A NEW book documenting the history of Barry scrapyard and it’s pivotal role in the steam engine restoration movement has been released.

The book, titled ‘Barry Scrapyard’, documents through hundreds of photographs dating back to the late 1960s how the patch of land turned from a locomotive graveyard into a marketplace for rail preservationists.

Author Keith Platt first visited Woodham’s scrapyard almost 50 years ago. As the site emerged as one of the last bastions of steam engines, Mr Platt gathered photographs across decades of the hundreds of trains abandoned there.

His annual visits documented the preservation movement, as more and more trains left the site to be preserved on the heritage railways that now exist.

“If the phenomenon of Barry scrapyard hadn’t happened the way it did, the heritage steam lines wouldn’t be here today,” said Mr Platt.

“Heritage railways carry millions of people every year, and most of the locomotives used on those lines are from Barry scrapyard.”

Mr Platt was approached by publishers Amberley to write the book, after he posted hundreds of his photos on sharing website Flickr.

Barry Scrapyard is available to buy online for £14.99 and on Kindle for £12.