As an engineer responsible for the maintenance and installation of railway infrastructure, that is the machinery governing the safe transit of traffic on the railways, Frank Sperritt had become an acknowledged authority whose personal reputation had spread far beyond the borders of his native Cornwall.

As new types of signals took over from the old, Frank recognised that landmark brick-and-mortar features of the old railways were being lost forever, with once familiar signal boxes, level crossings and country stations all disappearing as a result of modernisation. Thus, armed with a camera, Frank began to capture the last months of these aspects of the old railway system in Cornwall and it is from this collection the book is compiled. A small selection of Devon photographs is also included.

This book came about following Frank’s death. Among his personal effects his family discovered the collection of previously unseen photographs of such rarity and value to the railway enthusiast that the author immediately sought to publish them in book form. With the blessing of the family, and with help from Maurice Dart, himself an authority on Cornwall’s railways, who selected the images for use, the author, Stephen Heginbotham, set about compiling the book with a view to providing a lasting memorial to Frank Sperritt who died in 2007.

Frank Sperritt took photographs of scenes and locations that others in the past had not thought to capture on camera and is it precisely this that makes this book so important and of great fascination and interest to the railway enthusiast. The author’s text provides a background to Frank Sperritt’s life and work, putting his photographs into context and illuminating many of the images included.

Imprint: Halsgrove. ISBN 978 0 85704 005 3, hardback, 297x210mm, 160 pages. Published August 2010.