THE IMPOSSIBLE TAKES A LITTLE LONGER
The great East Anglian Steam Revival has taken a very long time, but it has been well worth the wait. Brian Sharpe examines the history of steam preservation in the Eastern Counties, and shows how, after a slow start, all the pieces have come together in the last five years.

BR BLACK...BUT 2FT 6INS GAUGE
Fifty years ago, the first rumblings of moves to save the idyllic Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway from extinction were sounded. It would not be the first railway to be reopened by revivalists, but it made history in being the first attempt by private individuals to take over part of the recently-nationalised national network. To mark the publication of a landmark new history of the line from Rail Romances, one-time WLLR member Robin Jones looks at the linea€ s BR era and the coming of the preservationists.

NEWS FOCUS SPECIAL: SAIL AND STEAM
Rather than spend money on a gala to mark the 30th anniversary of BR lifting the track from its section of the Midland Railwaya€ s Bath-Mangotsfield-Bristol line, the Avon Valley Railway instead spent the money on a pioneering new project to provide a boat-rail interchange at its new Riverside terminus, reports Keith Langston.

THE FINE ART OF...DIESEL PHOTOGRAPHY!
One of the biggest complaints about photographs of modern traction, especially from the steam fraternity, is that they appear repetitive and therefore dull and boring. Needlessly so, says regular Railtrack linesider John Tickner, who, faced with the diminishing number of locomotive-hauled trains on the national network and the increasing transference of diesels to heritage lines and restoration groups, offers some invaluable tips for taking the shots that really stand out from the rest.

NOT FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD....
While the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre was celebrating the formal opening of the relocated LNWR terminus from Oxford, its near neighbour the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway was celebrating the completion of another station - a replica of the original from Chinnor. Laurence Osborne visits this delightfully sleepy GWR rural backwater midway between London and Oxford.

CONTEMPORARIES OF THE O4s...
but they never ran over a€~Loughborough Junctiona€ !
In the first of an occasional series featuring rare photographs of pre-Grouping locomotives and stock, John Crawley digs deep into his personal archives to highlight the classic designs built for the original Great Central Railway, while Robin Jones finds out when Loughborough Central nearly became a junction station.

INDUSTRIAL SCENE: THE SECRET GARDEN LINE
Narrow gauge expert Cliff Thomas can hardly wait for this yeara€ s June 22/23 Enthusiastsa€ Weekend at the private Bredgar & Wormshill Light Railway, where classic industrial locomotives have been given a second life in what is a steel-wheeled Garden of Eden!