Table of contents for Issue 252 in Heritage Railway

THE Friends of 80150, the group set up in late 2016 with the aim of conserving and restoring Mid-Hants Railway Preservation Society-owned BR Standard 4MT 2-6-4T No. 80150, has reached a milestone – with the acquisition of components for a new cab roof. Acquired from the Vale of Glamorgan Council in 2011, which owned it as part of the ‘Barry 10’, the last group of the 213 locomotives saved from Dai Woodham’s scrapyard, the 2-6-4T currently resides in a siding at Alresford station. Volunteers from the Friends of 80150 have been carefully removing components for remanufacture and also raising funds for the locomotive’s eventual rebuild by donations and the sale of merchandise and donated items at MHR events. Recent progress The cab roof was delivered to Ropley Works on February…

A STEAMING target has been set for unique 4-6-2 No. 71000 Duke of Gloucester, following discussions held between BR Class 8 Steam Locomotive Trust management and Tyseley’s recently appointed works manager Alistair Meanley, With the Duke’s overhaul progressing to schedule, it has been agreed that it will steam during Tyseley’s September 29/30 open weekend. Much of the engine’s progress is down to volunteers headed by Dave Oliver and John Attridge, who lead teams of upwards of 30 on alternate Saturdays at Tyseley. Between them, the teams free Tyseley’s engineering staff from working on ‘small jobs’ such as stripping and repainting the Duke’s frames, leaving full-time personnel to concentrate on serious aspects of the overhaul. Volunteers have also worked on the Duke’s Mk.2 support coach by fitting out a revised interior, including…

➜ NENE Valley Railway-based Class 31 No. 31271 Stratford 1840-2001 will be making the first-ever heritage era visit to the Churnet Valley Railway by a class member during the May 4-6 diesel gala, and will also offer driver experience courses there. Afterwards, it will go on hire to the Llangollen Railway for two years. ➜ RAVENGLASS & Eskdale Railway-based locomotives River Ir t and Katie will be visiting Beamish Museum’s April 11-14 Great North Steam Fair and will run on a short demonstration line. They will be the first 15in gauge locomotives to visit Beamish. ➜ THE Severn Valley Railway-based Class 42 Warship D821 Greyhound will attend Epping Ongar Railway’s September 14-15 diesel gala. ➜ THE Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railway’s NG/G16 Beyer-Garratt No.87 will be outshopped in South African…

DESPITE being billed as a Great Western Railway-themed branch line gala with an extensive line-up of tank engines operating shorter ‘local’ trains, autotrains, goods and full line trains in double-headed combinations, a late addition to the Severn Valley Railway’s guest list is LNWR 0-6-2T No. 1054. The locomotive, however, does have Western Region connections, having been an Abergavenny engine during its extensive operating career. Indeed, the 1888, Crewe-built ‘Coal Tank’ was brought out of storage in 1958 to pilot the last passenger trip over the Merthyr & Abergavenny Railway on January 4, a trip organised by the Stephenson Locomotive Society, which also featured fellow LNWR-built 0-8-0 No. 49121. As BR No. 58926, the ‘Coal Tank’ was the last member of the class to survive, fitted with a snowplough and kept…

➜ THE Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway has been awarded the Transport Trust’s first Red Wheel plaque in Cumbria. The plaque was unveiled at a special ceremony on February 23 by Eric Robson, writer, broadcaster and chairman of Cumbria Tourism. Also in attendance on the day was Colonel Paul Brook from the Transport Trust. ➜ LOUGHBOROUGH-based Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0ST No. 68067 will be visiting the Great Central Railway-Nottingham for the 2019 season. The former Ministry of Defence and NCB locomotive returned to steam in 2017 and was given a fictitious ‘J94’ number. ➜ DAVID Buck’s B1 4-6-0 No. 61306 Mayflower is to run on the Nene Valley Railway on June 29/30 in between its main line duties. ➜ CHINNOR & Princes Risborough Railway-based British Railways Research-liveried Class 31 No. 97205 (31163)…

LLANGOLLEN-BASED GWR large prairie No. 5199 has been confirmed as one of two guest locomotives for the Dean Forest Railway’s The Royal Forest of Steam annual steam gala on June 7-9. The second guest had yet to be confirmed as we closed for press. The two guests will join resident small prairie No. 5541 and WD Austerity 0-6-0ST No. 152 Rennes. A new feature this year will be the opportunity for visitors to see static locomotives currently under restoration or overhaul. Driver experience trips will take place at Norchard Low Level aboard Rennes, and on special evening ‘Forest Explorer’ trips, the line’s Hawksworth directors’ observation saloon will be hauled by one of the visiting locomotives, exploring tracks which are not normally visited…

THE 7¼in gauge Strathaven Miniature Railway is marking its 70th anniversary and that of its locomotive Margaret by embarking on a tour. Special events are being held throughout the year to mark this occasion, beginning at the Low Parks Museum in Hamilton, over the weekend of April 6-7. There will be display of locomotives in the quadrangle and rides for children on a specially-laid portable track. Further anniversary events are to take place in the park later this year. The first 2019 running day of the 1000ft line will be March 30, then every weekend until late September – weather permitting.…

THE 10¼in gauge Poole Park Railway will be relaunched this year as it marks its 70th anniversary. The Borough of Poole has said that trains will start running again over the half-mile track from an as-yet unspecified date. In 2017, the council ousted Chris Bullen, who had operated the line for 13 years, and awarded a 30-year contract to the Friends of Poole Park to run it. However, the contract was ended less than a year later, after a series of derailments and a mass walkout of staff and volunteers. The council since decided to take the line back into its ownership and spend £350,000 on bringing it up to scratch, but will need to acquire a new locomotive and carriages.…

THE Isle of Wight Steam Railway has been awarded Full Museum Accreditation status by the Arts Council. The new status, which is valid for five years, comes after the Heritage Railway Association named the railway the Outstanding Large Visitor Attraction, as reported last issue. It took the railway and its team of 17 museum volunteers, helped by mentor Gary Wragg, a museum specialist from Winchester, three years to apply for accreditation. IWSR chairman, Peter Conway, said:“This national award raises our profile and prestige within the heritage railway sector, as well as being an enormous achievement for the whole island.” The accreditation was recognised at a special ceremony held in Winchester on February 6. The heritage line now joins a small number of other accredited museums on the Isle of Wight…

RAILWAYANA Auctions UK’s first sale of 2019 kicked off at Stafford on February 2, with top prices achieved for station totem signs and modern traction items. Eastern Region and Scottish region examples topped the bill, with first time out examples from Fordham (£1600) and Wickford (£11,000), while a Wroxham totem made £2100. An Eastern Region enamel doorplate, bearing a totem logo, not seen before at auction, went under the hammer for £2600 – reportedly a record for this class. Further north, Scottish totems were headed by a trio of iconic names with golfing connections – Carnoustie (£2000); Gleneagles (£2550) and St. Andrews (£3100). Top Western Region totems that found new homes were Pyle (£3000) and Porthcawl (£3250). Plate per formers All classes of railwayana performed well, with classic traction nameplates…

A FORGOTTEN platform beneath Glasgow Central station may be developed into a railway heritage museum – complete with a steam train parked on a stretch of relaid track. The platform, which closed 55 years ago, dates from the opening of the station’s low-level section in 1896, when it operated as a separate entity to Glasgow Central, which was opened by the Caledonian Railway in 1879. When the entire complex was redeveloped between 1901-5, the low-level platforms were incorporated into the main station. The subterranean lines were part of an urban railway running through a tunnel beneath the city centre. However, the low-level station closed under Beeching in October 1964, but the other platforms were restored as a single-island platform when the popular electrified cross-city Argyle line reopened in 1979. However,…

A MASS exodus of locomotives and rolling stock is set to follow the extinction of the GWR Preservation Group and the closure of its Southall depot after 38 years. The group, which was formed in 1976, is to be wound up at the end of the financial year on March 31, after running out of cash – and its entire collection is set to be sold off. As previously reported, the group sold WR 0-6-0PT No. 9682 – the 100th locomotive saved from Barry scrapyard to be returned to steam – to the Dean Forest Railway last year. Its restoration hampered by the theft of more than £30,000 of components from Southall last year, it is due to be moved to Norchard in the coming weeks. No longer can the…

The question as to why Churchward felt the need to include a new class of outside-cylindered 4-4-0 in his range of standardised locomotive for the GWR has been the source of much debate over the years. One popular theory is that they were built to provide a direct comparison with the inside-cylinder City 4-4-0s developed by Churchward under his predecessor, William Dean, and which were being built around the same time. Both types shared the same Swindon Standard No. 4 boiler, 6ft 8½in coupled wheel diameter and 8ft 6in coupled wheelbase, but were otherwise worlds apart. The City was, after all, a classic example of 19th century Swindon practice, whereas the County had its roots firmly in the 20th century. In fact the well-known locomotive performance correspondent OS Nock once…

CARNFORTH’S Merchant Navy 4-6-2 No. 35018 British India Line was replaced by diesel traction at the last minute before the start of the Railway Touring Company’s ‘Cumbrian Mountain Express’on Saturday, February 26. After arriving from Euston behind electric Class 86 No. 86259, the‘Express’ was taken forward by diesel power. Having passed its fitness-to-run inspection, No. 35018 was moving off shed to take over the ‘Express’ when its crew discovered that one of its two injectors had jammed. Playing it safe, it was decided that using the engine over the Settle and Carlisle line was too risky. Elsewhere, West Coast has announced two surprise‘Thunderer’ trips to Carlisle with its Stanier 8F 2-8-0 No. 48151. On Saturday, March 2,‘Thunderer I’ departs Peterborough for Carlisle, calling at Grantham, Newark Castle, Retford and Doncaster,…

WEST Coast Railways has agreed to act as Train Operating Company (TOC) for The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust’s forthcoming ‘Aberdonian’ charters featuring No. 60163 Tornado. The Carnforth operator ran the Peppercorn A1 for the first time on Wednesday, February 13, hauling it behind one of its Class 37s from Barrow Hill to Leeming Bar for its hugely successful first visit to the Wensleydale Railway (feature, pages 80-83). After the Wensleydale visit, West Coast worked Tornado to Ferryhill yard between Darlington and Durham on Friday, March 1, from where it made a run hauling eight coaches and a diesel to Carnforth. From there, regular operator DB Cargo used a Class 66 diesel locomotive to haul the A1 to Doncaster for it to take its place at the head of the trust’s‘The…

LOOKING beyond the Railway Touring Company’s flagship tour‘Great Britain XII’April 27-May 5, detailed last month, there’s more steam to enjoy as the King’s Lynn promoter’s programme unfolds into summer. On the same day – June 8 – ‘The Dartmouth Express’starts from Woking behind A4 No.60009 Union of South Africa bound for Paignton and Kingswear, with one of Carnforth’s 4-6-0s booked out to head RTC’s ‘Scarborough Flyer’ from Manchester Piccadilly. From Woking, the ‘Express’ calls at Guildford, Reading, Newbury and Westbury, while the ‘Flyer’ picks up at Romiley, Hathersage and Sheffield. Subject to contractual agreement, on June 15 Flying Scotsman works ‘The Cotswold Venturer’ out of Paddington for Worcester, picking up at Slough, Reading and Didcot, routed via Moreton-in-Marsh and Evesham. The ‘Venturer’ returns via Abbots Wood Junction, joining the Birmingham-Bristol…

THE Brighton Belle electric Pullman train was the new Southern Railway’s tour de force, to modernise its stylish but steam-hauled Southern Belle Pullman service when the Brighton Main Line was electrified in 1932. Three, five-car, 5BEL unit trains were built by Metropolitan-Cammell and the Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Co, to provide the London Victoria to Brighton service with a modern, top-class train, originally as Southern Belle, then Brighton Belle. The basic Pullman style remained, but the Brighton Belle was different to all others with individually designed interiors. The train was a favourite from the start, though it was confined to the Brighton Line, with occasional forays elsewhere. Twenty-three composite, steel Pullman cars were ordered for the 6PUL and 6CITY multiple unit sets that were built for the new electrified…

➜ Where is Fowler 2-6-4 tank No. 42435 buried? FOR several years now, friend and Heritage Railway fan Chris Kapolka has made attempts to locate the precise resting place of Fowler 4MT 2-6-4T No. 42325, which was intentionally crashed, in April, 1962, during the making of the movie The Password Is Courage, which starred Dirk Bogarde. Chris believes that the locomotive lies buried near the Scratchwood services facility on the M1, its exact location seemingly being 30ft beneath the southbound hard shoulder between the two access roads. Clearly, any attempt to extract it from such a spot would be unlikely to gain the approval of the relevant authorities. However, No. 42325 would seem to be a very special locomotive. One of its runs was written up in the July, 1939…

A timely publication indeed in view of the debut of a restored First World War Baldwin 4-6-0T and a Hunslet 4-6-0T at the Welsh Highland Railway’s Past, Present and Future event on June 21-23 (News, page 36). This hefty but definitive volume looks at the extensive narrow gauge networks in and around the Somme, Oise and Aisne departments before, during and after the war. The authors, both retired hospital staff, one with an interest in railway history and the other in architecture and industrial archaeology, have owned a cottage in the Pas-de-Calais department since 1990, and that led to them developing an interest in the region’s closed railways. The story begins with the region’s metre gauge railways between 1888-1914 and then looks at the 60cm lines so closely associated with…

THE family of the late Dennis Howells MBE, owner of WR 0-6-0PT No. 9466, demanded that an unauthorised post on social media claiming that it was on sale for £800,000 was removed. The post, made after No. 9466 ran at the March 3 No. 6989 Wightwick Hall launch (above), was quickly taken down. The family also thanked West Coast Railways chairman David Smith for the “fantastic” support for the October 20 memorial train, which saw money raised for St Luke’s Hospice exceed the £5000 target.…

THE Scottish Railway Preservation Society has announced a programme of steam-hauled excursions, including one that might be regarded as a ‘first’ with a visit to Aberdeen on Sunday, May 5. Starting from Linlithgow and picking up at Dalgety Bay, Kirkcaldy, Ladybank and Perth, A4 4-6-2 No. 60009 Union of South Africa heads the train. A3 No. 60103 Flying Scotsman heads more ‘Forth Circle’ trips on Sunday, March 19. Instead of the usual pair of trains, three departures will be taking place. A morning train leaves Linlithgow; a lunchtime train starts from Dalmeny; and the third, an evening departure, will begin its journey from Inverkeithing in Fife. Following the success of the two previous years, SRPS spokesman Jim Paterson said that all of…

TV and Historic Royal Palaces historian Dr Lucy Worsley OBE is to attend the private unveiling of the latest addition to the Foxfield Railway’s vintage North Staffordshire Railway on May 1. After a ‘fitness to run’ certification, Brake Third No.23 will run for the first time on the line. Its restoration has also achieved another ‘first’, the inaugural coach of its type to have access for up to two wheelchairs. The coach will run with recently restored sister‘Knotty’ carriages Nos. 61 and 127 as part of the Knotty Heritage Train, for which it provides an authentic brake vehicle for the first time. The three-coach rake will be hauled in 2019 by Beyer Peacock 0-4-0ST No. 1827 of 1879. Guests at the launch will travel on the train to Dilhorne Park…

THE Swanage Railway, which is planned to restart regular diesel-hauled services to Wareham, has employed the Isle of Purbeck’s first community rail partnership officer in Kelly Marshall. Funded by South Western Railway through the Purbeck Community Rail Partnership, the role will see Kelly working with communities across the Purbeck area. Kelly, who has had successful 17-year career with Dorset Police, said: “I am looking forward to the challenge of my new role as Purbeck’s first community rail partnership officer. My role includes a wide range of projects such as reinstating a regular train service from the Swanage Railway to the main line at Wareham, improving social inclusion and promoting Purbeck’s railways with the aim of enhancing education, employment, leisure and tourism across the area.”…

A MAJOR gathering of people with connections to GWR 4-6-0 No. 4079 Pendennis Castle is to be held at Didcot Railway Centre on Saturday, May 25. The occasion will mark the start of fundraising for the installation of the equipment necessary to return the locomotive to the main line. The Great Western Society wants to bring together as many people with direct or family connections to the locomotive either in service or preservation as possible. The society has already confirmed the attendance of Doug Godden, No. 4079’s last fireman in BR service and veteran of the locomotive’s famous 96mph run on May 9, 1964 . Anyone who has a connection to Pendennis Castle is invited to contact the organisers of the gathering via Didcot Railway Centre, email info@didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk Repatriation It…

MICHAEL Gallen, the last surviving County Donegal Railways driver, died in Letterkenny on February 13 at the age of 96, breaking a link with the 3ft gauge railway which closed 60 years ago. Motorman Gallen, to give him his official CDR title, began work with the company as a railcar driver in 1949 and drove on the Strabane-Letterkenny line until it closed with the rest of the system on December 31, 1959. Next day, Michael, who had retrained like all the CDR railcar motormen, as bus drivers, took over the replacement CDR bus covering the same route and at the same times as the trains. He continued to drive on the Strabane to Letterkenny route until he retired from CIE in 1988, the state-owned operator having taken over the CDR…

MEASURES have been taken to improve the view of the West Highland Extension’s Glenfinnan Viaduct for the hordes of Harry Potter fans who make the pilgrimage to the Grade A listed structure. The popularity of the viaduct which features in the Warner Brothers movie, with the ‘Hogwarts Express’ crossing it, and also on Scottish £10 notes, is such that local villagers have complained about being deluged by cars. Safety concerns about fans straying on to the line itself to capture images of the ‘Jacobite’ have also been expressed. Now in a working partnership of ScotRail, the West Highland Community Rail Partnership Glenfinnan Station Museum, Glenfinnan Estate, Network Rail and Transport Scotland, a series of new viewing areas have been created, and the badly-eroded walkway between Glenfinnan railway station and the…

➜ SEVERN Valley Railway-based Class 42 Warship D821 Greyhound will be visiting the Spa Valley Railway for its August 2-4 summer diesel gala and will be staying until mid-September, also being used for driver experience courses on August 5 and 11. ➜ THE world-renowned Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, on loan from the Natural History Museum in London, opened in the Seaton Tramway’s new £3 million terminus on March 10 and runs until May 10. The line will also be running its wildlife and landscape photography trams. ➜ POLICE are investigating the theft of two “extremely heavy” generators and a grinder from the Kent & East Sussex Railway’s Rolvenden station between 5.30pm and 9pm on Monday, February 18. The CCTV cameras were damaged in the raid. ➜ NOW that…

THE Bluebell Railway has reported what it calls‘a very strong performance’in 2018, with total visitors (travel plus admissions) at 159,095, compared with 145,788 in 2017 – a year which included the visit of Flying Scotsman. The railway saw 145,989 passengers travelling in 2018, up 12%. Strong showings at events such as the Branch Line Weekend and the autumn gala – with the visit of A4 No. 60009 Union of South Africa – all helped growth. Travel numbers showed growth across all months from May to October. For instance, August recorded total visitors (travel plus admissions) at 25,398, compared with 19,205 the previous year. Roger Garman, the line’s communications director, said: “There can be no doubt that the introduction of third party travel vouchers was…

CHESHIRE’S Brookside Miniature Railway is to be officially reopened on Sunday, March 24, seven months after closing to the disappointment of visitors to its Brookside Garden Centre home in Poynton. The 7¼in gauge steam line, which had been on the site for 34 years, ran its last train on September 30 after the centre’s new owners gave its operator notice to quit. However, a group of local enthusiasts has replaced bridges and relaid track during the winter months – and is holding a grand reopening. Rides will be free, but donations will be invited for Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity. As the line crosses the boundary between Stockport and Poynton, the mayor of Poynton, Sarah-Jane Gilmore, will invite both mayors from either side of the border to jointly cut the…

RICHARD Preston has been welcomed as the new chairman of the Great Western Society. At its board meeting on January 27, he replaced Richard Croucher, who retired as chairman and a director after 18 years. Richard P has been active in railway preservation since 1968 – both at Didcot Railway Centre, where he was locomotive manager twice and a trustee once – and on the main line, where he was engineer for a main line registered locomotive. He is also a director of Great Western Preservations (the holding company for the GWS fleet of locomotives and rolling stock) and manager of the nonoperational locomotive group, which was set up with the aim of improving conservation and presentation of static engines at Didcot. Professionally, he has managed his own consultancy business…

➜ WITH the acquisition last year of a Plasser & Theureur switch and crossing tamper, the North Yorkshire Moors Railway ‘s permanent way team has decided to scrap an earlier acquisition in the form of a similar tamper based on a Unimog road/rail vehicle. However, the vehicle had never actually worked on the NYMR and was not thought to be worth the effort of restoring to use, following the arrival of the much more capable Plasser machine, which can also tamp plain track. ➜ ONE of Britain’s greatest steam locomotive building works is set to disappear forever after more than 150 years. Glasgow’s St Rollox works, now Springburn rail depot, is set to be closed by Gemini Rail Services with the loss of 180 jobs due to a decline in…

BARCLAY 0-6-0T No.1578 of 1918 Gertrude has left the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway after 10 years of service. Gertrude is to be reunited with sister No. 1641 of 1919 Doll at the Leighton Buzzard Railway. The pair were part of a trio that were built for the Sydenham Ironstone quarry in Oxfordshire. After the quarry closed in June 1925, the locomotives were moved to Bilston where they worked until 1959. The third locomotive, Winifred , was scrapped in 1939. The restoration of Ger trude was begun by Peter and Sue Westmacott in Studley, Warwickshire, and completed in North Devon.…

A PLAQUE commemorating the visits of the world’s first internal combustion-powered passenger vehicle to Hartlepool has been unveiled at the town’s station. The Transport Trust Red Wheel plaque recalling the use of an NER petrol-electric autocar on local services was one of two unveiled by the Lord Lieutenant of County Durham, Mrs Sue Snowdon. In 1903, the NER invented a revolutionary new type of transport, the autocar, a pair of which were built in York. One ran between West Hartlepool and Hartlepool stations. The surviving example, No. 3170, rediscovered and rebuilt to working order by acclaimed coach restorer Stephen Middleton and the NER 1903 Electric Autocar Trust over 15 years, and now based at the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway, won the Heritage Railway Association’s top honour, the 2019…

AFTER many years of operating with just one steam locomotive, Baldwin 4-6-2 No. 61269 of 1930, the Brecon Mountain Railway is on the brink of adding a second. No. 61269, the line’s No. 2, was built for the Eastern Province Cement Co, Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Now it is to be joined by Baldwin No. 15511 of 1897 which will become No. 1. No. 15511 was built as a 2-6-0 for the Mogyana Railway in Brazil and sold on to the Santa Teresa Sugar Mill, where it was converted to 2ft 6in gauge. Out of use in 1976, it was brought to the UK in 1990, and restoration and regauging back to 1ft 11¾in gauge began. It was bought by the BMR in 2002 and has been rebuilt into a…

ANOTHER Class 50 diesel is set to make its preservation debut in main line passenger service in July. Organised by the Branch Line Society in partnership with Hanson & Hall Rail Services Solutions, the ‘Return of Thunder Vac’ tour on July 27 sees the much anticipated return of No. 50008 (D408) Thunderer to main line passenger operation, working over the beautiful Tyne Valley and Settle and Carlisle lines. The route, which crosses the Yorkshire Dales, the North Pennines and Eden Valley, is one of the most impressive scenic railway journeys in the country. Built by English Electric at Vulcan Foundry, Newton-le-Willows in 1968, No. 50008 is last recorded as working a main line passenger charter in November 1991, not long before it was withdrawn from traffic…

LMS Jubilee 4-6-0 No. 45596 Bahamas will be officially relaunched into traffic by Network Rail chairman Sir Peter Hendy. The ceremony will take place at Ingrow station on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway at 11am on March 29. In attendance will be representatives from the National Heritage Lottery Fund, whose financial support of £775,000 was critical to the success of the five-year project to overhaul Bahamas . The day will also see the formal opening at Ingrow of the Bahamas Locomotive Society’s Learning Coach, supported by Heritage Railway publisher Mortons Ltd.…

British Railways Pre-Nationalisation Coaching Stock: Volume 1: GWR and LNER By Hugh Longworth (hardback, Crecy Publishing, 480pp, £40, ISBN 9780860936756). “Definitive volume” is an understatement here. Imagine researching the history of coaching stock, having unrivalled access to National Railway Museum archives, and condensing a mountain of essential information into a inch-and-a-half thick volume. Here is the first of two planned volumes listing all of the coaches inherited by the newly-nationalised railway from the ‘Big Four’ companies. Not only does it include carriages built by the GWR and LNER, but also pre-Grouping stock that survived through them. As well as passenger coaches, it covers sleeping, buffet, griddle and kitchen cars, horseboxes, fitted vans, milk tanks and vehicles converted for Departmental use. Divided into sections, each vehicle that ever existed is listed,…

FOR 68 years, Leo Leeney kept a very dark secret all to himself. During his five years with the Royal Engineers, Leo served a three-year apprenticeship as a boilersmith. That work would see him labouring inside the blackest interiors of brand new boilers, riveting them, with only a pair of earmuffs to drown out the deafening din. His apprenticeship as a sapper was served at none other than Swindon Works, on the locomotive production line. And one of the boilers he helped to build in 1950 was none other than that of WR 4-6-0 No. 7029 Clun Castle. Leo completed his apprenticeship, and ended up with a career in the metal pressings industry, yet he never told his wife Valerie or their daughters Bev and Lisa about the years that…

THE Vintage Trains Community Benefit Society share offer has raised more than £1 million towards setting up Britain’s newest Train Operating Company, with Clun Castle as its flagship. However, you have only got until April 30 to buy shares before the offer is closed. Vintage Trains CBS does not propose a further share offer for three years. Vintage Trains and Tyseley Locomotive Works have big plans, including the refurbishment of coaching stock and the development of the historic GWR Tyseley site, where steam locomotives have seamlessly been prepared for service since 1908. Shareholders are also welcome to help run the business, volunteering across all skills. You can become a shareholder with an outlay of as little as £50 per month for 10 months – with £500…

THE A1 Steam Locomotive Trust is expecting to soon receive the updated design for the boiler for new Gresley P2 2-8-2 No. 2007 Prince of Wales from Meiningen. The design will incorporate all the modifications and improvements fitted to A1 No. 60163 Tornado’s boiler over the years. Once the design is received, the trust will decide on where the boiler is to be built. To date, the project has attracted more than 900 covenantors – and a total of £2.5 million has been raised, with more than £2 million spent and pledges totalling £3.2 million.…

THE Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway’s new £650,000 Broadway station car park was officially opened on March 5. A total of 85 spaces have been created by Wychavon District Council, along with a grassy area next to the line that can be used for picnics. Later this year, electric vehicle charging units will be installed. The car park, officially opened in the presence of civic dignitaries and G/WR volunteers, will meet the demand for visitor parking at the station. The G/WR won the Heritage Railway Association’s Annual Award (Large Groups) 2019 for its Broadway extension that saw passenger numbers soar by 42% last year to more than 144,000. The car park is also designed to discourage parking on the main road and will ease the pressure on peak period demand for spaces…

THE Bala Lake Railway’s plans to extend by half a mile into a new station next to Bala’s High Street have been further boosted by a grant from the decommissioning of nuclear power stations. The heritage line’s Project Red Dragon has been given £23,000 from the Magnox Socio-economic Fund, set up to mitigate the impact that decommissioning its nuclear power stations would have on the communities in which they operated. The socio-economic support is available to improve education and skills provision or support local employment, economic diversification or social infrastructure. Further impetus Bala Lake Railway Trust chairman Julian Birley said:“This is fantastic news which gives further impetus to a project that continues to build momentum. There are now so many people on board with this project and it has got…

STAFF at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway’s Motive Power Department are well advanced with their winter programme, with BR Standard 2-6-4T No. 80136 reassembled in time to share February 16-24 half-term services with the line’s Class 101 DMU No. 101685 Daisy. For the half-term, North Eastern Locomotive Preservation Group-owned J27 0-6-0 No. 65894 was on standby, and repairs to Q6 0-8-0 No. 63395 were ready by the end of the week. Schools V 4-4-0 No. 926 Repton has also been reassembled at Grosmont shed after having had its driving and bogie wheels turned. The locomotive has returned to traffic, joining BR 4MT 2-6-0 No. 76079 and B1 No. 61264. Lambton 0-6-2T No. 29 has had its driving wheels refitted after receiving new crankpins, with the next job being to align…

NEIL SIME, the founder and managing director of UK train operator Victa Railfreight, has been appointed safety director of the Kent & East Sussex Railway, the second senior post to be filled by the heritage line this year. The 57-year-old has been involved with the KESR as a volunteer since it ran its first train in 1974 and has fulfilled a range of roles, including operating manager from 1986-92 and resources manager from 1999 to 2001. He is currently an operations controller and a fireman. He has also been a member of the safety review group for four years. Maidstone-based Victa Railfreight, which has a UK-wide non-passenger train operator’s licence, was founded by Neil in 1995, and he says that much of his experience with the company has a relevance…

CALEDONIAN Railway 0-4-4T No. 419 has added the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway’s Cotswold Festival of Steam to its biggest-ever tour of England. No. 419 will star in the May 25-27 festival alongside another blue guest, GWR 4-6-0 No. 6023 Edward II from Didcot Railway Centre. A third guest will be B1 4-6-0 No. 1260 from the North Yorkshire Moors Railway in lined black. Before then, making its first-ever visit to the Isle of Purbeck, No. 419 will appear alongside Flying Scotsman at the Swanage Railway’s March 29-31 Spring Steam Up. The locomotive was designed by JF McIntosh for working branch lines, fast suburban and banking duties and built by the CR at St Rollox Works, Glasgow in 1907. It was withdrawn by BR as No. 55189 from Carstairs shed in December…

THE Foxfield Railway’s April 27/28 diesel gala is to feature the sight and sound of a Class 33 ‘Crompton’ working on the steeply-graded former colliery branch near Stoke-on-Trent. Churnet Valley Railway-based No. 33102 Sophie will join resident Bagnall 0-6-0DM Wolstanton No. 3 , Ruston & Hornsby 165DE 0-4-0 No. 42481 Roman and Bagnall 0-4-0DH No. 3207 Leys . FR marketing manager Henry Alcock said: “We are extremely excited to announce the visiting locomotive for our diesel gala this year. Our friends over at Churnet Valley Railway (1992) plc and North Staffordshire Railway Company (1978) Ltd have supported us with the short-term loan of BR Class 33 No. 33102 Sophie . “As an event…

THE camera collection of fabled lineside photographer and railway book author, the late Bishop of Wakefield Eric Treacy MBE is being displayed in the Bahamas Locomotive Society’s Ingrow museum. The collection was unveiled on Saturday, March 9 during the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway gala. Enthusiast interest The society was gifted the collection last year. BLS chairman Keith Whitmore, said: “We are very honoured to be able to display Eric’s cameras in our museum which will be a real draw, especially for railway enthusiasts who remember Eric standing at railway stations, always with his camera. Eric died at Appleby in Westmoreland station on May 13, 1978 waiting for a steam special to run through, headed by BR Standard 9F No. 92220 Evening Star. “It is very fitting that…

VINTAGE Trains has announced its first season of tours as a Train Operating Company. The publication of the 2019 itinerary coincided with Tyseley Locomotive Works’ flagship WR 4-6-0 No. 7029 Clun Castle successfully completing its main line proving runs to and from Stratfordupon-Avon in February, as outlined on News, pages10/11. Testing over, two preview dining trains, originally planned for shareholders but later opened to the public, were arranged for the evenings of Thursdays, February 28 (cover picture) and March 7. Departing from Birmingham’s Moor Street station, the diners operated to Worcester and return. Explorers and venturers After 14 months of no activity on the network, Vintage Trains is planning to run 30 railtours this year. The next, the‘Cotswold Explorer’, is booked to depart Birmingham Moor Street and Snow Hill on…

THE National Railway Museum has announced the list of commitments for its A3 4-6-2 No. 60103 Flying Scotsman for the coming year. They are: Swanage Railway, running days March 22-26 and static display at Corfe Castle March 27-April 10 (as reported in News, page 33) May 5: the final leg of the Railway Touring Company’s ‘Great Britain XII’ – the A3 working the tour from York to Paddington via Derby and Oxford; May 9: Steam Dreams’ London Victoria to Edinburgh: May 9-17, Steam Dreams’ ‘Highlands and Islands Explorer’ from London Victoria to Edinburgh, steam on from York, and from there to Inverness; May 19: the Scottish Railway Preservation Society’s‘Forth Circle’ trip from Linlithgow, Dalmeny and Inverkeithing to Edinburgh Waverley; and May 30: Steam Dreams’ London Victoria ‘Surrey Hills’Redhill-Victoria morning and…

GREAT Western Railway will be opening its Long Rock depot at Penzance to the public on Saturday, April 13 with the aim of raising money in support of the local Penlee lifeboat station and the RNLI. Great Western said the depot will hold a display of steam locomotives – still to be announced as we closed for press – along with old and new trains, all of which have played a part in making Cornwall’s railways a success. The depot has undergone a major refurbishment and is now the main maintenance facility of the ‘Night Riviera Sleeper’service. During the event, one of the new Class 802 Intercity Express Trains will be dedicated to the heroes of Cornwall in a special ceremony. As part of the open day, Pathfinder Tours will…

It seems that the dales had never seen anything like it. The visit of £3 million new-build Peppercorn A1 No. 60163 Tornado to the Wensleydale Railway in mid-February not only underlined the proven crowd-pulling appeal of the celebrity locomotive, but also the immense potential in this beautiful heritage line that is now being unlocked. Tornado has been undergoing extensive repairs at Wansford shed on the Nene Valley Railway that followed its failure while hauling ‘The Ebor Flyer’ from King’s Cross to York on Saturday, April 14 last year due to damaged inside motion. While at the NVR, the A1 undertook test runs and also hauled public services. As we reported last issue, owner The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust had to cancel its ‘North Briton’ comeback trip on Saturday, February 9,…