Heritage Railway Issue 281

MAY 14sawtheTalyllynRailwaymark70years sinceitwas takenoverbyvolunteers,marking thestartof theworld’soperational heritage railwaymovement.Here in 2021, ourarmiesof staffand volunteersarehaving todoit allover againbecause of theCovidpandemic, thebiggest threattothesector in sevendecadesof ground-breaking history–andtheyare doingitmagnificently. In thedaysbeforegoingto press,myinboxbecame atreasuretroveof stunningpictures fromBritain’s top tracksidephotographers, with notonly heritage railways butmainline tours starting togofull steamaheadonce more. That alone justified our decision to increaseour sizeto arecord116pagesasweaim to presentreaders withthe biggestandbestcoverageof the preservationscene,which despitethesetbacks of the pandemic, isgivingaclear impression ofbeing as vibrantasever. Theresponseofourheritage lines tothewartime situation presentedbycoronavirusandthenecessary lockdowncontinues tobeutterlycommendable,withthe innovativeimplementations of social distancingmeasures settingashiningexampleto all.While lineshavebeen closed,volunteershavebeenhardatworkcompleting ancillaryprojects forthefuturebettermentoftheir line. Ithasbeensaid thatthe1953EalingcomedyThe TitfieldThunderbolt drewontheexperienceof the Talyllynpioneersandbroadcast theconcept of ordinary peoplesaving“their”railwaytoaworldwideaudience, therebywideningthefoundations of thepreservation movement. Itwas17years later, inacountrywhich hadbeendevoid ofmainlinesteamfortwoyears, that TheRailwayChildrenhadarguablyagreaterimpact in enlighteningthegeneral public to thesuccess of preservationandmaking the Keighley&WorthValley Railwayahouseholdname,which it still enjoys to thisday. Welookforwardtothesequel to thehugely-acclaimed 1970movienowbeingfilmedonthesameline,with JennyAgutter returning to playthesamecharacter. “The…

MOSTof the towns that hosted Britain’s great railwayworkshops have something tangible to remind present and futuregenerations of their past. Swindon has its STEAMMuseum; Crewe its Heritage Centre; Darlington is still turning out new steam locomotives in the form of A1 Tornado and P2 Prince ofWales; and the flame is kept alive at Eastleigh with the overhaul of Merchant Navy 4-6-2 No. 35005 Canadian Pacific. Even Horwich hopes to honour its Lancashire &Yorkshire Railway heritage by displaying 2-4-2T No. 1008 and 18in gauge shunter Wren on the site of its former works. But Doncaster – birthplace of arguably the most famous steam locomotives in the world, A3 Flying Scotsman and record-breaking A4 Mallard– has had no such monument to its railway history, until now. Opening its doors for the first time…

JOHN Cameron’s LNER A4No. 60009 UnionofSouth Africa has returned to service for the first time in overayear, at the East LancashireRailway. The streamlined Gresley Pacific emerged from storage at Buckley Wells shed on April 24, for test runs and crew training. Although these were originally intended to be light engine movements, in the event, the locomotivewas given a suitable load with an 18-wagon goods train – recalling the regular use of the ‘Streaks’on express goods work from King’s Cross, and their latterday downgrading to freight duties towards the end of their BR service. It then returned to passenger traffic on May 29-31, including a dining train on the Friday evening, and was also rostered for a further three days of operation on June 2-4. It is booked to appear at…

PLANS to givethe Bala LakeRailway a towncentrepresence tookamajor step forwardonMay 19,when Natural ResourcesWales (NRW)was grantedplanning permission by SnowdoniaNational Park Authority to upgrade the flood defences around Bala. NRWhas beenagreat support to the railway, agreeing to design and incorporate the additional civil engineering required for the railway to be laid on topof the defences along the lake’s north shore. As a result ofasuccessful fundraising campaign, the BalaLake RailwayTrust is nowable to enter into an agreementwith NRWtopay for the additional engineering work–with the turning of the first sod towards the endof thisyear. Demonstration This work will cover nearly a thirdof the extension, for which the trust will imminently be submitting the application for planningpermission for the entire 1300 yards. To further celebrate the progress of the extension, 56 years after the last…

THE 100th anniversaryof the merger of the Lancashire&YorkshireRailwayand LNWRis likely to be celebrated by galas at both theEast Lancashireand Keighley &WorthValley railways–with the possibilityofamain linetour running between the two. Events are also planned at Crewe Heritage Centre and Manchester Victoria station, and the Ribble Steam Railway at Preston Docks has indicated that it would also like to be involved. An initial meeting of an event steering committee has been held and a second is planned for June 9. Bahamas Locomotive Society chairman KeithWhitmore said: “As custodians of the only operational LNWR locomotive (the current overhaul of Coal Tank 0-6-2T No. 1054 is nowwell advanced at the KWVR) we expect the loco to be verymuch at the heart of the celebrations.”…

THENorthYorkshireMoorsRailway needs itsvolunteer teamto cover200,000 hours duringanormaloperating season–anaverage of 22 hours per person everymonth. Figures released by Britain’s most popular heritage line in terms of passenger numbers revealed that 14% of volunteers have given service for more than 20 years, and 15% travel more than 160 miles to get there. More than 50%support the operating department, while the biggest department is the footplate department with a team of more than 210 volunteer engine cleaners, firemen and drivers. The second biggest volunteer department is the motive power depot, with 73 regular volunteers. Also, a team of 15 work strategically with the North YorkshireMoors National Park to conserve and manage wildlife, as highlighted in our special feature in issue 278. The figures were released at the start of the June 1-7 national…