Indice dei contenuti per Issue 254 in Heritage Railway

IN recent months, we have covered extensively the impending crisis at the West Somerset Railway and the rapid steps that are being taken to right the ship. We all know that the West Somerset is a magnificent heritage railway, and there is every reason why it should continue to be so, but it appears that for too long, aspects of it have been taken for granted. As soon as the problems were properly identified, along with the help of the Office of Rail and Road, sweeping changes have had to be made. For example, a brave decision was taken to close the line for three months while a major new infrastructure plan was developed and implemented, even though this meant the loss of the spring steam gala. An audit was…

THE Bodmin & Wenford Railway has received awards totalling £141,000 towards the cost of installing a second platform at its Bodmin General headquarters. Great Western Railway has given £54,000 from its Customer and Communities Improvement Fund (CCIF), supported by the Department for Transport, to the project, added to match funding from Cornwall Council – and could pave the way for main line connections in the future. GWR’s contribution is the largest ever made to a heritage railway. Additional funding will need to be raised by the railway itself, but this combined award is seen as the vital springboard to kick-start the project. The BWR’s Nick Wood said: “We are delighted to have been awarded this funding from GWR CCIF. It marks a significant contribution and brings to life our exciting,…

THE author of the book The Chichester & Midhurst Railway (Minor Railways of Britain Series, 1980) Paul Clark, was delighted with his purchase of a Southern Railway station target sign for Midhurst, which was offered for sale at the recent Mid-Hants Railwayana Auction, held at Perrins School, New Alresford, Hampshire. It is only the second time that a sign from the West Sussex location, which closed to passengers on February 5, 1955, has been offered and realised £5200 plus buyers’ premium, making it the fourth most expensive Southern target in auction history, after Mayfield (£7056) and Heathfield and Bournemouth Central jointly at £6048. The auction on April 20, a debut event for Southern-based collectors, hosted by Railwayana Auctions UK, saw a packed hall with competitive bids on a range of…

GREAT Western Railway’s Long Rock depot charity open day on Saturday, April 13 proved to be a resounding success – with more than a little help from the Bodmin & Wenford Railway. The event at the refurbished Penzance motive power depot, the main maintenance facility of the Night Riviera sleeper service, entertained the crowds with of mixture of steam and both modern and heritage diesel traction. Arranged in support of the local Penlee lifeboat station and the RNLI, one of the highlights was the naming ceremony of the new GWR Class 802 Intercity Express Trains unit No. 802008 RNLB Solomon Browne and Rick Rescorla – particularly poignant and relevant to West Cornwall. Solomon Browne was the Penlee lifeboat which sank with the loss of all hands in December 1981, while…

THIS year saw the 60th anniversary of the closure of the majority of the Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway system on February 28, 1959. The North Norfolk Railway planned to commemorate the anniversary with one-time M&GN line regular, LMS Ivatt 4MT mogul No. 43106 starring in its spring steam gala. However, the engine required works attention at its home on the Severn Valley Railway and could not be made available. The railway was still able to secure an interesting visitor in the shape of Caledonian Railway 0-4-4T No. 419. Normally based on the Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway in Scotland, it has been touring England over the past few months, and is booked to appear at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway’s May 25-27 Cotswold Festival of Steam and the Epping Ongar…

WORKING in partnership with GB Railfreight, the Severn Valley Railway is offering the public the chance to drive one of the freight operator’s modern Class 66 diesel locomotives on June 3/4. Participants will be able to take the controls at the head of a train of modern air-braked freight vehicles along the 16-mile line, followed by a further 16 miles acting as second-man, followed by a further 32 miles in the rear cab of the locomotive. First introduced to Britain’s railways in 1998, the Class 66 is the backbone of modern freight operations throughout the country, powered by a 3000bhp engine. Places are limited and therefore have a premium price of £895 per person. Proceeds will be shared between GBRf’s chosen charity for 2019 and the Severn Valley Railway Charitable…

A MAJOR internal examination of a ‘mystery’locomotive built in 1855 has begun at the Locomotion museum in Shildon. Experts Dr Michael Bailey and Dr Peter Davidson, recognised as world-leading specialists in the field of locomotive investigation, are examining the ‘Hetton Engine’ or ‘Hetton Lyon’, so named after the County Durham colliery where it spent its working life. It hauled coal wagons at Hetton Colliery until 1912 and took part in the George Stephenson centenary celebrations in Newcastle in 1881, in addition to the 1925 centenary procession for the Stockton & Darlington Railway, as well as other exhibitions. The locomotive, believed to be the world’s first full-size replica engine, is also believed to be a replica of a long-lost original George Stephenson design of 1822, and it is hoped that the…

THE A1 Steam Locomotive Trust has launched a £450,000 appeal to build a tender for its second locomotive, the £5 million Gresley P2 2-8-2 No. 2007 Prince of Wales. The trust has set up The Tender Club, with the goal of recruiting 250 supporters, each donating £1500 (plus Gift Aid) to the project in up to 15 payments of £100 by standing order. The trust has placed the order to manufacture the tender tank with North View Engineering Solutions of Darlington. The tender frames are currently under construction by I D Howitt of Crofton, Wakefield. If the project is to remain on schedule to complete No. 2007 by 2021, the trust needs to take delivery of the tender frames and tank this autumn. The tender for No. 2007 is based…

UK Railtours is to use the distinctive London Transport red-liveried 4TC trailer unit for an unusual series of trips. The first train, the ‘Routemaster to Imber’, runs from Waterloo to Warminster, via Southampton and Salisbury, on Saturday, August 17. In 1943 Imber was evacuated by the War Department for intensive troop training, in particular house-to-house combat. Its residents were promised that they would be allowed to return to their homes after the war, as was the case with several villages in the South Hams of Devon, but it never happened. Today, Imber is just a ruined shell of the village it once was and only the church remains intact. Passengers will be taken to visit Imber by a fleet of vintage and modern Routemaster buses. Last year, London bus operators…

AFTER several years of speculation about whether or not The Railway Touring Company will run its regular ‘The Great Britain’tour in the Spring or not, things seem to have settled down a bit and it is generally assumed that such a trip will run each year, steam-hauled the length and breadth of the country. For ‘Great Britain XII’ in 2019, the motive power for the first three days in the west country and Wales was scheduled to be LMS Princess Coronation Pacific No. 6233 Duchess of Sutherland and the big red engine duly steamed out of Paddington with 10 coaches on time at 8.05am on Saturday, April 27. The diesel that brought the stock into the terminus stayed on the rear as far as Bristol, as there was no other…

THE Isle of Man is a piece of forgotten Britain. Those were the words of an elderly female coach tour passenger I talked to while travelling on the Manx Electric Railway (MER) in early April. She’s not wrong either. Boasting a charm of its own, the people are friendly, it has a low crime rate and the scenery is stunning. The island even has its own breed of sheep and a solitary mountain. Home to three steam railways, two Victorian electric tramways and a horse tramway, not to mention a host of other attractions, the island, which measures 32 miles long by 14 miles wide, is reachable by air or sea. Ferries run from Liverpool, Heysham, Dublin and Belfast, while flights serve Manchester, Birmingham, Luton, Dublin, Belfast, Edinburgh, Bristol, London…

What shall we call the new Gresley V4 No. 3403? I am looking forward to seeing a representative of the long-lost LNER V4s. I always thought it a great shame they weren’t more numerous. The result of Gresley’s determination to find a perfect haulier for Highland traffic,it proved susceptible to wartime standards of maintenance, which led to its alteration under Thompson – who needed little excuse to rid himself of yet another example of three-cylinder Gresleyana. Peppercorn rationalised the whole affair in 1949 with the K1s. However, all that said, the improvements proposed should ensure the new V4’s success. As The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust wishes to number it 3403, it would seem obvious that any name must also be new. I see from the impression of the new V4…

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: W/Es, B/Hs, Wed-Suns. Daily from May 22. Bredgar & Wormshill Light Railway 2ft gauge, ½ mile. Bredgar, Sittingbourne, Kent. Tel: 01622 884254. Running: May 5, June 2. 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…

THE weeks ahead offer a varied line-up of events on the nation’s heritage lines and certain to be popular are the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway’s Heritage Railway-backed Cotswold Festival of Steam, Didcot’s Hall & Saint Event and Statfold’s Enthusiasts Days. Diesel fans are well catered for too, with events at the Severn Valley, Swanage, Middleton and the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre – plus, of course, Locomotive Services Limited’s Crewe Diesel Depot Open Day. Model railway events are being held at the Great Central Railway (sponsored by Mortons Ltd), Cambrian Heritage Railways in Oswestry, the Nene Valley Railway, Bressingham and the Pontypool & Blaenavon Railway. Transport extravaganza-type events can be found aplenty in the coming month at Didcot, Gwili, Crich Tramway Village, the East Anglian Railway Museum and the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway. Bus…

TRIAL DMU weekend services are to link the West Somerset Railway’s southern terminus of Bishops Lydeard with Taunton this summer. Main line operator Great Western Railway (GWR) has awarded £60,000 from its Customer and Communities Improvement Fund for the Exmoor Gateway project, which is intended to link the national rail network at Taunton to the heritage line’s services at Bishops Lydeard. West Somerset Railway chairman Jon Jones-Pratt said: “We welcome the chance to work with our colleagues on GWR to bring more visitors to this lovely part of Somerset, and to enjoy the sight and sound of steam trains to the seaside. “What better way to start a holiday or have a great day out?” Taunton Deane MP Rebecca Pow said: “Linking Taunton railway station to the West Somerset Railway…

AWARD-WINNING NER petrol-electric autocar No. 3170 has carried its first fare-paying passengers since it was rebuilt. The historical run by the 1903-built vehicle now acknowledged as the world’s first internal combustion-powered passenger train, was made on Thursday, April 18, with the 10.30am from Bolton Abbey station on the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway. The autocar made several runs the day before – but with the aid of a diesel after technical problems were encountered. After working on the problem overnight, the autocar ran the first trip on its own for the first time as a fare-paying service the following morning. Project founder Steve Middleton gave a short introductory talk on board about the autocar before departure and a film crew was there to record the event. The round trip…

MORE than 40 years since the abandoned trackbed was breached to provide an alternative access to the Corwen sewage farm, volunteers at the Llangollen Railway’s new Corwen Central station project began the task of infilling the notorious gap in the embankment east of the town to allow the railway to be extended into the new western terminus. Following a successful appeal to raise funds to employ a local contractor to bring in around 10,000 tons of infill material from the site of the old Ruthin branch line, work to layer and compact the infill started on Monday, April 15. Over the following four days the exercise was planned for three phases and the initial phase has re-established the northern line of the old embankment across a 100ft length to an…

THERE will be at least 10 locomotives in steam at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway’s ‘Northern Soul’ Cotswold Festival of Steam on May 25-27, which is again being backed by Heritage Railway publisher Mortons. The event, which will have eight engines in steam on the standard gauge ‘main line’ will include the first visit to the line in the heritage era from an LNER B1 4-6-0, in the form of No. 1264 from the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. B1s were a very rare visitor to the Stratford-upon-Avon to Cheltenham route in late BR steam days, when trains were diverted along the route from the Midland main line over the Lickey bank. Another first is the visit of Caledonian Railway 439 class 0-4-4T No. 419 (pictured on pages 32-33 and 46-51), while…

A £600,000 redevelopment of the East Lancashire Railway’s Rawtenstall terminus has begun. In early April, work started on building a new canopy which will eventually span the entire length and width of the station buildings. The redevelopment, approved by Rossendale Council in 2017, will include a new fully accessible station building accommodating a cafe, kitchen, activity/community room, tourist information centre and toilet and baby changing facilities, the expansion of Buffer Stops Bar and a new forecourt. Chairman Mike Kelly said: “The design will keep the station’s traditional appearance, whilst boasting modern, high quality facilities.”…

THE Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways’partnership with Network Rail has been celebrated by the naming of a Class 97 diesel at Minffordd station. No. 97302 (formerly No. 37170) was named Rheilffyrdd Ffestiniog ac Eryri/ Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways at a ceremony on Friday, April 12, attended by representatives from Network Rail, Transport for Wales and other industry bodies. Dafydd Elis-Thomas, Assembly Member for Dwyfor Meirionnydd and Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism unveiled the name. The newly-named locomotive is part of a special fleet of three Class 97s (Network Rail engineering trains) that are solely for work on the Cambrian lines – the first to trial the European Railway Traffic Management System (ERTMS), a technological system that sees traditional trackside signals replaced by an in-cab system. This particular…

TO many railwayana collectors, former trainspotters and general enthusiasts, some of the names carried by Nigel Gresley’s streamlined A4 Pacifics were among the best. The‘golden’and ‘silver’series, such as Golden Fleece and Quicksilver, from Nos. 60030 and 60015 respectively, were perhaps top of the tree, but the bird names also had a strong attraction, even to teenage spotters, and continue to do so today. Last month GW Railwayana announced that it was to put Kingfisher from No. 60024 under the hammer on July 13, as revealed exclusively in Heritage Railway, and now a second major auction house, Great Central Railwayana, has been commissioned to sell Falcon from No. 60025. This locomotive was built at Doncaster in January 1937 (works No. 1849), a month after No. 60024, and was initially numbered 4484…

THE Welsh Highland Railway’s new £3.2 million Caernarfon terminus has its first permanent resident locomotive – one which was built on its doorstep. On March 31, De Winton locomotive Watkin was moved from its long-term home at Penrhyn Castle into the station for static display. Named after H Watkin Darbyshire of the Penmaenmawr Stone Quarry where it worked for 50 years, the locomotive was built in Caernarfon in 1893 by De Winton, whose works was immediately opposite the new station. It had been on long-term loan to the National Trust for the past 46 years. Redundant by 1944 and left standing derelict on a siding near the jetty at Penmaenmawr, in February 1966 Watkin was purchased by Evan Hughes, a building contractor in Llanrwst. When he died, his daughter placed…

A PURPORTED 120mph GWR experimental steam run said to have taken place in 1906 just two years after City of Truro was unofficially clocked at 102.3mph – was highlighted at the official launch weekend of new Churchward Saint 4-6-0 No. 2999 Lady of Legend at Didcot Railway Centre. The official launch of No. 2999 – the culmination of a 45-year project by the Great Western Society to re-create a Saint by back-converting an example of its successor type in ex-Barry scrapyard No. 4942 Maindy Hall – took place at the centre on Friday, April 5, when TV presenter Prue Leith – a former member of the British Railway board – cut a ribbon as the locomotive stood in steam on the turntable. Afterwards, Lady of Legend gave a series of…

THE Bala Lake Railway officially opened its new showpiece Llanuwchllyn rolling stock and restoration shed at an event laid on for local dignitaries and supporters on April 15. The National Lottery Heritage Fund-financed shed, which also serves as a visitor centre, took a year to build. After the opening, guests boarded a special train hauled by ex-Dinorwic Quarry Hunslet 0-4-0ST George B. BLR trustee and project coordinator Toby Watkins said: “This is a landmark project for us as it represents the first use of external grant funding. “We have been growing rapidly and are bursting at the seams with historic rolling stock needing either safe storage or else the facilities for our skilled volunteers to carry out restoration. “The shed is the first project to be delivered under the ‘Red…

IN 1993 Littleton Colliery wound its last coal and in early 1994 the final coal train ran, bringing an end to deep mining in the South Staffordshire Coalfield. Twenty-five years afterwards, the anniversary was commemorated at the Chasewater Railway, with its April 6-7 Littleton Colliery Coal Train Weekend. A regular event in the railway’s running season, this year’s weekend was themed to tie in with the silver anniversary of the closure of the last of the local mines. Surprise recreations The regular passenger service was interspersed with coal trains, formed of mineral wagons, or the railway’s unique rake of Merry-Go-Round wagons, now the only active examples in the country. Many of these were hauled by the special guest engine for the weekend, YEC Janus 0-6-0DE Littleton No.6, courtesy of the…

WE live in an era in which those responsible for a company’s bottom line are on the constant lookout for a reduction in costs, and their eyes invariably fall on the staff headcount. The railway industry is no different, resulting in unstaffed stations and halts and seemingly ever fewer platform or ticket office personnel, while the role of ticket collector feels as if it is from a bygone age – which it probably is. It wasn’t ever thus. When rules and regulations governing the rights of employees weren’t as they are today, and wages were low, those responsible for running our railway system were more relaxed about taking on people, and records reveal huge staffing levels and at times the most unexpected of employee duties. One such instance appears in…

SATURDAY, April 13 was a very special day in the operation of steam-hauled charters on the main line. There were no less than four, involving five different steam locomotives and best of all no diesel assistance at all. Amazingly, three of the special trains were at Crewe at the same time at around 9.30am. First came Saphos Trains’ 8.01am Preston to Stratford-upon-Avon which arrived at platform 12 at 9.19am behind Class 47 No. D1924. This was quickly uncoupled and replaced by BR Class 7MT Pacific No. 70000 Britannia, which was covering the area with thick black smoke and vigorously blowing off steam as it backed onto its train – the first coach of which was the generator car, this obviating the need for a diesel loco. This train left two…

May WED 1: ‘The Great Britain XII’ Edinburgh, Aberdeen & return Steam-hauled throughout. Loco: No. 60009 Union of South Africa. RTC THU 2: ‘The Great Britain XII’ Edinburgh, Stranraer, Ayr Steam-hauled throughout. Locos: Nos. 45407 and 61264. RTC FRI 3: ‘The Great Britain XII’ Ayr-Scarborough Steam-hauled throughout. Locos: Nos. 45407, 61264 and 35018 British India Line. RTC SAT 4: ‘Steam Dreams Excursion’ London Paddington, Kingswear & return. Steam-hauled: Taunton, Kingswear & return. Loco: No. 61306 Mayflower. SD SAT 4: ‘The Ynys Mon Express’ Leicester, Holyhead & return. Steam-hauled throughout. Loco: No. 60163 Tornado. UKRT SAT 4: ‘The Welsh Marches Express’ Crewe, Cardiff & return. Steam-hauled throughout. Loco: No. 34046 Braunton, No. 46100 Royal Scot or No. 70000 Britannia. ST SAT 4: ‘Llandudno Victorian Extravaganza’ Dorridge, Llandudno & return. Steam-hauled throughout.…

THE Arthur Peppercorn-designed LNER A1 Pacifics lived up to their top class billing at Great Northern’s April 6 sale at Poynton, when nameplate Patrick Stirling from No. 60119 recorded the sale’s highest hammer realisation of £7000. Stirling was a spiritual predecessor of Peppercorn, having been locomotive superintendent of the Great Northern Railway from 1866-95. Two other nameplates – Ocean from LMS Jubilee No. 45730 and Moray Firth from Standard Britannia No. 70053 – failed to sell under the hammer, although the former did go a couple of days later for £6300 and the ‘Brit’ followed soon after for £11,500. The runner-up hammer price in the nameplate category was £1450 for Amazon, a veteran plate initially carried by a colliery 0-6-0WT designed by Josiah Evans and built in 1868 at Haydock…

AS we closed for press, the Union Pacific Steam Team was making final preparations for the May 4 relaunch of Big Boy articulated 4-8-8-4 No. 4014 in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The relaunch follows a five-year restoration to running order for the Spike 150 celebrations to mark the 150th anniversary of the completion of the UStranscontinental railroad. A final steam blow on the evening of Saturday, April 29, cleared out No. 4014’s throttle header and the associated high pressure steam lines. It was planned that UP’s ‘Living Legend’ – FEF-3 4-8-4 No. 844 would double-head with No. 4014 from Cheyenne to Ogden on May 4 after Big Boy’s 9.30am ‘christening’ ceremony. Union Pacific hosted the 150th anniversary celebration at 10.30am on Thursday, May 9, at Ogden Union Station – a day ahead…

THE Great Central Railway has launched an appeal to build a new £960,000 locomotive works and shed at Loughborough, combined with a state-of-the-art visitor centre and educational facility. The railway has been holding what is described as ‘positive’ discussions with potential grant aid bodies and as-yet-unnamed match funders, but expects to have to raise up to £400,000 of the overall cost of the scheme by itself. Replacing its existing life-expired facility which has become costly to maintain, will provide enhanced facilities for the restoration and maintenance of the railway’s extensive locomotive fleet along with greater manufacturing capabilities. The new works is also set to become a tourist magnet in its own right. An extended machine shop will help make the railway more self-sufficient in manufacturing precision parts but also in…

OVER the Easter weekend, the heritage railways and tramways on the Isle of Man staged their‘Rush Hour on the Railways’event with intensive timetables on the Isle of Man Steam Railway and the Manx Electric Railway. The Snaefell Mountain Railway, Laxey Mines Railway and Groudle Glen Railway were also in operation. On the steam railway, four locomotives were in use over the weekend, including the unique Dubs 0-6-0T No. 4 Caledonia, built for the Manx Northern Railway in 1894, which had returned to steam at the end of the 2018 season. The Manx Northern Railway built a line from St John’s on the Isle of Man Railway, to Ramsey that opened in 1879. It was operated by similar 2-4-0Ts to the ones on the IoMR. The Foxdale Railway was promoted by…

MORE than half a century after it was sold for scrap, a Sentinel locomotive that once shunted goods in and out of the Fry’s Somerdale chocolate factory near Keynsham, returned to service on the nearby Avon Valley Railway on Good Friday. The 0-4-0VBT, No. 7942 of 1928, which in its working life may well have delivered wagonloads of products, including Easter eggs, from the factory, now Cadbury’s, was replaced in 1956 with a diesel shunter and sold for scrap in 1964. Rediscover y However, amateur historian and former Fry’s engineer Eric Miles – who used to ride on the footplate of the engine when he was an apprentice in the 1950s, catching a lift to Keynsham station – was never convinced it had been destroyed and set about tracking it…

FOR most readers of this magazine, the name Dr Richard Beeching immediately conjures up images of the ultimate railway bogeyman who, through his recommendations to close nearly a third of the UK national network, led to him being described as the most hated civil servant of all time and by the media as the‘railway axeman’! However, in a real life ‘man bites dog’ scenario, one of the former BR chairman’s more benevolent deeds was celebrated in style at Buckfastleigh on the South Devon Railway on Saturday, April 13. It was half a century earlier that ‘the axeman’ officially reopened the heritage line. Then it was known as the Dart Valley Railway, and on May 21, 1969, GWR 2-6-2 Prairie No. 4555 hauled the train six weeks after the mile line…

MODERN traction enthusiasts will relish the prospect of seeing up to 18 diesel electric and hydraulic locomotives in action at this year’s Severn Valley Railway Spring Diesel Festival. The showpiece event will run from Thursday, May 16, to Saturday, May 18, followed on the Sunday by the usual mixed traffic day, when a selection of steam locomotives from the railway’s home fleet operate alongside some of the guest diesels. All four days feature special timetables. Running on each day is the star of the show, the National Railway Museum’s prototype HST power car No. 41001, which is travelling from its base at the Great Central Railway (Nottingham) at Ruddington with five matching Mk.3 coaches. The latter will include catering car No. 10206, from which hot and cold snacks and drinks…

ONE of the pioneer locomotives of the West Somerset Railway has returned to service at the Stephenson Railway Museum’s North Tyneside Steam Railway. No. 2994 Vulcan, is one of two survivors of three Bagnall New Standard 18 0-6-0STs built in 1951 for Port Talbot Steelworks. In 1957, Vulcan and No. 2996 Victor were later sold to the Austin Motor Company Ltd (later British Leyland) for use on the internal system at the Longbridge car factory in Birmingham. The third, No. 2995 Valiant, was bought by the NCB for use in South Wales but scrapped in 1967. Vulcan and Victor were bought by the nascent West Somerset Railway in 1973. Vulcan entered service on the line in 1977, a year after it reopened. Their rough riding earned them the nickname ‘Camel…

MUMS displayed their prowess on the footplate of 0-4-0ST Wendy when visiting Amberley Museum’s Mothering Sunday steam gala on March 31. A host of attractions drew families to the West Sussex visitor attraction, and one of them was train-driving experiences for the mums on the footplate of the saddle tank, which is celebrating its 100th birthday this year. Ordered from WG Bagnall of Stafford by the Ministry of Munitions (works No. 2091), the engine was not completed before the end of the First World War and was sold to the Votty & Bowydd slate quarry in Blaenau Ffestiniog. In the early 1960s, it was saved for preservation for £30 by the nascent Hampshire Narrow Gauge Railway Society, which is still its owner, and is spending the 2019 season as a…

THE Fffestiniog Railway’s‘new’ Moelwyn Tunnel between Dduallt and Tanygrisiau was completed in 1977 as part of the Llyn Ystradau deviation, which enabled the railway to avoid the newly-created hydro-electric power generating scheme reservoir, which flooded the original tunnel. This deviation, one of the biggest achievements in the history of the heritage sector, was an essential part of the scheme which eventually allowed the line to open again through to Blaenau Ffestiniog in 1982. It was always planned to erect traditional stone portals at either end of the tunnel. After two years of design work, building the new portal commenced last November. Eurwyn Jones of Gellilydan was commissioned to erect the stonework. The granite stone blocks were sourced from a quarry in Portugal, and the stones for the south portal are…

AN appeal has been launched to raise £150,000 to return two LBSCR‘Terriers’ to steam. The Kent & East Sussex Railway and The Terrier Trust aim to have Nos. 3 Bodiam and 2678 back in action for a decade-long series of activities to celebrate Bodiam’s 150th birthday in 2022. The money is needed to fund twin-track overhauls of both locomotives which are the oldest in the KESR fleet and, very unusually in standard gauge preservation, have spent much of their working lives on the line on which they are now based. The railway and trust also aim to highlight the story of the once 50-strong class of diminutive and highly-versatile locomotives in a Terrier 150 programme. Bodiam, as No. 70 Poplar, was the first of the ‘Terriers’ constructed in 1872 and…

In January, the Telegraph published a list of ‘The most magnificent rail journeys you can do in a day’. Amongst the 15 journeys listed were the scenic delights of Fort William to Mallaig, the Devil’s Nose in Ecuador, New Zealand’s Coastal Pacific line, Australia’s Kuranda Scenic Railway, (with a line that rises over 1000ft through the Barron Gorge National Park) and rather unexpectedly, the Churnet Valley Railway in Staffordshire. Although significantly shorter than other lines in question, the Telegraph praised the nostalgia and bucolic setting, using the Churnet Valley’s nickname of ‘Staffordshire’s Little Switzerland’. Yet the Churnet Valley Railway is not normally one of the first lines to spring to mind when thinking of railway journeys within the UK. So what is it that makes it so special? Originally opened…

THE impact of a well attended press call, staged on platform 19 at Waterloo station on April 9, to announce the introduction of Steam Dreams’three Tuesdays only trains to Windsor service, certainly caught the imagination of the greater London public. Following coverage by BBC London TV and ITV, Steam Dreams’computer system almost crashed later that same evening when nearly 1000 enquiries were being made by members of the public eager to learn more. Accordingly, seats have already been reserved right across the 14-week period of operation from Tuesday, June 4 to Tuesday, September 3. Company boss David Buck said: “More seats will be sold when we begin promoting our trips in the overseas visitor to London market.” The launch centred around eight coaches, including a kitchen car complete with chef…

OUT of action on the main line since November 2016, Stanier 4-6-2 No. 6201 Princess Elizabeth is on the verge of returning to passenger traffic following its latest test run. Under repair since arriving at Carnforth in February last year, the big red engine and support coach made its first trip to Hellifield on Thursday, March 14, which threw up a number of minor snags, which have now been rectified. As reported last issue, the Pacific passed a second and loaded test run around the Carnforth proving circuit on Thursday, March 28. Princess Elizabeth Locomotive Society Chairman, Clive Mojonnier, said:“We are ready to go!” Clive is keen to restrict the Princess Royal Class’ route mileage within reach of Carnforth, in a similar fashion to that which West Coast operated Bulleid…

SATURDAY, April 13 was a day to remember for devotees of main line steam as there were no less than four steam-hauled charters, one of which produced a new record time in the preservation era – see Main Line News page 56 for a summary of the day’s events. I would like to have been on the Tornado-hauled‘The Border Raider’ but the schedules were such that it wasn’t certain that I would be able to return home that same evening, so I booked on the Railway Touring Company’s‘The Pennine Blackpool Express’. Word filtered through during the evening of a quite extraordinary effort over the tightly timed Carlisle to Shap section of‘The Border Raider’and so this is covered first. New record time to Shap ‘The Border Raider’ran from Birmingham New Street…

FOURTEEN nameplates from locomotives built from the dawn of the last century to the Nationalisation era will feature in Great Central’s June 1 auction at Stoneleigh, with the oldest being Orion from a February 1900-built GWR Bulldog, and the newest Great Central from an LNER A1 Pacific that emerged to traffic in October 1949. The Bulldog example is a combined name and numberplate from Swindon-built No. 3330, which started life as No. 3342, was renumbered 3330 in 1912, and was withdrawn in August 1938. A second Bulldog plate going under Mike Soden’s hammer will be Frank Bibby, from No. 3416, which entered traffic in February 1903, was renumbered 3364 in 1912, and saw service with BR before withdrawal from Westbury (82D) in June 1949. The 4-4-0 was named after a…

Sandstone is the sort of place you dream of if you are into any sort of historic transport and machinery. It has been on my bucket list for a number of years and I have watched with envy the photographic opportunities on offer. If anyone told me it would be that good photographically, questions would have been asked. The International Sandstone Festival must be one of the largest heritage transport events in the southern hemisphere, if not the world and it became too much to resist so, biting the bullet, the decision was made to go. Primarily, Sandstone Heritage Trust is a private preservation initiative established on a commercial arable farm growing wheat, maize and sunflowers covering 20,000 acres near Ficksburg in the Eastern Free State of South Africa. The…

THE Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway (GW/R), of which I am a shareholder, has retained Warwickshire in its name, in spite of the fact that the prospects of extending into Warwickshire seem extremely remote. Following the outstanding success of reopening Broadway station with in excess of a 42% increase in passengers over the previous year, the obvious next step must be to extend to Honeybourne, where Network Rail has made passive provision for a platform to serve the railway and where it would join, not only the North Cotswold line, but also the possibility of a reopened Stratford-upon-Avon-Long Marston-Honeybourne Line. But no, the GW/R has decided that 14 miles is long enough for a volunteer-led heritage railway. On Gold Cup Day at Cheltenham Racecourse a special train was run from Paddington to…