Lawrence Marshall visited India no less than twenty-five times between 1970 and 1994 and photographed steam traction in almost every Indian state. Following his much acclaimed book covering the Indian narrow gauge this book describes and illustrates his travels and experiences on the Indian metre gauge. A substantial number of designs are depicted both in colour and monochrome and many British locomotive builders products are illustrated. The book also covers metre gauge industrial railways where, again, British built locomotives feature strongly. A considerable number of these pictures were taken during his eight group visits to India, no effort was spared by Indian Railways to help with unusual requests as the pictures show from time to time. With steam traction just a memory on the Indian metre gauge this book forms a fitting tribute to the great days of steam locomotives running on the "sub-standard gauge". Many of the lines themselves have now been converted to broad gauge whilst others have been closed. Included in the book are full details of the metre gauge locomotives that worked on seven of the nine zonal railways during the time of Lawrence's visits plus lists of all the Indian Railway standard (IBS) designs and the later standard classes. Detailed maps showing the extent of the metre gauge in 1975 and 2001 are included plus a further map showing the locations of the various metre gauge locomotive depots. For purposes of comparison some interesting archive pictures also appear in the book plus some original manufacturers illustrations.
Hardback, 216pp, 235x174mm casebound, with full colour dust jacket, illustrated throughout with 240+ black & white / colour photographs and maps.
1SBN 1 871980 54 2