IN a feast of railway nostalgia, Main Line Diesel Locomotives celebrates the history of British-built main line diesel locomotives constructed between 1947 and 1997.

Written by railway author and photographer, John Vaughan, this gloriously illustrated book features locomotives from the whole of mainland Britain.

It places particular emphasis on the years from 1968, when steam ended on British Railways, to the arrival of the 'new generation' of North American diesels at the end of the 1990s.

The authoritative text is supported by more than 300 photographs of British-built diesels hauling an almost infinite variety of trains. These have been taken by some of the UK's top railway photographers and — in many cases — are now published for the first time.

The book also includes an historical account of the changes to railway infrastructure that occurred over half a century and describes the impact of such events as the 1955 British Railways modernisation scheme and its early attempt to eliminate steam.

Since John Vaughan's first book was published in 1968 he has gone on to write more than 40 railway titles in the past four decades, specialising in diesel traction in Cornwall.

He is a the former editor of Modern Railways Pictorial Magazine. Main Line Diesel Locomotives is available in hardback priced at £30. ISBN: 978 1 84425 690 7.

John Hutchins