The Last Years of Carlisle Steam

- Blurb -

Mention the name Carlisle to any steam enthusiast of a certain age and they will probably conjure up an image of bygone days when Stanier and Gresley pacifics rubbed shoulders alongside each other within Citadel station whilst waiting to relieve incoming titled trains such as the Royal Scot and the Waverley. Such scenes, in addition to steam locomotives threading their way across a network of goods lines, and the city' s three surviving motive power depots, were all subjects captured on film by a number of young enthusiasts who lived in Carlisle during the final years of steam. It is the work of those cameramen, aided by others who visited the area, that will offer the reader an insight as to the variety that still prevailed at Carlisle during that time. Looking slightly further afield, images are also included which feature locomotives working hard on those steeply graded lines that radiated from the city towards summits with names to capture the enthusiast' s imagination, such as Shap, Beattock, Whitrope, and Ais Gill. This book, which illustrates in depth one of the country' s major steam centres, contains more than two-hundred photographs, presented in both color and black and white, the majority of which have not been published previously. AUTHOR: Howard Routledge was born in Carlisle and started photographing steam locomotives in his home city and beyond from 1963. A career with Carlisle police began in 1964, from which he has now retired. He became involved in railway preservation and steam activities in 1985 and is a former vice chairman of the Princess Royal Class Locomotive Trust, which was responsible for the running of four ex British Railways steam locomotives, including Stanier Pacific' s Princess Margaret Rose, and Duchess of Sutherland. 200 colour and b/w illustrations, station map