These pages are my means of sharing my interest in photographing working steam locomotives across the world.� My name is Dave Longman and I'm based in Bedford, England. All the photographs on these pages are my personal record of my travels across the world in search of the last of the iron dinosaurs. Below you'll find my definition of what constitutes a 'working steam locomotive' - please don't search here for pictures of the Severn Valley Railway or the Cass Mountain Railroad. They don't qualify!
Old enough to remember steam on the railways of Britain but too young to have taken any photographs, until about 10 years ago my interest was entirely centred on trying to recapture the past� by taking shots of preserved steam in Britain.� However due to the influence of several good friends, particularly David Eatwell and Rob Dickinson, my horizons have been greatly broadened and I have since been able to make several visits to Cuba, to China, Zimbabwe, Germany, Java and Poland in search of the world's last working steam locomotives. A number of places featured on the site are no longer operational and you are advised to search the internet to find out what is left before venturing off across the world. Whatever is left - won't be there for much longer!
I am strictly an amateur photographer who does his best to capture the spirit of steam - there is no pretence that the photographs here are great works of art - but they are in focus and reasonably well exposed! Please enjoy.
STOP PRESS - NEWLY ADDED STUFF
By 2007 there were almost no working steam locomotives left in Cuba - just museum pieces and tourist trains
Ok - thanks for getting this far. If you are bored of reading all this stuff and just want to see some pictures then click on any of the buttons below to see steam at work across the world.� The site is colour coded to help you find your way around. If you have the inclination to read a little bit more about the site then scroll down and keep going!
My definition of 'working steam' is a railway using steam locomotives to carry out a job of work rather than solely attracting tourists.� The edges get a little bit blurred at times - particularly when a railway was always intended to cater for tourists eg. the Brockenbahn in former East Germany - but that's about as close as I can get.� Steam used in this way is getting rarer and rarer and I regret never having had the opportunity to visit India or Pakistan to name but two countries where working steam has now more or less finished.
With working steam disappearing fast across the world, China remains the 'big show' and Java comes a very commendable second. Despite the political troubles, steam also hangs on by its fingernails in Zimbabwe.� All-year-round steam operations continue in both Germany and Poland although in both countries their days are surely numbered. I have still included Cuba although most steam operation here is now specially arranged for tour groups and all the pictures on the site are now history.
On the following pages are pictures from six different countries taken during the past twelve years together with some information about steam operations in the country.�� This is a very broad overview but does at least give you something to read while the pictures download - essential if your boredom threshold is as low as mine!
'Steam Railway Photographs' is not intended to be news site. Up-to-date information on working steam can be found on Rob Dickinson's excellent site.� This carries regular reports on steam operations worldwide, together with some photographs, although it can be hard going at times!� It also has details of various organisations that operate overseas tours for steam enthusiasts.�� These are an ideal way to make a first visit abroad but my personal opinion is that many of these trips are expensive and they can often be done privately at much more reasonable prices (a week in Poland has cost me just over �300 - based on two people sharing car hire and petrol costs) although you will not get charter trains if you do it on your own - but then that's not really working steam by my definition anyway!�
Finally I'd just like to record my thanks to all the many fellow enthusiasts who have encouraged me, helped me with information and generally made me feel welcome whenever and wherever I have encountered them on the lineside.
