The age of steam was such an evocative one ... and never more so than in Yorkshire.

A new book called The Last Years of Yorkshire Steam by David Tuffrey reveals that the county was probably the best place in the country to see steam trains in action against dramatic landscapes.

This book is packed with photos from across Yorkshire, including Huddersfield and Brighouse, and is arranged in alphabetical order.

It’s surprising to know that the age of steam continued right up to the late 60s but also comforting to know that several dedicated volunteers have kept steam trains going in places ranging from Haworth to the Dales and the North Yorkshire moors.

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In the introduction David Joy writes: “Yorkshire stood out from the crowd in once being served by seven railway companies. No county in England offered quite the same variety in the last years of steam as did Yorkshire. There was a wonderful array of locomotives in settings ranging from cathedral cities to grimy mill towns and from glorious countryside to thriving coastal resorts.

“It has to be admitted that these photographs also depict railways that either should never have been built in the first place or had no hope once motor buses and lorries whittled away the scant remaining traffic. It was all hopelessly uneconomic. Grassington and Threshfield lost its passenger services as early as 1930 but 30 years later was still fully signalled with its own station master and porter-cum-signalman.

“It was the locomotive sheds that epitomised the steam age and images of Huddersfield and Mirfield are just some of many that reflect the glory and the grime.

“Conditions got worse as the end drew nigh but at least enthusiasts aplenty were ready with their cameras to record the last few years. It became a race against time in capturing key moments – a quest made all the more urgent by the woeful lack of ex-LNER locomotives destined for preservation. Survivors were ever more neglected.

WATCH below as a vintage steam engine thunders through Brockholes

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“The final and lingering death throes involved the cutting up of once proud locomotives for scrap at such locations as Doncaster Works and Draper’s Yard in Hull.

“They are almost too distressing to contemplate but can scarcely be avoided in a book that sets out to portray the last years of Yorkshire steam through to the very end. My such an age never be forgotten.”

The Last Years of Yorkshire Steam is published by Great Northern Books and costs £19.99