Sommaire pour Issue 256 de Heritage Railway

NINE years after Network Rail needlessly demolished three redundant signalboxes to the chagrin of local conservationists and Solihull’s then MP, the powers that be have now woken up to the fact that the North Warwickshire Line is a major asset to the local economy just waiting to be switched on. I lived near the Tyseley to Stratford-upon-Avon route for much of my life, and before I moved into railway magazine editing in Lincolnshire, spent 10 happy years living within earshot of The Lakes Halt. Long used as the route of the‘Shakespeare Express’, the line somewhat miraculously evaded a post-Beeching attempt at total closure in 1969 and then survived moves to close it south of Henley-in-Arden in 1984. The northernmost half in particular has become a thriving and essential commuter route…

JULIE Jones has resigned as general manager of the Bluebell Railway. Also, the line’s plc chairman Dick Fearn has decided not to seek a further term in office after five years in the role, and will stand down at the company’s annual meeting on August 29. Julie, who left the company on June 12, had been in the job for just 10 months. A former civil servant holding a first-class honours degree in business administration from Surrey University, she has worked within the Ministry of Defence, the Environment Agency, the Office for National Statistics and Department for Transport, where her role included working with main line Train Operating Companies. For 18 years she had been involved in the heritage railway sector both as a volunteer and an employee, and qualified…

POSITIVE energy continues to drive the Talyllyn Railway – with further exciting developments in terms of its volunteer and commercial offering and passenger numbers on the up in the season so far. “This year we forecast a 10% reduction in passenger numbers. However, year-on-year we’re seeing a 7.5% increase and a 15% rise in ticket revenue,” said general manager Stuart Williams. Asked what he thought the reasoning might be for the increase in traffic, Stuart replied: “I would say it’s mainly us spreading the word more widely and being a bit more focused on marketing. The product was always good, just not enough people knew!” Another positive development concerns young volunteers aged 14-16, the number of whom has now increased. “Because of the 1920 Employment of Women, Young Persons and…

WHEN he visited the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway on Friday, June 1, the Duke of Kent took a footplate ride on a locomotive which was a member of a class designed to celebrate his grandfather King George V’s silver jubilee. The Duke, a first cousin of the Queen, was introduced to LMS Jubilee 4-6-0 No. 45596 Bahamas when he visited Ingrow West station. The locomotive has recently returned to the main line after a lengthy overhaul at Tyseley Locomotive works with the aid of a £775,800 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Over the course of the day, the Duke visited St John’s Church, Ingrow, which was built by the local mill owners who supported the railway’s original construction; met members of the Bahamas Locomotive Society; and travelled in…

THERE were scenes of elation at the Mid-Hants Railway’s Alresford station on Sunday, June 2, when the Urie Locomotive Society (ULS) relaunched one of its two Urie S15s, No. 506, following an 18-year overhaul. The Eastleigh-built 4-6-0 looked stunning in its shiny Southern wartime black livery with sunshine lettering as it was formally returned to revenue-earning service at the Watercress Line. Crowds cheered as the locomotive’s whistle sounded, before its cylinder drain cocks opened and the first barks of its exhaust resonated across the station – which brought tears of joy to some of those who’ve spent more years than they care to remember beavering away on one of their beloved locomotives. As featured in issue 250, the ULS has literally worked miracles to overcome a host of engineering hurdles…

THE Dartmouth Steam Railway is to repeat its phenomenally-successful American-style Christmas Train of Lights for a second season in December. Planning for the 2019 show is already well underway, with designs aiming at an even bigger and better light show. The 2018 event, an initiative of former managing director Andrew Pooley, was so successful that all tickets were sold out well in advance of Christmas and many additional dates were added to handle the sheer demand. In all, around 18,000 passengers were carried. The illuminated journey, the first of its type in the UK after the concept was successful pioneered by Canadian Pacific as its seasonal Holiday Train, will again start at Paignton Queen’s Park Station, where the train of heritage carriages is decorated with thousands of lights, both inside…

THE sell-out ‘All Change’ Open Day at Locomotive Services Limited’s Crewe diesel depot proved to be a real winner, despite bad weather on the day. More than 5000 visitors attended the show on Saturday, June 8, to see a mixture of modern and heritage diesel and electric traction with a steam presence for good measure, with 44 locomotives on display. The event, held in partnership between Virgin Trains, Locomotive Services (TOC) Limited (the company’s first open day at the depot) and Heritage Railway’s sister title The Railway Magazine, was run in memory of Alison Austin, daughter of Lyn Gillan, and sister of Melvyn, who both work at Crewe station. Alison lost her fight against neuroendocrine cancer last year and her passing inspired the organisation of the event, which raised more…

SOUTH African rail authorities have promised to work more closely with steam operators and tourist organisations following the call to implement a series of measures to prevent further embarrassing cancellations of major tours because of infrastructure problems. As reported in our last issue, Reefsteamers’ five-day high-profile sleeper railtour from Bethlehem in Free State province to Modderport headed by North British locomotive-built 12AR 4-8-2 No.1535 carrying international passengers including several from the UK, was called off on the second day because of overgrown and rock-strewn track. The itinerary would have been submitted long in advance to Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) for clearance with information regarding the motive power and train tonnage. Before the tour, TFR was to send crews to check and clear the line, apparently this did not happen. TFR…

THE weekend of June 15/16 saw celebrations to mark the 175th anniversary of the opening of the Didcot to Oxford railway by GWR in 1844. Vintage Trains ran a circular trip from Oxford behind WR 4-6-0 No. 7029 Clun Castle as part of the proceedings. At the early stage of planning, this was advertised as running diesel-free. However, at the last minute it was decided that the diesel locomotive which had accompanied the stock on the positioning move at 6.53am from Solihull would stay with the train. Vintage Trains said only that this change had been made for operational reasons. However, it came after organisers and the steam drivers (Ray Churchill to Ruislip and Graham Ward from there) were presented with two A4 sheets of platform restrictions mainly on the…

THE Branch Line Society (BLS) is running two day excursions hauled by Class 37s – better known by fans of the English Electric diesel locomotives as ‘tractors’. On Saturday, August 10 three West Coast Class 37s are set to work ‘Type 3 to the Sea’from Crewe to Portsmouth and return. In familiar BLS style, unusual track has been requested (including the Baker-level Coventry North Yard No. 1 Road). A number of optional extra excursions are also being offered – one of which even involves ‘rare water’– thanks to ferry operator Hovertravel. A hovercraft charter will be going off the booked service route to provide a connection to Lee-on-the-Solent and the Hovercraft Museum. The ‘Growler’ fun does not end there, however. Taking advantage of the presence of three Class 37s and…

It was over the weekend of June 9/10, 1979 that a gala weekend with a difference was held on the West Somerset Railway. The event celebrated the extension of regular heritage services from Stogumber to Bishops Lydeard, and the reopening of the Minehead branch all the way to the junction with British Rail at Norton Fitzwarren. The revivalists were able to proudly boast that they now had the longest independent railway in the UK. The distance from Minehead to the new terminus at Bishops Lydeard is 19½ miles, while the additional stretch to Norton Fitzwarren, still used only on special occasions and for incoming charters, took the length up to 22¾ miles. The length is still greater than the later Wensleydale Railway at 22 miles, but now short of the…

SOUTH EAST Amberley Museum & Heritage Centre 2ft gauge, ¼ mile. Arundel, West Sussex. Tel: 01798 831370. Running: Wed-Sun + B/Hs. Bluebell Railway Standard gauge, 11 miles, footplate experience, wine and dine. Sheffield Park, East Sussex TN22 2QL. Tel: 01825 720800. Running: Daily until Sept 8. Bredgar & Wormshill Light Railway 2ft gauge, ½ mile. Bredgar, Sittingbourne, Kent. Tel: 01622 884254. Running: Jul 7, Aug 4. East Kent Railway Standard gauge, two miles, Shepherdswell, Dover. Tel: 01304 832042. Running: Suns, B/Hs. Eastleigh Lakeside Railway 10¼in & 7¼in gauge, 1¼ miles, footplate experience. Running: W/Es + sch hols. Hastings Miniature Railway 10¼in gauge, 600 yards, Rock-a-Nore Road, Hastings, East Sussex. Running: W/Es + sch hols. Hayling Seaside Railway 2ft gauge, one mile. Hayling Island, Hants. Running: W/Es, Weds + sch hols…

THE last steam trips though the London Underground tunnels beneath the city centre, held over the weekend of June 22-23 to mark the 150th anniversary of the District Line, have been hailed as a sell-out and a resounding success. However, but for the last-minute heroics of four LU train testing engineers, the trips – organised by the London Transport Museum in partnership with Transport for London and headed by Metropolitan Railway E class 0-4-4T No.1 – might not have gone ahead at all. The first train on the Saturday, the 11.11am departure from Ealing Broadway to High Street Kensington and return, was delayed by 90 minutes. As the train was leaving Ruislip depot, LU control notified the crew about a problem that had been automatically detected by sensors, and said…

IN EARLY June, NER J21 0-6-0 No. 65033 was moved from Kirkby Stephen East to Loughborough where Locomotive Maintenance Services Ltd (LMS) has been awarded the contract to restore it by custodian the Locomotive Conservation and Learning Trust (LCLT). Trust chairman Toby Watkins said: “The LCLT received three high quality bids from three contractors who each have a track record of delivering high quality projects and so it was sad to have to turn two of them down. Any one of the bidders would have done a fantastic job but after careful consideration we decided to choose LMS.” When withdrawn in 1962, 1889-built No. 65033 was initially reserved for the National Collection, only to be later dropped from the list because it was no longer in as-built condition. It was…

THE Talyllyn Railway’s original platelayer’s trolley, which had been out of service for more than a decade, made a surprise comeback at the Anything Goes gala on June 15. The trolley was originally built in 1954 by then volunteer and later the line’s chief engineer John Bate, at his parents’ home in Reigate, using the engine from an Austin 7. In 1960 it was fitted with a canopy, which led to it being affectionately named Toby. It has had many roles over the years, including being used as a fire tender following trains up the valley during periods of drought. Sadly, it was badly damaged in a shunting incident in 2008 and had been stored out of use ever since. However, an appeal for help from engineering manager Chris Smith…

THE Welsh Highland Railway’s showpiece modern £3 million Caernarfon terminus was officially opened on Friday, June 14 – only hours before the ribbon cutting at the re-created traditional station at Waunfawr. A special from Dinas, hauled by NGG16 Garratt No. 138, brought the VIPs, railway staff, volunteers, politicians, business and community members, as well as representatives from other railways and related industries, to Caernarfon. They saw the new station facilities, including a new cafe, shop, disabled facilities and interpretation space featuring local artwork. Officially opening the new station was Sir Peter Luff, chairman of the Heritage Lottery Fund. The station (external picture, Platform, pages 72-73) has been part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund, through the Welsh Government, as part of Caernarfon’s £16m Waterfront Development Project, led by Gwynedd County…

ADVERTISED as The Hall and Saint Event, it was actually the Halls and Saint plus auto train – though two of the Halls were static and not in steam. The Great Western Society’s (GWS) Didcot Railway Centre hosted this popular event over the weekend of June 8/9. It featured newly rebuilt Saint class 4-6-0 No. 2999 Lady of Legend working alongside 1949 Swindon-built Modified Hall class 4-6-0 No. 7903 Foremarke Hall, normally based on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway – with 1931-built Hall class 4-6-0s No. 5900 Hinderton Hall and 1949-built Modified Hall No. 6998 Burton Agnes Hall on display in the line-up. Collett 0-4-2 tank No. 1450, built in 1935, was working on the branch line with 1933-built Collett auto-trailer No. 190. No. 2999 was built by the GWS at…

TODAY it’s the location of Stratford International station and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the latter covering 560 acres and a testimony to the power of money and sport, the vision of the British people of many cultures, and how a quest for a legacy – one of the buzzwords of our 21st century life – can be fulfilled. In the steam era the site – or at least part of it – was occupied by Stratford locomotive depot and works which covered 60 acres, employed in excess of 6500 people at its peak, and boasted the largest allocation of steam engines in the country. Of the International station and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, much has been written in recent years, and perhaps a few decades in the future…

RAILWAY personnel who heroically saved a Cambridgeshire market town from a blazing ammunition train during the Second World War were remembered at the Mid-Hants Railway on June 2. On the 75th anniversary of the Soham railway explosion, Class 47 No. 47579 was rededicated James Nightall G.C. at a ceremony held at Alresford at 1pm. The locomotive, which is currently in the middle of a three-year loan from the Mangapps Farm Railway Museum, was originally named James Nightall G.C. on September 28, 1981. Brave actions In the early hours of June 2, 1944 a 51-wagon train was travelling between Whitemoor yard and Ipswich. The train was conveying aircraft bombs and their components for the US Air Force bound for White Colne. On the approach to Soham station, Cambridgeshire, driver Benjamin Gimbert…

MAJOR progress on the Northampton & Lamport Railway’s southern extension has taken place with the refurbishment of the 140-year-old seven-arch low viaduct, known as Bridge 11. The work began on Monday, June 3, and by the Friday, all the fill material had been removed and the main structure cleaned and prepared for the new concrete slab to be poured in during the ensuing fortnight. The new ballast is scheduled to be reinstated during the first week in July, ready for track to be relaid shortly afterwards. The southern extension will add another half-mile to the existing 1½-mile heritage line, over which services run to and from its only station, Pitsford & Brampton. However, the new extension will add a station with sidings and a run-round loop at the former level…

PETER Best’s United States Army Transport Corps S160 2-8-0 No. 2253 has been outshopped in maroon livery and named Omaha in honour of the D-Day invasion of Normandy 75 years ago. The locomotive was constructed by Baldwin’s of Philadelphia in March 1943 with works number 69495 and shipped to the UK, arriving at the Port of Liverpool by May 1943. It was then seconded to the LNER and allocated to Leeds Neville Hill shed to work freight trains in and around the West Riding. Of the more than 2000 S160s made, over 800 saw service in the UK with all four of the main railway regions prior to the invasion of Europe in 1944. S160s were built to the British loading gauge, which allowed them to be used across the…

CANTERBURY & Whitstable pioneer Invicta, the world’s first locomotive not only to haul regular passenger trains but to enter preservation, hit dizzy new heights on Sunday, June 16 – when it was craned into its new museum home, 189 years after being delivered to the Kent line. The next locomotive to be built by Robert Stephenson & Company after Rocket, Invicta was lifted over the Victorian rooftops by crane and lowered millimetre by millimetre for permanent display in the Whitstable Community Museum & Gallery. The world’s ninth oldest surviving locomotive, which is named after the motto on the flag of Kent (‘invicta’ meaning undefeated) hauled trains on what became known as the Crab and Winkle line from 1830. Furthermore, Invicta was accompanied into the museum by a second form of…

THE Vale of Rheidol Railway’s (VoR) new Edwardian GWR-style heritage station at Aberystwyth was officially opened on June 6 – concluding the first phase of the line’s £2.2 million‘Wales to the World’ project. As reported in issue 248, the project is a funding collaboration between the VoR and Visit Wales, the Welsh Government’s tourism team within the Department for Heritage to promote Welsh tourism and assist the tourism industry. While the railway is providing 35% of the revenue to support the project, the remainder is coming directly from grant funding – including £1.6 million from the European Regional Development Fund as part of the EU funded TAD Destination Program and the TMF Regeneration Fund. Lord Elis-Thomas, deputy minister for culture, sport and tourism at the Welsh Government, cut the ribbon…

ECML LNER Pacifics head the parade of Stoneleigh nameplates IT was game and set, if not match, to the LNER at Great Central’s auction at Stoneleigh on June 1, when Great Central from A1 No. 60156 and Falcon from A4 No. 60025 outsold nameplates from any of the other Big Four with respective realisations of £28,500 and £20,000. With the former having been built by BR at Doncaster in October 1949, the year after Nationalisation, some may claim the glory isn’t the LNER’s, but the Pacific was designed by that company’s chief mechanical engineer Arthur Peppercorn and doubtless its name was already set in stone – if not already cast in brass – when Nationalisation came knocking at the door. The nameplate incorporated its original hand-painted GCR coat-of-arms. Unlike the…

NO sooner had its three inaugural‘Royal Windsor Steam Express’departures from Waterloo been completed, on Tuesday, June 4, Steam Dreams announced that the same format would operate again next year. A fourth Tuesday train, the evening ‘Sunset Steam Express’which essentially takes the Surrey Hills route, is included in the plan. Company chairman David Buck said: “I have already made arrangements to repeat this year’s programme next year. Standard Class proved to be very active – where else can you get main steam for £35 – and surprisingly perhaps, Premier Class dining was and is booking well.” Based on the first evening‘Sunset’ diner experience, he said he feels that the train will become popular with younger generations looking for something different and for a special occasions. From an operational point of view,…

IT MAY be summer holiday time, but it is not too early to be thinking about Christmas and the Railway Touring Company has published details of its extensive steam railtour programme for the festive season. Christmas markets in all parts of the country are the chosen destinations and there are some new departure points and varied routes on offer to tempt the steam enthusiast, with motive power being one or more from a pool of three Class 8 Pacifics. The season seems to start earlier and earlier and kicks off on Saturday, November 16 with‘The Christmas Cheshireman’from Bristol via the Welsh Marches to Chester in the hands of LNER A4 Pacific No. 60009 Union of South Africa, which will by then be approaching the end of its final boiler ticket.…

July SAT 6: ‘The Bournemouth Belle’ London Victoria, Weymouth & return. Steam-hauled: London, Weymouth. Southampton, London. Locos: No. 35018 British India Line. RTC SAT 6: ‘Cotswold Explorer’ Dorridge, Oxford & return. Steam-hauled throughout. Loco: No. 45596 Bahamas. VT SAT 6: ‘The Dart & Torbay Express’ Tame Bridge Parkway, Kingswear & return. Steam-hauled: Bristol, Kingswear & return. Loco: No. 60163 Tornado. PT SUN 7: ‘The English Riviera Express’ Bristol Temple Meads, Kingswear & return. Steam-hauled throughout. Loco: No. 34046 Braunton, No. 46100 Royal Scot or No. 70000 Britannia. ST SUN 7: ‘The Waverley’ York, Carlisle & return. Steam-hauled throughout. Locos: No. 60103 Flying Scotsman. RTC TUE 9: ‘The End of Southern Steam’ London Victoria, Weymouth & return. Steam-hauled: London, Yeovil. Weymouth, London. Locos: No. 35018 British India Line. RTC TUE 9:…

Can the Midland railmotor be restored? IN ISSUE 249, I was astonished to read a letter explaining that the National Collection’s unique Midland Railway railmotor carriage was now sited in the open and exposed to the elements at a honey farm near Berwick-on-Tweed. In subsequent issues I have been equally surprised that only one letter has appeared in response to this revelation. Surely what Stephen Summerson described in his Midland Railway Society publication as this“significant artefact of railway history”should be a prime target for restoration either as a railmotor carriage or in its later form as a general superintendent’s vehicle. How appropriate if this could be started in this 175th anniversary year of the Midland Railway. George Dow saved it once as a holiday home – who is going to…

FORTUNATELY there is no shortage of events again in early summer, with plenty to interest us all. Galas sure to be popular range from the Foxfield Railway’s Summer Festival of Steam to the North Norfolk Railway’s Somerset & Dorset Weekend and the East Lancs’Summer Diesel Spectacular – not to mention the South Devon Diesel Gala and the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway’s Heritage Diesel Gala. Food and drink-related events appear to be particularly popular this time – with festivals of varying kinds being held at railways including Cambrian Heritage Railways, the Talyllyn Railway, the Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway, the Perrygrove Railway, the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway, the Epping Ongar Railway, Leighton Buzzard, the Swindon & Cricklade Railway, the North Norfolk Railway, the Churnet Valley Railway and the Battlefield Line. Something a…

PART of West Somerset Railway will be closed to traffic between November and March to allow the next phase of major infrastructure works to be carried out in readiness for the 2020 season. The line was closed for the first three months of this year to enable, where appropriate, infrastructure to be modernised and to carry out a review of all administrative and financial procedures and practices, and led to the postponement of the spring steam gala. However, this time the closure will affect just the Watchet to Minehead section, but winter seasonal services, such as Dunster by Candlelight to Minehead, and the popular February half-term week operations, will still go ahead. A WSR spokesman said: “There is nothing new or sinister in this, as we have briefed our stakeholders…

WEST Somerset Railway plc chairman and road transport company boss Jonathan Jones-Pratt has bought the late Dennis Howells’go-anywhere WR Hawksworth pannier No. 9466 for an undisclosed sum. As highlighted in issue 253, the 1951-built locomotive, which is in full working order, was offered for sale earlier this year by Dennis’s sister Gwyneth Maude who wanted the engine to not only go to a good home, but also continue to be used in line with her late brother’s wishes. Main line certificated, the locomotive could be used on future stream shuttles between Bishops Lydeard and Taunton. Modern-day operator Great Western Railway is set to launch a trial series of DMU shuttles over the length in August. The purchase now brings Jonathan’s fleet of GWR-design steam locomotives to three, alongside 4-6-0 No.…

THE world’s biggest operational steam locomotive – Union Pacific Railroad Big Boy 4-8-8-4 No. 4014 – is to stage a major tour of US mid-west cities throughout July. Following its appearance in Ogden, Utah, on May 9, to mark the 150th anniversary of the great transcontinental railroad’s golden spike, as featured in our last issue, it will stage its own ‘Great Race across the Midwest’. No. 4014 will leave the UP steam shop in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on July 8, making brief whistle-stops in communities along its route through Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Itinerary It will be displayed on July 13-14 in Omaha, Nebraska; July 18 in St Paul, Minnesota; July 20 in Duluth, Minnesota; July 23 in Altoona, Wisconsin; July 27-29 in Chicago, Illinois; August 1 in…

TO celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway reopening in Skegness, an iced wooden ‘cake’ will be fed to the line’s Peckett 0-6-0ST Jurassic at its Walls Lane station in the Skegness Water Leisure Park in Ingoldmells. The cake will be placed into the firebox on Saturday, July 13, by Mayor of Skegness Coun Mark Dannatt, accompanied by the Jolly Fisherman, just after 11am. A piece of old sleeper, the cake has been decorated by 18-year-old Horncastle student Millie Waby.…

BACK in April while visiting Sandstone for the International Stars of Sandstone festival (issue 254) it seemed clear there were problems boiling under with the Rail Safety Regulator imposing excessive restrictions regarding the running of the railway. Tensions were high and great care, as always regarding safety, was being taken by all involved. Since then the problems are becoming public and of growing concern. This year’s event saw major changes with regard to the operating of trains and footplate rides were banned unlike previous years, much to the disappointment of many. For example, all crews were breathalysed at 6.45am prior to their day’s turn and route training had to be undertaken before they were allowed out on the line. The Sandstone Railway is a ‘closed loop railway’which is unconnected to…

THREE steam locomotives which have been out of the public gaze for decades will be unveiled as the star attraction of the Vale of Rheidol Railway’s September 14/15 Steam Festival Weekend. Quarry Hunslet 0-4-0ST No. 704 of 1899 Nesta will be seen in public for the first time since being rescued from a swamp in Puerto Rico by Robert Gambrill and repatriated to Britain in 2016. Nesta, the last remaining unrestored surviving ex-Penrhyn slate quarry Hunslet, will be appearing in Wales for the first time since export to the US in July 1965. It was one of six locomotives bought from Penrhyn quarries in 1965 and exported to the US by CB Arnette of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, ending up being sold on to a museum project on the Hacienda La Esperanza…

DENT station, which at 1150ft above sea level is the highest in England, is now on the market for £395,000. The Grade II listed building regularly sees steam charters pass its front door due to its location on the iconic Settle to Carlisle line, a route that is a favourite with railtour operators and enthusiasts alike. It was enthusiasts who joined with local authorities to fight BR’s 1984 closure plans – and now they have the chance to own one of the 72-mile line’s trademark properties. Opened by the Midland Railway in 1877, the station was closed by BR in 1970 but reopened in 1986 as the ultimately successful campaign to save the entire line gathered momentum. In the same year, the station building was sold into private ownership and…

A SPARK from a passing steam train was believed to have set tracks ablaze on the Churnet Valley Railway. It was conjected that a gas main beneath the railway near Kingsley & Froghall station ruptured, allowing gas to rise to the surface. When a train headed by Polish TKh No. 2944 Hotspur passed over the spot, on Wednesday, June 5, a spark from the locomotive caused the gas to ignite. The fire also spread to leaves and bushes on the embankment. The train arrived at the station and the passengers were taken off. Three fire crews, from Leek, Cheadle and Longton, comprising 15 firefighters arrived to tackle the blaze – but because it was in a location three-quarters-of-a-mile from the nearest road, a train has to be pressed into service…

THE project which aims to build a new example of Britain’s first main line diesel has launched an appeal to acquire a second engine. The Ivatt Diesel Recreation Society plan to replicate and operate D16 No. 10000, which was scrapped at Cashmore’s yard in 1968. LMS No. 10000 and its twin sister No. 10001, built at Derby works in 1947, were the ancestors of all current British main line diesel locomotives, and proved many parts and concepts are still in use on the network today. The plan As outlined in issue 251, the society has already acquired a‘donor’ locomotive for the project in the form of Class 58 diesel No. 58022, and also owns a genuine English Electric 16SVT engine, No. IH1861, which is in good working order having only…

THE award-winning Totnes Riverside station, eastern terminus of the South Devon Railway is home to a GWR van which took part in the build up to D-Day. No. 594, which was built to diagram P18 at Swindon in 1918 and fitted with American bogies, was a Scenery Van used for the transport of theatre companies around the UK. Along with others of the type, it was designated with the unusual name of Monster. In 1944, at the request of the US and British Governments, a train was assembled for the purpose of General Dwight D Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, together with British and American Chiefs of Staff, for travelling around the UK to inspect the preparations for D-Day. The train was code-named Alive and comprised 10…

NAMES have been an integral and fascinating part of the UK steam locomotive scene since the birth of the railways. From Catch Me Who Can of 1808, a name that epitomised pride and a challenge, to Evening Star of 1960 – a name that concentrated minds and hearts on the end of an era – subjects have been varied and frequently well received by railwaymen and the travelling public alike. The GWR concentrated mainly on buildings, while the Southern Railway offered a much more eclectic diet that included the Arthurian legend, schools, towns and villages in its patch, RAF squadrons plus a maritime theme, and from the LMS came geography, associations with warfare, royalty and aristocracy. The centrepiece of the LNER philosophy was the racehorse, with a nod to other…

PTG Tours has offered £4000 towards the reconstruction of the Talyllyn Railway’s original locomotive watering point at Ty Dŵr between Abergynolwyn and Nant Gwernol. An appeal to reconstruct the watering point built for the railway’s opening in 1865 was launched last November, and since then more than £1200 had been raised. Now that well-known railway holiday firm PTG Tours has offered £4000, there is enough money to allow the project to go ahead. The watering point was used to supply locomotives based in the original engine shed at Ty Dŵr, before the current shed at Tywyn Pendre came into use in 1867. When the siding to the shed was taken out, the watering point was extended so that locomotives could be watered on the then mineral extension to the base…

Around 1802, Cornish mining engineer Richard Trevithick was working at Coalbrookdale on water pumps when he designed the world’s first railway locomotive. Trevithick had earlier built a steam-powered road vehicle, but quickly realised that the poor, muddy, potholed roads of the day could never support the enormous weight of such machines, and turned his attention to the industrial horse-drawn plateways of the day, conjecturing that their rails might do the job. That year, the Coalbrookdale company built the locomotive on rails for him, but little is known about it, including whether or not it actually ran. The only known information about it comes from a drawing preserved at the Science Museum, in London, together with a letter written by Trevithick to his friend Davies Giddy. The drawing, which indicated that…

MEMORIES of British Rail’s 1980s Merrymaker main line excursions were rekindled by Pathfinder Tours on May 27 when it ran‘The Jolly Fisherman’tour to Skegness using a pair of‘Choppers’. Class 20s – as they are officially known – provided traditional traction for the train from Derby and return. Harry Needle-owned No. 20096 Ian Goddard 1938-2016 and No. 20107 did the honours from Derby to the Lincolnshire coastal resort and return, while GB Railfreight’s Class 66 No. 66703 Doncaster PSB hauled the remainder. Starting in Swindon, the train ran via Kemble, Stroud, Bromsgrove and Birmingham New Street, before continuing to Burton-on-Trent and Derby for the change of traction. After heading via Nottingham, the train crossed the expanse of Lincolnshire through Sleaford.…

THIS time I am looking in detail at the work of two very different locomotives on Sapperton bank and at their performance elsewhere on their respective railtours – plus some brief comparisons with the work of other locomotives on the Golden Valley Line. I had hoped that by the time of Vintage Trains’ ‘Cotswold Explorer’on Saturday, May 18, the use of a diesel locomotive in the train consist would have ceased, but for a number of reasons it had not. The only reason why I booked was due to assurances given to me by Ray Churchill, the driver for the key section on the day, and who has become a regular correspondent. Diesel use explained There is a lot of misunderstanding and misinformation about the use of diesel locomotives on…

It is probably fair to say that the Dartmouth Steam Railway & River Boat Company (DSRRBC) has not registered as high on the radar of many committed railway enthusiasts as its 6.7 mile length and 1-in-60 gradients deserves to warrant, but from the outset its target market has unashamedly been tourists, not enthusiasts, and it has long been considered to be one of Europe’s top seaside lines. Although originally set up as a subsidiary of the Dart Valley Railway Company, original operator of the Buckfastleigh to Totnes line that is now the South Devon Railway, it was run independently. While the Dart Valley line was run by volunteers, the DSRRBC has always been run almost entirely by paid staff and with a limited and highly standardised selection of locomotives and…