That Was The Year That Was: 1966

1966 was a busy year for Geoff whilst still a schoolboy, covering a considerable amount of the country. This includes scenes on various North Wales Narrow Gauge Lines and the Cambrian Coast, holidays in the north west of England and several RCTS railtours. These include the ’Somerset & Dorset Farewell’, the ‘Longmoor Military Railtour’ (which ran twice), the ‘Eight Counties Railtour’ and ‘East Midlander No. 7’. A couple of visits to Crewe Works, Southern Region steam and lines out of Marylebone, a smattering of London Transport steam and scenes around Chester and Birkenhead – the vast majority of photos in colour.

Geoff Plumb is a lifelong railway enthusiast, born in Sheffield in March 1949. From an early age he took thousands of photos, the vast majority in colour, documenting the decline and fall of steam locomotives. Geoff’s interest in photography led to his forty plus years career in Television, starting with London Weekend TV as a cameraman in 1968, later with Granada TV and finally as a freelance ‘lighting cameraman’. Many of Geoff’s photos have been published in magazines such as The Railway Magazine and Steam World, and in books including Red Panniers – Last Steam on the Underground. The Royal Mail has even used a couple of his photos on specialist stamp issues! Geoff has an active photo gallery website at: www.plumbloco.co.uk where many of his pictures can be seen.