The Western** and Eastern sections of the Cape Midland Region went their separate ways at Rosmead, the main line thence continuing south 366 kms to Port Elizabeth, a harbour City located on the Indian Ocean seaboard. Dieselised at an early date (and later electrified) the main line offered no steam activity in the late 1970s and ‘80s, except in the southern part where trains running to and from the various branch lines ran for a considerable distance along the trunk route. These branch lines (Somerset East, Kirkwood, Alexandria and the lengthy route from Alicedale to Grahamstown and onwards to Port Alfred) remained steam worked until well into the 1980s and feature heavily in this book. Perhaps the most interesting part of this book’s coverage is the Uitenhage passenger trains, the World’s last intensely steam worked suburban service. Local freights and harbour workings, together with extensive photographic coverage of Sydenham and Grahamstown sheds complete the coverage of this book. The content is entirely 'real steam', recorded when steam traction was an everyday activity. There are no chartered photographic trains here, this is all ‘the real deal’. The book is enhanced by schematic maps, technical information, lively anecdotes and fully detailed captions. This is a BIG book; fully 250 pages, about 300 photographs - a wonderfully nostalgic memoir for those who witnessed such scenes, as well as providing an adequate substitute for those that wished they had.