Confessions of an Amateur Railwayman

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Confessions of an Amateur Railwayman
Confessions of an Amateur Railwayman For countless schoolboys growing up after World War 2 there was but one dream: to drive steam engines on the main lines! Now the story of one who did it very often – but without official permission – can be told. Most did not achieve this ambition, but one of the very few who did was Christopher Tanous. The Westminster School boy was regularly to be found in the cab of locomotives in and around West London – and elsewhere – until the end of British Railways’ steam in the late 1960s. Not only did he ride on the footplate but he became an accomplished driver, even once being left in sole charge of a big locomotive shunting a major London station for half an hour while the official crew were away. Today such things are unthinkable, but almost 60 years ago the author was helped by the final generation of mainline steam locomotive men to develop skills which have stood him in good stead ever since, as a volunteer driver on several of Britain’s preserved ‘heritage’ railway lines. His exploits – including many hours working signal boxes – are now revealed in a brand-new book from Shrewdale Publishing – his second one. * Comprehensively illustrated with photographs which the author took at the time, supplemented by superb images by some of the best-known railway photographers of the era, Confessions of an Amateur Railwayman is a fascinating account of an amateur’s remarkable exploration of a railway scene which was once so familiar but is now long gone.