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Backtrack Magazine

12 issues per year View Reviews   |   Write Review From $3.17 per issue

Backtrack is Britain's leading historical railway journal, covering every era of railway history from its earliest days and infancy up to the more recent events of around ten years ago. Backtrack magazine takes you back in time and is packed with all aspects of the railway’s past throughout Britain and Ireland.

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The nostalgic magazine’s pages delve into the earliest days of the railway in the era of horse-drawn tramroads up to locomotives (whether steam, diesel or electric) and the rolling stock of more recent years. Backtrack also looks at the history of particular lines, as well as considering the social, political, financial, engineering and labour aspects of the railway’s history. In addition to archive black and white photographs, each issue contains quality historical colour coverage of the railway scene, all reproduced to the highest standards that will look great on your device with a Backtrack digital magazine subscription.


Sign up today to an annual Backtrack digital magazine subscription - it’s Britain's leading historical railway journal!

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Issue Cover

Backtrack  |  April 2023  


BACKTRACK Vol.37 No.4 - APRIL 2023

‘RCR’ on the Midland - the colour pages of the great photographer Dick Riley’s travels on London Midland Region lines.

When a Station Roof Collapses - Jeffrey Wells recounts four unfortunate incidents at Leicester, Huddersfield, Nottingham and Crewe.

The Liverpool Spring Meeting : John C. Hughes takes stock of how the railway companies dealt with race traffic to the Grand National.

‘Rocket’ and its Kin: Part One - Anthony Dawson reflects on the Rainhill Trials and what happened to ‘Rocket’ afterwards. .. read more

Engine and Brake Van to Shirebrook: Part Two - M. G. Sadler concludes his look at the life of a freight guard in the 1970s.

Exercising their Powers - Photographs of the mighty British Railways 9F 2-10-0s by Gavin Morrison.

Steam at Brighton - four pages of colour at this south coast railway centre.

North Wales Byways - archive photographs of stations from Anglesey to the Vale of Rheidol line.

Bert Spencer: Gresley’s Master Engineer - Tim Hillier-Graves introduces one of the most influential 'behind the scenes' locomotive engineers on the London & North Eastern Railway during the years of Sir Nigel Gresley and beyond.

CIE - Modern and Ancient - a colour spread of historic Irish diesel and steam.

The Railways of Halifax - David Joy describes how this West Riding of Yorkshire town struggled to establish itself on the railway map.

Sixes and Sevens - some thoughts by Ray Fisher on the background to the ‘Railway Grouping’ 100 years ago.
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The specialist magazine was first published in 1986 for the purpose of ‘recording the history of Britain’s railway’ - the magazine’s strapline - and it is now published by Pendragon Publishing. Dropping every month, Backtrack magazine is your monthly dose of railway nostalgia and historical insight.


35 years later and Backtrack has firmly established itself as the authority on topics such as the history of Britain and Ireland’s train stations, railway bridges, signalling, biographies, train services and staff recollections - all of which regularly appear in the magazine. Backtrack's contributors include many of today's leading railway history writers and the magazine has a reputation for being of the highest quality.


With a multitude of unmissable monthly features, every issue aims to chronicle and record part of the history of Britain’s railway system. Every issue contains a dozen or so large articles that focus on a particular line or area in British railway history.


Whether you’re into early railway history from the 'pre-Stephenson' era, steam, diesel or electric locomotive you’ll find every era covered in minute detail - from railway company history, railway carriages and wagons, railway stations, railway ships, hotels and road vehicles, railway economic and social history and railway publicity and advertising.

A Backtrack digital magazine subscription is your go-to for railway history:

  • Britain's leading historical railway magazine
  • Delving into the era of horse-drawn tramroads up to locomotives and rolling stock 
  • History of lines, the social, political, financial, engineering and labour aspects of the railway
  • Archive black and white quality images and historical colour coverage of the railway scene
  • The history of train stations, railway bridges, signalling, biographies and train services
  • Contributors include many of today's leading railway history writers
  • Delivered directly to your device every week

You'll receive 12 issues during a 1 year Backtrack magazine subscription.

Note: Digital editions do not include the covermount items or supplements you would find with printed copies.
Your purchase here at Pocketmags.com can be read on any of the following platforms.

You can read here on the website or download the app for your platform, just remember to login with your Pocketmags username and password.


The Pocketmags app runs on all iPad and iPhone devices running iOS 13.0 or above, Android 5.0 or above and Fire Tablet (Gen 3) or above. Our web-reader works with any HTML5 compatible browser, for PC and Mac we recommend Chrome or Firefox.

For iOS we recommend any device which can run the latest iOS for better performance and stability. Earlier models with lower processor and RAM specifications may experience slower page rendering and occasional app crashes which are outside of our control.
4.6
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Based on 73 Customer Reviews
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Backtrack

I originally bought a few issued for a specific topic I was researching, but am finding more of interest. Reviewed Friday, August 21, 2020
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Backtrack

Would like - pay for - access online to some of the earler issues of Backtrack Reviewed Thursday, March 19, 2020

Excellent quality

Simply the Best of it's kind on the market Reviewed Saturday, January 25, 2020

VGood British Railway History Mag

VGood British Railway History Mag Reviewed Friday, November 23, 2018

One of the best in the market

Highly entertaining Reviewed Tuesday, January 30, 2018

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