Heritage Railway Issue 292

IN THE past month, the Heritage Railway Association has asked both the English and Welsh governments to allow one UK mine to remain open in order to produce the comparatively small amount of steam coal needed to supply our sector – rather than allowing a far bigger global carbon footprint to be created by shipping in the necessary fuel from as far afield as Australia, Colombia, South Africa, and the USA, when here in Britain we have so much beneath our feet. As we closed for press, HRA CEO Steve Oates told me that there had been no response from either. In this post-COP26 era of a vocalised and renewed determination to phase out coal, both governments will be mindful of the reaction from climate change protestors of being seen…

IN THE past month, the Heritage Railway Association has asked both the English and Welsh governments to allow one UK mine to remain open in order to produce the comparatively small amount of steam coal needed to supply our sector – rather than allowing a far bigger global carbon footprint to be created by shipping in the necessary fuel from as far afield as Australia, Colombia, South Africa, and the USA, when here in Britain we have so much beneath our feet. As we closed for press, HRA CEO Steve Oates told me that there had been no response from either. In this post-COP26 era of a vocalised and renewed determination to phase out coal, both governments will be mindful of the reaction from climate change protestors of being seen to allow…

TWO locomotives which have little in common apart from their names came face-to-face at Didcot Railway Centre on Saturday, April 2 at the end of a return journey that lasted 22 years. A weekend of celebrations marked the official relaunch of repatriated iconic GWR 4-6-0 No. 4079 Pendennis Castle into traffic. Also invited for the occasion was Class 57 diesel No. 57604, which is part of the modern-day Great Western Railway fleet – and is also named Pendennis Castle. Cutting the ribbon to relaunch the 1924-built steam Pendennis Castle was none other than Lady Judy McAlpine, the widow of Sir William McAlpine, who in 1977 sold No. 4079 to Western Australia mining company Hamersley Iron for use by enthusiasts among its workforce who formed the Pilbara Railways Historical Society. Down Under…

THE temporary repainting of green-liveried Bulleid West County light Pacific No. 34027 Taw Valley into ‘royal’ purple to mark The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee on the Severn Valley Railway during its celebration of the occasion on June 2-5 – followed by the Commonwealth Games being held in Birmingham – has been carried out. Also to celebrate the jubilee, the Western Locomotive Association has renamed SVR-based Class 52 D1062 Western Courier as scrapped sister D1040 Western Queen for the 2022 operating season. Its first public appearance in its new guise will be at the May 19-22 spring diesel festival. Built at Crewe and entering traffic on September 20, 1962, the original D1040 was withdrawn on February 26, 1976, and cut up at Swindon that August. The SVR has announced that new-build GWR Saint 4-6-0…

THE temporary repainting of green-liveried Bulleid West County light Pacific No. 34027 Taw Valley into ‘royal’ purple to mark The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee on the Severn Valley Railway during its celebration of the occasion on June 2-5 – followed by the Commonwealth Games being held in Birmingham – has been carried out. Also to celebrate the jubilee, the Western Locomotive Association has renamed SVR-based Class 52 D1062 Western Courier as scrapped sister D1040 Western Queen for the 2022 operating season. Its first public appearance in its new guise will be at the May 19-22 spring diesel festival. Built at Crewe and entering traffic on September 20, 1962, the original D1040 was withdrawn on February 26, 1976, and cut up at Swindon that August. The SVR has announced that new-build GWR…

TWO locomotives which have little in common apart from their names came face-to-face at Didcot Railway Centre on Saturday, April 2 at the end of a return journey that lasted 22 years. A weekend of celebrations marked the official relaunch of repatriated iconic GWR 4-6-0 No. 4079 Pendennis Castle into traffic. Also invited for the occasion was Class 57 diesel No. 57604, which is part of the modern-day Great Western Railway fleet – and is also named Pendennis Castle. Cutting the ribbon to relaunch the 1924-built steam Pendennis Castle was none other than Lady Judy McAlpine, the widow of Sir William McAlpine, who in 1977 sold No. 4079 to Western Australia mining company Hamersley Iron for use by enthusiasts among its workforce who formed the Pilbara Railways Historical Society. Down Under No. 4079 made its…