Though British Rail had dispensed with steam locomotives by 1968, the
greatest changes to the capital's railways occurred afterwards. In the
early years of the 1970s much of the network was run down and some parts
not expected to survive. Non-corridor passenger stock, all painted in
drab blue, dominated suburban services. Inter-city routes had
loco-hauled stock in blue and grey. Many lines were still controlled by
semaphore signals. Much needed investment came in the form of
electrification, with, for example, the Great Northern route. The famous
InterCity 125 became the standard train for the longer distance
services. Over the last fifty years London has seen great changes in its
railway network. Some lines have closed, like Broad Street, but when
this has occurred it is usually to facilitate improvements nearby. New
rolling stock has transformed passenger services - who would have
thought that five-car trains would be running on a rejuvenated North
London Line, once the haunt of the old class 501 units? John Law has
been living in the South East since 1970, with much of his time spent
working on the railway. He took an enormous amount of photographs over
those years, sometimes in places inaccessible to the public. In this
book he takes us to the major terminals, the far-flung branches and the
many depots. He shows us vanished scenes and the latest developments,
including those on the London Underground and the Dockland Light
Railway.
