• Details of visits to locomotive shed and works in the 1950s
  
  
• All locomotive photographs are from the author's own archive
  
  
• All photographs are previously unpublished
  
  
• How locospotters viewed events such as the Modernisation Plan

Geoff Bannister took up locospotting at a young age and joined a small group of fellow enthusiasts who met regularly by the lineside at Clapham Junction. For ten years. he avidly followed locospotting and until the mid-1950s. his hobby was centred close to London due to his age and money restrictions. expect for rare trips further afield.

In A London Locospotter Reflects: Memories of Black and White Days. Bannister describes his experiences: visiting stations; lineside watching. bunking sheds; and making official trips to depots and works. He gives the reader a spotter's-eye view of the changes to British railways at the time with new steam locomotives arriving. the early days of the Modernisation Plan. and witnessing elderly locomotives at the end of their service life.

Towards the end of this period. he acquired his first camera and uses these photographs. some of them taken later. to illustrate his exploits in the early years of his hobby.

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A young locomotive enthusiast's personal experiences of British railways in the mid- to late 1950s.
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A young locomotive enthusiast's personal experiences of British railways in the mid- to late 1950s.
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Geoff Bannister grew up in Burnley. Lancashire. and moved to London at the age of nine. He remained in the area for forty-five years. retiring to Minehead in 1994 after working in a secondary school teaching mathematics and computing for over thirty years. He has been interested in transport from about the age of seven and other interests include dog walking. photography. classical music and computing. Bannister is a committed Christian and has worked with young people in Baptist churches in Wandsworth and Minehead.

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[collection]railways[/collection][addtocart_collection]railways[/addtocart_collection][collection.author]geoff-bannister[/collection.author]