The paper presents the mechanism of secondary flows and the associated total pressure losses occurring in turbine cascades with turning angle of about 127 and 77 degree. Velocity and pressure measurements are taken in seven traverse planes through the cascade passage using a prism type five hole probe. Oil-film flow visualization is also conducted on blade and endwall surfaces. The characteristics of the limiting streamlines show that the three dimensional separation is an important flow feature of endwall and blade surfaces. The larger turning results in much stronger contribution of the secondary flows to the loss developing mechanism. A large part of the endwall loss region at downstream pressure side is found to be very thin when compared to that of the cascade inlet and suction side endwall. Evolution of overall loss starts quite early within the cascade and the rate of the loss growth is much larger in the blade of large turning angle than in the blade of small turning angle.