Bøger af Don Benn

This 106 page book is a pictorial appreciation of Bulleid's pacifics featuring the 31 such locomotives which have survived scrapping and are now either active or are awaiting restoration or overhaul. This is my personal contribution to the 50th anniversary of the end of Southern steam in July 1967 and as such is limited to my own collection of images plus a few from Bob Randall ranging from black and white or colour shots of each of the engines in service in the 1960s through to colour slides or black and white shots of them of them in subsequent years and finally digital shots in the post 2005 era.

2nd Edition on higher quality interior paper. In the 1960s the Southern Region offered three local Area Rail Rovers each valid for a day within a defined area at a cost of 10 shillings (50p today). To us hard up youngsters these tickets were too good to miss and the Area 2 Rover in particular was a big attraction as it covered the South Western main line from Waterloo to Woking as well as the Guildford to Redhill line, the latter being 100% steam worked until the end of 1964. The line from Waterloo of course carried the steam hauled trains from Waterloo to Basingstoke, Salisbury and Southampton and beyond, many of which stopped at Woking and so were ideal for us ardent train bashers. I have lost track of how many of these tickets I bought but a dozen survive in my ticket collection spanning the years from 1960 to 1964. The tickets I bought in the spring of 1964 were mainly to time the train running of steam hauled trains into and out of Waterloo and to photograph them on the main line as far as Woking whilst it was still almost entirely a steam worked main line. This little book tells the story of those day trips. These days out wetted my appetite to seek out loco performance further afield, which I had already been sampling since 1961 anyway and the full story of the last few years of Southern steam is told in my book ''Southern Steam Twilight''-The Untold Story'', to be published by Pen & Sword. This little book of 48 pages, size 8 x 10 inches contains 38 train running logs, descriptive text and 37 black and white images. This is the revised edition using higher quality paper compared to the first edition.

This book is Part B of a sequel to my first book published by Pen & Sword at the end of June 2017 entitled 'A Biography of British Train Travel'. Part A covered some Southern Region topics and also included chapters on the Vordenberg Rack Line in Austria and a journey to seek out the last of Spanish and Portuguese steam in 1974. That is where Part B takes up the story with the very last of British working steam-the NCB collieries-before recording the narrow gauge scene in France and the twilight of German steam. Then it is on to the flourishing British heritage era with photographs and running logs behind some of my favourite locomotives. This book is 88 pages and is illustrated throughout with high quality colour and black and white photographs

This book is Part A of a sequel to my first book published by Pen & Sword at the end of June 2017 entitled 'A Biography of British Train Travel'. In a varied summary of my lifetime of steam locomotive photography and travel it epitomises my love of steam and contains chapters on steam in Great Britain and Europe, including an extensive travel log of my journey to seek out the last of Spanish and Portuguese steam in the 1970s. This book has 90 pages and is profusely illustrated throughout with high quality colour and black and white photographs

This book is the Supplement to 'Twilight of Southern Steam -The Untold Story 1965-1967', published by Pen & Sword. That book told the full story of those last frantic 30 months and is first and foremost the story of the enginemen and their steeds which brought the steam era to an end on the Southern. It is therefore primarily about locomotive performance but enlivened by stories about how that was achieved and also about the band of young men who followed the exploits of men and machines day and night over those last two years. There are chapters about the locomotives and enginemen, followed by a chapter covering each of the years 1965, 1966 and 1967 plus a chapter about life on the footplate. It contains about 80 train running logs, 150 photographs and 52 other tables. In order that the book could be contained to a reasonable size and to ensure it flows nicely and appeals to the more general rail enthusiast, the number of train running logs was restricted and a decision made to publish this Supplement containing approximately 450 performance tables, including the 80 from the original book and more than 130 which were received too late to be included in the original book, together with a mainly fresh set of images and some limited text. This is the resulting book which will appeal mainly to the train timing fraternity. All of the logs have been checked for authenticity and accuracy and it is quite astonishing that such high levels of certainty were achieved in pre GPS days, mainly using 1/10th second stopwatches and the tiny LSWR mileposts. Many quite ordinary logs are included as well as some off he well beaten track of the main line. It is intended to be THE definite work on the subject and it's doubtful if any significant train performances are missing, such was the depth of research behind this book. What is quite clear is that the loco performances and high speed exploits were unequalled anywhere else and were a remarkable tribute to the enginemen and their locomotives.

After the end of steam on the Southern in July 1967, the author concentrated primarily on recording the Southern scene, to start with in black and white and then from 1972 in colour.

Biography of British train travel from the 1950s to present day.