Alan Fearnley's railway paintings and drawings depict the romance, muck and struggle against the elements endured by the men of steam. The book forms an historic tribute to the steam age, from grand express trains to the humblest freights. It starts with the Rocket at Rainhill and finishes with preparations for the famous locomotive procession at Shidon. A wide variety of semaphore signals also feature widely. In the accompanying text, Fearnley tells of his enthusiasm for railways, how he came to paint the pictures and how he became the first chairman of the Guild of Railway Artists in 1979, a post he held for five years.