![British Diesel Locomotives of the 1950s and '60s (Shire Library)](http://monsterbookshop.co.uk/cdn/shop/files/9781784420338_a2deaf4e-760b-416c-a2e6-49f1cfa62d57.jpg?v=1714363046&width=1445)
After the Second World War, the drive for the modernisation of Britain's railways ushered in a new breed of locomotive: the Diesel. Diesel-powered trains had been around for some time, but faced with a coal crisis and the Clean Air Act in the 1950s, it was seen as a part of the solution for British Rail. This beautifully illustrated book, written by an expert on rail history, charts the rise and decline of Britain's diesel-powered locomotives. It covers a period of great change and experimentation, where the iconic steam engines that had dominated for a century were replaced by a series of modern diesels including the ill-fated 'Westerns' and the more successful 'Deltics'.