The thrilling story of the last, and greatest, generation of steam railway locomotives in regular main line service: a story of invention, skill and passion, Giants of Steam reveals how the true advocates of steam's glory days pushed its design and performance to remarkable limits, taking these powerful and beautifully designed machines to new heights against a backdrop of the political upheavals and military conflicts of the mid twentieth century.Glancey tells the stories of the greatest of the'steam men', the charismatic engineers who designed these machines and put them to use. Giants of Steam also reveals how steam design has continued to progress against the odds in recent decades, while enthusiasm for the steam locomotive itself is far from burning out.

Jonathan Glancey is well known as the former architecture and design correspondent of theGuardian andIndependent newspapers. He is also a steam locomotive enthusiast and pilot. A frequent broadcaster, his books include the bestsellingSpitfire: The Biography; Nagaland: A Journey to India's Forgotten Frontier;Tornado: 21st Century Steam;The Story of Architecture andThe Train: An Illustrated History.