NEWS - Flying Scotsman to stay in apple green after all?; ScotRail to train raw recruits as steam drivers; Duke of Gloucester back in steam at Didcot; Cholsey & Wallingford gets its LRO. All this and more in our unrivalled news coverage.
GALLERY - A picture is worth a thousand words - a selection of fine art from some of the nation's top steam photographers.
STEAM LINES - It's back! To commemorate the 40th anniversary of preservation, Steam Railway proudly presents the first of a brand new series of'preserved line profiles'. Entitled 'Steam Lines', this new set of independent railway histories continues this magazine's tradition of searching analysis and kicks off with Britain's latest Light Railway-the Bodmin line. David Home reports.
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DECADE OF THE 'BLACK FIVES' - The Stanier Class Five is to preservation what it was to the LMS and LMR - a 'Jack of all Trades'. Stephen Robinson pays tribute to the work of this class in the 'eighties.
SUNKEN TREASURE - Driving and diving - the twin loves of George Shields both concern steam locomotives. David Tidball discovers his deep secret.
NEWS PICTORIAL - 'King of the Castles' - a 'powerhouse' display at Tyseley and a power station display at Padiham are the highlights of this month's section.
GLORIOUS YEARS - There are 425 standard gauge steam locos from BR and the 'Big Four' in preservation - it hardly seems possible but this month's 'Glorious Years' contributor Kenneth Leech is older than all but a mere 29 of them!
GUESTS OR OUTCASTS? - Do steam railways really welcome photographers? David Wilcock investigates in an exclusive Steam Railway survey.
MAILBAG - As the furore over the NRM turntable scandal gathers momentum, musuem Keeper Dr. Coiley explains the reasons behind his decision.
CHRISTMAS STEAMINGS - Details of this year's Santa and mince pie specials.
CHRISTMAS BOOKS - Tempted but confused by the crop of new titles on the market this Christmas? The Steam Railway team takes some of the worry out of picking a gift this year.
WORLDWIDE REPORT - Foreign Correspondent David Thornhill looks ahead to the 21 st century - and finds there's scope for hope on the steam front.
HOW MANY, WHERE AND WHEN? - Just how many steam locomotives has the world ever produced? National Railway Museum official Philip Atkins has put together the results of painstaking research to provide as accurate an answer as it is possible to achieve.
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FRONT COVER - Nothing gave Bill Anderson (whose death we reported last month) more pleasure than the restoration in 1959 of the only surviving Great North of Scotland loco, No.49 Gordon Highlander. Here, making one of its last outings, the former LNER Class D40 heads along the former Caledonian Glasgow-Edinburgh line near Cleland on April 19, 1965 with the SLS-BLS 'Scottish Rambler'. What a stunning main line sight this loco would make in the '90s. Inset: 'King' 6024 and 'Castles' 7029 and 5051 perform a run-past at Tyseley on October 14, 1989. See Page 41.