The late 1970s and 1980s will be remembered as a time of turmoil in Britain. But against a background of economic and cultural instability, the railways saw revived demand and started to rise from the ashes of the contraction of the 1960s. A legion of rail fans who never knew the exit of steam watched with the same melancholy eyes as the last Western and Deltic diesels were retired in favour of the HSTs and Class 47s. From Weymouth to Aberdeen and from Yarmouth to Aberystwyth, John Evans tells the story in colour of the decline of the old goods train, the advent of bold new liveries and the domination of the HST units. He also examines the growing importance of heritage lines and the end of many familiar diesel types, such as the Peaks, Westerns and Deltics. Following his previous volume looking at the years from 1965 to 1975, John Evans records the way in which Britain’s railways moved from the post-steam era to the foundations of the railway system we know today.

Having a father who ran a shop selling model railways probably sealed the fate of John Evans as a railway enthusiast. Spending all his money - and rather too much of his time - amassing a collection of railway pictures, he fortunately stored them carefully away. 'My education was undertaken at Northampton engine shed,' he jokes. He now lives in West Yorkshire and still ventures regularly to the lineside.