Heritage Railway Issue 238

THIS year much attention will naturally be focused on the 50th anniversary of the end of British Rail standard gauge steam haulage in August 1968. I remember the time well – looking forward to a caravan holiday at Salcombe’s South Sands, buying my first single records – from memory it was MacArthur Park by Richard Harris, and although he is long gone, I recently had the pleasure of meeting backing singer Ginger Blake – and preparing to start grammar school. But after August 11 all talk of trains went out of the window, as the next generations of schoolboys were instead becoming inspired by the Apollo trips around and to the moon. There was an underlying feeling“well that’s that then,” as the nation’s trainspotters, by necessity, consigned their ABC spotters’guides…

THE Swanage Railway has decided to delay the full second year of its ground-breaking diesel-hauled services to Wareham. While hugely successful in terms of passenger numbers, the service ran at a loss because of the cost of hiring an outside party to run them, and having to use diesels at both ends because of the lack of run-round facilities at Wareham. The railway will now wait to resume the Wareham timetable until the refurbishment of its two DMU units – a Class 121 ‘bubblecar’ and a three-carriage Class 117 unit – by Arlington Fleet Group Ltd at Eastleigh Works is complete. The two DMUs are being given new wheelsets, supplied by separate contractors, as well as being equipped with Network Rail-compliant TPWS, OTMR, and GSM-R wireless communications system apparatus and…

HERITAGE Railways have been advised to draw up improved examination regimes to ensure that coaching stock does not deteriorate to the point where safety is compromised. The Rail Accident Investigation Branch has called on heritage lines to apply “appropriate standards for vehicle maintenance” following an incident in which a three-years-old boy fell through a missing carriage toilet floor. The boy was saved from potentially serious injury only by the quick actions of his mother, who grabbed his arm before he could fall. The incident happened at 1.15pm on June 22 last year, when the mother and her son were travelling on a South Devon Railway train from Totnes Riverside to Buckfastleigh. A RAIB report published on January 30 said that shortly after leaving Staverton station, while the train was travelling…

TWO Quarry Hunslet 0-4-0STs will take pride of place at King’s Cross station from February 10-18. No. 409 of 1886 Velinheli from the Launceston Steam Railway and No. 855 of 1904 Hugh Napier, which is owned by the National Trust and while part of the Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum spends its time as a guest of the Ffestiniog Railway, will be rolled into the station’s ticket hall at 1pm on February 10. The pair, which used to transport slate around the quarries of Bethesda and Llanberis, will be used to promote North Wales as a tourist destination, and the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways in particular. The railways carry nearly 400,000 passengers each year and trains cover 63,500 miles – more than two and a half times round the earth…

THE phrase “the car became king” is often used by railway historians when describing the demise of the national network. However, it was certainly true on Monday, January 29, when the motor vehicle reclaimed another piece of rail territory. A special Cars up the Cliff event saw the Lynton & Lynmouth Cliff Railway take a succession of classic cars up the funicular line which links the town to the harbour village below. The event was staged for a photoshoot for Practical Classics magazine. The last time that road vehicles were carried up the cliff via the Victorian railway was in 1952 during the Lynmouth flood disaster. Back then, it was the only means of getting stranded cars out of Lynmouth. The railway – which was originally designed to transport freight…

WORK on blue-liveried 4-6-0 No. 6023 King Edward II at Didcot Railway Centre has reached the stage whereby the engine is virtually ready for main line running. However, it has been stated in the Great Western Society’s magazine, the Great Western Echo, that it has been agreed the aim of running the engine on the main line should be postponed for the time being. Among the reasons given is the length of time left on the boiler certificate and the general turmoil within the steam charter business. The next major step in the King’s future is, it was understood, a move to the Severn Valley Railway where the 4-6-0’s steaming qualities are to be tested under progressively-increased loading conditions. A similar move to the West Somerset Railway was contemplated 10…