Austria, as a separate and independent country, only emerged after World War 1 following the defeat of the Austro-Hungarian empire after four years of war. The new Austria was a much-reduced country in terms of area and population but its railway network owed much to its greater pre-war status. Much of the complex network of standard and narrow gauge lines that served the country was constructed when the empire controlled much of central and southern Europe and so was inextricably linked to the systems of the neighbouring countries - indeed, many of the successor nations such as Hungary and Czechoslovakia inherited locomotives by and for the empire’s railways. Post-World War 1 Austria was to have an independent existence for less than two decades until it was forcibly integrated into the Third Reich following the Anschluss of 1938. German influence on the railways as a result of this and of Austria’s involvement in World War 2 was reflected in the railways that operated in the country in the post-1945 era.

Covering a quarter of a century from 1955 onwards, Steam in Austria: 1955-1975 is the third in the Unique Books series looking at steam operation in Europe in the post-war years. Compiled by Andrew Fox, a graduate in German and one of Britain’s most knowledgeable commentators on Austrian steam, the book incorporates some 200 images, the vast majority of which are previously unpublished, to provide a record of steam operation on both the narrow and standard gauge lines during this critical 20-year period when, as elsewhere in Europe, steam was gradually in decline as diesel and electric traction came to dominate.