Table of contents for Issue 303 in Heritage Railway

WITH the impending visit to the Nene Valley Railway of A4 Pacific No. 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley, the NVRWagon Group’s evening photographic charter with the locomotive hauling its BR goods rake on Good Friday, April 7, sold out within four hours of tickets going on sale. The sales from what will be a very rare opportunity to see an A4 involved in freight duties earned the wagon group much-needed funds for the maintenance and restoration of its fleet. The group was shocked at the speed of ticket sales on January 23 and the subsequent enquiries for further places. The charter will feature Sir Nigel Gresley in newly-painted BR Express Blue livery in two static shots in Wansford station, before the grand finale of several runpasts with the wagons. The group…

THE 15in gauge Evesham Vale Light Railway is being offered for sale at £325,000. The 1¼ mile-long railway in Worcestershire’s privately-owned Evesham Country Park at Twyford was built by Jim and Helen Shackell, who opened it on August 1, 2002, and sold it to its currently owners, Adrian and Sandra Corke, who took over on January 3, 2012. The Corkes were both volunteers at the Leighton Buzzard Railway for many years. Adrian, a steam driver, was that line’s chief steam engineer until he became head of engineering at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre. Sandra developed and ran Leighton Buzzard’s catering operation for many years, as well as handling the line’s accounting work and also painting locomotives. Since they took over the EVLR, they have continued to invest in it and develop…

FEBRUARY 4, 1973 was a key moment in history when the last Class 205 DEMU departed from Alresford station at 8.21pm. Half a century later, the moment was marked when about 50 Mid-Hants Railway volunteers gathered for a ceremony featuring one of the two units that formed that final working. Hampshire unit No. 1125 was displayed during the afternoon of February 4. The two-car DEMU has been out of service for several years, in need of bodywork repairs which were started before the Covid-19 pandemic, but carriage repairs then took priority. However, during January it was temporarily moved into the Ropley carriage workshop to dry out and for gutter clearing while the work required to return it to service was assessed. Many of the MHR volunteers who helped establish the…

UK heritage railways were observing increasing passenger numbers in 2022 following the lifting of the final Covid-19 restrictions – meaning regular service operations could be implemented once more. Celebrating at the year’s end was the Isle of Wight Steam Railway, which set a new record for income generated through ticket sales and trading. “Passenger numbers nearly matched the previous staycationfuelled season, but price increases meant that we generated an additional £100,000 in revenue,” said general manager Steve Backhouse, who revealed that the railway welcomed 114,332 visitors during the year, about only 900 less than 2021. End-of-year accounts were being prepared and that a surplus of about £350,000 was expected. After two profitable years, an £800,000 investment in capital improvements are planned during 2023. Major projects, supported by legacy funds, include…

THEWestern Locomotive Association’s new charities officer, Jon Aston, has come up with an energetic way to support the bogie overhaul appeal for Class 52 D1013 Western Ranger – by undertaking a 1013-mile run. Having started on December 13, which was also the 60th anniversary of the locomotive’s release into traffic from BR’s Swindon Works, Jon plans to run 1013 miles before the end of the Severn Valley Railway’s spring diesel gala on Sunday, May 21. Jon’s challenge is an opportunity to combine his two passions while making a big difference to the WLA. He was introduced to railways by his late uncle Alan Maund, a renowned railway photographer and artist, whom he accompanied on trips to see the very last days of steam and the emergence of diesel and electric…

NEW pointwork costing more than £300,000 is being installed at the eastern end of the North Norfolk Railway’s Weybourne station. The points allow trains to use the station’s two platforms and also allow entry to the line’s locomotive depot, and the major project was completed in time for services to run from February 11-19 during the halfterm school break. The sections of track being renewed were last replaced in the 1970s using second-hand materials, so many components are almost life-expired. NNR managing director Hugh Harkett said: “We run trains on over 250 days a year, carrying up to 165,000 passengers annually, so it is vital that our infrastructure is maintained in excellent condition. This is an investment in the railway’s future and the new track will last for generations to…

VANDALS smashed windows and a works van and damaged memorial benches at the Midland Railway – Butterly on January 23. A dog walker alerted police when they heard the noise of the attack, but by then substantial damage had been done by the perpetrators. Windows on the station building, signalbox, carriages and a works transit van were smashed and memorial benches ripped apart during the rampage that has left the railway appealing for donations to put the damage right. Previous attacks have resulted in increased security including CCTV cameras being implemented, which has captured clear footage of the perpetrators. This has been passed on to Derbyshire Police to assist with investigations, but as this issue of Heritage Railway went to press, no arrests were reported to have been made. A…

MYSTERY, real ale trains, and £1 rides for children are among the eclectic mix on offer at the SpaValley Railway as winter makes way for spring. For those who enjoy mystery, the investigative skills of Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot will be useful assets on some of the railway’s evening trains between February and September, for dirty deeds will be afoot that have got the police baffled. Passengers’ brains will be working overtime as a murder interrupts the usually peaceful and relaxing fivemile journey from Tunbridge Wells West station to Eridge. It’s all for fun and entertainment of course, but brows will be furrowed and theories expounded while the onboard events are discussed over supper and a beer or glass of wine, before all is revealed in the railway’s Victorian-era…

MAKING history as the first resident DEMU on a railway that was once famously steam only, Class 207 ‘Thumper’No. 1305 arrived on the Bluebell Railway on January 19 and a week later had made the journey to Horsted Keynes station under its own power. Since it fell to the Beeching Axe on October 28, 1963, Horsted Keynes station has seen an almost exclusive steam presence on heritage service trains stopping there. While in more recent years the railway has acquired a sentinel shunter for use in the Horsted Keynes carriage and wagon works, along with Class 09 and 33 locomotives for other work, no Southern Region multiple unit has stopped at the once busy junction station (with exception of a railtour operated by Hastings Class 201 DEMU No. 1001 in…

THE DartmouthSteamRailwayandRiver Boat Company has signed an extended contract that will see it operate last remaining coal-fired paddle steamer in the UK on the River Dart for a further 25 years following an extensive rebuild. Built in 1924 and withdrawn in 1965, PS Kingswear Castle was returned to service on the rivers Medway and Thames from The Historic Dockyard at Chatham in 1985. For more than 35 years, Kingswear Castle has ferried delighted passengers on its decks and returned to the River Dart in 2013, when a longterm charter was signed by Paddle Steamer Kingswear Castle Trust Limited with the DSRRBC. In 2021 it was decided that it was time for a much-needed rebuild to secure the future of the vessel, with work commencing that winter and lasting throughout 2022.…

ESTABLISHED in 1995 with the intention of purchasing a Cravens Limited threecar unit from London Underground, Cravens HeritageTrains went on to buy a retiring four-car 62TS unit that became the only surviving silver tube stock in existence. On January 21, CHT announced that it had sold the unit, typical of former Central Line operations, to London Underground as a source of spares for keeping the Underground’s Rail Adhesion Trains in service. Since acquisition, the unit had been stored at the Central Line depot at Hainault, and work was started with a view to return it to operational condition. However, limitations on access to the depot grounds, as well as several instances of vandalism over the years, has prevented the growing amount of required work from taking place. Director Bob Yeldham…

THE project to construct new BR Standard 2MT 2-6-2T No. 84030 on the Bluebell Railway has taken several notable steps forward in recent months. The Standard Class 2 Working Group confirmed that the first of the side tanks has been completed at the external contractor’s site. The work offsite has seen the right-hand water tank for No. 84030 completed, including application of black top coat. Work has now commenced on the left-hand tank following the drawing work being carried out that saw a total of 68 separate drawings produced for all the items that required profiling between the two. A spare water capacity indicator for the right-hand side tank has been purchased from the Mid-Hants Railway. The next step will be to produce manufacturing drawings for the cab, which will…

THE Mid-Suffolk Light Railway has more than doubled the length of its operational line. January 30 saw specialist rail engineer TES2000 complete the third-of-a-mile extension from Brockford & Wetheringsett station at the conclusion of a project that was delayed by two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and which has been the line’s revivalists’ most ambitious project to ate. The recycled rails used in this project were originally in the Ipswich Lower Goods yard, in Suffolk, located beside the River Orwell, on a link between the main line and the docks. The next step is to build a new terminus station, Aspall Halt, which will recall Aspall, the next station on the original line after Brockford. However, it might be Easter 2024 before passengers can ride over the extension, as…

THE completion of the restoration of GWR 2-6-2T No. 4150 on the Severn Valley Railway as the culmination of a project spanning nearly half a century will see it run for the first time in the heritage era. No. 4150 – which began its working career when supplied new from Swindon Works to Stourbridge Junction shed in 1947 – will also become the last locomotive on the SVR that was rescued from Dai Woodham’s scrapyard at Barry to be returned to steam. Another major milestone was reached when the Churchward prairie’s boiler was fitted onto the frames inside the Bridgnorth boiler shop on December 29. The ashpan was on top of the firebox, which had to be removed first. Once done, the boiler was lifted and turned and was lowered…

The first main line run of the year with passengers was the Railway Touring Company’s January 21 12-coach ‘Winter Cumbrian Mountain Express’, which started behind a diesel from Manchester Victoria on January 21. Steam came on a Carnforth in the form of LMS ‘Black Five’ No. 44932, replacing LMS 4-6-0 No. 46115 Scots Guardsman which had failed a fitness-to-run examination. It was one of those magical days with snow on the hills and a severe frost on the ground. Running at speed non-stop through Garsdale station around 1pm, No. 44932 is seen crossing the viaduct immediately to the north before the final climb to Ais Gill summit. The embankment immediately beyond the buffer stops was where the line to Hawes branches off; the houses to the right were built by…

WHILE January was expected to be a quiet month on the main line, with only two tours over the Settle and Carlisle route taking place towards the end of the month, Locomotive Services Limited at Crewe delighted linesiders by continuing crew training, this time on the national network. As reported in issue 300, crew training took place on the Severn Valley Railway last November using B1 4-6-0 No 61306 Mayflower, but speed on the heritage line was limited to 25mph. However, it becomes a completely different matter on the main line at 75mph. More footplate crews are needed to fulfil the ever-growing number of steam tours advertised by the LSL group this year. It takes several years to train footplate drivers, firemen/women and inspectors in the important skills of handling…

SATURDAY, April 8 will see UK Railtours run‘The Last Chance?’– a charter designed around forgotten tracks and so named because some of the freight lines involved may become inaccessible to passenger trains in the future. A lack of route knowledge and a reduction of regular traffic may lead to these lines no longer being so highly maintained. Working in partnership with DB Cargo, UK Railtours offers the opportunity to travel over these lines while you still can. Starting from Finsbury Park, hauled by a Class 90 electric locomotive and picking up additional passengers at Potters Bar, Stevenage, Peterborough and Retford, the train will head north towards Doncaster. Swapping the locomotive in the Doncaster area for a Class 60 and Class 66 in top-and-tail formation, the tour continues out of Doncaster…

SAPHOSTrains began its busy 2023 tour programme on February 11 with ‘The Lakelander’from Rugby. Scheduled for diesel haulage to Preston for a locomotive change to steam for a run over the Settle and Carlisle line, the return was via the Cumbrian coast. On March 1, St David’s Day, the ‘Welsh Marches Express’ will run from Holyhead to Cardiff and back, starting at 6.10am and finishing at 10.20pm. Steam takes over at Crewe for a run over the Welsh Marches. Two of the popular ‘Golden Arrows’ follow. The first, on March 4, which has limited places available, starts at Birmingham International at 6.20am returning at 11.15pm, picking up at Coventry, Rugby, Long Buckby, Northampton, Milton Keynes Central, Leighton Buzzard, Hemel Hempstead and Watford Junction to London. The second, on April 1,…

I FOUND the Great Central Railway’sWinter Steam Gala a truly breathtaking experience, not only for the performance of the locomotives and crews but also the size of the crowds that turned up. On the Friday, usually the quietest of the three days of most weekend gala, car parks and verges along the line were packed, as was the remote muddy track that is Kinchley Lane, everyone’s favourite photographic vantage point, despite the overcast weather on the day. The event proved to be a cracking start to the railway’s 50th anniversary, and in one of two special features on the GCR in this issue, we look back at the early Seventies when a motley band of seemingly over-optimistic volunteers set out to confound the critics and again proved that railway preservation…

PLANS to celebrate the bicentenary of the Stockton & Darlington Railway in 2025 have been awarded £3,211,630 in National Heritage Lottery Fund grant aid. The award, announced on February 7, is a major contribution towards the capital costs for Darlington’s groundbreaking new Rail Heritage Quarter as a national and international visitor centre, along with the implementation of an activity plan to engage with communities along the 26 miles of the Stockton & Darlington Railway, plus a programme of small grants to enable communities to organise their own celebratory events and projects. Opening in 2024, the quarter will redevelop a cluster of heritage buildings around Darlington’s Head of Steam museum, and has been estimated as capable of attracting more than 360,000 visitors each year. The funding will also enable the creation…

HISTORY issettobemadeattheSevern Valley Railway’s April 16-18 Spring Steam Gala as GWR 4-6-0 No. 4079 Pendennis Castletops the bill – when, for the first time in its 99-year history, it will haul passenger trains on a heritage line away from its Didcot Railway Centre restoration base and current home. The visit will be followed by loans to the Mid-Hants and Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway and Tyseley Locomotive Works. No. 4079 was the seventh of GWR Chief Mechanical Engineer Charles Collett’s 171 Castles, a class celebrating its centenary this year, and was outstopped from Swindon in February 1924. One of just three survivors currently in service, Pendennis Castle has made headlines throughout its life. In 1925, it took part in locomotive exchange trials with the LNER, proving its superiority over Sir Nigel Gresley’s…

A DISTINCTIVE crown-mounted Coronation nameplate carried by a landmark LNWR and LMS express locomotive will be going under the hammer on March 4, appropriately just two months before King Charles III is crowned atWestminster Abbey. The brass plate is from George the Fifth Class No. 1800, which was built at Crewe in June 1911 and named Coronation in honour of the then monarch, who was crowned at Westminster Abbey in the same month. The 4-4-0 was the 5000th engine built at Crewe, and in recognition of this landmark at least one works’ photograph of the new locomotive shows it temporarily carrying the No. 5000. In June 1927 the engine was renumbered 5348 by the LMS, which inherited all 90 members of the class in the 1923 Grouping, and it was…

SEVERNValley Railway services are being cut and voluntary redundancies made in a bid to address soaring operating costs and falling passenger numbers. The measures responding to a fall in income are being implemented after a statement to staff and working members on January 12 announced plans to tackle the financial challenges of 2023. It said that“tourist attractions across the UK continue to be impacted by up to 30% drops in visitor numbers since Covid and this has been made worse by the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. The SVR is taking pro-active action to protect its business and ensure it comes through to thrive in the future. “The unjust war in Ukraine has impacted on the cost of coal and utilities, with prices rocketing.” Cost-cutting measures were worked on by managing director…

THEWelsh Highland Railway Ltd and ImperialWar Museums have announced that ownership of Baldwin 4-6-0TWDLR No. 794, which had been on long-term loan to the line, has been permanently transferred. It comes as part of an ongoing review by the museum of its collection. In consultation with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, it felt that with WHR Ltd being a registered charity, it was the most appropriate long-term home and will present the railway with an opportunity to recreate a lost example of the original railway’s motive power fleet. No. 794 was built in January 1917 at the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia. It was shipped to Europe for use by the Railway Operating Division in support of First World War trench lines. It ended its working life…

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE Railway Centre has added an operational Peckett 0-4-0ST to its stock list with the purchase of R2 class No. 1370 May from Dr Christopher Beet, made possible thanks to funds from donated legacies. Built in 1915, No. 1370 was delivered new to Coventry Ordnance Factory in Warwickshire, where it was named Lady Godiva. At some point after it relocated to Yates Duxbury & Sons Papermill at Heap Bridge near Bury, Lancashire, where it was renamed May and worked until being withdrawn and sold to the late Dr Peter Beet in 1975, who moved it to Steamtown Carnforth for storage. Extensive work was required at its first overhaul, the locomotive being in very poor condition, however, it returned to service on the East Lancashire Railway in 2009 where it spent…

THE frames for The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust current new-build project Gresley P2 2-8-2 No. 2007 Prince of Wales are almost complete. Recent progress has been made, with the machining complete for the tender wheelset axleboxes, along with other work on the brake and handbrake components. The finished frames were due to be delivered to the trust’s Darlington workshops allowing for full construction to be completed thereafter. Funding has come thanks to a strong uptake of membership to The Tender Club, which was established to raise the estimated £450,000 from 250 supporters each donating £1500 (plus Gift Aid). Membership had surpassed 110 (44% of the target), which has raised more than £165,000 before Gift Aid. The frames are with ID Howitt Ltd in Crofton, where hornblocks have been fitted, and…

THE Narrow Gauge Railway Museum at theTalyllyn’sTywynWharf station has set up its annual temporary exhibition that for 2023 will focus on three sets of significant anniversaries being marked this year. The first of these is the Glyn Valley Tramway, which celebrates the 150th anniversary of the opening of the 8¼-mile line between Chirk and Glyn Ceiriog in Denbighshire. Originally a 2ft 4¼in gauge horse-drawn line, it was increased in gauge by ¼in when steam locomotives were introduced. Passenger trains ran over 6 ½ miles of the route, with the remainder serving a large granite quarry and several minor slate ones, but a steep decline in traffic in 1932 led to passenger services being abandoned at the start of 1933, and freight traffic ceased two years later. Most of the stock…

A trio of LMS ‘Black Fives’ will be among the star attractions on the Keighley & Wor th Valley Railway during the March 9-12 steam gala. Home-based No 45212 (pictured) will line up alongside visitors No. 44871 and 45407 The Lancashire Fusilier. There will also be two LMS Jubilee 4-6-0s in the form of visiting No. 45690 Leander and home-based No. 44596 Bahamas. Also in action from the home fleet will be Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Class 25 0-6-0 No. 52044 in BR black (which in green liver y appeared as The Green Dragon in the 1970 movie version of The Railway Children), LNWR 0-6-2T Coal Tank No. 1054, Taff Vale Railway 02 0-6-2T No. 85, BR Standard 4MT 4-6-0 No. 75078 and BR Standard 2MT 2-6-0 No. 78022. The…

ALTHOUGH the originally-planned March opening has been postponed, progress at the Llangollen Railway’s Corwen extension has taken a significant and instantly noticeable step forward with the station canopy roof frames lifted into place. On January 23, safety fencing was erected around an area of the adjacent car park in readiness for the arrival of a 167ft crane and the first of the canopy roof frames the following day. Each frame would be assembled from 11 component parts by contractors before installation then commenced, with the 26 frames – weighing just under one ton each – being carefully lowered into place over the following days in varying weather conditions. The final sections were placed on January 31, after which the fitting of cladding was set to commence. LR chairman Phil Coles…

DONEGAL Railway Heritage Centre’s latest exhibit comes thanks to the generosity of a farming couple from Manorcunningham, in County Donegal, who responded to the centre’s appeal for a genuine railway goods yard crane. “We’d been looking for just such a crane for some time,” explained centre manager Niall McCaughan. “When we officially launched steam locomotive Drumboe’s return to Donegal in August last year, Michael and Kate Chance attended and offered us the crane. “It’s thought to date from the opening of Castledawson station and so could be 167 years old. “Remarkably, the crane was still used by Michael and Kate until recently to lift fertiliser bags on their farm and is in working order. “We are delighted to accept it and thank them for their generosity as well as their…

A volunteer who established the Swanage Railway’s first signalling school – and helped ensure the safe operation of its trains as a signaller and signalbox inspector – has retired after 31 years of dedicated service. Alan Greatbatch, aged 68, from Branksome in Poole, set up the school in 1991 to train the first signallers ahead of the Purbeck Line’s first signalbox being built. In 1991, the railway ran passenger trains on just three miles of line from Swanage to Harman’s Cross and the first ’box would not be brought into operation until 1997. There are now four on the line. Growing up in Poole, Alan’s 44-year working career was spent on the main line as a signaller between Brockenhurst and Dorchester, and as a signalling manager and a mobile operations…

ON Saturday, March 11, the Railway Touring Company will run a steam-hauled excursion to Stratford-upon-Avon from Manchester Piccadilly. A Carnforth-based locomotive will head the train from Manchester to pick up at Stockport and Wilmslow. From here, the tour will take the West Coast Main Line south towards Stafford, calling at Crewe to pick up more passengers before the locomotive is afforded an opportunity to stretch its legs. At Stafford, the train will take the Birmingham route via Wolverhampton to Birmingham New Street before joining the GWR route from Birmingham to Stratford-Upon-Avon via the North Warwickshire Line. Passengers will have just under four hours to explore Stratford while the locomotive is serviced, ready for the return trip to Manchester along the same route. Tickets are available for Premier Dining, First Class…

A GIANT mural celebrating the first woman to be accepted to train as a driver in the UK had been erected at Euston station. Karen Harrison made history when she applied in 1977 to BR as ‘K Harrison’ and obtained an interview from bosses who believed they were seeing a young man. Avanti West Coast, which runs high-speed trains between London, Glasgow and Edinburgh, commissioned Manchester-based street artist Akse to create the work as part of its commitment to increasing the number of female driver recruits. It will be on display until February 23. The poster reads: “Meet Karen Harrison. In 1979, she became a train driver. It was a big deal. Today it isn’t. We’re recruiting now. Visit our website to be one of them.” In 2022, women made…

The very popular Vintage Trains Polar Express season continued after two days of cancellations due to national rail strikes. On December 20, 2022, five round trips from Birmingham Moor Street to Dorridge were timetabled, the first being a new midday departure. This earlier trip opened up some more locations, as here when WR 4-6-0 No. 7029 Clun Castle caught some low winter light on a return trip approaching Tyseley station. After a nervous wait for the photographers assembled on the overbridge, the relief was palpable as the lights turned to green right through the section just moments before the Castle came into view. With Kev Cronin on the regulator, the rest was never in doubt. Tour promoters A1SLT A1 Steam Locomotive Trust 01325 488215 BEL Belmond Pullman 0845 0772 222…

THE steam and diesel eras of Britain’s main line railways will both be represented at the top ofTalisman’s saleroom auction at Newark Showground on March 18. Two Jubilee nameplates will be going under the hammer in the steam category, while a Deltic plate will fancy its chances of overall victory. From the LMS come United Provinces and Hyderabad, respectively from Nos. 45578 and 45585, a pair of 4-6-0s built by North British within three months of each other and withdrawn in the same month nearly 30 years after entering traffic. The older of the two, No. 45578, emerged from NBL’s Glasgow works in September 1934 and No. 45585 in December the same year, and each was withdrawn in May 1964, from Manchester’s Newton Heath shed (9D) and Derby (16C) respectively.…

A WOODEN notice from an unidentified railway company instructing footplate crews not to pass until a ‘hand alright signal’ is given from the signalbox is a late addition to Great Central’s ‘Bloxham’- style auction on February 18. As previewed in last month’s column, the sale of up to 600 lots, which starts at 9am and is live online, will comprise such general railwayana as shedplates, framed and carriage prints, signalling equipment, cast iron and enamel signs, and hand and lamps. To ensure speedy progress, there are no telephone bids and few reserves.…

FURNESS Railway 0-4-0 No. 20 is to run at Didcot Railway Centre’s during the Easter bank holiday weekend – and will stay for about two months. The 1863-built locomotive will be in service from April 7-10. A total of nine steamings over the two months has been agreed with its owner, the Furness Railway Trust. No. 20 is one of six examples of the class which were sold to the Barrow Haematite Steel Co. at Barrow in 1970. It continued in traffic until 1960, when diesel locomotives were introduced, and was then presented to George Hastwell Special School in Abbey Road, Barrow, where it was displayed for more than two decades. Bought privately in 1983, it was moved to the Steamtown Railway Museum at Carnforth. After the Heritage Lottery Fund…

A MAJOR new fundraising drive to boost plans to link the two heritage-era Great Central Railways is to be launched in March. Three phases of the seven-stage Reunification project – the aim of which is to create an 18-mile heritage line between the outskirts of Nottingham and Leicester – are now ready for track to be laid. These phases are: a new bridge to carry the GCR over the Midland Main Line at Loughborough; the refurbished late 1890s bridge over the Grand Union Canal in the town; and the recently completed replacement for the original Bridge 326 over the A60 next to the Brush Works. An ongoing fundraising campaign means that there is more than £1.4 million ready to spend on the next phase, the factory flyover. Subject to a…

THE Bluebell Railway’s April 21-23 branch line weekend will feature two Lancashire &Yorkshire Aspinall locomotives – alongside the first appearance of the oldest surviving Hunslet 0-6-0 in the UK following completion of repairs. Built in 1888 for the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal, No. 15 Hastings (originally named Liverpool until 1898) has been undergoing cylinder and motion repairs following the failure of a connection between a piston rod and crosshead coupling rod during running in trials on the Kent & East Sussex Railway last July. It is currently at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, where the cylinders have been rebored by JM Steam Ltd. New parts, including piston heads and rods, front cylinder covers, and crossheads, have been manufactured by Statfold Engineering. On withdrawal in 1957, Hastings was purchased by…

FOLLOWING its appearance on the Severn Valley Railway, No. 4079 Pendennis Castle will visit the Mid-Hants Railway for its Spring Steam Gala, running from April 29 to May 1. An MHR spokesperson said No. 4079 would be the only guest locomotive for the event. Afterwards, it will head to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway for the May 12-14 Cotswold Festival of Steam. Castles were synonymous with express trains from the Cheltenham and Gloucester area, reflecting the theme of this year’s festival – Cheltenham and Gloucester Steam Days. A Castle was the chosen power for the ‘Cheltenham Spa Express’ or ‘Cheltenham Flyer’ to Paddington, which in the 1930s was hailed as the fastest train in the world. Castles were also the usual locomotives hauling ’The Cornishman’ express from Wolverhampton to Penzance over…

MODEL manufacturer Dapol has given a total of £22,500 to both the GloucestershireWarwickshire Railway and Dinmore Manor Locomotive Ltd. Dapol has produced an OO gauge version of WR 4-6-0 No. 7820 Dinmore Manor, which has been based on the railway since 2014, in a limited edition of 500 models. Options include a version equipped with a sound card recorded on the GWSR to capture the sounds of the real locomotive. The model appears in BR lined black, the livery Dinmore Manor first carried when built at Swindon in 1950 and carries today. Other model options include DCC ready and DCC fitted (without sound). The money was presented on January 19 at Toddington station by Joel Bright, Dapol’s managing director, and Richard Webster, head of its product development, to Kenneth Sims,…

THE Bluebell Railway has appointed its preservation society chairman Paul Churchman as interim plc chairman following the resignation of Geoff Mee on January 29. Geoff issued a statement through the railway’s website, saying: “I am disappointed that I failed to agree with the preservation society a course of action that would have allowed us to work together to reverse the long-term reduction in visitor numbers and make the necessary savings to enable the continued success of this fabulous living museum. I have therefore regrettably decided to resign as chairman of the plc.” Vice chairman Roy Watts has become deputy plc chairman and commercial director Paul Lelew had resigned for personal reasons, no longer being able to dedicate time to the role. Neil Glaskin will take on the position in addition…

AN £85,000 appeal has been launched to complete the £600,000 six-year restoration ofT3 4-4-0 No. 563 to full working order so it can run for the first time since 1948 this spring – marking the centenary of the Southern Railway and the 185th anniversary of the LSWR. Work on the 1893-built T3 is being carried out by specialist contractors at the Flour Mill workshops in the Forest of Dean, and as this issue went to press, it was revealed that, following the installation of all the stays, the boiler had been turned upright and trial-fitted in the frames, with tube fitting to commence imminently. Nathan Au, chairman the Swanage Railway Trust’s 563 Locomotive Group and a volunteer driver on the Purbeck Line, said: “It’s very exciting to see the finishing…

LESS than a month after launching an appeal to fund necessary repairs to one of its bridges, the Northampton & Lamport Railway was celebrating hitting the target – and also announced it had purchased a steam locomotive! As reported last issue, the northern section of the railway had to be closed as the large track securing timbers that run lengthways over the six -pan metal Bridge 13 had deteriorated and required replacing before passenger trains could run again. The large size of the four required replacements – measuring 60ft in length, 10in deep and 16in wide – meant they are expensive, so an £8500 appeal was launched to ensure that the bridge stood a chance of being ready for the start of the 2023 operating season. With the appeal publicly…

THE sight of a South African Railways’ 2-8-2 running through the Snowdonia National Park may not be too far off – with boiler of the Welsh Highland Railway’s NG15 No. 134 Kalahari being returned to the frames on January 13. Having been overhauled at Locomotive Maintenance Services in Loughborough, the boiler was transported to Dinas on the WHR, where it was then lowered back into the frames for the first time since being removed in December 2018. The NG15 class was developed for use on the 60cm gauge lines of the SAR, with No. 134 built in 1952 as part of a third batch of the locomotives by Société Anglo-Franco-Belge in France. Delivered to Walvis Bay and commissioned onto the Otavi Mining and Railway Company in Namibia, No. 134 then…

THE SevernValley Railway’s Bridgnorth station and locomotive shed were disconnected from all points south on January 4.The first of three sets of points leading to Platform 2 and the yard were removed for repositioning and replacement. Preparation work started in December during the intensive Christmas service and the line was closed immediately after the running season finished. Work began on the southernmost set of points located on the B4363 road overbridge, led by permanent way manager Barry Light and his team with help from volunteers, and by the end of the day, all tie bars, linkages, point rodding and track circuits had been removed. On January 6, there was a large gap in the track where the points were. Weekend volunteers then removed redundant chairs from the main beams of…

BATTLE ofBritainNo. 34072 257 Squadron is to visit the Kent & East Sussex Railway during April and May after a‘will it, won’t it?’dilemma over such concerns as whether the Pacific was too large and heavy for the light railway. The decision, announced by general manager Robin Coombes on January 31, brought delight and relief to staff and volunteers following weeks of deliberation during which the visit of the Spa Valley Railwaybased Pacific was in the balance. In early January, Robin had said: “We really hope we can make it happen, as it would be the the firstever Pacific to visit our light railway and the largest, heaviest and most powerful locomotive ever to run on the line, but for those very reasons it is vital that we complete all necessary…

WITH the National Railway Museum’s Station Hall now closed for renovations, a shuffle has taken place to relocate some of the exhibits previously on display there, with them either stored elsewhere at theYork site or moved to its Locomotion museum outpost at Shildon. On January 24, LNER 0-8-0 class Q7 No. 901 returned to Shildon from Head of Steam in Darlington, where it had been on loan since 2008. Built in Darlington and entering traffic in September 1919, No. 901 last steamed at the end of a 10-year agreement with the North Eastern Locomotive Group in 1998 and became the first steam locomotive to arrive at Locomotion in June 2004. Travelling in the opposite direction was Stockton & Darlington Railway four-wheel composite No. 59, built in 1847 by Tweed Dale…

ACTOR, comedian andTV presenter Griff Rhys Jones is fronting a national campaign against £1.5 billion plans to redevelop Grade II-listed Liverpool Street station. The Victorian Society has united eight conservation groups to oppose the scheme by Sellar, which developed the Shard, Elizabeth Line operator MTR and Network Rail. It includes a 16-storey tower block being erected on top of the station and the five-story Grade II*-listed former Great Eastern Hotel, now the Andaz Hotel. The society, which described the plans as“insensitive and harmful”, is chairing the reformed Liverpool Street Station Campaign, which stopped the total demolition of the 1874-built GER terminus in the 1970s when it was backed by Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman, architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner and comedian Spike Milligan. The campaign committee also comprises Save Britain’s…

BR Class20No. 20166hasbeensold to a volunteer at the Brechin Railway Preservation Society, which operates the four-mile Caledonian Railway in Angus. The locomotive moved there from its previous base at theWensleydale Railway on January 18. Already operational, it is planned for the‘Chopper’to enter service at the railway’s summer diesel day on July 8, where it will join resident Classes 26 (No. 26014), 27 (No. 27024), 11 (No. 12052), 08 (D3059) and former Dartmoor Railway-based Class 205 DEMU No. 1132. The move of the Class 20 comes in the middle of a busy period of work on the CR which has seen the Brechin station canopy project enter its second phase. The current design was built to replace the 1848‘cowshed’roof of the originally constructed through station when it was converted into a…

THE project to build a replica of a unique Hunslet single Fairlie locomotive took a major step forward on January 24 when the frames of 0-6-4T No. 979 Gowrie were placed onto their wheels for the first time. Having been shot blasted and primed by external contractor, the fully riveted carrier frames were delivered the Gowrie Locomotive Trust’s Derbyshire workshops along with the wheelsets for the power bogie, which had been machined at Statfold Engineering. Seeing an opportunity that was too good to miss, the carrier frames and assembled bogie, complete with wheelsets, were assembled to give an indication of the project’s progress to date, as well as an indication of the size of the final locomotive. The unique 0-6-4T is based on that of the 1908-built Hunslet Engine Co.…

THE EPB Preservation Group has begun steps to return its Class 416 EMU No. 5759 to operation on the main line. The unit, which is usually based at Southall and was one of the main attractions at the Mid-Hants Railway’s diesel gala in July last year, has been moved by rail to Nemesis Rail at Burton upon Trent. Three overhauled bogies have been sourced from 2EPB trailer No. 930204 that is already there. No. 930204 was latterly used as a deicer unit formerly based at Selhurst and was given a bogie overhaul not long before its withdrawal. The bogies will be swapped with those under No. 5759, while the fourth bogie, the leading trailer on carriage No. 77558, will be overhauled. Estimated to cost just under £6000, this work will…

THEWelshpool & Llanfair Light Railway welcomed a powerful diesel locomotive toWales on a three-year loan on February 1 – after it had made the 6195- mile journey from the Alishan Forest Railway inTaiwan. As reported in Heritage Railway issue 301, the Welsh railway agreed a loan of the locomotive to help further educational and cultural co-operation between the two lines and provide cover for the diesel fleet which are in need of overhauls. Locomotive DL-34 departed Taiwan on November 24 for the start of a journey that finally saw it dock in Liverpool at the start of January. DL-34 was built in 1972 by Mitsubishi of Japan, designed to tackle the steep gradients and tight curves of the Alishan Forest line with an engine that produces 523hp. Now safely on…

BRIDGNORTH Cliff Railway, whichlinksLowTown and HighTown, was closed on December 21 for the foreseeable future due to a dangerous and unsafe brick wall immediately alongside. Opened in 1892, it was initially powered by water and was the steepest inland funicular railway in Britain. Double-track, 201 feet in length and climbing 111 feet, the water tanks were mounted underneath the cars, and when the top car was filled, it counterbalanced the lower one, raising it up the hill. After a major rebuild, in the 1940s it was converted to electrical operation. The dangerous wall on a neighbouring council property lies underneath the footpath that runs around Castle Hill, a spectacular viewpoint overlooking the valley of the River Severn. The Cliff Railway is an important means of access into the town centre…

A MILE-long section of the Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway at Hillington in Norfolk has been placed on the market. The 20-mile Lynn & Fakenham Railway was taken over by the Eastern & Midlands Railway. It then part of the M&GNJR line from Leicester to Great Yarmouth, which closed in 1959. It was originally purchased by the M&GN Trust soon after its closure in a bid to preserve part of the old line. This stretch of the route passes close to the royal estate of Sandringham, and the promoters had high hopes attracting this prestigious traffic. At one time, Hillington carried the station nameboard Hillington for Sandringham. It is now owned by Mike Urry, founder of the Whitwell & Reepham Railway. In recent times, there has been a proposal…

The f ireless locomotive forms a very interesting chapter in our railway histor y. With limited steam capacit y, they were never repurposed for passenger ser vices like ot her shunting locomotives were in the twilight of steam, such as the famous GWR pannier tanks, and as such were never truly part of the public gaze. Yet, as enthusiasts mourned the death of steam in the late 1960s and bid farewell to industrial steam in the 1970s, many of these unassuming locomotives still continued to carry out their daily duties into the 1980s and, in a few cases, as recent ly as the 1990s. Often, where they have survived into preser vation, they are tucked away in museums if they are lucky – or, for the less fortunate, decaying in…

NORTHERN Bellehasreleasedthe2023 dates for its Settle and Carlisle steam specials.The tours include light brunch on the outward journey and a five-course dinner on the return from Carlisle in the luxury of the Pullman cars. The first tour is on Saturday, April 1, beginning at York and picking up at Leeds and Wakefield Kirkgate, with just over two hours in Carlisle. Next up is Saturday, April 22, starting from Telford Central and collecting at Shrewsbury, Wrexham General and Chester, with about two hours in Carlisle. The tour on April 29 starts from Coventry and picks up at Birmingham International, Wolverhampton, Stafford and Crewe, with 90 minutes in Carlisle. The May 27 tour starts from Darlington, collecting further passengers at Durham and Newcastle en route to Carlisle for a 90-minute break before…

TRIBUTES have poured in from around Ireland and further afield following the sudden death on January 16 of Noel Playfair, Northern Ireland Railway’s only qualified steam driver. The 62-year-old father and grandfather was taken ill while on duty on a light diesel engine movement at Portadown station. Despite the efforts of fellow railway staff and paramedics, Noel died in Craigavon General Hospital. Noel was widely regarded as Mr Steam throughout Ireland, and had been firing main line steam trains for the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland since 1987, passing out as a steam driver in 1996. He joined Northern Ireland Railways as a conductor-guard in 1979, qualifying as a diesel driver in 1981. As one of the most-experienced and longest-serving NIR staff, Noel had planned to complete 50 years of…