Firing the Flying Scotsman and Other Great Locomotives

Life on the Footplate in the Last Years of Steam

Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Transportation, Railroads, History, Fiction & Literature, Essays & Letters, Essays
Cover of the book Firing the Flying Scotsman and Other Great Locomotives by Ken Issitt, Chris Bates, The History Press
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Author: Ken Issitt, Chris Bates ISBN: 9780752490472
Publisher: The History Press Publication: July 1, 2012
Imprint: The History Press Language: English
Author: Ken Issitt, Chris Bates
ISBN: 9780752490472
Publisher: The History Press
Publication: July 1, 2012
Imprint: The History Press
Language: English

An ex-railwayman’s recollections of working the footplate on fast express steam trains in the late 1940s and through the ’50sFast train fireman Ken Issitt worked on the footplate from the late 1940s to 1960, experiencing firing some of the greatest locomotives from the Flying Scotsman to Coltimore and Blink Bonney. The work was hard and conditions were tough but little did he know at the time that he was experiencing the last years of steam. He would never have imagined the romantic associations the period evokes today. Through a number of short accounts the past comes vividly to life, via stories about train crashes, peasoup fogs, and fires going out. From the beginning of a shift, donning overalls and making up a packing, and from shunting in the marshalling yard to flying along with an express train at 80mph. Ken Issitt describes what life on the footplate was like across the last years of steam, his tales beautifully brought to life by Chris Bates’s charming pen and ink drawings as well as photographs.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

An ex-railwayman’s recollections of working the footplate on fast express steam trains in the late 1940s and through the ’50sFast train fireman Ken Issitt worked on the footplate from the late 1940s to 1960, experiencing firing some of the greatest locomotives from the Flying Scotsman to Coltimore and Blink Bonney. The work was hard and conditions were tough but little did he know at the time that he was experiencing the last years of steam. He would never have imagined the romantic associations the period evokes today. Through a number of short accounts the past comes vividly to life, via stories about train crashes, peasoup fogs, and fires going out. From the beginning of a shift, donning overalls and making up a packing, and from shunting in the marshalling yard to flying along with an express train at 80mph. Ken Issitt describes what life on the footplate was like across the last years of steam, his tales beautifully brought to life by Chris Bates’s charming pen and ink drawings as well as photographs.

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