There is something romantic and magical about steam trains. The atmosphere created by steam, smoke and the nostalgia of a bygone age attracts thousands of people who want to ride behind a steam locomotive, take photographs or just experience the unique aroma they create.

Back in the 1960s the future of steam locomotives looked very bleak as British Rail sent them to the scrap yard and replaced them with more modern diesel and electric locomotives. Yet you don’t have to go far in the UK today to have your own steam experience, and Derbyshire is no exception.

Through recent decades there is hardly any part of Derbyshire that has not witnessed the sight of a steam train, from the once railway Mecca of Derby, to Chesterfield and through the dramatic scenery of the Peak District on the Hope Valley line. Buxton and Matlock have also seen occasional trains. And away from the national network there are a number of preserved lines and centres in Derbyshire.

Derbyshire-based Robert Falconer has been photographing steam engines in action in his home county for more than a quarter of a century. Through many different styles of railway photography, and in more than 140 superb images, he captures a large variety of locomotives from the small industrials to large express engines. The steam locomotives are undoubtedly the stars of the show but Derbyshire’s often spectacular landscape sets them off to their very best advantage in this supremely colourful and evocative collection.

Robert Falconer first picked up an SLR camera at the age of 12 to capture on film steam trains on days out with his father. He soon developed a love of photography and it was not long before he started to aim his camera at landscapes as well as steam locomotives. After leaving school he went on to study photography for 4 years, achieving a National Diploma at Norton College, Sheffield and a Higher National Diploma at the Blackpool and Fylde College. Since then Robert has had pictures published in numerous magazines, calendars and on cards. He now has a collection of over 20,000 images of many places and subjects but it is images of the Peak District which dominate. His previous book for Halsgrove The Peak District: A Winter’s Tale was published in 2009.

Imprint: Halsgrove. ISBN 978 0 85704 116 6, hardback, 214x230mm, 144 pages. Published September 2011.