Britain's railway steamers : Scottish and Irish companies and Stena and MacBrayne

Part three of the Britain's Railway Steamers series covers a further 399 railway-owned ships, and charts how the separate companies were eventually amalgamated into the state-owned Caledonian MacBrayne fleet. Beginning with a brief overview of Scottish and Irish Railway history in the period 1914 -1994, the book shows how the railway fleet owners passed through several stages of reorganisation including combinations of co-ownership, splitting into four large groups, nationalisation, and part-privatisation. This is followed by individual entries of the 32 ship-owning railway companies, each featuring a timeline of the company's early maritime history, livery and route information, plus a fleet list with each vessel's career history and technical data. With a few exceptions, all vessels are illustrated by a profile drawing.