Heritage Railway Issue 286

“SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness” was how the poet John Keats described autumn. Here in the heritage railway sector, we too have much cause to celebrate after lines of all sizes held their first autumn galas in two years. As the series of special features in this souvenir autumn issue highlights, the gala season throughout the country has provided a ripe harvest of visitor numbers and sold-out trains – as Britain’s top photographers returned to the lineside to capture the action among the glorious changing colours in minute detail. The Covid-19 pandemic that wiped out last year’s autumn programme is certainly far from over. Despite the success of the national vaccination programme, infection numbers continue to rise as winter approaches. However, from my experience, the sector has repeatedly and…

THE Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways is celebrating a second major boost of the year – in the form of a £3,144,000 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. The award will largely finance the line’s Interpretation and Boston Lodge Works project and boost plans to attract more visitors by providing “a high-quality tourism experience” – along with fresh work, training and volunteering opportunities for the community of Porthmadog. It will also fund the restoration and conservation of historic buildings, including the works listed by the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest railway workshop in continuous operation. Supporters will be providing an additional £900,000 of matched funding for the three-and-a-half-year project which, once complete, aims to attract up to 250,000 visitors each year. History recorded The grant comes hard…

THE Southwold Railway Trust’s newbuild replica of the legendary 3ft gauge line’s original Sharp Stewart 2-4-0T No. 3 Blyth was on course for delivery by manufacturer North Bay Railway Engineering Services of Darlington in mid-November. The delivery will sadly miss the trust’s planned October 30/31 open weekend at its Steam works site in Blyth Road. However, once on site, it will be immiedately steamed on the trust’s 80-yard demonstration track. Trust chairman John Bennett said: “It is a beautiful piece of art as much as it is a fine piece of engineering. “David Humphreys and his NBRES team have captured that blend of visual and engineering quality that once characterised the manufacturing output of Victorian Britain.” The original Blyth, works number 2850 of 1879, was scrapped as part of the…

PIONEERING new-build A1 Peppercorn 4-6-2 No. 60163 Tornado will once again break ground as it becomes the first steam locomotive to be fitted with a new-in-cab signalling system. Network Rail has appointed design, engineering and project management consultants Atkins (part of the SNC-Lavalin Group) and global technology firm Thales to design and trial-fit European Train Control System equipment to the Peppercorn Pacific, as well as designing the system to fit an LMS ‘Black Five’4-6-0 and a Class 55 Deltic. Future-proof The project is key to ensuring that steam has a long-term future on the national network. ETCS is the signalling and control component of the European Rail Traffic Management System, which is to replace traditional lineside signals with in-cab radio-based signalling, initially on the East Coast Main Line. ERTMS is…

SCOTTISH farmer John Cameron, owner of A4 4-6-2No. 60009 Union of South Africa and K4 2-6-0 No. 61994 The Great Marquess, was taken to hospital following a fall from ladder while working in his garden at Balbuthie in Fife on October 3. A statement issued by the Cameron Trustees said: “He is being cared for in Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, where his condition is described as serious but stable. “The Cameron Trust has extended its thanks on behalf of his family to friends and neighbours whom it knows will be wishing Johnwell. “The family has requested privacy at this difficult time.” John is known throughout railway circles as a leader in the Scottish steam who, as outlined in our feature on pages 41-45, bought No. 60009 out of BR service and…

ENTHUSIAST Robert Smallman bought the now-unique-GWR-bow-ended composite carriage No. 6045 from BR for £200 in 1972 – and officially launched it into Severn Valley Railway service on October 17. Half a century’s work on refurbishing the Collett coach to the condition in which it was built at Swindon in 1928 reached its conclusion when it ran in a special train from Kidderminster to Bridgnorth for GW(SVR) Association members and supporters behind WR 0-6-0PT No. 1501. After the First World War, when Charles Collett took over from George Churchward, he produced 57ft long and 9ft wide coaches known as ‘bow ended’ due to their distinctive ends – constructed to minimise the gangway gap between carriages when connected together. No. 6045 is from an early design, having flush sides, recessed windows, bow…