Sixty years ago this month, on March 6 1966, the Western Region achieved two major goals with the end of both steam power and the Somerset & Dorset route – bringing a mighty era to a rather grubby end.

Overhauls, restorations and running notes

Chiltern Railways introduced its first Mk. 5 set to passenger service on January 26, this taking over one of the diagrams previously worked by the Mk. 3 sets. Now officially dubbed Chiltern Explorers,

When I started trainspotting in April 1981, it was at Berkswell Station, between Coventry and Birmingham International, and a five-mile bike ride from my home town of Kenilworth. I’d tried Tile Hill s

Apologies to author Chris Forrest for missing this late addition to his story as published in the December 2025 issue, this paragraph directly pertaining to the concluding photograph; page 63. The Edi

While several locomotives with Somerset & Dorset links have survived into preservation, two of the line’s biggest survivors, ‘7Fs’ Nos. 53808 and 53809 will be missing this anniversary due to overhauls.