Return to the era when rail blue ruled supreme on the railways of Britain, when a wide variety of British-built trains operated from the highlands of Scotland, through the now vanished industrial north and midlands, through the Welsh valleys, across the suburban networks of the south-east, and through the picturesque West Country. In the dying days of British steam, the British Rail Design Research Unit in the 1960s introduced a modern new blue livery for diesel and electric locomotive;, blue and grey for coaching stock, blue for suburban stock, and the now iconic double-arrow symbol. Having lived through this lost era, Mark Jamieson provides a nostalgic and affectionate record of British Rail during the rail blue years. Illustrated throughout and with detailed captions, this is a comprehensive account of when the livery ruled the rails.

From a family with a railway background, it was inevitable that Mark Jamieson would develop the “bug”. A railway enthusiast from an early age with an interest in photography, he was born and bred in Dorset.