We can now celebrate the 200 years anniversary of railways, which have served to connect communities across this country and across world countries. Our railways started with steam power in 1825, until steam was phased out by British Railways in 1968.

Nowadays the preservation movement continues to provide the glorious spectacle of steam trains at work in many parts of the U.K. The preserved railways and the preserved locomotives running on the main line are making their own history, and it is part of this history that is covered by this book, which records many of the steam activities from 1986 to 2000. There are numerous locomotives pictured here which may never steam again as the costs of refurbishment, coupled with very much stricter safety requirements, preclude the reappearance of some old favourites.

This book contains colour pictures from the author’s collection of large format slides and latterly some 35mm slides. The style is similar to the author’s previous books, using approximately of 200 pictures with informative captions to describe the scenes depicted, presented in chronological order. The enormous work of volunteers in continuing the development of the preservation movement cannot be underestimated, because without those efforts, there would be no history to record. This book is a further salute to the volunteer movement, in recognition of their outstanding achievements.