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THIS year we have commemorated a low point in the annals of UK heritage traction, the eradication of steam from the main line and its scrapping en masse 50 years ago. There were many observers who believed back in 1968 that with the passing of a generation or two, steam would be slowly but surely forgotten, and interest would wane. However, as we have seen, the exact opposite is the case. Untold miracles have been worked in the sector of railway heritage since the Talyllyn Railway was taken over by volunteers in 1951, and they are still coming fast and furiously. Arguably one of the highest points of the movement came in October, and had little to do with steam. Our special feature on pages 50-55 outlines the comeback of…
ONLY a select few heritage railways are able to run a complete train of one of Britain’s pre-Grouping railway companies. One that can is the Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway with its Caledonian Railway 0-4-4T and two CR coaches of similar vintage. This year though, in addition to returning CR 0-4-4T No. 419 to service again after yet another overhaul, the railway hired in the other working Caley locomotive, the Strathspey Railway’s 0-6-0 No. 828, and staged a gala weekend featuring a double-headed Caledonian train over November 3/4. The two coaches were originally restored by BR in 1958 to run with CR 4-2-2 No. 123 which is now in Glasgow’s Riverside Museum. Brake Composite Corridor No. 464 was built in 1923. After BR declared it surplus to requirements, it was purchased…
A FEW weeks ago, the star quality of A3 No. 60103 Flying Scotsman brought crowds flocking to the Nene Valley Railway, to the extent that the demand for tickets caused the website to crash. Now, in an unexpected turn of events, the 21st century 101mph A1 Peppercorn Pacific No. 60163 Tornado is to haul this year’s festive season trains – and will head Santa specials for the first time in its history, potentially sending attendances soaring again. Tornado will be spending the remainder of this year and early 2019 on the Nene Valley Railway near Peterborough, hauling Santa steam specials, mince pie specials, winter steam specials and conducting driver experience days. As reported in Main Line News, page 56,…
THE Llangollen Railway ran the last public service train of the 2018 season with commemorative bilingual headboard and flags, to mark the end of four years of successful operations to the Phase 1 temporary platform at Dwyrain Corwen East. Fittingly, on Sunday, November 4, GWR 2-8-0 No. 3802 performed the honours as it did with the first train on October, 22, 2014 – even the same three Welsh flags were reused and Harry Barber was the same driver. This time, the train was not topped and tailed as in 2014 and No. 3802 performed the final propelling move back to Carrog with a select passenger complement of members and others on board. A fortunate spell of blue sky for the 3.40pm arrival brightened the occasion when station staff were on…
➜ DIAL Cottage, the Grade II* listed three-bedroom stone cottage where railway pioneers George and Robert Stephenson once lived in Great Lime Road, Forest Hall, Co Durham, is for sale. North Tyneside Council is inviting ‘expressions of interest’ for the freehold, saying it is in need of modernisation. ➜ THE West Somerset Railway is to submit an application to Great Western Railway’s customer and communities fund to trial a connecting shuttle to link the national network at Taunton with the heritage line at Bishops Lydeard. The announcement was made at a packed public meeting of the Minehead Rail Link Group on October 30. ➜ THE Isle of Man Railway’s 1892-built Port St Mary station has been listed of ‘special architectural and historic interest,’ affording it greater protection. ➜ THE Dartmouth…
THE South Devon Railway has run a special train to commemorate the last BR services on the GWR Ashburton branch 60 years to the day. Regular timetabled passenger trains on the 10-mile Totnes to Ashburton branch, which opened in 1876, ran for the last time on November 1, 1958, with a final special train running on Saturday, November 3. However, unlike most West Country rural branches that fell victim before, during or after the Beeching Axe of the 1960s, this one has now enjoyed a new life for nearly 50 years since 1969, when it was reopened as the Dart Valley Railway, and is now run by the South Devon Railway Trust. The SDR Trust museum marked the withdrawal of timetabled services on Thursday, November 1 with commemorative displays, including…
