LLANGOLLEN RAILWAY: IN A CLASS OF ITS OWN - The imminent signing of a new lease will open up a host of possibilities for Wales' top standard gauge heritage line, including the long-awaited extension to Carrog, restoration of double track, a main line connection, total refurbishment of two original stations - and even running local school trains, Robin Jones discovered.

38 FROM PRESERVATION TO PEOPLES MOVERS: Is this the way forward for our heritage lines? Can the Parry People Mover railbus offer heritage railways a real chance to expand their horizons into running commuter and shopper services, as well as solving environmental problems? Designer John Parry believes so with a vengeance, and prototypes have already been put through their paces on several preserves lines. He outlines the concept and its advantages.

54 AN INSPECTOR CALLS - Steam locomotive boilers not only have to undergo rigorous testing and expensive overhauls every ten years but have to undergo interim examinations each year. In a fully illustrated 25-stage blow-by-blow account, photographer Dave Hewitt followed the recent annual inspection of the boiler on War Department Austerity 0-6-OST No.94 on the Tanfield Railway to show exactly what is involved.

58 ARE WE SPREADING THE BUTTER TOO THINLY? - Should we scrap 'heritage' rolling stock which in the cold light of day we are never likely to restore? Should we 'reshuffle' our motive power so that the 'right' engines are paired with the 'right' company's former lines? These are among the many issues which David Jenkinson, outspoken former Head of Education and Research at the National Railway Museum, confronts in his prescription for preservation in the 21st century. You can't ignore him!

66 THE 'PINES EXPRESS' .. WITH DWARF CONIFERS - Several efforts have been made to save pieces of the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway system, each with varying success. However, only one of them, the 2ft gauge Gartell Light Railway, is running steam on part of the old formation, and even hs a 'Pines Express' of its own. Roger Melton visited Templecombe to experience this 'Bonsasi' version in action and looks at its plans to reclaim a further section of the old main line as well as building more steam locomotives.

76 BETWEEN TODAY AND YESTERDAY: SMALL BEGINNINGS OF A GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY - The Great Northern & East Lincolnshire Railway, one of Britain's smallest and newest standard gauge heritage lines, is now in its third year of operation and is planning a two-mile extension later this year. Yet while the Ludborough revivalists have worked wonders with limited resources, thanks to the negative attitude to a complete revival of the former Grimsby-Louth line by local authorities over the years, it is an example of a window of lost opportunity, Robin Jones found, in a feature compiled in conjunction with The Nostalgia Collection.