Table of contents for Issue 318 in Heritage Railway

THE Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway's Cotswold Festival of Steam is set to mark a heritage era first – with three new-build locomotives running together at the same event. The trio are all GWR-designed. As previously reported, No. 6880 Betton Grange has been booked to appear at the May 25-27 Bank Holiday weekend gala, along with Saint 4-6-0 No. 2999 Lady of Legend from at Didcot Railway Centre. Now the duo will be joined by West Somerset Railway 2-6-0 No. 9351, which was converted by the Minehead line from ex-Barry scrapyard 2-6-2T No. 5193 by removing the tanks, modifying the back end, and adding a new tender. In its 21st century form, it represents a type that was designed by GWR Chief Mechanical Engineer George Jackson Churchward in about 1910 but was…

ON March 18, the same day Blue Peter arrived by road at Kidderminster from Crewe, there was another unusual arrival on the Severn Valley Railway. Travelling by rail, DMU ‘bubblecar’ No. 55022 Flora, owned by Locomotive Services Limited, arrived under its own power from Crewe. The DMU has been fitted out to an incredibly luxurious high standard, complete with table lamps, and is apparently for use by LSL owner Jeremy Hosking. Built by Pressed Steel in 1960 as a double-ended Class 121, maximum speed 70mph, for use on the Western Region, its original number was No. 977873. It coupled up to Blue Peter for its first test run on March 20, as pictured on the page opposite. Like us facebook.com/heritagerailway…

A MAJOR consultation on boosting the preservation of railway artefacts for the National Collection and other interested bodies has begun. The Railway Heritage Designation Advisory Board (RHDAB) has launched the UK-wide consultation of heritage lines and museums to help inform its new collecting policy and to protect unique railway artefacts. The process of designating items for the National Collection was originally overseen by the Railway Heritage Committee. The Science Museum Group, which includes the National Railway Museum, took over the role in 2013 and its board of trustees ratifies the decisions made by RHDAB. The RHDAB meets three times a year, and members are drawn from the railway industry, archives and records offices, museums and the heritage railway sector. Better understanding The proposed new collecting policy will enable the board…

THE Lappa Valley Railway has opened a new station to serve its new tropical garden. Trebah Halt, on the award-winning (see News, page 39) attraction's 10¼in gauge Newlyn Downs branch, opened on March 28 and serves a new space planted with a sub-tropical feel developed in partnership with Trebah Garden, near Falmouth. Railway owner Keith Southwell said: “This is the first new platform to open at Lappa Valley in nearly 30 years, so we felt it was important to do something special. “We are very fond of Trebah Garden, and we have enjoyed working alongside the team to share a flavour of its sub-tropical Cornish garden in the heart of our secret world of play and trains. “Thank-you to Jon, Darren, and the team at Trebah for helping to make…

IT is widely accepted that the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway on September 27, 1825, marked the beginning of the railway age. While acknowledging that lines such as the Middleton Railway, which opened in 1758, predate the S&DR by two-thirds of a century, 2025 marks the generally accepted bicentenary of the railways. So, how is this occasion to be marked? That is up to any readers in their capacity as volunteers or paid staff in the heritage railway movement. Heritage Railway magazine publisher Mortons Media sponsored the Heritage Railway Association's spring conference, held in Llandudno on March 5/6. On the second day, several hours were spent considering the Railway 200 project and presentations were made, with Peter, Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill, the chairman of Network Rail and…

‘Lizzie’ needs ‘at least £165,000’ for overhaul THE Princess Elizabeth Locomotive Society has launched a £165,000 public appeal to cover the cost of a major overhaul in order to return No. 6201 to the main line, hopefully next year. As reported last issue, work to dismantle the 91-year-old locomotive to determine what work needs to be done began at West Coast Railways'Carnforth depot on February 28. Society chairman Clive Mojonnier said that the boiler has been removed for investigations, but the full situation would not be known until after its overhaul, and the final bill could be nearer £500,000. To donate to the appeal, visit www.6201.co.uk Calbourne needs 36k for tyres THE Isle of Wight Steam Railway has launched a £36,000 appeal to buy new tyres for its flagship 1891-built…

A NEW landmark exhibition celebrating the ground-breaking work of the man who designed the world's fastest steam locomotive is to be opened in Doncaster's Danum Gallery, Library and Museum at a ceremony on April 23. It will be a century to the day that the British Empire Exhibition opened at Wembley Stadium with LNER Pacific No. 4472 Flying Scotsman as one of the star exhibits, the resulting publicity igniting its pathway to stardom. The civic mayor of the City of Doncaster, Duncan Anderson, will open the new free exhibition, entitled Gresley – Genius of Steam and Speed. It will run until September 21 and will also celebrate the achievements of the unsung heroes of Doncaster who worked alongside Gresley to create the A3. Featuring a selection of letters and notebooks…

A KEY section of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path which used the trackbed of an historic mineral railway and which includes three surviving tunnels will need £600,000 for repairs if it is to reopen by the start of the summer school holiday. The footpath and cycleway between Wiseman's Bridge and Coppet Hall/Saundersfoot, known as the Tramway, and which is part of the Wales Coast Path, experienced‘substantial rock falls'late last year and in January. The March 11 meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council's cabinet heard that the necessary grant funding was still unsecured, and the money has to be found from the local authority's own capital programme in time meantime, members decided. If the section of the path was not restored, it could lead to permanent closure and the loss of part of…

ITS rail yard closed in 1976 and its locomotives sold or scrapped, but with the Cadbury Bournville factory in Birmingham celebrating its 200th anniversary this year, plans are underway that may see one of its industrial 0-4-0Ts make a brief return to its former stomping ground. Built by the Avonside Engine Company in 1925 for the chocolate factory's expanding yard, No. 1977 moved the heavy loads around some rather tight bends within the complex, which totalled about six miles of track. The demise of the yard, which was established in 1884, came about because of road transportation. No. 1977, which was identified as Cadbury No. 1, was sold to the Dowty Railway Preservation Society in 1963 when diesel traction displaced steam. Initially moved to its site at Ashchurch, Gloucestershire, in…

In the Beeching era, the term ‘rail replacement bus’ would immediately conjure up visions of lines being permanently closed and wiped off the map. Sixty years on, the role was reversed as a fleet of heritage London Transport Routemaster buses linked the Great Central Railway at Loughborough with its northern counterpart the Great Central Railway (Nottingham) during a unique ‘gala in a million’ to celebrate 125 years since the last trunk route into the capital before the coming of High Speed 1, the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, was opened. It was on March 15, 1899, that the first passenger trains on the Great Central Railway between Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham, Leicester and Marylebone ran, the work of the ‘Railway King’ Sir Edward Watkin (1819-1901), who also turned Canada's Trunk Railway into…

PATHFINDER Tours is to mark 40 years since a Class 40 hauled a public service to Skegness with a trip on Saturday, July 27. Since the coming of the railway to the town, Skegness has been a popular seaside destination. From the 1930s, the resort began to see increased numbers of special excursion trains, which lasted until the 1980s. From the 1960s onward, the motive power of choice for these trains was Class 40s, and it was No. 40181 which hauled the last special on September 15, 1984. This tour will commemorate that last excursion train by featuring No. 40145 (D345). Starting from Burton-onTrent behind either a Class 47 or 57 under the title of ‘The Jolly Whistler’, at Crewe this will be swapped for the Class 40, which will…

THE Branch Line Society plans to run a railtour on Sunday, May 26 under the title of‘The Millbrook Meander’, which will now feature a Class 20 alongside the original traction. Starting from Eastleigh behind Class 50 No. 50008 Thunderer, the tour will operate in top-and-tail mode with a Class 66 at the rear and feature Mk.1 coaching stock. However, a Class 20 is also expected to take the leg from Eastleigh to Millbrook in the morning and return from Millbrook to Eastleigh in the afternoon. From Eastleigh, the tour will pick up at Southampton Airport Parkway and Southampton Central, before heading to Southampton Maritime Freightliner Terminal, Redbridge, Romsey, and then Salisbury for more passengers. There is then a photographic stop in Gillingham before a reversal at Yeovil Junction and then…

VINTAGE Trains is to run an excursion to Liverpool behind GWR Castle 4-6-0 No. 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe on Saturday, June 1. Leaving from Tyseley, the train is planned to make its way to Birmingham New Street to pick up additional passengers and then take the West Coast Main Line for further pick-ups at Wolverhampton, Stafford, and Crewe. The tour is expected to arrive in Liverpool just after mid-day and passengers will have fouranda-half hours to explore the city. Tickets are available in Pullman class, first class and tourist class. For more details and to book, visit vintagetrains.co.uk…

ON Saturday, June 8, UK Railtours will offer customers a tour with four different destination options under the title of ‘The Blyth & Tyne or Beamish Open Air Museum’. Starting from Potters Bar, passengers will be seated in blue and grey Mk.2 carriages and hauled double-headed by a pair of Class 43s, believed to be a first for a railtour. The tour is planned to head up the East Coast Main Line to Durham, where passengers will have the option to alight and explore the city or Beamish Open Air Museum, and Newcastle, or remain on the train for a circular tour of some rare metals. Leaving Newcastle Central, the plan is to pause briefly in the Heaton Down Goods Loop to service the stock, before heading to Benton Junction,…

GREAT Central's live online auction on March 2, the first of three flagship railwayana sales held on Saturdays within three weeks, provided comfort to those who felt that such an intensive timetable would dent the resilience of the market. Many within the railwayana movement – be they vendors, buyers, interested spectators, and even some of the auction houses themselves – felt uncomfortable that the volume of items coming up for sale would impact on demand, and thus prices, especially for such highend memorabilia as nameplates, other locomotive hardware, and station totem signs. But come the evening of March 2, as the results of Great Central's sale were digested, a sense of calm surely descended on collectors throughout the land – except perhaps those who were waiting to pounce on what…

EARLY Harry Beck pocket diagrammatic maps of the London Underground system put on a strong show in a Transport Auctions of London live online sale on February 24, led by a 1933 first edition that went for £1700, followed by a similar example at £1100, and a third at £950, while a special tourists'edition of the map produced in 1937 for the Japanese shop and travel agency Sakai of Denmark Street, featuring directions in Japanese, sold for £1000. A Central London Railway pocket map, dating from circa 1908 that was the standard Underground map of the time, went for £1300, and from half a century later, a large collection of Underground pocket maps dating from 1961 onwards fetched £750. Prices exclude buyer's premium of 15% (+ VAT). As reported in…

If you were to approach governing bodies these days with the proposal of running a railway with a public service using nothing but enthusiastic volunteers, you would probably be laughed out of the office. Back in 1950, when the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society was founded to do just that on a narrow gauge line in Wales, there were probably still doubters – but something about the idea captured the imagination of many. If those first days after May 14, 1951, when the society ran its first public trains, had failed, our preservation scene could have been vastly different to what we have now. For nearly 75 years, the Talyllyn Railway has continued to pioneer the heritage railway sector and doing what it does best – transporting visitors on a journey…

AT the March 16/17 Festival of Railway Modelling, Bachmann made a surprise announcement following its spring catalogue reveal a few weeks beforehand. While Rapido's fireless is a first in locomotives, Bachmann's upcoming OO scale 12-ton‘Palvan'is a first for the BR-designed box van in the wagon department. By the early 1950s, the use of wooden pallets and forklift trucks to load and move goods had become well-established; however, the doors of standard railway wagons were not wide enough to accommodate the loading of a pallet. Aware of this new trend, British Railways experimented with modifying GWR and LMS designs before creating its own design, Diagram No. 1/211 of 1954, for the PalletVan or‘Palvan’. On the left on each side was a door with an opening of 8ft 6in – as opposed…

(DVD/Blu-Ray, Steam Valley Productions, 1 hour 8 minutes, DVD £15, available exclusively from the railway at www.gwsr.com; Blue-Ray £20 from www.steamvalleyproductions.com. Both plus p&p). Steam Valley Productions has impressed with its annual video compilation of action on the Severn Valley, Railway, as reviewed last issue. Now, the Droitwichbased company has turned its attention to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway with similar impact. Producer Matt Fielding has joined the G/WR photographers group, which allowed him to go lineside. Coverage is given to the Cotswold line's entire 2023 season, from the brief spring visit of BR Standard 4MT No. 75014 Braveheart to the mince pie specials in December. Repatriated GWR 4-6-0 No. 4079 Pendennis Castle is seen visiting the line for the first time, and 2-8-0 Churchward heavy freight No. 2807, the oldest-surviving…

A PAIR of steam era icons will visit two Sussex heritage lines to headline very different gala events – with one set to be a significant preservation first. As the Kent & East Sussex Railway prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary on June 1/2, the first visitor announced, BR Standard 7 4-6-2 No. 70000 Britannia, will not be traversing the line between Tenterden Town and Bodiam but instead will be operating trips along the currentlyisolated Rother Valley Railway at Robertsbridge end of the original line throughout the weekend. With the KESR currently terminating at Junction Road and the RVR at Northbridge Street, following the approval of a Transport and Works Act Order in 2023, the two lines are due to be linked together in the coming years. The wait is…

NEW-BUILD GWR 4-6-0 No. 6880 Betton Grange was being readied for its first steaming and test runs in the yard at Tyseley Locomotive Works as this issue of Heritage Railway went to press. The 81st Grange, the culmination of a 26-year project, had, as previously reported, been booked to visit Shackerstone on the Battlefield Line for testing. However, delays to the completion of its painting and varnishing due to the damp caused by the record levels of rainfall in the early part of the year and also the need for final adjustments, such as the setting of the valves, led to the cancellation of that visit. Instead, No. 6880 was rescheduled to go straight to the Severn Valley Railway for test-running in readiness for its debut at the Spring Steam…

TWO of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway's home fleet will head out on separate gala visits this year. Following its appearance at the Severn Valley Railway's April 18-21 Spring Steam Gala, Lambton, Hetrton & Joicey Colliey Railway Kitson Works 0-6-2T No. 29 will journey south for the Mid-Hants Railway's April 26-28 event. No. 29's visit to the Watercress Line gala will see it join guests LMS Jubilee 4-6-0 No. 45690 Leander and SR Battle of Britian Pacific No. 34070 Manston, alongside the home fleet of SR S15 No. 506, BR Ivatt 2MT No. 41312 and Peckett No. 1788 Kilmersdon. Autumn will then see BR Standard 9F No. 92134 visit the East Lancashire Railway for the October 11-13 autumn steam gala, where it is expected to join locomotives including West Country…

IT has been a regular at Swanage diesel galas and is set to be so again – but now London Transport's 4TC unit is also bound for the North Norfolk Railway's June 7-9 Rails and Ales weekend, a mixed traction gala with two visiting diesels set to star too. With main line diesels becoming a regular attraction at modern traction enthusiast events, the need for compatible air-braked stock to work with them has seen the 4TC come into its own. It has appeared at several diesel weekends (such those at Swanage), as well as on main line tours. The four carriages were rebuilt from Mk.1 stock, three being converted in 1966 and the fourth in 1974 and were purchased by LT from BR in 1992 to provide stock for the…

FOUR North East MPs have sent a joint letter the National Gallery asking for its support for the Stockton & Darlington 200 celebrations. Conservative MPs Peter Gibson, Paul Howell, Matt Vickers and Dehenna Davison want to see painter William Turner's ‘Rail, Steam and Speed' displayed in the recently renovated Preston Hall Museum. Local councils along the 26mile route are planning to stage various events as part of the bicentenary celebrations. In the letter, the Members of Parliament wrote: “We, the four MPs representing the route, would like to voice our support for the plans by the festival director to display a range of artworks celebrating our glorious railway heritage. “We understand that the painting has never been displayed in England north of York before, and the 200th anniversary of the…

MARCH 21 was a day of strong emotion for many as two long-held ambitions finally came to fruition when two LMS-designed locomotives owned by members of the Beet family met for the first time at the Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway – a route on which one of them had run during its BR career. In 1967, Dr Peter Beet saved Ivatt 2-6-0 No. 46441 from being scrapped with the intention of operating it on what later became the L&HR. Built in 1950 at Crewe, it was allocated to Lancaster Green Ayre shed until that closed in 1966, after which it was transferred to Carnforth, where it remained until withdrawn the following year. Its working life saw it operate on the line from Ulverston to Lakeside on the shore of Lake…

HISTORIC early 1950s station signs that were removed during the 1970s are now reaching unprecedented levels in value. Items once bought by enthusiasts for £5 or less are changing hands for thousands of pounds, with famous named examples fetching five-figure sums. Railwayana Auctions UK Ltd offered 91 era enamel totem signs at an auction in early March, with examples from Paddington and King's Cross both achieving £14,400. Also exceeding expectations were Brighton (£9,480), Penzance (£8400), Bristol Temple Meads (£7440), Lake Side (£6000), Darlington (£4800), West Hartlepool (£4080) and Royal Oak (£3840).…

A MAJOR programme of refurbishment and maintenance for the ongoing conservation of Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Clifton Suspension Bridge has begun with a landmark project to protect its historic wrought-iron chains. Many of the chain links are 180 years old, having been manufactured for GWR engineer Brunel's Hungerford footbridge in London, which opened in 1845. When the footbridge was demolished to make way for the Charing Cross railway bridge, the engineer John Hawkshaw recycled the parts to complete Bristol's legendary Grade I-listed icon. Engineering firm Taziker has been awarded the multimillion pound refurbishment contract which aims to keep the ironwork in top condition for at least another 20-25 years. A protective paint system will be used across the chains and parapet girder latticework and stanchions which run along the outer side…

THE second Hythe Pier Railway locomotive to be restored is to be named in honour of its benefactor. The Hythe Pier Heritage Association (HPHA) is currently overhauling locomotive No. 16302, which is to be named Edward Fort after the current chairman and founder of Hampshire charity the Beaulieu Beaufort Foundation, in recognition of the long-term support which it has given to the restoration of the 2ft gauge pier train. Once operational, No. 16302 will join its sister locomotive No. 16307 Gerald Yorke in service. Edward S. Fort OBE founded the Fort Vale group of companies in 1967. Originally producing parts for the road tanker industry, Fort Vale has expanded to be a global engineering group. The foundation was the first grantor to support the restoration of the train in early…

THE Aln Valley Railway has welcomed a new steam locomotive to its collection following the arrival of Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0ST No. 1366 Renishaw Ironworks No.6 on March 15. Outshopped in 1919 for the Appleby Ironworks at Scunthorpe, after the Second World War it was rebuilt by the Yorkshire Engine Co Ltd and in 1952 was sold to the Renishaw Ironworks in Derbyshire, where it was given the identity it currently goes by. Withdrawn in March 1969, it was privately purchased by enthusiast RT Robinson, who moved it into storage at the locomotive shed for British Steel's Redbourn works; by 1972 it was at the Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway, where it was returned to steam before later moving to Steamtown at Carnforth. For the last two decades, No. 1366 has been…

THE Isle of Man Steam Railway Supporters’ Association is aiming to repatriate an original Manx Northern Railway 12 years after it left the island. The six-wheel carriage, which was built by the Swansea Carriage & Wagon Co and supplied to the railway for its opening in 1879, is described as a “unique survivor”. Originally MNR No. 3 and later Isle of Man Railway No. N42, the coach was cosmetically restored for the then-new Port Erin museum in 1976. However, it was removed in 1998 to allow the museum to be refurbished and did not return. It is currently stored outdoors in Suffolk, where some remedial work has been undertaken. The association has held talks with the coach's owner, Robert Hendry, of the Three Foot Gauge Society, regarding the return of…

THE Science Museum Group is now preparing to choose a new custodian for LNER A3 Pacific No. 60103 Flying Scotsman. On March 6, the group issued an invitation to tender to find the successor to Riley & Son (E) Ltd, with which the previous custodianship agreement ended on December 31. Once appointed, the custodian will be responsible for operating and maintaining the A3 and working with the National Railway Museum and partners to plan and deliver the locomotive's operational calendar. It is expected that the contract will begin on June 3. The group is seeking to enter into a new arrangement that will last until January 31, 2032. Flying Scotsman is currently based at the National Railway Museum in York and will remain in public ownership as part of the…

MAIN line tour operator Inter City has announced a trip behind Class 45 ‘Peak’ No. 45118 that will prove an ideal way of travelling for diesel enthusiasts attending the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway's July 25-28 Class 14 anniversary gala. Departing Bristol Temple Meads at 7am on Saturday, July 27, the ‘Peak’ will travel over some of the class's former stomping grounds as it heads for Duffield with ‘The Diamond Jubilee Express’, arriving at about 10.25am, where those looking to attend the diamond jubilee gala for the Class 14 0-6-0DHs can alight for the day, before the excursion continues and terminates at Chepstow 20 minutes later. It is expected that a direct interchange between the services at Duffield will again be possible. As reported last issue, the EVR is undertaking a track…

FOUR items of memorabilia hurdled the £10,000 barrier in GW Railwayana's auction on March 16, led unsurprisingly by two nameplates, which were followed by a 168-year-old steam locomotive worksplate and a BR(W) station totem sign. The nameplates were both from GWR engines, the first of which, King George VI from No. 6028, went for £16,000 after close of play, closely shadowed at £15,500 by Earl Baldwin from GWR Castle class No. 5063. In third place with a realisation of £12,000 was a Hawthorns & Co of Leith worksplate (works No. 138) from an 0-4-0PT built in 1856 for an Ayrshire ironworks and withdrawn in 1921. A fourth was a totem from the GWR terminus of Paddington, realising £10,500. A GWR nameplate that appropriately led the chasing pack behind the Paddington…

TWO main line locomotive nameplates and another from an engine that operated on a short branch line in the north-east were among the railwayana which went under the hammer at a collectors'auction held by Anderson & Garland of Newcastle on February 29. The top realisation was £10,000 for Bishop's Castle and its matching cabside numberplate, from GWR No. 5064, which emerged from Swindon Works in June 1937 as Tretower Castle but was renamed three months later. The 4-6-0 was withdrawn from Gloucester Horton Road (85B) in September 1962, coincidently exactly the same month as No. 5094, which was given the displaced Tretower Castle name when built in June 1939. Behind this GWR representative at £2200 was Sir Edward Fraser, carried by Great Central Railway Class 11E No. 432, which was…

IN addition to the OO scale wagon announced by Bachmann, its N gauge division, Graham Farish, also revealed a new wagon joining its range that is yet another first for the scale. New tooling has been created, allowing models of the 14-ton and 20-ton Class A and Class B anchor-mounted tank wagons to be produced. These were conceived in the mid-1940s, the design being agreed between the private operators, the Petroleum Board, and the railway companies. Rather than the timber saddle, cradle and wire hawsers employed on earlier wagons, the new design used a central anchor mechanism to secure the tank to its chassis. The Farish model depicts both‘A’ and‘B'types, with options to include the bottom outlet pipe and associated handwheel mounted on top of the tank, with or without…

THIS book's subtitle identifies the location of these memories –‘The travels of a Yorkshire newspaper photographer.’ In fact, the back of the book's cover, writes Geoff Courtney, says they were taken by professional press photographers, while the introduction says they originally formed part of a newspaper archive by an unknown member of staff or a freelancer who was evidently an enthusiast, as not all were ‘newsworthy.’ Whether one photographer or more, freelancer or staff, newsworthy or otherwise, the pictures form a medley of images offering an insight into the county's railways, from the early postwar years until the end of steam. It is understandable why Alan Butcher believes not all the images are ‘newsworthy,’ but a number of them are, and that adds appeal to the publication as there is…

SR West Country 4-6-2 No. 21C127 Taw Valley has been briefly resurrected to act as a standby locomotive at the Severn Valley Railway. Last operational at the January 6/7 Winter Steam Gala, the Bulleid was withdrawn ahead of its boiler ticket expiring, pending an intermediate overhaul starting. However, after two cracked boiler tubes were discovered on WR 0-6-0PT No. 7714, the light Pacific was revived on April 2 and underwent a test run ahead of working trains at the April 6/7 Open House weekend. Taw Valley will also be on standby should booked guest GWR 4-6-0 No. 6880 Betton Grange be unable to run at the April 18-21 Spring Steam Gala.…

THE Swanage Railway's big Bulleid bonanza on June 7-9 will see at least six Southern Pacifics in steam – one better than the 2017 gala. Southern Locomotives Limited's Battle of Britain and West Country classes Nos. 34028 Eddystone, 34070 Manston and 34072 257 Squadron will be joined by two returnees from that previous event. The first is No. 34081 92 Squadron, courtesy of the Nene Valley Railway and the Battle of Britain Locomotive Society. No. 34081 recently completed a programme of firebox repairs which saw it temporarily pulled from traffic in early 2023. A successful boiler examination was undertaken on February 22, following which final tasks – such as repainting, cleaning and installation of the concrete ‘brick'arch – have been carried out to prepare it for a return to service.…

THE Cotswold Halt is the newest stop on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway. It is also the name of the new café at Toddington station, which has replaced the Flag & Whistle tea room. A rethink of the catering at Toddington station followed the end of an external franchise after the 2023 season. Since then, volunteers have been working flat-out to turn the café into an appealing 80-seat destination, with a new menu to match the best comparable offerings elsewhere in the Cotswolds. There is also a new bar called The Halt Bar, which will be opened on special occasions, specialising in local Cotswold beers, ciders and spirits. An exclusive range of gifts, The Cotswold Collection, will also soon be on offer from the café. The manager of The Cotswold Halt,…

THE multi-million-pound conversion into a business centre of the Pattern Shop, a workshop behind Newcastle Central station where Robert Stephenson built steam locomotives for use both at home and all around the world, has been completed. The Grade II-listed workshop, which found itself at the heart of the Industrial Revolution in the late 19th century, fell empty in 2008 and slowly became derelict, until Newcastle City Council and its development partner igloo Regeneration, with Thriving Investments (part of the Places for People group), stepped in in 2020 with a plan to revive it, creating employment and boosting the local economy. The £9 million project has seen the 32,367 sq.ft Pattern Shop converted sympathetically, with emphasis on retaining as many original features as possible, including the cast iron pillars in the…

THE first 60ft track panels on the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway's independent line into Princes Risborough have been laid using the line's track-relaying twin-jibbed rail crane. Since 2018 when it opened a rebuilt fourth platform alongside Princes Risborough's Network Rail/Chiltern Railways station, CPRR trains have accessed the layout there via a halfmile diversion over a NR siding, but only when it is not otherwise needed! Known as the Thame Branch siding, it is part of the remains of the old line from Princes Risborough to Oxford via Thame. Adjacent to it were the remains of the GWR branch to Chinnor and Watlington, but after final closure on cessation of a daily coal train for Chinnor cement works in 1989, the track became derelict. The CPRR has now lifted most…

WHILE the Rail Trolley Trust has a well-established base at both the Chasewater and Tanat Valley railways, the latest vehicle to join its collection will head off to a new line. Delivered new on January 8, 1973, Wickham Type 27 Mk IV semi-open trolley No. 10646 has been based on the Weardale Railway, the supporting charity of which, the Weardale Railway Trust, has been seeking a new home for the vehicle. Following an approach to the RTT, the trolley has been placed on loan to it, along with responsibility for finding a new home as part of the agreement. Peak Rail was approached during 2023 and following discussions an agreement was reached and signed in February. On March 18, No. 10646 was then collected from Wolsingham Yard on the WR…

AS part of its 50th anniversary celebrations, the Kent & East Sussex Railway has launched a £163,000 appeal to raise the funding to see its WR Hawksworth pannier return to service. Built in Swindon in 1951 and bought for use on the Dart Valley Railway in 1967, No. 1638 was sold to the KESR in 1992. Its latest operational stint ended in 2021, after which it was sent to Leaky Finders workshops in Devon for some remedial bottom-end work. Hoiwever, as it was dismantled, the extent of work needed was discovered to be more than initially thought and the overhaul stalled while a decision was made on how work was to progress, and funding sourced to enable it. No. 1638 is not only special in being the sole survivor of…

TRACKS from a long-closed Aberdeen tramway route have been uncovered after being buried for more than 60 years. The tramline was rediscovered by workers resurfacing the carriageway in Holburn Street and are believed to be part of the Bridges route. It opened as a horse-drawn tramway in 1883 and originally linked Market Street with Bloomfield Road. The line was lengthened to Bridge of Don in 1892 and the River Dee two years later. Horse traction ceased to be used on the system in 1902, and in 1958 the Bridges became the final one to close. Aberdeen's buses numbers 1 and 2 follow the former tram route today.…

THE Churnet Valley Railway is making steady progress with a public appeal to buy a BR ballast wagon. Following the successful borrowing of a BR Whale wagon, the railway launched an £8000 appeal last autumn to buy a Walrus wagon. The purchase would mean that the railway would have a complete set of vacuum-braked bogie ballast wagons, highly useful for future works planned on the line. About £7000 had been raised as we closed for press. To donate, visit www.totalgiving.co.uk/appeal/bogieballast…

WEST Coast Railways (WCR) has suspended its ‘The Jacobite’ daily summer steam service on the West Highland Extension. The service had established itself as an integral part of the West Highlands tourist economy after running for more than 30 years with an exemption certificate that enables it to operate with Mk.1 hinged-door carriages on the main line, granted by rail regulator the Office of Rail and Road. Carnforth-based WCR has applied to renew its long-term exemption and a request for a temporary exemption to operate from March while the ORR assesses its longer-term submission. However, because the ORR has not yet granted an exemption, WCR has suspended the service until further notice. As reported in issue 315, it lost a High Court bid for a judicial review of the ORR's…

A SPECIAL train is to be run by LNER A4 Pacific No. 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley to mark the 65th anniversary of its postwar speed record. On May 23, 1959, No. 60007 reached 112mph while descending Stoke Bank on the East Coast Main Line with a full train of passengers returning from an excursion to Doncaster Works. May 23 will see Saphos Trains’ ‘Settle & Carlisle Fellsman’ start from Crewe, picking up at Chester, Frodsham, Warrington Bank Quay and Wigan North Western, before heading over Shap summit to Carlisle, then returning via the Settle and Carlisle line. Seats are available in Pullman dining and first class. As we closed for press, standard class seats were sold out. To book, visit https://saphostrains.com/…

LOCOMOTIVE Services Group and the Branch Line Society have joined forces to run a charity excursion to Scarborough, raising money for the Railway Benefit Fund. Founded in 1858, the fund is a benevolent charity to help current, former and retired railway personnel who find themselves in financial difficulties, offering support by way of grants of up to £3000 and financial and debt advice to help those struggling. The charity does not limit itself to just national rail employees; it also supports those who work in the heritage sector. For the June 5 ‘Bucket & Spade’ tour, LSG is providing its Class 40 D213 Andania as motive power and its rake of first class InterCity carriages. The day starts at Crewe with an expected 8.15am departure, followed by pick-ups at Warrnington…

UK Railtours and Pathfinder Railtours are collaborating on Sunday, April 14 to give customers a tour under the title of‘The One Way Wizzo’ This tour is designed around a loaded test run of Class 52 D1015 Western Champion and will see the locomotive hauling 13 coaches and a dead diesel at the rear. Departing from Paddington, the tour is planned to head west down the Great Western Main Line, passing Slough and Reading, before turning north at Didcot for Oxford. It is hoped there will be an opportunity for a short photographic stop at Banbury. Following the short break, D1015 again heads north along the Chiltern Main Line to Leamington Spa, before diverting via Kenilworth to Coventry and on to Birmingham International. Taking the diversionary route at Stechford, the train…

Billed as a Victorian weekend, No. 563 was joined by SECR O1 0-6-0 No. 65 making a rare visit – only its third this century – from its the Bluebell Railway home. While the T3 was built in 1893 at Nine Elms, No. 65 followed three years later in 1896 as a product of Ashford Works, outshopped originally as an O class by the Southern Eastern Railway and of which it is the only surviving example of a locomotive from that company. In 1908 it received a rebuild into its current O1 guise which many describe as outwardly similar to the SECR C class. No. 65 was saved for preservation in 1963 by enthusiast Esmond Lewis-Evans, who kept it as the Ashford Steam Centre until that closed, when it was…

THE Jubilee nameplate bandwagon, for so long a central part of the railwayana auction scene, continued rolling on in Talisman's live saleroom sale at Newark on March 23, thanks to Newfoundland from No. 45573 selling for the day's leading realisation of £10,000 and Camperdown from No. 45680 achieving the third highest price of £6100. Nameplate Glenalmond, from Great Central Railway Class 1A 4-6-0 No. 4/LNER Class B8 No. 5004, prevented an LMS 1-2 by going under the hammer for £7600, while the final two steam main line plates, Sir Bedivere from SR King Arthur No. 30457 and Hindford Grange (GWR No. 6875), fetched £3800 and £3000 respectively. Meanwhile, LNER A3 No. 60100 Spearmint joined the action when its smokebox numberplate became a member of the £5+ class by selling for £5200.…

EUROPEAN and Asian steam and heritage modern traction were at the heart of an auction held by railway slides, negatives and prints specialist JustaClickAgo on February 19-25, with the highest realisation of £1950 being achieved by 550 colour slides of working steam, diesel, and electric locomotives at a number of locations in East and West Germany between 1964 and 1992. From the same collection came 430 colour slides that included steam in India and Yugoslavia and diesel and electric traction in Hungary and Italy taken from 1969 to 2006, which went under the hammer for £520. Between these two lots at £620 were 350 colour slides of UK railway infrastructure in the 1980s that included signals, stations and viaducts. Prices exclude buyer's premium of 18%. ➜ An HO-gauge model of…

RAPIDO'S reputation for picking unusual prototypes to bring into model form goes unchallenged with the manufacturer announcing the Andrew Barclay 0-4-0 fireless locomotives to its 4mm scale range – the first ready-to-run model of the type to ever be produced! As the railways established themselves as a reliable method to transport goods, one problem came to the forefront – fire. Steam locomotives fundamentally need a heat source created from some form of fire to turn water into steam. However, this fire, alongside sparks emitted from the chimney, caused great concern in environments where munitions, fuel, or other flammable materials were being moved or stored. Thus the fireless locomotives were introduced, harnessing steam power in a large rechargeable steam reservoir sitting in the place of the boiler of a conventional steam…

As the railway rapidly approaches its 75th anniversary, now perhaps is an ideal time to expand this ‘Nostalgia’ series of books which covers much of the more recent preservation era. Both authors have been volunteers at the railway for more than 40 years so have experienced much of the change documented first-hand, with photographic content supplied by many of the line's other volunteers. With the railway prepares for some major redevelopment work (as documented in this issue's feature on pages 72-77) that will see it provide facilities to help see it through the next 75 years, it is interesting to look back through this publication at just how much has changed since 1961. Tywyn Wharf station is one notable example, with documentation here on the construction of the building that…