This is a book which sheds light on the day-to-day performance of the steam locomotive, far from the glitz and glamour of records set by 'City of Truro', 'Mallard' and 'Duchess of Abercorn' and including a look at designs which never saw the limelight in books or magazines where locomotive performance was discussed. Historically there have been many books which concentrated on the extraordinary, the reader was never left with any idea whether or not a design under discussion, or the crews which manned them could perform at that level on a daily basis leaving the reader with the belief that a steam engine had to perform at that level as a matter of course when the truth was far from that. It is also a book which seeks to change the perception of the reader about the categorizing of designs into freight, passenger and mixed traffic types emphasising the flexibility of the steam engine which were all essentially 'mixed traffic' as the owners of privately operated lines will all testify. It is my goal to ensure that people understand what 'normal' performance could be expected from their favourites and to expose and de-bunk some of the BR power classification system which was introduced into an amalgamation of four fiercely competitive railway companies and with all the politics that involved.