The annual reports of the UK’s Railways Pension Scheme are among the industry’s best-looking. Featuring beautiful portraits of historic locomotives, it’s a feast for train lovers and accountants alike. And belying the images from the golden age of the railways, the scheme has more of a future than most of its peers.

It is not only one of the biggest pension funds in the UK - the third-largest, with £17bn (€20bn) under management - but it is also a defined-benefit fund that is still open to new joiners.