Philip Atkins inherited his interest in railways and locomotives from his late father, who extensively photographed Gresley 'Pacifics' when they were in their prime before the Second World War. He had his first railway article published in 1966, and in 1975 he was appointed Librarian at the then new National Railway Museum in York, a post he held until he retired in 2006. He is married, with three grown-up children, and lives in Harrogate.