34086 - A RATHER FINE LOCOMOTIVE - What is it that makes for a favourite locomotive? Mike Thompson recalls No. 34086 with great affection and has researched the career of this particular 'Battle of Britain' class 4-6-2
LIVING WITH THE '8125' - The imminent return to service of the preserved GER 'B12' 4-6-0 No. 61572 has prompted an uplift of interest in the class. R.H.N. Hardy worked with the 'B12s' and knew the benefits which came from crews 'owning' their engine
REVIEWS - Good, bad or just indifferent? A Lynton & Barnstaple archive video programme is among the offerings which come in for some close scrutiny this month.
WALK THE LINE - Our monthly walk along abandoned trackbeds takes us to the Trossachs area of Scotland and a walk from Callander.
ELITE STEAM - THE LANDORE 'CASTLES' - WR management blamed the poor punctuality of South Wales expresses, on coal, mechanical condition, slow freights, 'Britannias' and even the crews. In the concluding part of his feature Michael Harris considers how matters were put right.
CENTRE COLOUR - TRAINS OF IRON - Leicestershire's Vale of Belvoir once featured a network of BR and industrial lines which served the ironstone mines. We take a first look at Noel Ingram's colour archive of the iron ore railways - photographs which have never before appeared in print
CENTRE COLOUR - Keith Pirt's fine view of the 'H' class 0-4-4T at Paddock Wood is repeated from last month's cover
LAST YEARS OF THE NORTHAMPTON-BEDFORD LINE - Continuing our look at the secondary lines of the East Midlands, Michael Hinnitt travels the old Midland Railway route from Northampton to Bedford and Hitchin
DOUGLAS LOVELOCK - PORTER, GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY - Douglas Lovelock joined the GWR after the First World War and went on to manage Black Dog Siding near Chippenham, where he ended up owning the goods dock and charging BR for its use
WORKING FROM SALTLEY - Terry Essery concludes the extracts from his memoirs of locomotive work at Birmingham's Saltley depot. If you've enjoyed the series you can now buy the book through Steam World
PLATFORM - This month's 'bumper bundle' of reader's letters comments upon and amplifies a number of recent Steam World topics.

Cover: Stanier 'Pacific' No. 46251 City of Nottingham stands at Rugby Great Central with a Railway Correspondence & Travel Society special on May 9 1964. This was the last visit of a Stanier 4-6-2 to the Great Central until, 30 years later, the preserved No. 46229 Duchess of Hamilton arrived at Loughborough for a summer visit in early August 1994.