Search results for ""Author George Woods""

George Woods celebrates the second generation of DMUs on the British rail network.

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Diesel trains had been introduced even before the announcement of the British Railways modernisation plan in 1955. The first was the BR Derby Lightweight design of 1954, followed by the Metro-Cammell trains in 1955. The Derby units were placed in service in the West Riding of Yorkshire on many services around Leeds and Bradford. They were an instant success, these new cleaner and faster trains increasing traffic levels on all the routes that they were used on. This led to BR introducing similar types of this train all over the BR system. These were built by many different companies and used on services varying from city commuter trains to middle-distance mainline workings. George Woods illustrates the trains in service from Perth down to Cornwall and Workington to Hull between 1966 and 1985 through a fine collection of previously unpublished photographs.

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In 1968 British Rail introduced a prototype train that would revolutionise rail travel, and form the backbone not only of BR services, but those of the companies that took over after the privatisation of the railways in 1994. This, of course, was the High Speed Train, which introduced 125 mph speeds to the UK and cut journey times as never before. Other fast diesels such as the Class 220 and Class 180 followed, but none have had the impact or long-term success of the 125. The latest Azuma trains, at the current forefront of high-speed travel, are also featured.

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In September 1967 the last steam locos finished operations in the North East – the area where it had all begun 142 years before. The last trains ran from the engine sheds at Sunderland, Tyne Dock and West Hartlepool, and were hauling coal from collieries to industrial sites, power stations and docks for export or transport by coaster to ports in the south of England. The traffic had hardly changed as the original railways were built to transport coal, only the distance the coal travelled was now greater. Even the means of moving coal had not changed greatly – most coal was moved in trains of wagons capable of carrying 16 or 21-ton loads and some of these were hauled by 0-6-0 locos. This book of colour photographs shows scenes from the last two years of steam operations in and around Tyneside and Wearside, including locos in service with the National Coal Board at various collieries and the Doxford shipyard at Sunderland.

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In the 1970s the introduction of the merry-go-round coal trains required a far more powerful loco, leading to the 3300 hp Class 56 being built. For general freight services, the Class 60 was developed. Both these types suffered from reliability problems in their early years. Several large stone companies in Somerset became frustrated with the constant loco problems that BR were having and decided to order their own locos, choosing General Motors in the USA to supply them. This resulted in the Class 59, which started service in 1986 and proved to be so effective that other Railfreight operators followed suit and ordered what became Class 66. Eventually, more than 400 entered service. This book of mostly unpublished colour photographs, taken by George Woods between 1966 until 2019, show the locos hauling a variety of trains all over the BR system.

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Before the West Coast Route electrification was completed in 1966, the electric locomotive was quite a rare beast on Britain’s railways, with the exception of the Manchester to Sheffield service that had been electrified from 1954. There were plenty of EMUs running on suburban systems around large cities and in the south of England, but otherwise steam was king. This all changed when BR announced their Modernisation plan in 1955, which envisaged that steam locos would be replaced by diesel and electric traction by around 1975. The aim was to have all the main lines and the busiest suburban services electrified using the 25,000-volt system with overhead wires rather than the third rail system used on existing electrified routes. This book of largely unpublished colour photographs by George Woods aims to show the different electric locomotive types used on the BR network since 1966, and the variety of trains that they hauled.

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English Electric built their first diesel loco in 1936 and, before the company closed in 1968, built thousands of diesel and electric locos that saw service all over the world. They were among the companies chosen by BR to build prototype diesel locos for the Modernisation Scheme of 1955, which would see the replacement of steam traction by diesels and electrics. Locos were built to suit a wide variety of duties, some remaining in everyday service fifty years later. This book of mostly unpublished colour photographs from the collection of George Woods shows them in service all over the BR system from 1966 to 2019 working a wide variety of trains, both passenger and freight, in the great variety of liveries they wore both during their BR service and in later years under private ownership.

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