STEAM : THE GRAND FINALE.

Guess what appeared on the shelves in my local WHSmiths yesterday........... Yes S:TGF #-o My Dad had a quick look and was very impressed. Oh well we'll just have to wait for our copies to come in the post next week.

 

Picked mine up in Chester yesterday. Wonderful detail of the last runs and some great pictures to match.

 

Got what appeared to be the last copy in WH Smith in Manchester on Friday very impressive publication with lots of photo's i haven't seen before unlike the other offering of which there were plenty of copies available. Pity the magazine isn't to the same high standard. ](*,)

 

Surprise surprise none up here in Inverness - so I just ordered online - waiting for it to turn up now......

 

Very detailed text. Some brilliant photo's all with extended captions. Well worth the money! Wasn't in WHS in Worcester over the weekend but only one copy last night. Which I bought. Highly recommended.

 

A question for those of you that have ordered the mag on-line. Have you actually got it in the post yet? I ordered 2 copies last Thursday but they haven't arrived yet. The British steam mag came really fast.

 

Ordered the same day, not got it yet.

 

I wonder what's going on there then? Perhaps they have got to print some more copies.

 

Not got mine yet - but we are well north so thats no surprise! :-k

 

Wahey!!!!! \/ It's arrived \/ I must say it's bloody good. I have been looking at it since I got home from work. An excellent tonic for a lousy day at work!
Stunning photography and from what I have read so far, great writing. Miles better than Fire and the British Steam one. Bravo to all involved for producing an excellent publication which has definitely been worth the wait. =D> =D> =D>

 

Arrived today a little worse for wear thanks to the Royal Mail but still an excellent product.

 

But, WHY is it only available in WHS town-centre branches? They don't even sell it at their railway station outlets!! WHY???
A book like this should be on sale everywhere - it's almost certainly the best publication by far, on the subject of 1968, currently available.

 

A little bird tells me that the author has several boxes of books that he will sell on to friends who know him and have found it sold-out elsewhere. For example, there are likely to be a few personally autographed copies remaining for sale at the next Stalybridge Station slide evening. (But you will have to be there to avail yourself of this unrepeatable offer.... and preferential service will be granted to those who also bring some slides to show!!)

 

I Did that last month - including one that I took almost forty years ago to the minute as I write.

5156 climbing up to Spring Vale with GC Enterprises return from Carnforth as Peter took notes. That was it. The book was closed. Neither the loco or the author made it to the 40th anniversary

That was it! - Daily working steam ended - what did we do for the next five years?

Established the foundations for where we are now - that's what we did!

We did it without H&SE, without TPWS without OTMR without FTR and MT76 and all the other bollix that now prevents perfectly respectable restorations from straying out from their private stamping grounds, or results in the "big" railway becoming the unusable railway - because grey little men with laptops, mobile phones and no professional calibre at all, think they know best.

 

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Weeks after "STEAM - THE GRAND FINALE" supposedly went on general sale, this remarkably informative and comprehensive publication is still an extremely rare bird to track down. Surely all copies could not have been snapped up immediately that they appeared .... could they?

Even if WH Smith HAD sold out so quickly, again, surely, one would have thought they would immediately have re-stocked. It is, however, not only this book that is not being displayed, for, in my local town-centre WHS, no other Mortons transport 'bookazines' have been seen for WEEKS ... and neither has "Fire" (- the equivalent offering from that other outfit).

After August 1968, naturally, the 40th Anniversary of the End of Steam is, arguably, the most significant railway event ever .... perhaps even surpassing Bold and Shildon!

"STEAM - THE GRAND FINALE" is also, by far, the most definitive account of it ever produced and, for the modest £7.99 demanded, is exceptional value - IF one is lucky enough to lay one's hands on a copy!!

Although these can still be obtained by post directly from the publisher (Mortons/Heritage Railway), the book is otherwise only on sale exclusively through WH Smith's stores - which is a great pity! I think it is now time for each and every one of us to visit our local WHS to enquire WHY do they persist in denying shelf-space to the 3 or 4 recent publications produced to commemorate such a landmark anniversary and that which, could, potentially, have been their best-selling railway publications for years.

 

There have been a number of copies in the Plymouth branch of WHS since release, and I noted there were a few copies in the Chichester branch while I was in there earlier.

Maybe it is more elusive in those areas with a greater number of people who were 'there'?

 

A book like this should be on sale everywhere - it's almost certainly the best publication by far, on the subject of 1968, currently available................
Weeks after it supposedly went on general sale, this remarkably informative and comprehensive publication is still an extremely rare bird to track down. Surely all copies could not have been snapped up immediately that they appeared .... could they?...............
"STEAM - THE GRAND FINALE" is also, by far, the most definitive account of it ever produced and, for the modest £7.99 demanded, is exceptional value - IF one is lucky enough to lay one's hands on a copy!!

Although I believe one well-known linesider was selling them at Copy Pit a few weeks back (just after 45407 had passed!) I managed to obtain my own copy from the author himself.
At the Lostock Hall MPD Enginemen's 40th Anniversary Re-union in Leyland a few weeks ago, Mr. C appeared to be doing furious business, with precious little effort necessary, in selling personally-inscribed editions. (And these, as he did point out, curiously were NOT defaced with the 'Exclusive to W.H.Smith' logo on the front cover, as appears on all the shop versions!)
Although he had quite a stock available himself, he believed that the book had otherwise totally sold-out in most towns surrounding the final three steam depots. This, I guess, was hardly surprising for, in my view, none of the other commemorative books produced this summer has even got close to the amount of detail that Steam-The Grand Finale contains!

 

Thanks for your kind comments, K25. Yes, I do still have 3 or 4 dozen spare copies available for sale, but they are going fast. Anyone having problems with WH Smugs and still needing a copy (and without the defacing 'exclusive to WHS' green roundel!) is invited to pm me for details on how to obtain one by post.

 

Noted 2 copies for sale in WHSmiths Cheltenham this Sunday (7th)