After the end of steam operation on the railways in Britain in the late 1960s, railway photographer John Whiteley travelled the world in search of the last years of steam on railways overseas. In this book he presents his photographs of the final years of steam working on the railways across the globe from West Germany, France, Austria, Italy, Czechoslovakia and Portugal to India, South Africa, Turkey and China, as well as some pictures of steam entering the preservation era in Ukraine and the USA. The images are mostly from the late 1960s through to the late 1970s, but a few are included from the 1980s to early 2000s. All capture the glorious swansong of steam railways overseas in their myriad fascinating and varied settings and landscapes.

This photographic survey of the last years of steam-operated railways around the world will appeal to all those with an interest in the history of railways and those who are nostalgic about the end of steam.