A personal appreciation of the Great Western Railway `Castle’ Class locomotive by Roger Griffiths. The story of the class is told through a series of high quality black & white photographs, accompanied by detailed captions containing historical and anecdotal information.
The book begins with a brief look at the predecessors of the Castles – the `Star’ Class, and also looks at locomotives rebuilt as Castles. This is followed by the main section of the book which looks at the development of the Castle Class and reviews their lives in service with GWR and later British Railways.
Towards the end of the book, the author moves on to look at locomotives on shed and under repair, Castle record holders, allocations, royal train duties and at some of the names applied to Castle Class locomotives. Various personal recollections are also included, before finally moving on to railtours and locomotives in preservation.
Over 150 illustrations. 96 pages.