Heritage Railway Issue 226

FEBRUARY’S main line charter debut of BR Standard 2-6-0 No. 76084 cannot be but heartily welcomed, along with the John Coiley award that its owning group has been presented with by the Heritage Railway Association. Now David Smith’s Bulleid Merchant Navy Pacific No. 35018 British India Line, restored from Barry scrapyard condition, will shortly be returning to the main line in the year of the 50th anniversary of the end of steam on the Southern Region. Having seen the nearly-finished locomotive close up at its Carnforth base, if it runs as good as it looks, and to me it appears magnificent, undoubtedly it will take the network by storm. With running-in tests and proving runs still to be undertaken as we closed for press, there is every indication that it…

NOT only has the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway removed one of the greatest obstacles to reviving more of the legendary line – but it has turned a profit in the process. As reported in HR issue 222, after 20 years of trying, the LBR Trust last year bought Fairview, a three-bedroom detached house which was built in 1911 next to Parracombe Halt. Long after the line closed in 1935, an extension to the house was built across the formation. The garden contained 200 yards of original trackbed. The trust bought the house after longstanding member Gerald Chandler left his Dorset home in his will to the railway. The money from the sale of Gerald’s house financed the Parracombe purchase. Sufficient profit After Fairview was bought, the trust split ofl the…

FIFTY years after steam ended on the Southern Region, one of its classics is set to make a comeback to the main line. Bulleid Merchant Navy Pacific No. 35018 British India Line – owned by West Coast Railways chairman David Smith – which steamed for the first time in the heritage era at the firm’s Carnforth base on November 29, has been outshopped in gleaming black livery. No rebuilt MN ever appeared in black livery; however, British India Line may be repainted once its tests, proving runs and certification are completed. As we closed for press, No. 35018 was set to undergo further tests within the depot limits, before undergoing a main line proving run, probably on the usual West Coast‘test’circuit to Hellifield, in the next few months. Although the…

THE RailwayTouring Company’s motive power line-up has changed for its April 29-May 7 ‘Great Britain X’nine-day tour because some the locomotives listed earlier will not be available for the trip. On day one, A3 Pacific No. 60103 Flying Scotsman departs King’s Cross forYork, where A4 No. 60009 Union of South Africa takes over for the run to Edinburgh. Day two, April 30, sees No. 60009 paired with K1 2-6-0 No. 62005, working the train from Perth to Inverness. The following day, the tour departs Inverness for a visit to Kyle of Lochalsh with No. 62005 or a‘Black Five’– possibly No. 44871 – at the head of the train. On May 2 – day four – ‘GBX’travels from Inverness to Perth with K1 and the A4 taking the train as far…

THE Bala Lake Railway has bought the first patch of land in Bala town centre for its proposed extension. On February 17, the Bala Lake Railway Trust exchange of contracts took place for the first plot of land where the new Bala Town station is to be constructed. Trust chairman Julian Birley said:“Securing the first piece of land for the new Bala Town station is a hugely significant step towards the construction of the extension of the Bala Lake Railway. “The land has been paid for by the very generous donations of our supporters across the UK, showing how important the Red Dragon Project (Prosiect y Ddraig Goch) is and how it has captured peoples’ imaginations. The trust is indebted to the fantastic work of volunteer solicitor Lisa Williams, who…

THE iconic clock at Carnforth station – which was famously used for location filming of the 1945 classic romantic movie Brief Encounter – has remain frozen in time following a race row. Retired train driver Jim Walker, 71, who helped track down and reinstall the clock at Carnforth station 13 years ago, has declined to continue with his voluntary duties of winding it twice weekly, after he was banned from the Carnforth Station Heritage Museum for an alleged racist conversation on the platform. A station visitor complained to museum officials about a private conversation he held with a former museum official about newspaper reports claiming that Syrian men were posing as child refugees to enter the UK. He was not spoken to about the allegation, but received a solicitor’s letter…