The start of it all is illustrated by reference to museum reproductions of the locomotives which worked on the famous Liverpool and Manchester Railway including Rocket, Sans Pareil and Planet. The story carries on with particular emphasis on the LNWR and the locomotives of that great railway known as the 'Premier Line' with rare 1930s archive footage showing 'Super Ds', 'Claughtons', 'George V', 'Prince of Wales' and 'Precursors', as well as smaller 'Cauliflowers' and 2-4-2Ts. LMS standard types are seen also in the 1930s and on into the 1940s and 1950s, including a scene on the famous 1947 Exchange Trials of an LNER 'A4' at Rugby. The Midland and Lancashire & Yorkshire influences are seen and the story carries on into British Railway's days through the end of steam to today's electrified main lines.