The most authoritative book on steam locomotives in India. The author traces the evolution of metre gauge steam traction in India through Pre-BESA, BESA, Indian Railway Standard (IRS), War time design up to the development of Standard locomotive designs of Independent India. During his visits to India he made a meticulous record of individual locomotives, their classes, home shed, history tracing them back to their original manufacturer. The book contains the zonewise and shedwise holding of different classes of locomotives. The book contains the basic characteristics of each class with a number of technical details. There are fine monochromatic photographs of almost all classes of locomotives covered in the book. Part - 1 and Part - 3 of the series covers Broad and Narrow Gauge steam locomotives respectively.