This book is an interesting follow-on to Green Diesel Days and Blue Diesel Days and will provide a vivid pictorial record of the diesel scene on Britain’s railways during the decade that saw the most significant changes to the nation’s railway industry for more than 50 years.
In 1990, the BR network was still state-owned and, whilst there were livery variants reflecting the various sectors or sub-sectors, the rolling stock was largely the equipment supplied to the industry during the massive investment in diesel technology between 1955 and 1967.
Apart from Classes 56 and 58 as well as the first of the Class 60s then under construction, all of the BR diesel locomotive fleet dated to the years before 1967. As a portent to the future, the first of the privately-owned Class 59s had been delivered. By the end of the decade, Britain’s railways had been privatised, vast numbers of Class 66s and 67s had been delivered and many of the traditional classes had been withdrawn in part or in whole. However, the privatised railway allowed for the growth of competition, particularly in the charter and freight businesses, with the result that myriad new liveries and operators appeared, many offering a second career to life-expired ex-BR diesel locomotives.
This new title caters for the demands of the growing band of dedicated diesel enthusiasts, and is a lively read fully illustrating the evolution of the country’s diesel locomotive fleet during this formative decade.
