NEWS - Didcot volunteer shortlisted for space shuttle'; N7 Tank wins a dramatic race against time to make its main line debut!; Pit closure shock for top steam lines; 'Standard' loco owners place preservation's biggest ever connecting rod order; 4472 smashes world non-stop record. All this and more on a RECORD 11 pages of NEWS!
HOW THE WEST WAS LOST - The Great Western is the first love of top railway book publisher David St. John Thomas. Now the David & Charles supremo chooses Steam Railway in which to tell his story.
SALMON AND SWORD - FISH REUNITED - A fishy tale it isn't! How two locos with consecutive works numbers have ended up together again after almost 50 years.
PERMANENT WAY - The line's gone but the signalbox remains. Permanent Way turns its attentions to the North-East.
A TRIBUTE TO THE STEAM EARL - BR Chairman Sir Robert Reid pays tribute to the Earl of Lindsay, whose untimely death we reported last month.
GALLERY - Three pages of colour from the men who make steam their quarry.
THE WORSE FOR DRINK! - You thought it couldn't get worse but it has! A cow-catchered A4 on the 'Brighton Belle' and 15ft tall p-way gangers are just some of the beauties you've found in Britain's pubs.
A FAIRY TALE COME TRUE - The Inner Hebrides are not normally associated with railways but David Wilcock finds one for whom isolation is no problem.
BLUEBELL STEAMS NORTH - A photographic survey of the year's major extension project.
MAILBAG - The 'rare locos' debate is proving a top talking point - we get Revenge, Shrewsbury Castle and 45508 into print. Also a photo of the Northern Railfans Club. Can you spot yourself?
GLORIOUS YEARS - 'Mood' photographer Nigel Kendal wasn't afraid to fire the shutter in fog or to focus on footplate crews - or to answer awkward questions from girlfriends!
THE 60097 PAGE - The second in our bi-monthly page of humour and puzzles.
WORLDWIDE REPORT - David Thomhill explains that Britain isn't alone in suffering from a proliferation of steam tours.
WHERE TO GO - The only guide you need to find the autumn steamings.
SOCIETY MEETINGS - The only guide you need to find the autumn sittings!
NEWS PICTORIAL - Where the nation's top steam photographers combine talent and vision with the cutting edge of topicality.
MODERN HISTROY - Repton is home now but where has it been all these years? Steam Railway has the answer

FRONT COVER - The impossible dream! The world's most travelled loco gets further off the beaten track than it's ever been - and Steam Railway was there to greet it! Doing the honours are (standing, from left): Bernard Staite, Walter Stuchberry and Roland Kennington. Kneeling: Roger Vale and Vi Stuchberry. (See Pages 10 and 11).