Proper leather shoes

Proper leather boots. Lennon.

I've been admiring their engine driver's boots for ages. But not enough to buy them.

The steel toe is bare so the leather doesn't burn when hot coals fall out of the firebox. But I wonder whether the laces would sometimes catch fire?

American train drivers are known as engineers, hence the engineer's boot, which has no laces.

It was adopted by bikers and popularised by Marlon Brando and James Dean.

There's a fascinating site all about the minutiae of authentic Brando and Dean boots.

http://vintageengineerboots.blogspot.com/2010/04/wild-one-engineer-boots.html

You can ask your cobbler to add multiple soles to get the look. I got this done very cheaply by Tony's Heel Bar in Crown Passage, St James.

He was rated by custom shoe makers in St James as the best cobbler in London, but his prices were normal high street. He's not there any more, but I'm going to visit Tony's Heel Bar in Kentish Town in the hope that it's him. https://www.tonysheelbar.co.uk/