25 March 2026 Chasing Steam in Western Europe 1970-1974

Presenter: John Barrowdale

John has a long history of being a train enthusiast and has a strong affinity for steam. In the 1970’s he and a some of his friends realised that steam power was not going to last much longer, so they set about visiting places where it could be found. In the 1970’s there was still steam power to be found in Continental Europe.

Over a period of 5 years, John spent three holidays and several weekends visiting many parts of Western Europe in search of working steam including Germany, Austria, Italy, France and Portugal. These continental visits were the subject of John’s presentation, which was illustrated by a collection of photographs that John had taken on his visits.

A large proportion of the collection featured engines used on express passenger and heavy goods trains and showed 6,8 &10 coupled tender engines, with examples included from all the countries visited, but John also captured some of the heavy tank engines, especially those used on major branches. Also included were engines and trains on a steeply graded rack system that John visited.

John provided the audience with details of each image including location and class details (for many of these he also provided original builder & build date details!).

The time and effort that John spent in creating this presentation must have been extensive and was much appreciated by the presentation audience.