My latest completed proofreading project for Pen & Sword Books has been a mammoth manuscript, the subject being the time spent working in British industry by the Class 14 diesel-hydraulic Type 1 locomotives. I understand that this is the second book in this series (Locomotive Portfolios) about the 14s, and it charts the time these engines spent working (mostly) for the National Coal Board and steel industry from the late 1960s to the late 1980s. Author Anthony Sayer has completed a most comprehensive study of these tough little machines, with much research undertaken to back up a wide variety of pictures taken in many different locations. Whilst these engines have been written off by many people as an expensive failure during their time on BR (due to the work that they were designed for being phased out at the time of their introduction), they gave much good service to the coal and steel industries. Mr Sayer notes that nineteen of these engines have survived into preservation – enough scope for a third volume?
