Heritage Railway Issue 297

BACK in the days of the tail end of UK steam in the 1960s, the wholesale Beeching closures had left the UK littered with redundant railway buildings, most of them with no track to ever link them again. The car had long been crowned king by then, and while there were those who wistfully longed in vain for their local railway to return, most accepted the march of progress and accepted the eradication of station buildings, engine sheds, signalboxes, footbridges, and water columns as they made way for modern developments as the inevitable march of progress. In three years’ time, we will be celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Stockton & Darlington Railway, which gave the concept of a steam-hauled public railway to the rest of the world and shrank…

A BID to upgrade the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway to a major transport hub offering daily commuter trains has been launched by Bradford Council. The mooted £5 million scheme is among a £19 million package of bids made by the council for Keighley under the Government’s Levelling Up funding. It would involve upgrading the signalling along the five-mile line, along with two tracks and overhauling the line’s DMU fleet, while creating a dedicated storage and maintenance facility for them at the former Great Northern junction. KWVR chairman Matt Stroh said that with changing passenger expectations and demands, and the increasing pressure on coal supplies, the railway is seeking to increase its operational flexibility – and the Levelling Up bid could do just that. The line’s DMUs are historic in…

THE construction of the new LBSCR H2 express passenger 4-4-2 Brighton Atlantic No. 32424 Beachy Head took a significant step forward on August 16 when the boiler was at long last craned into the frames – its shape giving a tantalising taster of what is verysoon to come. The mobile crane arrived on site at Sheffield Park at about 8am ready for the lift, and the rolling chassis had been moved outside Atlantic House building in preparation. Adjustments were found to be required when, with the boiler just inches from its final position, some clashes became evident that necessitated it being lifted out again, alterations made, and then repositioned. The process was completed by the early afternoon, with the newly-combined front end back in the shed as the crane departed…

EXCLUSIVE journeys on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway are being booked to mark the eagerly-awaited return of record-holding LNER A4 Pacific No. 4498SirNigelGresley after an overhaul lasting seven years. Tickets can now be purchased for pre-booked journeys behind the steam icon in matching teak carriages restored by the LNER Coach Association. The specials run on October 3-5 and 10-12, departing from Grosmont to Pickering at 9.30am, 12.30pm and 3.30pm, costing £51 return for adults. Children travel free. A compartment ticket for up to a maximum of six people can be bought for £204. Limited edition souvenirs As part of the ticket, each fare-paying passenger will receive a limited edition gift bag featuring a Sir Nigel Gresley enamel badge, NYMR guidebook, and pen, as well as some local Lottie Shaw biscuits.…

DESPITE only entering public service in April this year, the Southend Pier Railway has temporarily withdrawn its new electric units following continuing technical issues. Accordingly, one of the redundant full-length diesel units has temporarily returned to replace its own replacement! In April, one of the two new electric units – MP Sir David Amess, named in memory of the Southend MP who was murdered last October – developed a fault which saw passengers trapped inside when the doors failed to open. Since then further issues have plagued both this unit and the second one that had yet to complete testing – leading to the reintroduction of one of the 1986 diesel units they were brought in to replace. The exact nature of the issues currently facing the new trains has…

AN SOS – SaveOurServices – issuedby the Kent & East Sussex Railway as the mid-August heatwave continued was answered by the Mid-Norfolk Railway with the offer of a Class 33 diesel. Staff and volunteers at the KESR became concerned after switching to diesel-hauled trains to eliminate the threat of a spark from a steam locomotive starting a lineside fire, but as a heritage line based on steam, diesel motive power was in short supply in what was the railway’s peak month. Fortune, however, smiled on the Tenterden-based railway thanks to three KESR volunteers who were 75 miles away assisting another heritage line, the Epping & Ongar Railway, using their track maintenance machinery on heavyinfrastructure work. During a casual conversation about locomotive availability, Jamie Douglas and his fellow volunteers were told…