On Sunday 11 August, 1968, the last train to operate on standard gauge track hauled by a British Railways steam locomotive ran from Liverpool to Carlisle and back, over the Pennines. John Betjeman is a passenger, and he muses on the attraction of steam transport.

Betjeman visits a travelling exhibition, 'New Trains For Old', and reflects on the railways' history. Abram Solomon's 1855 painting 'The Return' inspires a poem about a railway romance, and photographs depict pioneering railways (Stockton & Darlington, 1825; Liverpool & Manchester, 1830) and engineers (George Stephenson, Richard Trevithick, Isambard Kingdom Brunel).

After musing on the links between Euston and the industrial Midlands, Betjeman states that rail travel is more comfortable than any other kind, and that even though greater speeds are promised, the main attraction is the release from tension and the opportunity to admire the passing countryside.