Published in October 2020 by Pen & Sword and written by Fred Kerr, the landscape format hardback book measures around 279mm x 229mm, has 160 pages, and 252 colour illustrations. It has a published price of £30 and at the time of writing it can be obtained from Amazon for £21.24.
The author's lifelong interest in railways began in the early 1950s the in the 1970s he took up photography as a serious interest. He has spent time working for the renowned railway photographer Colin Garratt, and Colin's inspiration shows through in many of the book's photographs, with many historic railway scenes during the railway's transition in both its structures and operations.
With three sections the book has a logical division of content. Section 1 “Locomotive Operations” has four sub-sections covering Locomotive Operators, Locomotive Deliveries, Customer Liveries, and Operating Regions.
Section 2 “UK Regions” has ten sub-sections covering ten regions of the UK from Eastern Region South, through Yorkshire & Lincolnshire, Northern England, LM Region South, LM Region North & West, Wales and Borders, Thames and Cotswolds, Wessex and West Country, South and South-East, and Scotland.
Section 3 is a brief two-page tribute to the final Class 66, No 66779 Evening Star, and includes a striking photo of when it was displayed alongside its namesake Class 9F 2-10-0 No. 92220 Evening Star.
Many Class 66 locomotives have undergone multiple changes of ownership since being delivered to the UK. Although some details of such changes are explained in Section 1, in a book such as this, I would have expected more explicit detail. Although” Locomotive Deliveries” does include a table detailing each locomotive's original operator, it would have been helpful to have a similar table detailing each locomotive's subsequent change of operator.
The rear cover lists topics covered in the book, one of which is “Identifies the wide range of freight services hauled by class members.”
The first thing that struck me about the book is the title's brevity, without any explanation of what aspects of the class the book covers. Given the content and numerous photographs, it would seem that the title should at least provide a hint as to what lies inside.
Trying to photograph trains on today's electrified lines is often hampered by the infrastructure supporting the overhead lines. The left page below proves the exception as the author has used the mass of overhead lines and supports to enhance the photo.
The top caption on the right page below highlights the problems faced when describing a Class 66, as it details a complex ownership trail, showing a locomotive in Colas livery that was originally delivered to DRS, then re-leased to Advenza Freight, sub-leased to GB Railfreight, then sub-leased to Colas.
Whilst many railway photographers prefer their subjects to be in pristine condition, during the autumn many Class 66 locomotives are used on Railhead Treatment Trains, which very soon result in them displaying an incredibly grimy appearance, as on the lower-left page below.
Section 2 has ten sub-sections covering different regions of the UK. The first page of each sub-section includes a brief description of the boundaries of the geographic area covered, as seen in the introduction at the top of the right page below.
The author's experience in working with renowned railway photographer Colin Gifford shines through in the pages illustrating the Forth Bridge, where the trains are incidental accessories to the overall landscape.
In summary, to produce a photograph album devoted to a single class of locomotives is a challenge that the author, Fred Kerr, has answered superbly. What could have been a succession of similar shots is, instead, an excellent selection of photographs taken in locations across the whole of the UK, from Cornwall in the south west to the Highlands of Scotland. While many of the subjects carry the livery of their original owner, EWS, there are also a large selection of other operators' liveries. The author has also taken advantage of the book's landscape format by presenting a large proportion of the photos at whole page size. This is a fine tribute the Class 66, and is highly recommended.
The book is available to purchase from Amazon and from Pen & Sword.
RailAdvent would like to thank Pen & Sword for providing RailAdvent with a copy of the book for review.
