Greetings All!

About ten years ago I got to thumb through a book that was put out by the Southern in the late 70's or just pre NS in the 80's. It is about 50pgs (i think) and is basically a pictorial history of the Southern Steam Program.

What is the exact title???

Two booklets seem to match your requirements:

"Southern Steam Specials," by Ron Ziel and Mike Eagleson, 1970, and,
"Steam Spirit," by Thomas Schultz and Nils Huxtable, 1985

You can find used copies of both booklets at Advanced Book Exchange: http://www.abebooks.com/

Not from the 70's but make sure you also check out Steam's Camelot Southern and Norfolk Southern Excursions in Color by Jim Wrinn.