• The first of a three-volume series of book on the World’s last working steam railways.


    Dear Friends, Times have been busy in the book world.  In September 2022, my latest book came out, published by Harbour Publishing here in British Columbia. It is the first of a three-volume series of book on the World’s last working steam railways. It will be released in the US and other countries in 2023.  The Last Steam Railways, Vol. 1, The People’s Republic of China is a big book, and all in colour.  Here is part of the summary for the book:

    It is available in hardcover, 384, 11x 9 inch pages, all in colour and includes over 700 photos and maps.  The retail price is $79.95 CDN.

    The next two volumes will be the same size and format.  These covers give you an idea of their coverage.

     

     

     

    To be published in 2023

    The Last Steam Railways, Vol. 2. North Korea, Southeast Asia, Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Syria and Eritrea

     

    This richly detailed volume, a companion to Volume 1 on the last steam lines in the People’s Republic of China, and Volume 3 on the final years of steam in East Africa Southern Africa, Europe and the Americas, presents a sweeping panorama of enduring steam railways and their equipment. From North Korea’s little known lines, to Java’s century-old sugarcane plantation engines, Burma’s classic metre gauge railways, Thailand’s Royal Trains, India’s spectacular hill railways, the metre gauge Sindh desert lines and legendary Khyber Pass railway of Pakistan, Syria’s Hejaz Railway and, finally, Eritrea’s mountain railway climbing inland from the Red Sea, the book reflects an amazing diversity of steam equipment and railway engineering. Captured in an extensive text, with over 700 original photos, nearly all in colour, of the railways and the people who depended on them, and complemented by many maps, this book chronicles a dramatic era as it rapidly drew to a close. Landscape format (11 x 9 inches), 384 pages, hardcover.

     To be published in 2024

    The Last Steam Railways, Vol. 3. East Africa, Southern Africa, Europe and the Americas

     

    Worldwide, steam railways have virtually disappeared in all but a few areas. Following from Volume 1, on the last working steam rail operations in the People’s Republic of China, and Volume 2, focusing on the Southeast Asia, Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Syria and Eritrea, Volume 3 extends the story of the last steam railways into the remaining regions of the world. Steam in countries as diverse as Kenya, Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa are included here, along with survivors in the forested mountains of Romania, the rolling fields of Poland, and the coal mines of Bosnia, where 80-year-old German Kriegsloks (“war locomotives”) still work at coal mines as do classic Yugoslavian-built narrow gauge locomotives. Several European countries have used distinctive fireless locomotives, some built as late as 1988, in industry. Metre gauge railways in Germany retained steam as they evolved from local lines to heritage railways. Scenic rack rail ways in the Alps, Snowdonia and New Hampshire have also continued to use steam. Cuban sugarcane lines, with their amazing array of ageing American-built steam locomotives, persisted into the 21st century, as did Paraguay’s 100-year-old wood-burning antique engines of British origin. The stories of these railways and the people whose lives centred on  them are compelling and fascinating. Over 700 dramatic and intimate colour photos and detailed maps, in a 384-page, hardcover book.

     

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