Table of contents for Issue 265 in Heritage Railway

THE Severn Valley Railway is hosting the first visit away from its Didcot Railway Centre home of new Saint 4-6-0 No. 2999 Lady of Legend, which was completed and commissioned by the Great Western Society in 2019. Dubbed the ‘78th Saint’, Lady of Legend is the first new example of George Jackson Churchward’s Edwardian Saint 4-6-0 to be built since 1913. Churchward’s iconic design included many revolutionary advances which influenced almost all subsequent British steam locomotive development, yet the class became extinct following the scrapping of No. 2920 Saint David in 1953. Launched on April 5 last year, the winner of the Heritage Railway Association’s new Chairman’s Special Award 2020 has until now been confined to Didcot’s demonstration lines during shake down tests and commissioning on short passenger operations. Now…

LONG-TERM Mid-Hants Railway volunteer Simon Baggott has been appointed as the line’s new general manager, as from March 4. Simon comes from a background in production engineering and marketing of engineering services at senior management and director level. He has over 30 years’volunteering experience in heritage railways, initially with the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway where he fulfilled a range of duties from fireman to signal engineer. Simon has been a steam driver since 2007 and has previously undertaken the role of locomotive inspector, setting up mutual improvement classes for firemen and drivers, before serving as a director for several years. Railway chairman Richard Lacey said a competitive, lengthy and rigorous process produced a strong field, from which Simon was the stand-out candidate.…

SERVICES on the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway were brought to a halt after a locomotive collided with a delivery van at Eskdale Green level crossing. The incident occurred around 12.45pm on Sunday, February 23, as Davey Paxman 2-8-2 0-8-2 River Ir t was heading a train from Dalegarth. A statement from the railway said:“There were no injuries to passengers, staff or members of the public. The locomotive was not derailed.” River Ir t and its train returned to Ravenglass, and officials reported the incident to the Rail Accident Investigation Branch and HM Railway Inspectorate. The railway declined to comment further until the investigation is completed. A DPD spokesman said:“The driver checked that everyone was okay and exchanged insurance details before continuing on his round. He was interviewed by our depot…

FEBRUARY’S named storms may have caused trains on the main line to be cancelled, but the Llangollen Railway’s train services resumed for half-term week on Monday, February 17. The line’s Class 104 DMU operated the three-trains-a-day service down the line to Carrog, offering some dramatic views of the River Dee in full flood after the weekend rains. Fortunately, although the river was running high and fast, it was not impacting on the railway. It did however, provide some dramatic scenes, particularly at Berwyn, where the normally rocky gorge was smothered in a torrent of water. The main concern might have been the length west of Glyndyfrdwy, where the line is closest to the river bank but the water level remained below the track elevation. Soaking up the scenery The results…

TWO industrial locomotives have been unveiled by the National Mining Museum Scotland in Newtongrange, near Dalkeith, following cosmetic restoration. The Scottish Railway Preservation Society’s (SRPS) Barclay 0-4-0ST No. 1458 of 1956 No. 3 Lady Victoria and the National Mining Museum’s Barclay 0-4-0ST No. 2284 of 1949 NCB No. 21 were unveiled on February 20, following the restoration project, funded by Museums Galleries Scotland. The conservation of the locomotives has been carried out by a dedicated team of experts and volunteers from the society. It has also provided opportunities for both museums’ youth groups to take part in conservation workshops and hands-on restoration. Museum curator Nicola Moss said: “We are delighted to unveil these two wonderfully restored locomotives and show our guests the excellent work which has been carried out to…

DARTMOOR Railway CIC, one of two lines being offered for sale by British American Rail Services (BARS), has gone into administration. No trains are running, and the stations are closed to the public, according to the Dartmoor Railway Supporters’ Association. The line from Coleford Junction to Meldon Quarry is owned by Aggregate Industries. As reported in issue 263, BARS, a subsidiary of Iowa Pacific Holdings, which went into administration in 2019, is trying to sell its Dartmoor and Weardale railways business along with locomotive spot hire company RMS Locotech. Meanwhile, Weardale CIC, which runs the Weardale Railway, in which BARS has a 75% stake, has nonetheless applied for planning permission to open a new station between Wolsingham and Frosterley to serve two local caravan parks.…

ISLE of Man Railway No. 16 Mannin has been moved out of the Port Erin railway museum ahead of a proposed return to steam. The 1926-built Beyer Peacock 2-4-0T has been a permanent resident in the museum since it opened in 1975, but the island’s director of transport Ian Longworth has said that it is hoped to have it back in service to mark the railway’s 150th anniversary in 2023. Mannin, the last steam locomotive supplied to the railway and the biggest and most powerful of the Beyer Peacocks, was designed to haul the heavy Port Erin boat train. It last steamed in 1964. Other exhibits inside the museum were rearranged so that Mannin could be towed out and stored in the carriage shed, allowing 2-4-0T No. 1 Sutherland to…

THE West Somerset Railway-based Diesel and Electric Preservation Group Limited (DEPG) has agreed to loan its Class 47 No. 47077 Nor th Star to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR) for a year. The Brush Type 4 is currently unable to run on the Minehead branch, being too heavy for use pending the completion of track upgrading. A statement from the Willitonbased group said: “While at the NYMR, our celebrity 47 will be maintained by the railway’s expert staff and is expected to see use as one of the thunderbird locomotives, as well as operating in its own right from time to time. “Final contract details are still to be agreed as well as the confirmation of the start date for this extended loan.” Entering traffic as D1661 in 1965,…

HAYLING Seaside Railway founder Bob Haddock is inviting would-be buyers of the line to talk to him directly. The asking price for the mile-long seafront 2ft gauge line includes locomotives and all rolling stock, tools and machinery, the lease from Havant Borough Council and the goodwill, as reported in issue 257. Bob was a member of the society which in the mid-1980s attempted to reinstate the LBSCR ‘Hayling Billy’line, famous for its use of ‘Terrier’0-6-0Ts. However, Havant Borough Council had already decided to turn the disused railway line into a cycleway and footpath which precluded any chance of rebuilding the line as standard gauge. Bob established the East Hayling Light Railway at Mill Rythe Holiday Camp in 1988, and following its closure, work began in October 2001 on the new…

WEYMOUTH’S disused harbour branch is to be lifted after Dorset County Council and Network Rail were given £1.1 million by the Department for Transport for the purpose. Dorset Council had already decided to lift around 50 yards of the 1.25-mile tramway from the Pavilion car park in March as a trial to see how the tracks could best be removed. The council responded to concerns that sections of rail present a risk to pedestrians, cyclists and motorbikes. The total cost of lifting it is estimated at £1.5 million. The line opened in 1865 to link Weymouth station with Channel Island ferries but fell out of regular use in 1990. The last train to use it was a special in 1999. Network Rail, which is responsible for the deteriorated trackwork, has…

THE Midsomer Norton-based Somerset and Dorset Railway Trust has bought two BR 16 ton mineral wagons from the Swanage Railway. The pair are typical of wagons used on the ‘S&D’ main line in the Fifties and Sixties, transporting coal from local collieries and other freight. They will be restored to form a demonstration typical coal train to run at special events. The trust is seeking donations to help to transport the wagons from the Swanage Railway and fund the restoration. If you would like to help, visit www.sdjr.co.uk/fundraising Like us facebook.com/heritagerailway Follow us @HeritageRailMag…

A LARGE collection of UK pre-Grouping tickets took the top honours at Paddington Ticket Auctions’ sale on January 25, with a winning bid of £1200, but a clutch of worldwide overseas examples was in close pursuit, led by five Canton-Kowloon Railway first, second and third class single and return tickets at £1100. This railway, a Chinese/Hong Kong 111-mile line, was built at huge expense, due mainly to the cost of a 1½-mile tunnel in Hong Kong through a 1500ft high hill. It opened in two stages, the 22-mile British section in October 1910 and the Chinese portion a year later. It was the first cross-border railway between Hong Kong and mainland China, and still operates today, as the Guangzhou-Kowloon through train. Third at £920 was a selection of Irish and…

A GWR nameplate bought for £1 nearly 70 years ago will be one of the star items at Talisman’s March 21 auction. It is from 1913-built Saint class 4-6-0 No. 2951 Tawstock Court, and will be accompanied by original paperwork showing its cost after being bought from BR on the loco’s withdrawal from Gloucester Horton Road (85B) in June 1952. A second nameplate is Sir Philip Mitchell from East African Railways’ Class 60 ‘Governor’ 4-8-2+2-8-4 No. 6019, built by Beyer Peacock at Gorton, Manchester, in 1954, and other locomotive items include a smokebox numberplate from LNER Class B1 4-6-0 No. 61189 Sir William Gray, a worksplate from D49 4-4-0 No. 62718 Kinross-Shire, and a Great Northern Railway fully-engraved worksplate from N1 class 0-6-2T 69444. There is also a cabside numberplate…

PEPPERCORN A1 Pacific No. 60163 Tornado has spent the winter months off main line duties to allow maintenance to be carried out at the Wensleydale Railway’s Leeming Bar shed. The aim is to minimise any potential interruptions to its service on the national network during the coming year. The cab has been removed to facilitate several minor boiler repairs, including attending to several rigid boiler stays, the rectification of two leaking firebox stays and welding to the corners of the foundation ring corners. Self-cleaning plates and screens in the smokebox have been repaired where needed, while the piston valves have been renewed following an inspection An overhaul of the injectors and yearly recalibration of gauges has also been completed. Following a scheduled series of public runs over the heritage line…

HORNBY’S recently released LMS 20T brake van is a versatile model in that it is equally at home on a layout depicting the national network in the days of yore, or a preserved railway. The prototypes can be found at heritage lines large and small across Britain. Some, such as M732435 at Cambrian Heritage Railways Oswestry have been adapted to carry passengers, with the addition of doors at the entrances to the verandahs to make them safer. Others retain their original metal bars at the balcony entrances, performing in demonstration freight trains and permanent way duties, where their stoves come into their own during cold weather. No. 730132, the model examined by Heritage Railway, is not believed to have survived – at least it doesn’t appear to be recorded on…

The Death Railway is well worth a visit, opening your eyes to what happened just over 70 years ago. With its strong links to the UK, it’s a heritage railway for all the wrong reasons. It’s good to have a book on hand for help on your journey. Lonely Planet is a very good guide with its coverage of the Death Railway, Kwai Bridge and Hellfire Pass; these are well covered and helpful in the research of this article. Thanks must go to the many people who have tracked down the locomotives throughout the country, because even with the information provided by the International Steam website, some were not easy to find. One became impossible because a new overhead railway station is being built on its location.…

FOLLOWING the Government’s recent announcement of £500 million to reverse the Beeching cuts, the Helston Railway (HR) has applied for funding for a feasibility study into the reopening of the entire GWR branch. What was the southernmost branch line in the UK opened in 1887, was absorbed by the GWR in 1898 and closed to passengers in 1962 and to goods two years later. The HR Preservation Company has rebuilt a 1¼-mile section of the line between Prospidnick Halt and Truthall Halt. Now it is looking into the possibility of using grant aid funding to reopen the entire 8½-mile former line, which linked to the main line at Gwinear Road. The former Helston terminus has been built on but the revivalists aim to develop a replacement at Water-ma-Trout. The cost…

THE Norfolk house where Thomas the Tank Engine creator the Rev Wilbert Awdry wrote several of his books between 1953 and 1967 has gone on the market for £895,000. The Old Vicarage, which dates from around 1858, stands to the west of St Edmund’s Church in the Fenland village of Enmeth. The eight-bedroom, red brick house was designed by Ewan Christian, whose many ecclesiastical works include Carlisle Cathedral. It is being marketed by estate agents Belton Duffey and is said to be suitable for use as a nursing home or a guest house.…

TO celebrate its starring role in the 1985 film A View to a Kill, Amberley Museum is holding a James Bond Weekend over March 28/29. With a re-enactment of the famous scenes featuring Roger Moore and Stacey Sutton outside Main Strike Mine, appearances by stuntman and actor Derek Lyons, Aston Martins, a children’s code-breaking trail, films and music, the event will coincidentally precede the early April release of the 25th Bond film No Time to Die. The scenes leading to the blowing up of May Day, played by Grace Jones, were filmed at the entrance of a quarry tunnel near Brockham station at the museum, which appeared as Main Strike Mine in the film. The original Zorin Industries locomotive and trucks that featured in A View to a Kill will…

A SECOND 2-6-2 built in Manchester in 1885 and exported to the far side of the world has been successfully lifted out of a river bed in New Zealand where it was dumped as part of flood defences 93 years ago. As reported last month, the Lumsden Heritage Railway lifted New Zealand Railways (NZ) 32-ton 3ft 6in gauge V class No. 127 out of a tributary of the Oreti River near Lumsden in the Southland region of South Island. Trust members had hoped to recover No. 126, another of the class of 13 built by Nasmyth, Wilson & Company, but the second operation proved too difficult on the day, as the rusting hulk lay in a more challenging location. International attention However, trust members decided that they would not be…

THE builders of new LNER B17 4-6-0 No. 61673 Spirit of Sandringham have found that one of the tenders acquired for the locomotive is a unique survivor. In the early days of the project, two B17 tenders stored on the North Norfolk Railway were acquired, one a GER-type tender that had been used as a snowplough and the other an LNER pattern tender. At first, the B17s were teamed up with GER tenders taken from other locomotives and so were, in fact, older than the B17 they were matched with. However, the LNER did not have enough spare tenders at the time and so 10 new tenders were ordered from Vickers Armstrong to make up the deficit. During a routine visit by the B17 Steam Locomotive Trust to the Mid-Norfolk…

THE Rail Camera Club’s exhibition Rail Cameramen – which was displayed at the Locomotion museum in Shildon in January 2018 and at the National Exhibition Centre last November – is available for further display free of charge. All the pictures were produced by members, including work by W J V Anderson, Eric Treacy, Gavin Morrison and others featured in The Photographic Artistry of Rail Cameramen published by Silver Link Publishing in 2018. ➜ Anyone interested in hosting the exhibition should email jrh@johnhillier.co.uk…

DAVID Johnston, the recently-elected Conservative MP for Wantage, joined hundreds of constituents in visiting Didcot Railway Centre at the start of half-term week on Saturday, February 15. Mr Johnston was given a tour of the 21-acre site by chief executive Emma Jhita and Great Western Society chairman Richard Preston, who shared the charity’s plans for a major upgrade in order to attract more visitors, as outlined last issue. The MP joined the crew of visiting Hudswell Clarke No.1026 of 1913 0-4-0ST Robert McAlpine & Sons No. 31 from the Fawley Hill Railway on the centre’s branch line. He also visited the restored ‘Swindon Panel’ which was once the heart of Swindon signalbox and was used to control trains on Great Western mainline from the 1960s until 2013 and has since…

THE Bishop’s Castle Railway Society has been given planning permission by Shropshire Council to turn the former line’s weighbridge building in Station Street into a museum and visitor centre. The society, led by chairman John Rimmer has already restored the weighbridge mechanism on site. Each window on the building has been sponsored by local people or companies. The Bishop’s Castle Railway opened in 1865 and joined the main Shrewsbury to Hereford line at Stretford Bridge Junction just north of Craven Arms and closed in 1935. The site will next be open Saturday, March 21 to coincide with the model railway exhibition in the public hall next door which aims to raise funds for the project.…

AS the North Yorkshire Moors Railway’s Heritage Lottery Fund-assisted Yorkshire’s Magnificent Journey project starts to get into full swing, the three BR Mk.1 TSOs and Gresley TTO to be used have now been selected and dispatched to contractors. The first vehicle, Mk.1 TSO No. 5001 (previously at the Northampton & Lamport Railway, but unrestored and never yet used on the NYMR), has been sent to contractors Rampart Engineering at Barrow Hill for overhaul and conversion that is expected to take up to a year per coach and will emerge with provision for disabled passengers and retention tank toilets. The other chosen carriages are Mk.1 TSOs No. 4897 (which was previously converted to an RMB by volunteers at Goathland) and No. 3805 (which had been withdrawn by the NYMR and placed…

It’s a damp, dreary afternoon in late January in the Berkshire countryside but the welcome inside David Buck’s home is decidedly warm. Greeting me with a smile and a handshake, he asks: “Can I get you a cup of tea? I don’t do coffee.” There follows some friendly banter about how tea is the fuel of railwaymen. It’s the first time we’ve met, but David quickly strikes me as the sort of person who is great company to catch up with over a pint or a brew. He’s friendly, approachable and chatty – he doesn’t ‘waffle’. It’s also all too apparent that both his feet are firmly on terra firma. Background Heritage Railway (HR): Tell us about your background. How did you become interested in railways? How did you get…

ANDY Spicer, director of Spicers Auctioneers of Driffield, East Yorkshire, was celebrating his ‘white glove’ sale on February 14, after his first venture into the world of railwayana auctions. The phrase means an auction in which every lot sells, and Andy’s indeed managed that, for every one of the 334 lots found a new home. At the core of the sale was railwayana, but other items included advertising enamel signs, all from the buffet and refreshment rooms at Bridlington station, where it had been on display until last Christmas Eve, when John Sadler, who had run it for 17 years, closed its doors for the last time. The modern era won the day with a £2000 realisation achieved by nameplate York InterCity Control from Class 47 diesel No. 47673, which…

THE group restoring a 91-year-old former colliery 0-6-0ST has launched a hunt for one of its original worksplates to match the other it already owns. Owen Hayward, spokesman for the group, said the plate was sold for £100 in, it is thought, April 2002 by Kidlington Railwayana Auctions, which is now part of the Great Central Railwayana group, but the identity of its current owner is unknown. “We would love to find this plate and reunite it with the engine,”Owen said. The locomotive, named Newstead, was built by Hunslet of Leeds in 1929 (works No. 1589) and worked at Woolley Colliery in West Yorkshire until withdrawal in 1970. It was saved for preservation but disappeared from public view and was thought to have been scrapped, but re-emerged in 2016 and…

STEAM Dreams is set to run more than 80 trains from London Victoria to Windsor on Tuesdays and selected Saturdays during the summer. The programme includes the evening ‘Sunset’diner which, as last year, will run over the circular Surrey Hills route. Extended Windsor season Since last month’s report, the programme of Windsor trains has been extended – the first departures commencing on May 22, rather than June 2. The final trains in the series are due to run on Tuesday, September 8, as was originally planned. A new development this year is that visitors to Windsor can travel back to London by Steam Dreams’ 9.35am and 12.35pm departures from Riverside. This facility is not available on the afternoon train, which returns empty to south west sidings to prepare for its…

HOT on the heels of a three-day heritage main line diesel tour in the south of England earlier this month, the Branch Line Society (BLS) has put together an itinerary offering haulage behind a Class 33 and Class 37 in the north west over the weekend of April 18/19. Departing from Crewe on April 18, ‘The BRCW Bunny’ is due to be hauled by a West Coast Railways (WCR) Class 33 top and tailed with a WCR Class 37. Rare track includes Penyffordd Cement Works, Hanson Padeswood Hall Sidings, Warrington Canal Sidings, Wrexham Up Bay No2, Oakleigh Sidings (and triangle), Latchford Sidings and from Warrington Arpley past Fiddlers Ferry to Ditton Reception Sidings. It also offers the unusual opportunity of a loco-hauled tour into Wrexham Central. The following day,‘The Hot…

➜ The Yorkshire Wolds Railway is holding its third annual model railway exhibition at the Rix Pavilion, Driffield Showground, Driffield, YO25 9FB on March 21, from 10am until 4pm. It will feature many layouts in a variety of gauges, live steam, trade stands, and tombola. £3 adults, £1 children. Call 01377 338053 for further details or visit www.yorkshirewoldsrailway.org.uk. ➜ The Bishops Castle Railway Society is hoping to boost its weighbridge project (see news page 33) with the proceeds from its Bishops Castle model show on March 21. Open from 10am to 5pm in The Public Hall, Bishop’s Castle, SY9 5AQ, the show will feature layouts in gauges N to O, with traders and demonstrations. Admission costs £4 for adults and is free for children aged under 16 who are with…

THE Bluebell Railway is set to run its most intensive-ever timetable during its August 7-9 Steaming Through 60 weekend of celebrations, to mark 60 years of operation. Robert Hayward, chairman of the line’s diamond anniversary steering group, said: “There will be six trains operating on each of the three days so that during the middle of the day, three services will run between Sheffield Park and Horsted Keynes and three services will take passengers between East Grinstead and Horsted Keynes. “There will be a train every 40 minutes from every station on the line. Now that’s something the founders of the Bluebell Railway could only ever have dreamed about when the first trains ran on the reopened line in 1960 and it’s certainly far more than before the line was…

THE Bluebell Railway is to join the growing list of major heritage lines running illuminated Christmas trains. The railway is already well advanced with arrangements for its new SteamLights event that will run in December, including the Christmas to New Year period. Officials have held talks with the Dartmouth Steam Railway, which introduced the concept to the UK in 2018 and which has won the Heritage Railway Association’s Award for Special Events 2020 after two sell-out seasons. A Bluebell spokesman said that the new event will require a lot of volunteers to make it a success.…

➜ A THIRD BR Standard completes the line-up for the West Somerset Railway’s April 23-26 spring steam gala in BR Standard 2MT 2-6-0 No. 78018 from the Great Central Railway. It will join BR Standard 9F No. 92134 from the North Yorkshire Moors Railway and Standard 4MT 2-6-0 No. 76084 from the North Norfolk Railway, running alongside the home fleet of WR 4-6-0 No. 7828 Odney Manor, WSR mogul No. 9351 and Somerset & Dorset 7F 2-8-0 No. 53808. ➜ REPATRIATED Penrhyn Quarry Hunslet 0-4-0ST Edward Sholto, brought back to the UK from Chicago in 2004 and later placed on long-term loan to Beamish Museum’s 2ft gauge line by owners Andrew and Margaret Neale, will now go on static display in the Colliery Engine Works there. The owners of the…

LONDON-BASED Haptic Architects has won a competition to design Jeremy Hosking’s new railway museum in Margate’s iconic former Hornby headquarters. Haptic was chosen ahead of five other teams to transform a 12,000 square metre warehouse into a home for Locomotive Storage’s One:One Collection, in which locomotives such as A4 Pacific No. 4464 Bittern and BR 9F No. 92212 will be displayed, along with other items of rolling stock including a Cowans Sheldon breakdown crane and a Class 60 diesel No. 60081. The site was sold to Locomotive Storage for £2.25 million in 2017 after Hornby moved to Canterbury. The Hornby visitor centre attraction is set to remain on the site. Locomotive Storage director Frank Martin said:“We have a vision for the One:One Collection which we’ve developed over the last 12…

THE Flour Mill workshop’s partially-overhauled GER 209 class 0-4-0ST‘Coffee Pot’No. 229 is to attend Walthamstow Pumphouse Museum’s April 25/26 event to mark both 150 and 180 years of the coming of the railways to the borough. It was 180 years ago that Walthamstow had its first direct railway connection to London from Lea Bridge station. It was followed on April 26, 1870 with the opening of the GER’s Hoe Street station (now Walthamstow Central). No. 229 will be sent from Bream minus the boiler, and will be on display during the summer months. The 1876-built locomotive was previously on display at the now-closed North Woolwich Old Station Museum in East London. The Grade II listed museum also houses two Marshall steam engines, a Victoria Line Underground car, a locally-built AEC…

TWO unnamed benefactors have pulled the Llangollen Railway back from the brink of a financial crisis. After Llangollen Railway plc sent out SOS letters to shareholders in February, asking for donations to raise £150,000 and therefore avoid having to enter into a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) to give more time to pay existing creditors, one of them donated £100,000 and the second £70,000. Added to that were many smaller contributions from other shareholders and members. The emergency appeal was issued after the company experienced two difficult trading years, largely caused by losses incurred in its engineering division. However, the donations have meant that the CVA has been avoided and has removed the risk of the railway having to raise funds against the two locomotives that it owns, Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0T…

GEOFF Body, who became a household name among many railway enthusiasts as a publisher and author following a railway career that was launched with the LNER in 1945, has died at the age of 91. Railways were in Geoff’s blood. His father Jim joined the Great Northern Railway in 1916 at the age of just 13, and one of Geoff’s early memories was, when a six-year-old, watching A4 No. 2509 Silver Link pass through Peterborough North station on the ‘Silver Jubilee’ press run on September 27, 1935. He started his railway career as a ‘temporary probationary junior male clerk’at St Neots on leaving school in 1945, and worked through office and signalling roles prior to National Service at RAF Marham in Norfolk. This was followed by a spell at Finsbury…

THE Churnet Valley Railway is to run a series of tours over every part of its tracks in order to boosts funds for its long-awaited extension into Leek. On April 5, 18 and 19, passengers will be able to travel over the first part of the extension into Leek which was opened by the leader of Staffordshire Moorlands District Council on October 11 last year. The special two hour tours from Kingsley & Froghall station will also include the first passenger runs down the Stoke-on-Trent stub as far as the heritage line’s boundary with Network Rail. The trips will run up the Cauldon branch as far as Ipstones. Pre-booking for each of the tours is essential and can be done at: www. churnetvalleyrailway.co.uk/booking/1144/border-explorer Rare opportunity A statement from the railway…

THE Tarka Valley Railway spent much of February clearing the ground in preparation for the creation of a siding at Torrington station. Contractors began digging out the trackbed so that bottom ballast could be laid and installation of the ‘King’ point for the siding will proceed, with the remaining track panels up to Bridge 136 and a buffer stop installed. Once the new track is bedded in, the first section of the new siding will then be added to enable stock movement on the site, completing Phase 1 of the railway’s expansion plan. The railway has appealed both for donations to continue the expansion project and more volunteers to boost the existing team. Anyone wishing to donate is invited to send a cheque made out to Tarka Valley Railway to…

THE Government’s forthcoming ban on sales of coal and wet wood for domestic heating, in a bid to cut air pollution, will not include fuel used for steam locomotives, according to Heritage Railway Association chairman Brian Simpson. However, concerns are growing about the future of supplies of coal for steam engines and how much they will cost, as the three existing British pits are expected to close within the next three years. On February 21, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) confirmed that the ban, which had been announced in 2018, will see the sales phased out in England from February 2021. Environment Secretary George Eustice said: “Cosy open fires and wood-burning stoves are at the heart of many homes up and down the country, but the…

ROCHDALE Borough Council has invested £100,000 to open a new link road to the East Lancashire Railway’s (ELR) Heywood station. The new road will provide direct access from Manchester Road to the Station Road site, which before now was reached only through residential streets, making it hard to find for tourists. It will also boost local businesses while taking traffic away from residential streets. Railway chairman Mike Kelly said: “The development of Heywood station remains a high priority for the ELR working with our partners to make Heywood a destination of choice for our travelling passengers. “The important reopening of Manchester Road creates a solid foundation from which the ELR and the council could usefully explore further opportunities to develop improved and permanent station facilities to encourage our passengers to…

➜ GWR pair 28XX 2-8-0 No. 2857 from the Severn Valley Railway and GWR 42XX 2-8-0 No. 4207 from the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway will be making their first-ever visit to Norfolk for the North Norfolk Railway’s March 27-29 spring gala. ➜ THE planned visit of Class 26 D5343 to the Somerset & Dorset Railway Heritage Trust’s Midsomer Norton station in March and April has been cancelled due to problems which arose with the locomotive during testing. ➜ THE Wensleydale Railway is to again run the Polar Express next year following its success during the last festive season. Tickets for 2020 will be announced in late spring/early summer and would-be passengers are invited to register at wensleydale-railway.co.uk/railway/ polar-express-2020 to be notified when the tickets are released. ➜ THE Waterman Railway Heritage…

THE Nene Valley Railway has received a £15,278 boost to extend its running line at Yarwell Junction station so visiting locomotives can use it. Local construction specialist the Mick George Group paid for the extension of several yards to provide a safe clearance for visiting locomotives 92ft from point toe to buffer stop) while improving the run-round process. Built in 2007, Yarwell station is the westernmost point of the heritage line and acts as the terminus. However, up to now, larger locomotives, such as A3 No. 60103 Flying Scotsman and A1 No. 60163 Tornado were unable to use this section. Since the upgrades, through running of trains hauled by large engines from Peterborough to Yarwell Junction is now possible. Railway trustee Stan Bell said a section of track on which…

THE Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway may be used as the testbed for a hydrogen-powered train to be built and tested in Scotland, as ministers prepare to eradicate diesel from main line passenger services inside 15 years. The experimental train in the Scottish Enterprise project will be created by converting vehicles from a ScotRail Class 314 EMU which was retired in December. The work is set to be carried out by train refurbisher Brodie Engineering in Kilmarnock using technology developed by London firm Arcola Energy, and also involving the University of St Andrews. The Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway has been used for trials of battery trains. The Scottish Government has said it will ‘decarbonise’ passenger trains by 2035, five years before the rest of UK.…

➜ THE Watkinson Trust’s LMS ‘Black Five’ 4-6-0 No 5025, the oldest surviving class member, had its boiler lifted back into its frames at the Strathspey Railway in February. However, the group has appealed for further donations at www. https://thewatkinsontrust.blogspot.com to get the locomotive back into steam. ➜ SEVERN Valley Railway-based Class 42 Warship No. 821 Greyhound will appear in the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway’s June 26-28 diesel gala, running alongside home-based Class 20 No. 20031, Class 25 No. 25059 and Class 37 No. 37075. ➜ THE patterns to produce both cylinder blocks for Didcot Railway Centre-based new-build GWR 47XX ‘Night Owl’ 2-8-0 No. 4709 have now been produced in polystyrene by Premier Patterns in Dudley. The 4709 Locomotive Group aims to have the completed cylinder blocks attached to…

NAMEPLATES from a trio of 4-6-0s built at two of the most productive railway works in the UK during the 1930s and all withdrawn within a little over a year of each other, will be under the spotlight at Great Northern’s sale on March 28. They are Albert Hall from the oldest of the group, GWR No. 4983, and Keppel and Renown from LMS Jubilees Nos. 45673 and 45713, the last-named making its auction debut. The Hall was built at Swindon in January 1931 and withdrawn from St Philip’s Marsh, Bristol (82B) in December 1963; No. 45673 emerged from Crewe in December 1935 and taken out of service from Glasgow’s Corkerhill shed (67A) in December 1962; and No. 45713 was another Crewe product, entering service in June 1936 and ending…

A 5IN GAUGE live steam 0-6-0 in weathered green carrying the No. 519 and LNER identity on the tender was the top-selling model locomotive in a Lacy Scott & Knight railwayana and toys auction in Bury St Edmunds on February 8, with a hammer price of £1800. Three other four-figure realisations were £1500 for a Bowande of Rickmansworth gauge 1 live steam LNER A4 Pacific No. 2509 Silver Link, £1400 for an Accucraft UK Class A1 No. 60163 Tornado also in gauge 1 live steam, and £1300 for Southern Railway King Arthur No. 768 Sir Balin made by Aster of Japan and also in gauge 1 live steam. Further down the scale came another Aster model in gauge 1 live steam, of SR Schools class No. 901 Winchester (£820), an…

WHILE those with the deepest pockets at Dreweatts’Transport Sale in Newbury on April 7 may be eyeing a 7¼in gauge live steam model of landmark BR Class 9F 2-10-0 No. 92220 Evening Star, as reported on news page 28 of this issue, other high-profile contenders will also be seeking their moment in the spotlight. They will be led by 7¼in gauge BR Standard Nos. 73000 and 80008, each estimated at up to £25,000, and GWR 2-6-0 No. 5310 in the same gauge, which carries a top estimate of £20,000. The model of No. 73000 was built by Tony Dixon of Southwick, near Brighton, who also completed No. 80008 after its original builder was unable to finish the work due to ill health. No. 5310 was built to works’ drawings by…

PATHFINDER Tours has planned to use Bulleid 4-6-2 No. 35028 Clan Line for three trips in July. “We like to think that this is something of a coup in as much that this attractive engine is not normally committed to being available to one tour promoter for a whole month,” said Pathfinder’s general manager Peter Watts. “Furthermore, all three trips will start outside of London, giving enthusiasts living in the Bristol and surrounding areas a chance to ride behind what many view as the Southern’s flagship engine.” Pembrokeshire tour The first outing, on July 12, will take the Pacific far away from its familiar stomping ground – when it departs Bristol Temple Meads for Tenby and Pembroke Dock. Picking up at Cardiff, the train makes a rare steam-hauled visit to…

Railway photography exploded towards the end of BR steam in the mid to late-1960s and so many of today’s well known photographers were drawn into this particular aspect of the railway hobby by the urgency to photograph steam trains as they rapidly disappeared. Then in August 1968 it was all over. Some continued to photograph BR diesels, some took to travelling overseas in search of steam, some devoted their energy to steam preservation, but many abandoned their railway interest completely. There is little doubt that steam preservation in the late 1960s and early 1970s produced little to inspire the steam photographers at the time, although such pictures are of considerable nostalgic interest today. It is often forgotten now that there was virtually no steam action in the winter months on…

WHEN Hornby’s all-new No. 6201 Princess Elizabeth model was carefully unboxed, we uttered one word:‘wow!’The new tooling’s high quality finish was immediately apparent. For added interest, Pete brought along his BR blue-liveried No. 46208 Princess Helena Victoria, an example of a previous generation of Hornby Princess Royal Pacific. The principal difference between the models of Nos. 46208 and 6201 is that the latter is loco driven, while the former is tender driven. We were struck by the significantly enhanced level of detail across the new No. 6201. Starting at the front, we noted the crisper number and shed code plates, along with the guard irons, handrails, vacuum pipes and proper polished metal buffers. The motion is more delicate on No. 6201 and likewise the reversing gear – that on No.…