Steam Days

Steam Days is a monthly magazine dedicated to all steam railway enthusiasts. Each issue covers the six regions of British Railways: Western, Southern, London, Midland, Eastern, and Scottish, with the occasional article on Irish railways and the industrial scene. These well illustrated articles in the magazine cover the history of the railways of Britain from the early days of the 1800s through to the end of steam on British Railways in August 1968.

Steam Days

Next month…

TRAINS of thought

All change: Broadstone Junction • At the southernmost point of the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway, trains operated through here for nearly 130 years. Roger Smith offers a historical overview and helps to ‘place’ the long lost station in today’s landscape.

Great North of Scotland Railway engine sheds: Deeside and Buchan lines • Roger Griffiths and John Hooper conclude their GNSR shed story with facilities related to the line to Ballater, west of Aberdeen, and the routes north of Dyce serving Ellon, Boddam, Maud, Peterhead, Fraserburgh, and St Combs.

Christmas Gifts that last all year! • Treat a friend (or yourself!) to a year’s worth of Steam Days this Christmas… and as part of your great magazine offers…

STEAM DAYS In Colour 217: Gamston bank – Retford to Askham tunnel • Photographer Keith Pirt clearly enjoyed visiting this Nottinghamshire stretch of the East Coast main line in the late 1950s and early 1960s, seeking out a variety of locations across numerous visits. The climb itself is about 3½ miles of 1 in 178/200 south from the level ground around the River Idle crossing at Retford to just short of Markham. All pictures are taken by Keith Pirt and appear courtesy of Book Law Publishing.

Schoolboy recollections of the L&Y route through Orrell • Born in 1934, Chris Forrest takes a nostalgic look back at his early railway observations of his local main line, that between Wigan and Liverpool, remembering signal box visits, regular operations and specials, including the highlight of the year, Grand National trains.

British Railways: 1948 – A new dawn and the first spring • New Year’s Day marks 75 years since the creation of British Railways, Andrew Kennedy looks at the need for change at that time, and the first few months of the nationalised railway.

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