By Dave Keogh (Published by The Fifty Fund)
This new book from The Fifty Fund is the follow to the hugely sucessful Class 50 Memories and concludes Dave's very personal history with the class 50. Dave has signed a limited number of copies, use the selection below if you'd like one of those (we will be restocking signed copies when we run out, but it might take a several weeks).
Chapters:
- Introduction
- The search for work - (part 1)
- Fresh out of the box
- The search for work - (part 2)
- Turning point
- New multicoloured railway
- The thin end of the wedge
- Sectors - InterCity
- Sectors - Parcels
- Sectors - Provincial
- Sectors - Railfreight
- Sectors - Departmental
- Sectors - NSE Solent & Sarum
- Sectors - NSE Thames & Chiltern
- Laira - The last stand
Dave says about his book:
You should do a book they said. Then, after 40 years of procrastination, two come along in quick succession! This latest tome explains how my hobby (bashing and photographing) was stolen. One minute 50s were being refurbished with a long life ahead of them, the next they were being put on the scrap heap.
The narrative is told in enthusiast's lingo and the the same tongue in cheek manner as the first book. As before, the photos conform to my own railway photography rules.
From the outset the class was repetitively used as a stop gap until something else replaced them. But then the search for work ended abruptly. Bean counters dismantled the joined up railway to prepare it for privatisation. Everything was split up and put into cost centres for accountancy purposes. This changed the way the locos were maintained and used. Sectorisation was invented. Using photos and anecdotes the role of the class within each Sector is explained. Without exception this ended in tears. The dubious 50149 project and increased departmental work created new photographic opportunities, but it was sad to see 100mph ETH locos used in this fashion. Opportunities are taken to muse over what might have been; if 50s had been allocated to InterCity, or if the railway was privatised differently.
Proceeds from the sale of ‘Heydays to Maydays’, like "Class 50 Memories" will go towards the continued upkeep of the Class 50s in the care of the Class 50 Alliance Ltd. which is in turn supported by The Fifty Fund.
Class 50s - From Heydays To Maydays
Cardback 208 pages (21x28cm approx)
ISBN 9781838436957
Reviews
An early sign of what was to come on today's privatised railway, captured imaginatively by the author in a series of stunning pictures and anecdotes that anyone who "did 50s" can relate to. There should be at least one picture in the book where you probably can identify as "being on that". A must buy book for any follower of 50s, or anyone researching early sectorisation in the BR era.
Highly Recommended.
I read this book cover to cover, totally absorbed in the incredible detail and interesting facts. The photographs took me straight back to my childhood days being hauled by 50's. This book is an amazing achievement and a must for anyone interested in Class 50s.