Steam World

Steam World is Britain's best selling historical railway magazine. Covering the magical times when steam railways were the lifeblood of the country. It features first-hand accounts from drivers, firemen, BR managers and enthusiasts alike. Featuring magnificent photography from the fifties and sixties, it will bring back wonderful memories coupled with inside information of what it was really like to work, travel and play on the world's best railway.

Steam World

ATMOSPHERIC RAILWAY

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A TALE OF THREE SLIPS • Former Western Region signalman Adrian Vaughan cites three examples, from official reports, of how human fallibility could make the practice of slipping a coach more risky than necessary.

SOUTH OF PRESTON WITH FRANK DEAN • Peter Fitton & Nigel Harris recall a much-loved friend and fellow photographer, whose collection encompassed everything from Horwich engines at Preston (in LYR livery!) in the early 1920s to Class 56 diesels on Yorkshire Merry-go-round coal trains in the 1980s….

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STEAM WORLD CROSSWORD

EAST COAST MAIN LINE MOMENTS • Chris Leigh takes another dip into the great colour archive of the ECML left to Steam World by Noel Ingram, Noel’s precise captioning allowing us to relive every moment.

A SPOTTER SPREADS HIS WINGS • Young trainspotter Ken Gambles was soon forsaking Royston for the delights of Leeds and Doncaster. (55D Royston MPD, see Steam World August 2022)

GREAT SHOT

TO SOUTHAMPTON AND BACK VIA THE S&D Part one • Ron Herbert travelling with two friends, made a visit to Southampton from Morecambe, returning via the Somerset & Dorset and Bristol, in 1962.

ALL THINGS CONSIDERED • Bob Gwynne focuses attention on the effects of rain and snow on the railway, two famous BTF films about weather, and the triumph of locomotives and crews when the ECML was washed out by floods.

LIFE AT A SMALL COUNTRY STATION • Tim Westlake grew up as the son of a railwayman in charge of Dean station on the Portsmouth-Salisbury line. He recalls life at a rural station in the era of transition from steam to diesel.

PICTURING THE ‘HONEYBOURNE LINE’ • Photographer John Dagley-Morris recalls the delights of the Cheltenham-Birmingham route – known as ‘the Honeybourne line – much of which can still be enjoyed today – and behind steam, too!

HOLIDAY ‘EXTRAS’ • In the years before mass car ownership, when plenty of spare carriages were available at weekends, holiday ‘extras’ to primarily seaside resorts provided extensive traffic for the railway – and they provided significant lineside interest. Gavin Morrison sifts some summer slides from his shelves….

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