From the late 19th century, many narrow gauge lines would be built across Spain, opening up less affluent and geographically challenging regions, supporting the growth of new industries, in particular the extensive iron and coal mining operations.

At the start of the 1960s, Spain offered a remarkable variety of narrow gauge railways, still largely operated by steam. Well-known railway photographer Peter Gray visited the country several times, travelling widely to record many of these lines shortly before they were transformed for ever by the effects of modernisation, or in some cases swept away entirely. By the early 1970s, many of the lines featured in this volume would have closed, whilst those which survived would have been changed dramatically.

Peter Gray first visited Spain in 1960 with an RCTS tour of the north of the country, a region which contained a rich variety of railways. That visit is the subject of companion volume ‘Peter Gray’s Travels, Volume 3: Across Northern Spain in 1960’.