Table of contents for Issue 273 in Heritage Railway

TYSELEY-BASED Vintage Trains, operator of the summer Sunday ‘Shakespeare Express’ has been awarded £194,800 to cover essential costs and support its plans to restart main line steam trains from March 2021. Chairman Michael Whitehouse said: “Vintage Trains is the UK’s only charitably run and publicly owned Train Operating Company and sadly we have not run a single train this year. Yet the high costs of running the business remain, so this award will make a tremendous difference and is vital in enabling our plans to run steam-hauled express trains again from March 2021 – subject to suitable easing of Covid-19 restrictions.” The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust has been awarded £153,000 from the Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage to ensure the continued maintenance and operation of 101mph Peppercorn Pacific No. 60163…

HERITAGE lines in Wales were forced to suspend their operations from 6pm on October 23 to 0.01am on November 9, due to the latest round of restrictions to be enforced in the name of Covid-19. The Welsh Government announced what it called a ‘fire breaker’, a national lockdown for the nation – which includes the closing of non-essential retail, leisure and hospitality businesses. The Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways said: “the situation would remain under review” but confirmed its online shop would remain open. The Talyllyn hopes to restart trains on November 9, while the Welshpool & Llanfair was reviewing its Santa services. Some railways have said they will not reopen this year. The Snowdon Mountain Railway indicated an Easter restart.…

THE Great Central Railway’s (GCR) diesel multiple unit pool has been boosted following the arrival of Class 122 ‘Bubblecar’ No. 55009 from the Mid-Norfolk Railway (MNR). The part-restored single-car unit is now in the custodianship of Renaissance Railcars on behalf of its private owner. Built in 1958 for the Western Region by the Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Company, the unit spent time at Tyseley, Bletchley and Laira depots. Entering preservation in 1996, after a period in storage at King’s Lynn, the unit moved to the MNR. The initial focus was on getting the vehicle operational – the mechanical work including that on replacement engines. The car moved under its own power for the first time in preservation on June 4, 2012, albeit not as a passenger carrying vehicle. The…

THE council-led £350,000 revival of the Poole Park Railway has been delayed again because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The popular 10¼in gauge railway, which has been running under private management in Poole since 1949, was suspended during 2018 following derailments, service interruptions and personnel issues. The former Borough of Poole council had awarded the contract to run the service to the Friends of Poole Park in April 2017, but after several issues, including a mass walkout by staff, which prevented services from restarting, the council ended the contract and took the railway in-house. Planning permission was granted in August 2019 for the demolition and replacement of the existing engine shed, and tenders for the track, engine shed and rolling stock were returned last December. Review However, in March, Coun Felicity…

POPULAR Severn Valley Railway locomotive driver and director Tony Bending retired from the footplate on October 3, the day before his 75th birthday. Tony was one of the band of early volunteers on the fledgling railway and attended the first firing course for volunteer enginemen in 1970. Passing out as a fireman in time for the start of services in May that year, Tony found himself promoted to driver two years later, and has ably fulfilled that role for the subsequent 48 years.…

THE Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway has announced additional running days for 2020, as well as a series of ‘Santa Experience’ trains. Trains will run over the weekends of November 7/8, 14/15 and 21/22, with the new socially-distanced Santa trains running between Toddington and Winchcombe starting on November 28/29 and running on December 5/6, 12/13 and 19/20, national Covid-19 restrictions permitting. Post-Christmas trips will run from Toddington between December 27 and January 3. Tickets can only be booked online at www.gwsr.com or by telephoning 01242 621405. The private Statfold Barn Railway near Tamworth will be running its Statfold Santa Express from November 21 until December 22, with an all-new VR Sleigh Ride and singing reindeer – to book, visit www.statfold.com/santa-express The Keighley & Worth Valley Railway is to run its new Elf…

LIFELONG model railway enthusiast Sir Rod Stewart is to ship his ultimate layout from Los Angeles to Essex – indicating that the 75-year-old rock star is planning to relocate back to Britain. The 124ft-long, 23ft-wide model based on a 1940s US city, and which has taken him 23 years to build, is to be dismantled in the attic of his current Beverly Hills home and reassembled in his mansion in Sheering with the help of a team of craftsmen. Sir Rod, who moved to the USA 45 years ago, said that his passion for model railways began during his childhood in north London, where he was born near the tracks in Highgate, and his father bought him a signalbox.…

PRIVATELY celebrating its 60th anniversary year, the ground-breaking Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway (LCLR) operated all eight of its historic Motor Rail Simplex diesels together for the first time. The world’s first heritage line to be built on a green field site by enthusiasts ran the eight locomotives in convoy on its track in the Skegness Water Leisure Park at Ingoldmells. Because of the coronavirus restrictions which have kept the 2ft gauge line closed, only working volunteers on duty could participate in the event. During closure, volunteers completed a 30-year project to restore to working order the ‘Skeg Simplex’ which once worked at the resort’s brickworks and in 1953, survived inundation by seawater and sand in the East Coast floods, which killed 307 people in England, a further 224 at sea…

LONDON Transport Museum has carried off a top national award for its Hidden London exhibition. The Covent Garden venue won the Temporary or Touring Exhibition of the Year category at the 18th annual Museums + Heritage Awards on September 22. For the first time, this year’s ceremony was held online with live streams on Facebook and YouTube, allowing professionals from museums, galleries and heritage visitor attractions across the UK and overseas to celebrate the most ground-breaking initiatives of last year. Hidden London: the Exhibition gives the visitor a chance to experience an ‘abandoned’ Tube station underworld and discover other secrets that lurk beneath the busy streets of the capital. The team of judges was especially impressed by how the look and feel of an abandoned station environment was transported to…

THE National Lottery Heritage Fund-assisted contract restoration of the Severn Valley Railway’s Falling Sands Viaduct at Kidderminster has been progressing through the summer, with pointing of the masonry and brickwork being carried out by workers on bungee cords hung over the sides of the viaduct. As expected, the presence of the bats has led to some small delays and a slight cost increase, but the railway had a contingency in its budget for such unforeseen circumstances. As part of the interpretation activity for the Falling Sands viaduct project, October 23 saw the commissioning of the Falling Sands mobile exhibition inside specially-adapted Stove R brake van No. 2886, stationed alongside the loading dock at Kidderminster station. The Stove R now contains interactive exhibits with the sounds, sights and smells of the…

A MANOR house designed for GWR engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, as his planned Torquay retirement home, has gone on the market. Brunel Manor stands in woodland with views over Babbacombe Bay. It is being marketed in three separate lots by estate agent Savills’ office in Exeter. The manor and its gardens were designed by William Burn for Brunel, who discovered the area while surveying the South Devon Railway, and his family later spent many holidays in Torquay. He purchased the plot of land and planted numerous trees in the grounds. However, he died in 1859 before he saw the house or estate finished. In recent times, the manor was operated by The Woodlands House of Prayer Trust as a Christian holiday, retreat and conference centre. The Grade II listed main…

THE surviving cab of Class 55 No. 55008 The Green Howards was returned to the Deltic Preservation Society depot at Barrow Hill on October 14. The cab has been with Crowle Wharf Engineering near Scunthorpe, which has worked with the society to extend the cab by 4ft to just past the first engine room window. This new ‘engine room’ will house the cross section engine. The next step for the cab is for it to be refurbished both internally and externally, which will then lead to it being open to the public. Meanwhile, as a result of the new Government guidelines announced on October 15, placing north east Derbyshire in the high risk category for Covid-19 infections and transmissions, the society has closed the depot for four weeks. The situation…

THE controversial granting of planning permission for Britain’s first new deep coal mine in 30 years, offers fresh hope for the heritage railway sector, it has been claimed. Cumbria County Council’s planning committee has voted 12-3 to approve plans by West Cumbria Mining for its £160 million Woodhouse colliery, which will extract around 2.7 million tonnes of coal from beneath the seabed. The extracted coal in itself will be coking coal and not bituminous, and therefore unsuitable for steam locomotives, said Heritage Railway Association (HRA) chief executive Steve Oates. It will supply steel and chemical factories in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire and Port Talbot, the company arguing that the it will replace imports and will therefore not increase global emissions caused by shipping coal from elsewhere in the world. However, Steve said…

TWO traction engine oil lamps headed the pack in GW Railwayana’s 588-lot ‘Buy & Go’ sale on October 3, with a realisation of £750, but not far behind at £720 came the leading railwayana item, a GWR ‘Arrival bay facing – bay siding’ lever lead. It came from Taunton West Station signalbox, which opened in 1931 and had 135 levers, of which this was lever No. 83. A selection of London Transport Underground items, including two carriage registration enamels numbered 12433 and 14006, went for £650, a North Eastern Railway 14in dial regulator clock that had been restored with GWR dial writing for £600, and two LSWR block shelf plungers for £500. Prices exclude buyer’s premium of 15% (+VAT). This was GWRA’s third ‘Buy & Go’ sale of general railwayana,…

THREE different gauges headed the Vectis live online, telephone, postal and commission model train sale on September 25, with the leader being a Wrenn OO gauge streamlined LMS Princess Coronation No. 6237 City of Bristol in wartime black that went for £1400. Behind at £1100 came a Graham Farish N-gauge pairing of LNER A4 Pacific No. 60017 Silver Fox and V2 class 2-6-2 No. 60800 Green Arrow, the realisation being 10 times top estimate, and in third place was a Hornby O gauge model of Metropolitan Railway Bo-Bo No. 2 with coaches and track (£850). The locomotive on which this early model was based was built by Metropolitan Vickers in 1922 and initially named Oliver Cromwell. It was renamed Thomas Lord – he of the test match cricket ground in…

TICKETS are now on sale for next year’s trips hauled by A1 Class Pacific No. 60163 Tornado – including its first departures from Hull and Glasgow, circular tours in the North East, plus special tours over the Settle and Carlisle line with Flying Scotsman. The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust’s 2021 programme begins with two circular tours around Yorkshire and the North East, on February 13, for Valentine’s Day. The two trains, a luncheon special and an evening trip, both start from York. On March 13, Tornado heads ‘The Ribblehead Rambler’ – the train running from Hull and the East Riding to Carlisle via the Settle and Carlisle line. The ‘Fens & Fells Flyer’ departs from Cambridge for Carlisle on March 27. April 3 marks the opening of ‘The Aberdonian’ season,…

HELJAN is to produce a BR Class 02 0-4-0DH shunter in O and OO gauges, seven of which survive in preservation. Built in 1960/61 by Yorkshire Engine Co for dock shunting and goods yard duties, the locomotives enjoyed second lives in industrial service following withdrawal by BR. Helped by their Rolls-Royce engine, all-round visibility and unique (for a BR locomotive) rear platform for shunting staff, they continue to play a useful role in shunting and engineering work at heritage railway venues across the country. Examples can be found at the National Railway Museum in York, Barrow Hill, the Battlefield Line, Midland Railway – Butterley and the Heritage Shunters Trust at Peak Rail. Heljan said design work is well advanced on the 7mm scale model, with the CAD (Computer Aided Design)…

SEATON Tramway has received a £435,100 grant in its 50th anniversary year. The Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage award will directly support wages, track and tram maintenance, and the creation of new offers and opportunities with partners and exhibitions, said a tramway statement. Since reopening on July 4, trams have been running at a lower capacity due to social distancing. The tramway, which is laid on part of the LSWR Seaton branch and ran its first services in August 1970, as highlighted last issue, has been awarded the We’re Good To Go accreditation from Visit England and the AA Covid-Secure badge. Chief executive Jenny Nunn said: “Having to close on March 23, and consequently cancel any income for the next three months, was one of the toughest things any business…

THE East Lancashire Railway (ELR) has received a £62,251 grant from the Julia and Hans Rausing Trust’s Charity Survival Fund to support its ongoing recovery from the Covid-19 lockdown. The grant from the fund, which was established in July to help charities in need due to the pandemic, will offset the unexpected costs resulting from it. It has been made as the railway has been forced to adapt its operating procedures again in response to Lancashire moving into the Government’s Tier Three, with Rawtenstall station and the Buffer Stops pub both having to close for the time being. ELR Chairman Mike Kelly said: “Thanks to the incredible support of organisations, including the Julia and Hans Rausing Trust, alongside the tireless dedication of our volunteers and supporters from around the world,…

A VISIT to the Severn Valley Railway from a timber expert in mid-August confirmed that the woodwork of the line’s famous Bewdley South bracket signal was in serious need of replacement. The decision was taken that a temporary signal would be erected and the wooden signal taken down as soon as possible. Over the next few weeks, the temporary signal was painted, suitable fittings located and refurbished and assembled ready for movement to Bewdley. By September 27, the new signal had been moved to the site and the hole dug ready for the signal to be lifted in the following day. Due to limited clearances and the lack of road access, the railway’s Cowans Sheldon 30-ton steam crane made a rare excursion from the yard at Bridgnorth up the line…

TWO new rail titles have been added to the portfolio of Britain’s leading railways publishing house. Mortons Media Group has acquired the magazines Railways Illustrated and Steam Days from Key Publishing, and the move brings the titles into the company’s market leading railway collection which already includes the UK’s leading title in the industry, The Railway Magazine, as well as numerous books and bookazines. Steam Days, dedicated to all steam railway enthusiasts, covers the history and nostalgia sector from the early days of the 1800s right through to the end of steam on British Railways in 1968. Railways Illustrated covers the present day railway scene with the latest news and topical events across the UK. These titles will sit alongside Mortons’ market leading brands including The Railway Magazine, Heritage Railway,…

PETERHEAD Prison Museum is to unveil a model railway as its latest attraction next Easter. The model will be a scale replica of the railway that ran between the Victorian prison and granite quarry 2½ miles south of Peterhead, where the inmates toiled daily to break up rocks to support the building of the harbour. The prison, which opened in 1888 and closed in 2013, had the first state-owned railway in Britain. The museum was approached by the model railway building experts Westhill Men’s Shed, to create the exhibit. The model also shows locations that are now long gone, like the former village of Burnhaven, which was demolished in the 1970s and the Long John Distillery, and the landscape that used to surround the prisoners’ daily journey in their secure…

A Victorian camera that was used in the 1880s to take official photographs of locomotives built by Beyer Peacock at its Gorton works in Manchester, has taken on a new lease of life nearly 135 years later, photographing engines and volunteers on the Kent & East Sussex Railway. The camera was designed and made by Josiah Chapman, a Manchester chemist and businessman, in 1886, and was used by James Mudd, a pioneer of industrial photography, and his assistant and successor George Grundy, for their railway photography. Chapman, who died in 1907, had designed and made his first camera in 1883, and the camera used by Mudd and Grundy was a larger version of that original. Its ground-glass screen retains a series of pencilled guides marked ‘engine’ and ‘engine and tender,’…

THE base and foundations of a water tower at Crystal Palace, one of the last projects undertaken by GWR engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, have been given Grade II listed building status by Historic England. The tower was built between 1854-56, when Joseph Paxton’s Palace was being reassembled on Sydenham Hill after housing the Great Exhibition of 1851 in Hyde Park. Used by John Logie Baird for his early and experimental television transmissions in the Thirties, the water tower survived the fire that destroyed Crystal Palace in 1936, but was demolished during the Second World War. However, its base was recovered during a 1980s excavation. The remains of the tower are next to the Crystal Palace Museum on Anerley Hill, alongside Crystal Palace Park which is itself Grade II* listed. The…

NORTH Bay Railway Engineering Services (NBRES) has developed a new system for transporting narrow gauge locomotives around the country. The Darlington company, which has developed a reputation for narrow gauge new-builds and major overhauls, has built a specialised lifting frame which will be used to transport the locomotives that it constructs or restores. It was first used to return Hunslet 0-4-0ST No. 849 of 1904 Thomas Bach to the Llanberis Lake Railway following its recent overhaul. However, the system will be made available for other users, and movements anywhere in the UK and Europe can be considered. Best practice The firm’s managing director David Humphreys said: “Traditionally locomotives of all sizes have either been craned or winched on to the backs of lorries. We looked at the way the construction…

A MIXTURE of nameplates, worksplates and other railwayana from the late-1950s to the present day is set to raise vital funds for Rail Aid, a new initiative launched to support the life-saving work of Railway Children. The memorabilia will go under the hammer on November 26, in an online auction being run by Great Central Railwayana of Woodford Halse. Among the lots will be nameplates from three Class 43 HST power cars comprising The Sheffield Star 125 years from No. 43055, The Red Nose from No. 43068, and, appropriately, Railway Children from No. 43082. Other nameplates will include two from Class 47s – European Rail Operator of the Year from D1790/47309 and Confederation of British Industry (D1969/47595) – and a selection from Class 86 electric locomotives that were built at Doncaster…

THE LMS-Patriot Project, builder of No. 5551 The Unknown Warrior, made two significant decisions on October 1, during a routine monthly engineering team meeting at the Midland Railway-Butterley’s West Shed, when engineers from the Princess Royal Class Locomotive Trust (PRCLT) met with new-build’s engineering team. Firstly, it has been decided to address the unsatisfactory driving wheel weld repairs identified as an issue by the group’s independent assurance body. These repairs were carried out nine years ago when the driving wheels were first supplied: they were assessed on September 4 this year by a suitably qualified welding inspector. The remedial work will require the wheels to be pressed off the axles for repair. Secondly, it has been decided to modify the locomotive bogie to conform to the standard Patriot bogie design.…

CARRIAGES are to return to a long-disused railway line near Whitby after more than 60 years – but as holiday rather than passenger accommodation. Scarborough Council planning officers have now approved an application by the Mulgrave Estate to site a pair of coaches at the former Sandsend station. The application stated: “The proposal is to clear the existing scrub from the site and stand two railway carriages at the end of the former station platform adjacent to the Station House in Sandsend.” It added that the coaches would provide “a unique opportunity to enjoy and celebrate the site’s former railway heritage.” The station was opened by the Whitby, Redcar & Middlesbrough Union Railway on December 3, 1883, to served the villages of Sandsend and Lythe. In the 1947, British comedy…

THE Class 15 Preservation Society’s appeal for funds for the overhaul of the bogie of D8233, the now-unique British Thomson-Houston Type 1 locomotive, has been described as an “outstanding success” in a statement from the East Lancashire Railway-based group. A total of £19,264 plus £3859 claimable from Gift Aid, making £23,123, has been raised from the appeal, as highlighted in issue 267. The money has been raised with the help of an anonymous donor, who agreed to match the total raised. The society is now using the funds to push on with the traction motor overhaul and replace the last missing pieces, removed when D8233 was converted into a carriage heater. The traction motors have been sent away to Bowers Electrical Ltd in Heanor, Derbyshire, for overhaul, with the aim…

GREAT Central’s eighth 80-lot fortnightly internet, email, telephone and postal auction that ended on September 18 was topped by GWR nameplate Sarum Castle from No. 5097, which went for £9600. The 4-6-0 was built at Swindon in July 1939, the last new member of the class to enter traffic before the onset of the Second World War, and ended its career in March 1963 when a resident of Cardiff East Dock (88L). Enamels then took over the show, led by a BR(NE) direction sign to Whitby station (£3300), and a BR(M) totem sign from Settle, the North Yorkshire Grade II listed station at the southern end of the iconic line to Carlisle. This sold for £2900, thus nearly trebling its top bid in the final three days of the auction.…

■October 30-November 13 Great Central Railwayana (Internet, email, telephone and postal) ■October 31 Transport Auctions of London (Live online bidding, telephone and commission) ■Ending November 3 Paperchase (Email, telephone and postal) ■November 13-27 Great Central Railwayana (Internet, email, telephone and postal) ■November 13 GW Railwayana railway art (Live online bidding, email, telephone and postal) ■November 14 GW Railwayana (Live online bidding, email, telephone and postal) ■November 14 Lacy Scott & Knight, Bury St Edmunds (Railwayana and models) ■November 16-22 Justaclickago (Photos, slides and negatives) (Online) ■November 26 Onslows (travel posters) (Live online)…

HAVING been stabled at the National Railway Museum in York since the spring, John Cameron’s A4 No. 60009 Union of South Africa finally departed for the East Lancashire Railway (ELR) on October 13. No. 60009 was hauled to Bury by a West Coast Railways Class 37 due to its main line certification having expired. All being well following examination, the popular Pacific is expected to operate for the remaining year of its boiler certificate at the ELR. The A4’s active ‘life’ is limited however, because it is set to be the centrepiece of John’s proposed railway museum located on his land close to Balbuthie. Planning permission for the museum’s construction has been withheld by Fife council in the face of local Kilconquhar residents claiming that the building would attract extra…

AN £865,000 Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage grant – added to £312,271 which the West Somerset Railway and its supportive associations have already raised – means that the line now has £1,177,271 to weather the current storm and work towards reopening. The 23-mile line, which usually carries up to 200,000 passengers a year, ran its last steam train on March 17, and needs every penny it can get to compensate for lost income. As reported last issue, it is planning to run Santa specials from Bishops Lydeard: details are available at www.west-somerset-railway.co.uk/events/detail/santa-express The award, which followed in the wake of the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s emergency £28,700 grant to the railway, will enable the line to bring people back from furlough, retraining staff and reinstating competencies, policies and procedures, to…

THREE heritage lines in Norfolk have received Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage grants. The North Norfolk Railway has been awarded £360,000, on top of the £46,000 it received from the National Lottery Heritage Fund prior to reopening on July 8 following lockdown. A Poppy Line spokesman said: “This money will go a long way in helping us to recover from an incredibly difficult year.” The Mid-Norfolk Railway has received £190,000, more than half of which will be used to complete the full restoration of a Mk.1 coach to work longer trains to comply with Covid-19 regulations. General manager George Saville said: “The nature of some of our stations and rolling stock has meant we’ve felt we could not run a service that would be Covid-19 compliant and also be viable.…

FUNDRAISING and a second major grant – this time one of £332,300 from the Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage – has given the South Devon Railway more than £831,000 in its struggle to relaunch services. South Devon Railway Trust chairman Jon Morton said: “We are all bowled over to have received this fantastic grant support. It will certainly provide the vital financial lifeline needed for the railway’s continued survival. “We are still raising money to try and get to our next target of £1 million!” The National Lottery Heritage Fund recently allocated a £124,000 Heritage Emergency Fund grant to the line. The Bodmin & Wenford Railway, which last ran services in February, has been awarded £260,000. Its plc chairman Philip Andrews said: “Since the start of the Covid-19 crisis we’ve…

THE return to steam of large England Welsh Pony after 80 years, and its recommissioning, is indeed a major landmark, with an additional class of locomotive running in the heritage sector – and on the railway for which it was built – for the first time. With two small Englands already in Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railway (Ff&WHR) service and a third on permanent static display, a scheme to complete an ‘England hat-trick’ is making rapid progress. Mountaineer, the original small George England 0-4-0T+T, has mostly been forgotten as the heritage movement gathered steam: the Ffestiniog Railway’s quest for more powerful machines to climb the continuous 7% incline to Blaenau Ffestiniog all but overlooked the early days of steam traction on the line. Mountaineer, the first locomotive to arrive at…

ONE of the Severn Valley Railway’s engineering staff has tested positive for Covid-19, resulting in the entire engineering shift of nine staff having to self-isolate, a loss of 70 working days in total and wages having to be paid by the railway with no tangible return. A SVR spokesman said: “It just goes to show how important it is to maintain social distancing and how easy it is for best laid plans to be damaged through no fault of our own.” The SVR had split its workforce into different shifts, so not all members of the engineering team were having to stay away from the workshops, but this unwelcome development will delay key projects further. Inside Bridgnorth Works, GWR 4-6-0 No. 4930 Hagley Hall has been receiving much attention, with…

IN what has become an increasingly rare practice, Network Rail (NR) has donated the track materials due to be displaced in a forthcoming relay on the Esk Valley line to the adjoining North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR). September’s relay saw around two miles of track consisting of chaired bullhead rail replaced, a job with which the NYMR provided limited assistance by providing an access point (New Bridge Yard) by which Volker Rail’s Beaver tamper could be delivered to and from the site. The NYMR is free to reuse or dispose of these materials, which include rail, fishplates, sleepers etc, as it sees fit. However, the present day NR practice of cutting the rail into 20ft lengths for ease of removal and handling normally leaves the removed rail fit only for…

TWO carriages with very different histories have recently been offered for sale. The first, and of most historic interest, is a 1950- built kitchen/ dining car built for British Army on the Rhine (BAOR) services to Berlin. Built on the continent, it follows typical West German State Railway outline and practices of the time in its construction, rather than being based on BR design practice. The only remaining intact example of its kind, the carriage was gifted by the Berlin Senate to the UK and in particular to the British Army in recognition of UK’s long-term commitment to Berlin as a free city and centre of capitalism. Formerly at the Royal Corps of Transport Museum at Beverley, on closure of that museum it was moved to the Fort Peall Museum…

THOUSANDS of pounds worth of damage was caused to the 10¼in gauge Watford Miniature Railway by flooding during Storm Alex. The track, locomotives, rolling stock and other equipment were damaged when the line in Cassiobury Park became submerged on the morning of October 3 as the River Gade burst its banks, and the continued heavy rain the next day compounded the problem. The railway, which lost about 50% of normal earnings due to the Covid-19 lockdown, reopened on July 28.…

➜ THE Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway is to run a series of special Heritage Railway Weekends this winter, giving passengers a rare opportunity to travel in pre-booked open carriages behind veteran locomotives Synolda, which was built in 1912, and Katie, which dates from 1896. The trains will run on November 7/8, 14/15, December 26/27 and January 2/3 in addition to regular services. Visit www. ravenglass-railway.co.uk to book. ➜THE Transport & Works Act order previously held by Weardale Railways CIC has been transferred by the Secretary of State for Transport to Weardale Railway Limited, with the intention of restarting heritage operations, following Durham County Council’s £2.1 million investment in the line, as announced last issue. ➜ NORTH Bay Engineering Services of Darlington is building a third new Bagnall Sipat 0-4-0ST, a 2ft…

THE Royal Agricultural University has opened its Cultural Heritage Unit inside Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Swindon carriage works. The conversion of the works, designed by Metropolitan Workshop, includes a new standalone structure in the West Shed with offices, seminar rooms, a library and lecture space over two floors. The institute is a purpose built postgraduate and professional training hub aimed at increasing the number of trained professionals within cultural heritage industries. Swindon Borough Council said the completion of the institute is a key milestone in the regeneration of the town.…

THE Transport Trust presented one of its well known red, circular plaques to the 1722 Waggonway Association, the charity which has excavated and curated Scotland’s oldest railway, the Tranent-Cockenzie Waggonway, on Monday, September 21. John Cameron OBE, owner of LNER A4 Pacific No. 60009 Union of South Africa, and the trust’s vice-chairman, presented the plaque to association chairman Ed Bethune. It is mounted in front of the association’s Waggonway Museum at Cockenzie Harbour, beside a replica of one the historic line’s 18th century coal waggons. Ed, who has led excavations of the waggonway over several summers, said: “We are delighted to have been recognised in this way by the Transport Trust. The plaque puts an official seal on not just the existence of Scotland’s oldest railway, but also on our…

STEAM – Museum of the Great Western Railway at Swindon has won a 2020 Travellers’ Choice award – placing it in the top 10% of attractions worldwide. The museum, which has earned Tripadvisor’s Certificate of Excellence for the last five years, reopened its doors to the public in September, with safety measures in place including enhanced daily cleaning, reduced capacities, one-way systems and hand sanitiser stations. Coun Dale Heenan, Swindon Borough Council’s cabinet member for the town centre, culture and heritage, said: “This is STEAM’s first Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice Award, and puts our town on the map for a very positive reason. It is a fantastic achievement for the museum and shows that all of the efforts of staff and the council’s investment in the museum has been worthwhile.” All…

AS LEAVES take on the red hues of autumn, so BR Standard 4MT 2-6-0 No. 76077 has taken on its own red hue – with the addition and painting of the new front bufferbeam, complete with buffers. The frames, bare for so long and now straightened to correct a bend thought to have occurred during a heavy shunt, possibly in Barry scrapyard, are beginning to resemble a locomotive once again. Installing the buffer beam needed a considerable amount of work on the front dragbox to replace badly corroded metal. A brand-new rear dragbox has been built and has been installed between the frames beneath where the cab will be. Toddington Standard Locomotive Limited’s (TSLL) engineering director Andy Meredith said: “It’s always dangerous making predictions in the world of locomotive restoration,…

THE Appleby Frodingham Railway Preservation Society (AFRPS) is offering what is believed to be the inaugural driver experience course on a ‘Pacer’. The concept immediately attracted a wealth of interest, with slots on Saturdays in October and November quickly selling out. As reported last issue, three-car Class 144 No. 144017, which is owned by the Woodhead Line, is now resident at the AFRPS, which is based on the internal railway at British Steel’s Scunthorpe steelworks site. Each driving experience consists of about two hours driving the train around the internal rail network, departing from and returning to Frodingham platform. A donation is requested of £200 for one person to drive the train or £300 for two people to share the time driving the unit, which covers the running and maintenance…

EUSTON’S Grade II-listed statue of railway pioneer Robert Stephenson has been craned out and removed for safe storage while the station undergoes its major HS2 redevelopment. The 150-year-old bronze monument to Robert, the son of ‘father of the railways’ George Stephenson, and who engineered the London & Birmingham Railway, came to Euston in 1871 and has stood in pride of place in its current location since 2008. The monument has been relocated several times since the original Victorian station was demolished in the 1960s and rebuilt as we know it today. Working on behalf of HS2 Ltd and Network Rail, Costain Skanska gained special planning permission from Camden Council to carry out the statue relocation and also worked with the Railway Heritage Trust and Historic England to ensure all conservation…

NAMEPLATES from four main line locomotives built at Crewe in three distinct eras will be sharing the spotlight with six others in GW Railwayana’s (GWRA) auction on November 14. They are LMS pair Princess Royal class Princess Arthur of Connaught and Jubilee Barham both from 1935, Standard Pacific Clan Macleod from 1952, and Western Prefect from a diesel-hydraulic that emerged to traffic in 1963. The first is from No. 46207, which entered traffic in August 1935 and was withdrawn from London’s Willesden shed (1A) in November 1961. It was named after a granddaughter of Edward VII and great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria who died in February 1959 aged 67. The Jubilee was No. 45653, built seven months before No. 46207 in January 1935, and named after Admiral Charles Middleton, 1st Baron…

A SELECTION of totem station signs from three BR regions made much of the running in a collectors’ sale at Bristol Auction Rooms on September 3. In an auction that featured many items being sold together in batches, three Eastern Region totems – Hornchurch, Haughley and Higham – went as a single lot for £3000. A BR(W) duo of Avonmouth Dock and Portishead sold for £2000, and another pair, comprising BR(M) Didsbury and Marsh Lane & Strand Road, for £1500. Two other signs that were paired together also played their part, an Exeter (St. David’s) direction sign coupled with a Southern Railway target from Barnstaple station which realised £2000. A large assortment of items, including a single line Lifton-Lidford electric train staff, a single line miniature staff, three key tokens,…

FOR years the mainstay of Vintage Trains’ Birmingham-Stratfordupon-Avon ‘Shakespeare Express’ excursions, Great Western 4-6-0 No. 4965 Rood Ashton Hall is stored out of service inside Tyseley Locomotive Works. Grounded because its low-slung outside cylinders do not meet with modern day Network Rail track and platform requirements, the 4-6-0 can no longer be considered to be a main line engine. Front end modifications – involving heavy engineering – have been discussed within Tyseley, according to former chief engineer Bob Meanley. However, the ongoing overhaul of Castle Class 4-6-0 No. 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe is taking priority, with an aim to returning it to traffic mid-summer next year. Plans to commence work on Tyseley’s third Castle, No. 5080 Defiant may also keep any future thoughts of Rood Ashton Hall being revitalised…

THE Princess Royal Class Locomotive Trust’s LMS Stanier 4-6-2 No. 6233 Duchess of Sutherland has been signed by Locomotive Services Ltd (LSL) to work selected Saphos Trains excursions next year. LSL spokesman Peter Greenwood said that the Midland Railway-Butterleybased locomotive is expected to operate in a similar fashion to that previously outlined for LNER A4 Pacific No. 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley. This would involve the engine heading Saphos trains and other trips either organised by the locomotive’s owning group or to provide motive power for rail tour promoters wishing to hire it. The move, made by the locomotive’s owning group will mean that the LMS Pacific will spend some time at Crewe to fulfil Saphos commitments and receive attention in the form of running repairs and if required, medium maintenance.…

CONTRARY to my statement in issue 271 that I would not be writing this column for the foreseeable future, I have now agreed with the editor that I will continue on a periodic basis. There is a comparative lack of steam-hauled railtours in the south, which are the easiest for me to cover and so for this issue I am reliant on my good friend Sandy Smeaton, who has kindly sent me details of excellent runs with two locomotives. I am not averse to travelling north of Watford, despite the mega long days which this entails, but discretion seems to be sensible at present in order to minimise the risk on the long rail journeys to reach steam. Incredibly though some operators, notably Saphos, The A1 Steam Trust (A1SLT), West…

THE group restoring SR Bulleid Pacific No. 35011 General Steam Navigation has sold all its limited edition fundraising model wagons and is now planning the release of a new batch in 2021. As reported in issue 264, the General Steam Navigation Locomotive Restoration Society, based at the Swindon & Cricklade Railway, joined forces with the Medway Queen Preservation Society and commissioned Dapol to produce limited edition OO scale SR box vans. Having proved extremely popular, all the 2020 models have sold out, generating a profit for the society of just over £400. Thoughts have now turned to the production of another batch of wagons next year. To register an interest in further wagons, email graham.muspratt@35011gsn.co.uk…