25 Years of Derek Cross Diesels 1959 to 1984

Physical meeting at Shenfield Parish Hall which will also be available on Zoom as a Hybrid Meeting.

David Cross will present some more of his father’s slides which this time will feature diesels photographed in England between the years 1959 and 1984.

Derek was a prolific photographer in the sixties and seventies but unlike many of his peers, he continued to take railway pictures after 1968 despite the demise of steam. The early 1960’s saw large numbers of very short life diesels and photos of many of these long forgotten classes are included in David’s presentation showing them at work and not just in a rusting line awaiting the cutter’s torch!  Diesel locos really got into their groove in the late 1960s and were to be found on all freight workings and away from the electrified lines, pretty much all long distance passenger services. Whilst many of the small BR modernisation prototype fleets were withdrawn by the 1970s, a great number of classes survived into the 1980s amd 1990s with some classes, all be it with new engines, still to be found on the network today.