26 WEST SOMERSET: steam's endless summer - Robin Jones looks at how the Taunton-Minehead branch thrives both as Britain's longest heritage line and as an integral part of the local economy nearly three decades after BR closed it for economic reasons.

34 CARRIAGE & WAGON DEPT: BODYSNATCHING IN SCOTLAND: the modern-day Burkes and Hares - The fields of Aberdeenshire are a treasure trove for coach restorers, thanks to a decision at Inverurie Works to sell off redundant carriage bodies to local farms for use as hen houses and chicken coops. Roger Melton tells how members of the LNER Coach Association wade through layers of manure to recover essential components to help rebuild prize heritage stock.

40 BARROW HILL - Pictorial highlights from July's twin galas at Barrow Hill roundhouse, the first for steam, diesel and electric traction and the second devoted to steam.

54 SQUARING THE IMPOSSIBLE CIRCLE - Locomotive preservation and historical authenticity can be world apart, especially when it comes to liveries, argues David Jenkinson, former Head of Education and Research at the National Railway Museum.

62 FERRY MEADOWS - A station for the new Millennium - Paul Bason outlines the step-by-step dismantling of a derelict Great Northern Railway goods office and its rebuilding as a showpiece station building midway along the Nene Valley Railway.

68 BOMBS AWAY IN VIVARAIS! - John Titlow visits the Ffestiniog Railway's 'twin' line in France's Central Massif where articulated Mallets still reign supreme and where lineside fires caused by sparks from passing engines have recently been tackled in dramatic style.

76 BEACH LIFE: a century of survival against all odds - The Fairbourne Railway, a classic seaside 'minimum gauge' line, differs from others in that it started out as a fully-fledged industrial concern. Roger Melton outlines its remarkable story and the transformations it has undergone during its lifetime.

80 BETWEEN TODAY & YESTERDAY: Could this line be a 'Jacobite' for Wales? - While the threat of cutbacks or closure has never completely receded from Railtrack routes like the scenic Central Wales Line, Robin Jones asks if heritage traction could play a major part not only in the reversal of its fortunes but those of the historic towns and villages along the route.