Home Page      

Autobiography / Biography   Travel / Places   Cooking / Food   Fashion / Health / Beauty   Other / General / Self-Help   Crafts / Home Improvement   Humor   Blog
Wildlife Greeting Cards

China - The World's Last Steam Railway - A Photographic Essay
by John Tickner, Gordon Edgar, and Adrian Freeman
AAPPL Artists' and Photographers' Press Ltd
ISBN 978-1904332800
Published May 2008 - Hardcover - 176 pages - $34.95

If you're a regular to my website, you'll know I love train travel.  Although I've not done too much train travel in Europe, and certainly never in China, I nevertheless remain interested.  The steam trains featured in this book, predominantly work trains, are all but a thing of the the past around the world.  So, when enthusiasts discover steam trains still in operation, no doubt their excitement goes into overdrive.  Even though China is modernizing, and they are taking more to electric and diesel run trains, they still use steam trains in industry and on some passenger lines.  This book covers steam trains they came across in, among other places, Tonghua, Hunjiang, and many Southern and Central China cities and towns.  I loved the anecdotes of the intrepid travelers and photographers.  It's these things that make travel so exciting and rewarding.  The pictures in this book are ones the photographers took from March 1977 to January 2007, and mostly in winter as you'll see.  Some of my favorite photos are on pages 15, 77, 117, and 152.
Conclusion - An exquisite collection of scarce and unusual photographs, worthy of any train lover's coffee table.