John Adams joined the Railway Photographic Society in the mid-1930s. During the war he served as a photographer with the RAF, and eventually formed his own photographic company, which specialised in advertising. In 1951, whilst working with the Tal-y-llyn Railway Preservation Society he first met Patrick Whitehouse (founder of the Millbrook House publishing company). They began a prolific partnership and over the years produced a series of books and magazines, as well as fifty instalments of the 'Railway Roundabout' television series for the BBC.