automatic focus! - Auto trains were once emblematic of branch line working for the Great Western Railway and its BR Western Region successor. In a colour' picture special, Gerald Robinson recalls the four types of Western Region push-and-pull tank locomotives.
who remembers the LNWR? - Once the mightiest joint stock company in the world, the London & North Western Railway is now long-gone, but it's certainly not forgotten. Chris Gammell provides a reminder of 'Premier Line' services both great and small on main lines and secondary routes alike.
'238': more than A number - Tablet 238 denoted one of the busiest summer Saturday services to the Yorkshire coast while the number 238 was also carried by a locomotive with strong links to the area. 'Northumbrian' investigates in a Steam's the Theme special.
south wales safaris: A sequel - In Steam World seven years ago, Frank Hornby described his explorations of the railway in South Wales in the late 1940s and the 1950s. This month he revisits the Valleys in 1955 on a weekend expedition that was to demolish myths about Western 'standardisation'.
steam on the third rail - Regular contributor Mike Esau concludes his two-part photographic feature on steam on the Victoria/London Bridge to Brighton line, with more gripping pictures by Colin Hogg.
platform - Memories of spotting 'East of Southall' and of the lan Allan Locospotters' Club are recaptured in our bumper four-page selection of readers' letters.
homage to holbeck - Although lacking the glamour of some of the big 'Pacific' sheds, the former Midland Railway depot at Leeds Holbeck was still an important provider of motive power for prestigious trains, as testified to by John S. Whiteley.
all things considered - The early railway pioneers refused to allow local topography to dictate the alignment of their tracks. Instead, many stations are approached through huge constructions of brick-lined tunnels viaducts and massive retaining walls. Andrew Dow salutes the man-made civil engineering marvels of the railway.
top link on the east coast - In part three of his absorbing series on life at Doncaster Carr depot, Chris Howden describes working a Royal train and the day the circus came to town.
comment - The Editor assesses readers' responses to the 'Was Beeching to blame?' controversy.
call attention - A line-up of representative of all the Big Four, plus a BR Standard, at Redhill shed..
what, where, when? - Steam World's highly knowledgeable readership seems finally to have been defeated by our latest pair of pictorial posers..
'dub ds' at the double! - Riddles' War Department 'Austerity' locomotives weren't pretty but performed a vital wartime function. Many eventually passed into BR own- ership, and Paul Chancellor presents pictures of Ministry of Supply engines with 'WD' numbers.
darkroom discoveries - The former Great North of Scotland 'D40' 4-4-Os were elegant engines that had once been express locomotives, but they had been relegated to secondary duties when Eric Sawford caught up with some of the last of them at Keith shed in 1955.
platform extra - The final batch of readers' letters in the two great debates that have been raging in the columns of Steam World - on the Beeching report and the popular image of trainspotting - are rounded up in an extension to our normal Platform section.
A 'stranger' strolls down stewarts lane - The thorny question of industrial relations between a Shedmaster and his staff is tackled in part seven of R.H.N. Hardy's wide-ranging series on the SR's premier depot.
great shot! - Another superb colour view of steam is featured in our monthly photographic showcase. This time ifs an LMS 'Royal Scot' 4-6-0!
next issue - Take a look at what's on offer in the October issue of the UK's biggest-selling all historical railway magazine.

Front Cover - It's March 1963 and '81 xx" 'Prairie' tank No. 8109 is in sparkling ex-works condition outside Swindon Works' legendary 'A' shop.