor quality photographic reproduction, and poor choice of font for the photo captions. Recommended as a great read.

The book is available to purchase from Amazon and through The History Press website.