Books by George Woods

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 This book of mostly unpublished colour photographs, taken by George Woods between 1966 until 2019, show the locos hauling a variety of trains all over the BR system.

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 This book of mostly unpublished colour photographs from the collection of George Woods shows them in service all over the BR system from 1966 to 2019 working a wide variety of trains, both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.

An evocative collection of photographs documenting the final days of steam on the railways of North East England.