On 10th Feb 2026, Alex Powell gave an excellent presentation covering ASTT’s beginnings, where it’s going and what it’s all about, with a focus on the Revolution Project. His talk was broadcast via Zoom under the auspices of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. It is hoped that a video recording of the talk will be made […]
Martin Young, one of our members, has kindly sent us a copy of an article by Roger Waller titled “Back on Track” that was originally published in the “New Scientist” magazine in July 1999. Members of the long-defunct 5AT Supporters Group may remember the article which had a couple of links to it on the […]
On February 10th, our Committee Member Alex Powell will be giving a presentation to the IMechE about ASTT and its work. The talk, titled “Bringing a 21st Century Perspective to Steam Loco Engineering” will be broadcast starting at 7:00 pm via Teams, and will be open to everyone Further information and a booking link can […]
Alstom’s Greatest Gathering event held in Derby over the weekend of 1st to 3rd August 2025 was aptly named. It was indeed the greatest railway gathering that is likely to be seen in this country for the foreseeable future. Locomotives, old and new, combined with carriages and multiple units of every description were gathered in […]
ASTT has added “Porta Papers Volume 5” to its book catalogue. It fills 340 pages, with 21 papers grouped into five categories: Modern Steam Concepts; Exhaust Systems; Compound Locomotives; Articulated Locomotives; Miscellaneous Topics. The section on exhaust systems should be of especial interest to readers. It consists of three papers by Porta and a commentary […]
The Zoom video recording of ASTT’s 2025 AGM, including Jamie Keyte’s update report on the Revolution project is now available to members – see https://advanced-steam.org/astt-2025-agm/. Please ensure that you’re logged-in before accessing the page. Also, please be aware that the first 25 minutes of the recording is of pre-meeting chat which will be deleted if/when […]
The 9th Annual Conference will be held at the Hopetown Museum (hitherto the “Head of Steam” museum) in Darlington on Saturday and Sunday the 4th and 5th of October 2025. The conference theme will be “Keeping Steam Locomotives operating into the 21st Century”. The first conference flyer was distributed to members on 8th August and […]
Sunday 6th October – visit to Princess Royal Class Locomotive Trust workshop at Butterley. ASTT held its 9th annual conference at the Aston Court Hotel in Derby over the weekend of 5th-6th October 2024. 25 attendees were present on the Saturday and 20 on the Sunday. A report on the conference, including PDF copies of […]
ASTT has added a new title to its book catalogue which is sure to be of interest to members and non-members alike. Compiled and edited by Martyn Bane, the title is “Selection of Papers by L.D. Porta (and others) – Volume 4 – Locomotive Boiler Water, covering Water Treatment, Feedwater Heating and Boiler Water Behaviour”. […]
ASTT will hold its 2024 conference in the Aston Court Hotel in Derby. The first day of the conference will focus on Alternative Fuels for Steam Locomotives which will feature five presentations as follows: Bob Gwynne, Environmental and Sustainability Manager at the Llangollen and Corwen Railway, who will talk about the challenges facing the UK’s […]
Welcome news for steam’s engineering fraternity and in particular to ASTT’s members: Adrian Tester has released his long-awaited book “The Physiology of the Locomotive Boiler – Part 1” after at least 7 years in gestation. At our 2017 conference in Bury, Adrian presented what he described as a “Peep” into his planned book, and those […]
Those who have not been able to purchase a paper copy may be pleased to learn that Dave Wardale’s iconic book “The Red Devil and Other Tales from the Age of Steam” is now available in digital form from Camden Miniature Steam – see https://camdenmin.co.uk/collections/digital-books/products/the-red-devil-and-other-tales-from-the-age-of-steam-digital-edition.