All aboard the heritage express

Railway photographer Jack Boskett has captured the magic of steam since childhood - we join him for a day at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway

The UK's affection for heritage railways isn't surprising - we love to ride on a mode of transport that departed from the station many years ago. The closure of one-third of the route network in the postwar period saw some of the abandoned lines criss-crossing the UK live on as preserved or heritage railways and they offer a nostalgic escape from our joyless national rail services. Someone who gets to see both sides of the coin is Jack Boskett, who shoots marketing and documentary photographs for national train operators as well as for the heritage railway sector.

Based in Gloucestershire, his love affair with steam trains started in childhood at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway. This preserved line runs on the metals of a former Great Western Railway branch that once connected Cheltenham and Stratford-upon-Avon. The GWSR runs scheduled leisure services on the 14 miles of track between Cheltenham Racecourse and Broadway - rolling through some picture-postcard Cotswolds countryside. As someone who enjoys the heritage railway experience, I've been aware of Boskett's work for some time, so I was delighted when he agreed to give Digital Camera a masterclass in steam train photos.

Boskett owes his choice of career to his father. Starting off on a Praktica film camera as a child, Boskett Junior won his first photo competition when he was just seven years old, and a hatful of awards have followed.

He has managed to combine his twin passions of railways and photography to forge a successful career, a journey that has also seen him photograph 410 weddings, run a successful online presence and become an accredited photographer of royal events.

Meeting in the car park at Toddington station, home to the GWSR's locomotive works, we talk through his plan for the day.