Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Nice book in great condition. Pages in excellent condition. No notes or highlighting. See images. Fantastic book.

About the book >.>.> One of the delights of my footplate career was the mess room chatter. I never failed to become absorbed with interest when listening to senior Drivers arguing the pros and cons of various steam locomotive types their exploits out on the road or reminiscing about bygone days on the railway. During some 45 years friendship for 5 of which I was his regular Fireman Donald Beale’s stories have given me many happy hours. Whilst researching for my books “Footplate over the Mendips” and “Mendips Engineman” Donald was a mine of information using both his long memory and copious notes. I was unable to use all this information within my books and when I heard that the Trust were intending to produce a book on Donald’s anecdotes I gladly offered the notes I had in my possession. This completely revised edition adds to those notes by taking extracts of some of the stories that Donald subsequently provided to the Trust for publication in their bi-monthly magazine. None of the stories are new to me my having heard them in the mess room or by being personally involved as Donald’s Fireman; in setting them down on paper in his own inimitable way he adds an added fascination and freshness to those adventures. First Brian Macdermott as the then Trust’s Publications Manager and now John Baxter the Trust’s Chairman have skilfully edited and interwoven these tales to produce as near as possible a chronological sequence to Donald’s adventures on the footplate. John tells me that he would have loved to be a fly on the footplate when we were together so much has he enjoyed putting the new book together!