West Scotland Steam Railway....

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W A C ‘Bill’ Smith was a prolific photographer of steam locomotives, as well as Clyde Steamers and Trams. He travelled extensively throughout Scotland during the 1950s and 1960s recording the changes as the older pre-grouping steam classes disappeared, to be replaced by the new Standard types and even more modern diesel power.

His photographs also depict much of the infrastructure which was similarly being demolished or replaced at the same time, as well the environment through which steam railways passed, ranging from Glasgow tenements, through wild moorlands to dramatic Highland scenes.
His other claim to fame was as the organiser of many rail tours which covered Scotland during the same period, often covering backwaters and lightly used branch or freight lines.

Bill’s images encompass much variety, from graceful 4-4-0s, often in beautifully clean conditions, to the work-stained Caledonian and North British 0-6-0s, many of which, after long working lives, ended their days carrying out the same duties for which they were designed – hauling coal trains around the unsung and little-photographed colliery and steelworks lines of Lanarkshire and Ayrshire.

The workhorses of passenger traffic – LNER’s B1s, V2s and LMS Black 5s, as well as examples of express passenger power from both companies and the newer BR standard types, are also portrayed, along with out-of-the-public-eye industrial steam workings. Bill’s photos are brought to life with captions written by the three compilers, all of whom have first-hand experience of railway operations in Western Scotland