Heritage Railway Issue 241

AT last – adistinctive breath of fresh air! No, I’m not emerging from the depths of a 1950s steam shed, but talking about a legal system which, rightly or wrongly, has for so long seemed to be balanced in favour of the perpetrator rather than the victim. As we report in our News section this issue, the Sentencing Council of England and Wales – which publishes guidelines to judges and magistrates as to the type and severity of sentences which they can impose for various offences – has suggested raising the maximum sentences for vandalism to historic property from 18 months’imprisonment to four years. This is exactly what I and this magazine have been calling for over many years, on behalf of the army of volunteers who slave for years…

DONATIONS towards the world’s fastest-moving new-build main line steam project – Gresley P2 2-8-2 No. 2007 Prince of Wales – have now passed the £2 million mark. The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust’s £5 million project is now 40% funded just four years after being launched and it is on target to meet the completion date of 2021. Furthermore, pledges towards building the locomotive are rapidly approaching £3 million. The frames for Britain’s most powerful steam locomotive were rolled at British Steel’s Scunthorpe works exactly four years ago on St George’s Day 2014. The P2 2-8-2 Mikados were the most powerful passenger steam locomotives to operate in the UK, designed to haul 600-tonne trains on the Edinburgh to Aberdeen route. Sadly, Gresley’s successor Edward Thompson ordered the…

THE Isle of Man’s Douglas Bay horse tramway made a loss of more than £483,000 last year, figures have shown. The Manx government took over the horse trams two years ago after Douglas Council said it would no longer support the losses, which were £263,000 in 2016. A spokesman said that the losses in 2017 were down to the purchase of assets, fixtures and fittings from Douglas Council and horse tram refurbishment, plus revenue expenditure, the purchase of horses and other equipment. The tramway earned £142,703 in 2017, with a 6% increase in passengers to 73,954 – but the running costs were £626,002.…

DURING the three days of the May 5-7 bank holiday weekend, Didcot Railway Centre is to recreate the atmosphere and sights of a working steam shed with most of the locomotives pulled out of the shed, and displayed on numerous roads, as they would have been between the Thirties and the Fifties, rather than in a formal line-up. With smoke machines, most will look to be in steam, while others will be genuinely working. Staff will help to recreate the period scene.…

In common with many other heritage railways, the North Yorkshire Moors Railway’s takings over the Easter holiday period were hit by atrocious weather with much heavy rain and trains blocked by a mudslide. However, there is cause for optimism as the season progresses with online bookings showing a significant increase on previous years, thought to be due to the“TV effect”of the recent documentary series. The heavy rain in North Yorkshire provided one of the first real tests of Yorkshire Water’s Slowing the Flow flood prevention scheme at Hunting Gate, just north of New Bridge. This, in effect, holds back the flood water for a while, allowing more to drain away before the bulk of the water arrives at Pickering town centre. Thus, although the station car park was flooded for…

THE Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway has claimed a world first with the relaunch of 4-8-2 No. 6 Samson on Saturday, March 21. The Mountain class locomotive’s comeback happened five years after it last hauled a passenger train. The action was streamed around the world on Facebook and Twitter with an internet-connected camera on the front of Samson, giving a unique driver’s eye view. Viewers would have seen Samson engage in parallel running over part of the route. TV presenter and rail historian Tim Dunn joined the crew for the occasion. Samson had just undergone a major overhaul in the line’s workshops. Unusually for a 15in-gauge line, Samson was designed by Henry Greenly and built by Davey Paxman in 1927 as a mixed traffic locomotive to haul shingle trains from…