Roger Siviter brilliantly illustrates how the ‘rhythms of steam’ once permeated the country, day and night. We look at the hard and dirty – but vital – work of the freight trains and then at the grandeur of the large stations, and at the arrivals and departures of passenger trains and specials, familiar to millions over the years. Roger also takes us behind the scenes into the mysterious world of the locomotive sheds, those linchpins of the system, and travels from southern England to Scotland to reveal steam in a variety of settings, including some of the industrial railways that serviced numerous factories, docks and mines.

Finally, the heroic survival of a small number of steam locomotives is celebrated by shots of preserved engines on main lines today. Rhythms of Steam is thus a valuable contribution to our railway and social history, affording us the privilege of seeing photographs of a lost world.