In the original dustsheet. Black cloth binding with gilt title on the spine.

• F.B.A. provides an in-depth photographic presentation of this item to stimulate your feeling and touch. More traditional book descriptions are immediately available

• From September 1939 and throughout the early ’40s the photographing of railways, trains and station buildings was severely limited due to the restrictions of the Second World War. Such features were considered important military objectives and anyone seen photographing them placed themselves at risk of being suspected of spying. Such is the background against which these remarkable photographs were taken.

As a schoolboy photographer the author raised little alarm, even when he was spotted at his carefully chosen vantage points, and he was able to capture the Mallard and the Flying Scotsman at work. Here, too, are the ‘Royal Scots’, the streamlined ‘Coronation’ 4-6-2s, the ‘Immingham’ 4-6-0s, of which only ten were built, as well as many engines whose service lives were over, but which were recalled during the war.

Concentrating on the Manchester area, the Woodhead line and the east and west coast main lines, this superb collection of over 200 photographs, few of which have been published before, offers a unique and evocative glimpse into an era on the railways of which there is little existing evidence. Steam in Wartime Britain will appeal to railway enthusiasts everywhere as well as to those with a special interest in this period.

Review: the days when you could not take photos. The author of this book took risks to produce excellent photographs. Thoroughly enjoyable for those interested in the era of ww2 where there is not much evidence of photos in the years of ww2.