In 1987, the original Oxford Publishing Company produced an amalgam of two paperback books written by former Branksome fireman Peter Smith. Mendips Engineman and Footplate over the Mendips told the story of a young railway fireman and his driver Donald Beale. Enthralling the reader with stories of working trains over the old Somerset & Dorset line, the two books encompassed not just ordinary workings, but also early footplate experiences of Peter's own railway career, driving the very last northbound 'Pines Express' in 1962. This edition contains the complete original text and also includes a new set of black and white images with which to illustrate what remains a still lamented cross-country railway. The Somerset and Dorset: From the Footplate is a book to be savored, not just by those who remember this line, but by a whole generation of railway enthusiasts.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Content
• Acknowledgements
• 1986 Acknowledgements
• Preface to Combined Edition
• MENDIPS ENGINEMAN
  • Preface
  • Chapter One Setting the Scene
  • Chapter Two My Firing Career Begins
  • Chapter Three A New Team is Born
  • Chapter Four Footplate Observations
  • Chapter Five The Fabulous ‘Fives’
  • Chapter Six The Class Nine 2-10-0s on Express Passenger Trains
  • Chapter Seven Double Heading
  • Chapter Eight It all Ended with ‘Evening Star’
  • Appendix Distances, Locomotives & Tabulated Runs
• FOOTPLATE OVER THE MENDIPS
  • Preface
  • Chapter One Last Men in
  • Chapter Two The Call Boy Cometh
  • Chapter Three Reminiscences of Somerset and Dorset Locomotives From the Footplate
  • Chapter Four Changing Times
  • Chapter Five The War Years and After
  • Chapter Six Keep Taking the Tablets
  • Chapter Seven Kaleidoscope of Trials and Tribulations
  • Chapter Eight Special Workings and Excursions
  • Appendix Re-Routing of the ‘Pines Express’ and Pastures New
• Tables
• Postscript
• Plate section