28 A PANNIER IN WINTER - The sudden snowfalls in the last week of December sent photographers flocking in droves to their nearest heritage line in search of rich pickings on virgin snow beneath sparkling light and deep blue skies. However, only 12 brave souls made it to the West Wales preservation outpost of the Gwili Railway, where Sentimental Journeys charter mastermind Geoff Silcock, the South Devon Railway's GWR pannier tank No. 1369 and a works train produced some of the most stunning and evocative winter shots ever taken on a country branch line.

34 THE DMU - PRESERVATION'S UNLIKELY HERO? Part One - Early railway revivalists saw the Diesel Multiple Unit as having sounded the deeath knell for steam on Britain's branch lines and as such was the last item of rolling stock of all to be considered deserving of preservation. However, DMUs now play an integral role in the fortunes of many steam-dominated heritage lines, and provide a cost-effective means of running off-peak services to boost revenue. In the first of a definitive two-part study, Fred Kerr looks back on the history of the DMU and its growing importance in the heritage railway world.

56 NORTH BORNEO: LAND OF THE LAST VULCANS - In a comparitively rare snow-free zone in Heritage Railway this month, John Titlow is accosted by orang-utans and targeted by starving leeches as he tramples through the rainforest in search of the last locomotives to be built by Lancashire locomotive builder Vulcan.

60 THE WEST COAST ROAD TO RIBBLEHEAD - Preservation history was made amidst the icy blasts of the Pennine Moors on December 19 when LMS Stanier 8F 2-8-0 No. 48151 hauled a genuine revenue-earning steam-hauled ballast train for Railtrack North West over the entire 72-mile length of the Settle & Carlisle line. The event also marked a milestone in the comparatively short history of the locomotive's owner, the Carnforth-based West Coast Railway Company, which has established itself as one of Britain's leading main line heritage train operators over the past six years. Robin Jones looks at the company's achievements to date and more groundbreaking plans for the near future - including the first Deltic run to Mallaig on April 1.

70 IVATTSKI OF TUNBRIDGE WELLS: THE RED REVOLUTION IS HERE! Starting up a new standard heritage gauge line and need steam to woo the crowds? Find it costs to much to buy one in working order and restore a Barry wreck? But would a locomotive which costs you just Ã