The magazine was founded in 1986 by Nigel Trevena, of Atlantic Transport Publishers (based in Truro, Cornwall), for the purpose of "recording Britain's railway history" (strapline until mid-1993).

In turn, Jenkinson's health lead him, at the end of 1994, to hand on the post of editor to Michael Blakemore, the present incumbent.

[3] David Jenkinson and Michael Blakemore's company Pendragon Publishing (office located in Easingwold, N. Yorks) bought the rights to the magazine from Atlantic in 2003.

In particular, the magazine hosts a long-running series of pieces by Michael Rutherford, which started in Vol.

A companion magazine from the same publisher (Atlantic), Modellers' BackTrack, ran from April/May 1991 to February/March 1995, alternating months with the, then bi-monthly, main title.