Steam railways have always captured the public's imagination. Even from the first stirrings of the mineral lines in the early 1800s through to the heyday of the Railway Age, steam engines kept and continue to keep their fascination. The delight is that around the British Isles is a wide range of working, restored steam railways. Every size and type is represented and it is these railways that primarily feature in this book, providing a real, solid picture of life and transport as it was.

The author Stan Yorke explains the development of the steam railway and how the various parts worked. Illustrated by over 100 photographs, and aided by his son Trevor's superb drawings, the book is divided into four sections: the history; the track, signalling and building; the locomotives and rolling stock; and finally a review of the restored railway scene today, including a selection of sites to visit.