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

TRAINS of thought

The Caledonian Railway’s Magnificent Seven • David Anderson details the history of the seven McIntosh-designed 4-6-0s of the Sir James Thompson and Cardean locomotive classes, which became Scottish railway icons in the Edwardian era.

Spotlight on Saltford station • A home station while staying away with his aunt, not only did Chris Gordon Watford start many a photographic journey at this ex-GWR premises between Bath and Bristol, while seeking out interesting locations to inspire model railway projects, but he also recorded this now long-lost Avon valley stopping place in 1954.

The Fawley branch • Although a railway with passenger aspirations, Stanley C Jenkins and Roger Smith tell of how these would never come to much and instead it was goods and block freight trains that proved enduring enough to see this route through to modern times.

NEW YEAR SALE

Metro-land steam operations • Swedebasher looks at the curious oddity of the Met & GC Joint line and its shared British Railways and London Transport use, analysing the mid to late 1950s period but also briefly considering the changes that came as the next decade began.

Castlethorpe’s railway story: the first 120 years • Perhaps best known in railway circles for its water troughs, which predated a station by 20 years, the London & North Western Railway Society’s Ian Hopkins and Richard Foster steer us through the evolution of facilities at Castlethorpe and conclude in 1958, before the arrival of widespread change.

Tail Lamp • Readers Letters