MANY readers will surely have fond memories of the last few years of steam trains back in the 1960s.

This week we feature four lovely images taken at the time by two keen railway enthusiast photographers. The late Dave Salmon took the pictures at Woking station, while Richard Greenwood MBE was at Byfleet & New Haw station.

1. With safety valve blowing, S15 Class 30826 approaches the junction at Byfleet & New Haw station with a freight train from Salisbury to Feltham Yard on Saturday 22 July 1961. Built by the Southern Railway at Eastleigh Works in 1927 as No. 826, she was allocated to Exmouth Junction and then Salisbury in 1950, where she remained until withdrawal from service in December 1962.

2. Lord Nelson Class 30861 Lord Anson thunders through Byfleet & New Haw station with a special Boat Train service from London Waterloo to the Ocean Liner Terminal at Southampton Old Docks on Saturday 22 July 1961. Built by the Southern Railway at Eastleigh Works in 1929 as No. 861, she was allocated to Nine Elms, Bournemouth and finally Eastleigh for working heavy passenger trains.  She was withdrawn from service in October 1962.  Only one of this class has been preserved: No. 850 Lord Nelson which resides on the Mid-Hants Railway.

3. With steam power is in its last few weeks on the Southern Region of British Railways, a lot of attention is drawn to rebuilt Battle of Britain Class 34090 Sir Eustace Missenden, Southern Railway as she runs into Woking with the 10.30am London Waterloo to Bournemouth service on Saturday 3 June 1967. Young trainspotters and old signalmen alike will remember those days for the rest of their lives.

4. BR Standard Class 5MT 73118 runs into Woking with an up Bournemouth passenger service to London Waterloo on Saturday 3 June 1967.  Already stripped earlier of her nameplate King Leodegrance she is now missing her smokebox number and shed-plate as well.  In the foreground, a Plassermatic lining machine (used for re-aligning long-welded rail) waits for signals on the down slow line.

Richard was born and grew up in Rochdale, Lancashire, and has loved trains since he was a boy. He was awarded an MBE in 2000 for services to steam railway preservation, being a director of the heritage Keighley & Worth Valley Railway for over 30 years.

Guildford-born Dave Salmon took thousands of railway photographs from the late 1950s up until a few years before he died in 2015. His good friend, retired railwayman and author Geoff Burch, of Worplesdon, is the custodian of Dave’s huge photographic archive.

A DVD containing more than 800 of Dave’s railway photos taken in the days of steam at Woking, Guildford and other parts of the UK, along with post-steam era pictures at the heritage Bluebell Railway and Mid-Hants Railway, is now available.

For further details, visit Geoff’s website www.ramblingrailwayman.co.uk or call him on 07710 094113. Dave Salmon, A Man and his Camera, Part 1 – Railways, a double DVD set with a running time of 3hr 12min, is available for £14.95 (plus £2 postage and packing) through the website.

If  you have some memories or old pictures relating to the Woking area, call David Rose on 01483 838960, or drop a line to the News & Mail.

David Rose is a local historian and writer who specialises in what he calls “the history within living memory” of people, places and events in the west Surrey area covering towns such as Woking and Guildford. He collects old photos and memorabilia relating to the area and the subject, and regularly gives illustrated local history talks to groups and societies. For enquiries and bookings please phone or email him at: [email protected]