Beginning in 1936, just two years after Ron Buckley started what was to be almost half a decade working for the railways, London Midland Steam shows the changes in locomotive power taking place throughout the London Midland and Scottish Railway and its successor, the London Midland Region of British Railways. The photographs show the design work of Samuel Johnson, Henry Fowler, John Aspinall, George Hughes and William Stanier, featuring celebrated locomotives such as Fowler's three-cylinder 'Royal Scot' class and Stanier's impressive 'Princess Royal' and 'Princess Coronation' classes, as well as the 'Black Five' and 'Jubilee' classes. With previously unpublished images from Buckley's archive and expert captions from Brian Dickson, London Midland Steam is a unique look at the glory days of steam.

Ron Buckley's photographs show the changing locomotive scene taking place from the later 1930s throughout the East Midlands and East Anglia, illustrating pre-grouping locomotive classes still working across Lincoln, Cambridge, Norfolk, Suffolk, Nottingham, Leicester, Northampton, Bedford, Hertford, Buckingham and Essex. During later LNER days, locomotives of the Great Eastern and Great Northern Railways continued working the many secondary routes and branch lines while the main East Coast saw from 1935 the appearance of Nigel Gresley's streamlined class A4 locomotives working the high speed passenger traffic between Edinburgh and London. The LMS influence saw many former London and North Western and Midland Railway locomotives handling both passenger and goods traffic especially the product of the many collieries in Nottinghamshire.

R.J. (Ron) Buckley's photographs illustrate the locomotive scene in Scotland, witnessed across his long career on the railways. This evocative collection of images commemorates the age of steam and reveals the changes wrought across that era, from the 1930s ex- Highland 'Castle' and 'Clan' 4-6-0s and the graceful looking ex-Great North of Scotland 4-4-0s, to the ex-North British 'Glen' and 'Scott' 4-4-0s, the Caledonian 4-4-0s, numerous 0-6-0 classes and the few Glasgow and South Western locomotives still working. By the early 1950s all the ex-Glasgow and South Western locomotives had gone and there were few ex-Highland or Great North of Scotland locomotives in service, but many ex-North British and Caledonian locomotives could still be seen. It is a must-have volume for Scottish railway enthusiasts.

R.J. (Ron) Buckley's photographs show the changing locomotive scene taking place throughout the counties of Northumberland, Durham and Yorkshire, illustrating from the later 1930s those pre-grouping classes that were still working. These included the work of such well known designers as Wilson Wordsell and Vincent Raven of the North Eastern railway, John Aspinall of the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway and Samuel Johnson and Henry Fowler of the Midland Railway. Ron's later photographs, from 1946 onwards, continue to show remaining working pre-grouping locomotives and also portray the newer designs of William Stanier, Charles Fairburn, Edward Thompson and Arthur Peppercorn, as well as standard examples designed under Robert Riddles.

Ron Buckley's evocative photographs reveal the changing scene of the Southern Railway, illustrating from the 1930s onwards those pre-grouping classes that were still working. These included the work of such well-known designers as Dugald Drummond and Robert Urie of the London & South Western Railway, the Billintons and Earle Marsh of the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway, and Harry Wainwright and Richard Maunsell of the South Eastern & Chatham Railway. Ron's later photographs, from 1946 onwards, continue to show remaining working pre-grouping locomotives and also portray the newer Oliver Bulleid-designed Pacifics introduced in 1941. Visits to the Isle of Wight during the 1930s, '40s, '50s and '60s enabled him to capture images of almost the entire fleet of locomotives working there during those four decades. Born in 1917, Ron Buckley has been photographing railways since the age of 15. He joined the London, Midland, Scottish Railway as a wages clerk in 1934 and retired in 1977 after over forty-two years' service with the railways.