The 55-mile rail route between Birmingham and Oxford is still an important artery for the Nation's passenger and freight traffic. Trains from the north of England routed through Birmingham can gain direct access southwards to Reading, and thereby to the south coast. The photographs in this book, though, recall a time up to the mid-1960s when it was an altogether different railway. These were the dying days of steam and of equipment and working practices developed from Victorian times. An informative, accessible and portable resource for the train enthusiast as well as the general reader, and a superb souvenir or gift for visitors past and present. AUTHOR: Roger Norfolk's interest in railways dates from the mid-1950s where the playground talk on a Monday was of the weekend of train spotting by the local main line. Ha later became a keen photographer, an interest maintained to this day. For many years he contributed to the SVR house magazine and has written articles for other magazines following his role as the driver of the Flying Scotsman on the BBC 4 TV documentary, Flying Scotsman From the Footplate.
