The Last Days of Steam Around Nottingham and Derby

Bill Reed, now 79, and a former fire-man on steam locomotives, delves deep into his archive to present us with a selection of the black and white pictures he took around his native Nottingham and nearby Derby between 1951 and 1966.

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Bill Reed's excellent pin-sharp pictures have been showcased in four previous Fonthill publications: Working and Preserved Industrial Locomotives; British Railways Steam; BR Steam in Colour; and The West Coast Lines. In this lavishly illustrated book he is firmly on home territory featuring the black and white pictures he took around his native Nottingham as well as in nearby Derby. Born in 1933, Bill, an ex fireman on steam locomotives and a driver on diesel electrics, shows some of his early pictures from 1951 as well as the many hundreds he took up until around 1966 when steam was fading rapidly. Over two hundred pictures are illustrated and were chosen from over six hundred. Many were taken in areas and from vantage points long since gone, the sites barely recognisable today. Bill always prided himself on having a 'good' camera in the days when it was not commonplace for the ordinary working man to have one and this shows in the pictures reproduced here. It is also remarkable that he had good access to his subjects unhindered by red tape or regulations.All this adds up to Bill providing us with a unique and personal glimpse into the last days of steam around Nottingham and Derby.