Table of contents for Issue 333 in Heritage Railway

IN this year of Railway 200, we are celebrating the marvellous transport phenomenon that originated here in Britain and changed the world forever. Yet those wheels of change have never stopped turning, long after the end of the steam age which made it all possible. Not only are there major developments in public rail transport, but the heritage sector continues to defy all odds. On September 27, we will celebrate the bicentenary of that keynote first steam-hauled passenger trip on the Stockton & Darlington Railway behind Locomotion No. 1. However, months before the climax to the bicentenary, we are applauding the efforts of the BR Class 8 Steam Locomotive Trust and its predecessors. For more than half a century, they have fought to preserve the locomotive that represents the other…

A CENTURY after their first meeting in London, two globe-trotting flagship locomotives from rival regions came together for possibly just the fourth time ever. In 1924 the British Government opened the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Park in hopes of strengthening the bonds with its dissipating empire, having committed in 1917 to eventually pulling out of India while also sensing naval challenges of its position on the world stage following victory in the First World War. Despite the local district council opposing the proposition, the exhibition was opened there in April 1924 following a 10-month world tour to promote it and encourage participation, which was headed by its assistant general manager Major Ernest Bletcher (former wartime director of vegetable supplies for the Ministry of Food), along with other participants which…

THE arrival of USATC 2-8-0 No. 6046 saw it become the largest steam locomotive to ever operate over the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway – and it is set to make another moment of history when it opens the 3 ½-mile railway’s new independent line into Princes Risborough station this July. After several false starts - which included a started movement being aborted after a lorry breakdown - Churnet Valley Railway-based No. 6046 finally arrived at the C&PRR on May 16, undertaking a gauging run along the line four days later. During this, it became the first steam locomotive to traverse the railway’s newly-laid independent line, which runs parallel to the Network Rail-owned engineering siding on which heritage services currently operate in order to access Princes Risborough station. With access…

THE Severn Valley Railway’s 2024 Spring Diesel Gala on May 15-18 must have had one of the most diverse selection of motive power ever contrived on a heritage line. Locomotives ranged from early BR types to state-of the-art, powerful and modern freight examples from the national network - all hauling vintage passenger carriages. The sight of the Class 58 pulling out of the siding at Hampton Loade, about to couple up to Gresley’s teak set, was certainly incongruous. Freightliner sent Class 66 No. 66509 and Class 70 No. 70020 in striking yellow and orange livery. No. 66509 was named Freightliner Retirement Association in a ceremony at Kidderminster on May 16. From Colas Rail came heavy freight Class 56s No. 56113 and 56094. The Class 58 Locomotive Group’s No. 58023 Leicester…

A PULLMAN car used during crucial wartime strategy meetings between Winston Churchill and General Eisenhower ahead of D-Day is back in action after more than half a century. Built in 1924 by the Midland Railway Carriage & Wagon Company, Car No. 246 Lydia, which was also used during Churchill’s state funeral in January 1965, has been meticulously returned to its original specification by a skilled team at Buckfastleigh, on the South Devon Railway. In 1925, Lydia was moved by rail to Harwich, en route to Italy via Paris, for operation by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagon Lits on services between Milan, San Remo, Nice and Cannes. In December 1929, it was repatriated and rebuilt in Birmingham before entering service on the ‘Golden Arrow’ between London Victoria and Dover. During the…

A SPECTACULAR 33-yard-long mural in Newton Abbot forms part of a new double celebration of the town’s proud GWR history. The All Aboard installation, the focal point of which is the mural painted by local artist Caroline Brady, has transformed the walls of the otherwise mundane pedestrian subway below the main line railway in Keyberry Road. The mural is accompanied by a series of giant photograph-collaged panels. Inspired by archive images of railways, tunnels, bridges and Newton Abbot station from the town museum’s GWR collection, it took Caroline more than two months to complete. The project was coordinated by community outreach worker Kate Green with an £8500 grant from the Teignbridge Arts Project and influenced by extensive public workshops in which residents pored over museum artefacts and highlighted those that…

SEATHORNE Bank will become Britain’s newest station when it opens on the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway on June 28 – and it has already won an award! The station, which includes the GNR 1887-built coal office from Skegness station, which Ellis Bros bought from the LNER in 1947 as the base for their business that grew to create much of modern Skegness, will become a destination accessible only by rail, at the end of the LCLR’s line from Walls Lane station, with picnic tables and other facilities, next to Skegness Airfield. It has been funded by a £24,250 grant from the UK Prosperity Fund, made jointly by East Lindsey District Council, South Holland District Council and Boston Borough Council, and £8000 from Ellis Bros (Contractors) Ltd, the owner of Skegness…

THE Swanage Railway’s May 9-11 Diesel Gala and Beer Festival proved the most successful in the Purbeck heritage line’s history. About 3500 passengers travelled – a figure 400 up on the corresponding event last year. Organising team member Dan Bennett said:“We were delighted by the success of this year’s festival. The weather was marvellous and there was a real carnival atmosphere, including in the beer tent at Corfe Castle station. “The visit of the 1967 Southern Region Class 423 4VEP No. 3417 Gordon Pettitt from Strawberry Hill in London was the icing on the cake and a wonderful tribute to one of the most highly respected Southern Region general managers who officially opened the Swanage Railway’s new Harman’s Cross station in 1989 and sadly died in March [see Heritage Railway…

AN announcement that Newry Mourne & Down District Council has abandoned a £44 million plan to build a cable car system from Newcastle up Slieve Donard, in the Mourne Mountains, is being seen as an opportunity for the Downpatrick & County Down Railway to press forward with two long-planned extensions – and Ireland’s only Irish standard gauge heritage railway is asking for help from Heritage Railway readers to make its dreams come true. The plan was abandoned after the National Trust, which owns the land at the upper site, refused to allow the development on environmental grounds. The project had already attracted £30 million of funding from the Belfast Region City Deal, cash which remains available for other projects in the area. “The council is actively seeking suggestions on how…

THE Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway’s 150th anniversary Spring Gala proved to be a stunning Lakeland sunshine success, with passenger numbers soaring by a third above the attendance of the corresponding event last year. Billed as one of the highlights of a busy year for La’al Ratty, the bank holiday weekend gala on May 1-3 featured returning favourites and special guest locomotives running alongside the home steam and diesel fleet. From the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway came Davey Paxman 4-6-2 No. 1 Green Goddess which, after it was built in 1925, was trialled at Ravenglass before its home line in Kent was operational. Also appearing was the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway’s replica Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad 2-6-2+T No. 24, which also featured in the RER’s 125th anniversary celebrations.…

In Hanoverian Britain, 50 years before the American War of Independence and 80 years before the Battle of Trafalgar, a fight of a different kind was the talk of the town – a battle, using little more than picks and shovels, to construct a coal-carrying waggonway over hill and dale to not only speed up the movement of coal from the mines to the River Tyne, but to also seriously expand the tonnage that could be moved. In 1725, a small group of landowners came together calling themselves the Grand Allies and were the driving force behind the construction of what could reasonably be described as Britain’s first large-scale, privately-funded civil engineering project since the days of the Romans – the construction of Tanfield Waggonway. In its building phase, people…

LNER A2 Pacific No. 60532 Blue Peter will head a four-day Steam Dreams holiday to the Lake District. ‘The Lakes Express’ will depart from London Victoria on Tuesday, September 9 behind either a diesel or electric locomotive and run north along the West Coast Main Line to Crewe. Here, the original locomotive is scheduled to be exchanged for steam for the onward journey via the East Lancashire line to pick up the Ribble Valley Line to Hellifield and on to the Settle-Carlisle Line to Carlisle. After a short stop in Carlisle, the tour is planned to continue diesel-hauled to Oxenholme for a transfer by road coaches to hotels for the evening. Over the next two days, customers will have the option of several planned excursions or activities in the Lake…

AS Darlington-built A1 Pacific No. 60163 Tornado headed the ‘Great Britain XVII’ tour into Northallerton station on the morning of Saturday, May 3, Michael Dunn was surrounded by his close family, relations and special friends when they all gathered on the platform to greet the train. Michael worked as a volunteer on this round-Britain steam-hauled excursion every year since its inception in 2008 and became well-known to many of the passengers who make being on the train an annual event. Sadly, during the last year, health issues caught up with Michael and he can no longer volunteer for the work he loves. As a special tribute to Michael for his much-appreciated and dedicated service over the years, the tour’s promoter, The Railway Touring Company, of Kings Lynn, and in particular…

MIDLAND Pullman is offering trips to York and Scarborough on several dates during the summer on a tour titled the ‘Yorkshire Coast Pullman’ on board its luxury High Speed Train set. The first tour is scheduled for Tuesday, June 17, departing from Chelmsford and picking up at Colchester, Manningtree, Ipswich, Stowmarket, Bury St Edmunds, Ely, March and Peterborough, before a sprint up the East Coast Main Line to York. Passengers will have five hours in city, or may decide to continue on to Scarborough for three hours at the resort; the same leisure times are allocated to each subsequent trip too. The next date is Saturday, June 21, this time starting out from Eastleigh. The train will take the South West Main Line, picking up passengers at Winchester, Micheldever and…

THE route of Vintage Trains’ summer Sunday ‘Shakespeare Express’ has now been decorated with statues of the Bard himself at every station. ‘All the world’s a stage,’ according to Shakespeare’s As You Like It and now so is the route between Birmingham Moor Street and Stratford-upon Avon, with each station on the North Warwickshire Line linked to a different Shakespeare play; for example, Yardley Wood and Twelfth Night, Wood End and The Merchant of Venice, and Wilmcote and The Taming of the Shrew. The artwork was unveiled May 21 at Stratford-upon-Avon station and celebrated with a short performance of an extract from As You Like It by students from King Edward VI School, the school where Shakespeare himself attended. The statues were made possible thanks to the Friends of the…

"The thing about a gala is that it has to do something different – it must attract a different audience to the other galas. It’s all about theming; galas work better if there’s a cohesive plan as to why this collection of rolling stock and locomotives have come together,” said Bodmin Railway general manager David Nelson-Brown. “Attracting people to Cornwall is a huge challenge because we are so far away from anywhere else. For us, this event has been a big financial risk. When you take into account the lorry moves, steaming fees, marketing and all the extra bits, it has cost us in the region of £15,000, so we had to be confident it would pay off.” It is clear by his words that Davd is all too aware…

OVER the May 24-26 bank holiday weekend, Peckett 0-4-0T works No. 1631 Marcia returned to a dockyard setting when it paid a brief visit to the Historic Dockyard Chatham. Built in 1923, Marcia may have started life Ayrshire quarries but later transferred to the West of Scotland Shipbreakers in Troon, where it remained until 1943 when it moved on again. Now jointly owned by model railway manufacturer Rapido Trains UK and the company's general manager, Andy Hardy, it now resides on the Kent & East Sussex Railway. Marcia's visit to Chatham saw it shuffle about the former naval shipyard passing historic cranes, Grade I-listed buildings and three former warships.…

FOLLOWING a 13-year absence from the main line, unique BR 8P Pacific No. 71000 Duke of Gloucester is poised for a comeback, having successfully undergone initial running-in trials on the Severn Valley Railway following its latest rebuild. The overhaul included new wheel bearings, a new centre crank axle, a boiler retube, new firebox tube plate and Caprotti boxes returned to their original cams, plus the improvements the BR Class 8 Steam Locomotive Trust believed that Robert Riddles, BR’s executive for mechanical engineering, would have carried out had he been given the time after two years of running of the national network and before the proposed building of a class of 50 Dukes, blocked by the 1955 BR Modernisation Plan, was completed at Tyseley Locomotive Works under the guidance of Alastair…

A1 Pacific No. 60163 Tornado steamed into St Blazey depot on Sunday, May 25 to boost fundraising efforts for a new engineering training centre at the heart of Cornwall’s rail network, easily accessible via public transport for people from around the duchy and beyond. MPower Cornwall CIC, an innovative social enterprise dedicated to teaching practical engineering and construction skills, is expected to open its doors to under-18s in September. To enable MPower to complete the work by then, a further £75,000 is needed, so a crowdfunding appeal has been launched. Although the MPower facilities will be financially selfsustaining once complete, further capital investment is required, initially to deliver secure fencing and safety upgrades to the site. Tornado called into the depot, where the Grade II*-listed turntable forms the magnificent centrepiece…

GWR 2-8-0T No. 4247 has made preservation history by becoming the first locomotive to adopt the unusual livery of BR black with Gill Sans lettered tanks in the place of both early and late BR crests, with a further unusual feature being the depot allocation code applied to the cylinder covers rather than the frames. Last operational at the Bodmin Railway in 2018, it has been undergoing overhaul at Cranmore Traincare & Maintenance Services on the East Somerset Railway, the line having developed a strong relationship with the Dartmouth Steam Railway, which owns No. 4247. The locomotive was set to make its comeback at the ESR’s May 31/June 1 steam gala, where it was booked to work alongside large prairie No. 4110 and small prairie No. 4555, both also owned…

THE Lavender Line has become the latest victim in a recent spate of vandalism in the heritage sector, following similar instances reported at the Spa Valley and East Lancashire railways (Heritage Railway issue 332). During the evening of May 4, a group of youngsters were caught having gained access to the site, but by that time it was too late. In total, about £5000 of damage had been inflicted on rolling stock, including one of the two resident Class 205 ‘Thumper’ DEMUs, on which a large number of windows were smashed. Trustee Amanda Matthews said: “We’ve experienced vandalism before but nothing as bad as this. To repair this damage will not only take material and money, but also many volunteer hours. “We have video surveillance that will be passed onto…

DUE to the landslip at Mor Brook bridge on the Severn Valley Railway, a new set of rules have been enacted at Hampton Loade station to facilitate trains to run round. The situation is complicated because there is no starter signal in the Up direction from the down main on Platform 1, by the station building. Under normal conditions, when the line is fully open, trains travelling in the Down direction to Bridgnorth depart from Platform 1 alongside the station building and trains in the Up towards Kidderminster depart from Platform 2. Both directions are signalled normally for this. Incidentally, Hampton Loade signalbox can be switched out, creating a long section between Highley and Bridgnorth. There are no bi-directionally signalled lines when the box is switched in hence the Up…

AN Armed Forces Covenant was signed by representatives from the Swanage Railway, Swanage Town Council and the Royal Corps of Signals at Blandford Forum, in Dorset, on the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day. The special tripartite ceremony took place on Swanage station on Thursday, May 8, and involved signatories Gavin Johns, Swanage Railway Company chairman, Swanage Mayor Coun Tina Foster, and Major Grant Powell. It also highlighted the immense contribution made to the heritage line by the Royal Corps of Signals over four decades. Creating a promise Hosting the special event was Swanage Railway Trust chairman Frank Roberts, a former member of the Corps and a dedicated volunteer on the Isle of Purbeck heritage line for more than 40 years. He said: “The Armed Forces Covenant was created…

MINIATURE Railways have been flourishing in recent years, with proposed revivals of ones such as Severn Beach making headlines in recent months alone. While commonly associated with one-off prototypes or scaled-down versions of main line locomotives, there are also examples designed for purpose, and during the weekend of May 10/11 the Eastleigh Lakeside Miniature Railway celebrated the designs of H.CS Bullock with a throwback to the 1930s and the days of the Surrey Border & Camberley Railway – with a spectacular finale of a septuple-headed lap of the 1¼-mile circuit. Although it operated for just two years (1938/39), the SB&CR is often regarded as one of the most elaborate miniature railways ever built. The line offered a 1½ -mile ride along a 10¼in gauge double-track route that ran between Frimley…

FOLLOWING several false dawns, Maunsell brake third No. 3687 was set to enter Bluebell Railway traffic after a restoration which has lasted more than three decades. Until 1986, the South-Eastern line to Hastings was restricted in the width of stock it could take following a contractor in its construction skimping on the thickness of tunnel walls, which subsequently had to be reinforced, thus reducing the size of the tunnel bore. The result of this was that new rolling stock was built to fit these reduced clearances, with No. 3687 being built by the Southern Railway in 1931 as part of one such batch. It formed part of set No. 214, a fixed three-coach consist, and from 1960 was one of just two sets in use for a single daily steam-hauled…

THE Yorkshire Wolds Railway has been celebrating the 10th anniversary of its opening to the public. Marking a decade of dedication, restoration and community, visitors were invited to a day of free travel on May 25 at Fimber Halt. The idea for opening a heritage line on a section of the former Malton & Driffield Junction Railway was first suggested at the inaugural meeting on October 10, 2008. After £24,000 was raised for a planners’ feasibility study and permissions were obtained, construction began in preparation for the grand opening on May 25, 2015, carried out by Sir Tatton Sykes. Entirely volunteer-run, the railway has welcomed thousands of visitors, which offers a unique glimpse into East Yorkshire’s rail heritage through regular train rides and an informative visitor centre. Financial director Phil…

STAFF and volunteers at the Kent & East Sussex Railway are celebrating a regional‘family’award that could be upgraded to a national accolade. The Tenterden-based railway has been voted the best family experience in Kent in a public poll as part of the Muddy Stilettos Awards, a victory that will pit it against other regional finalists in the category, with the overall winner being announced on June 25. The awards, the name of which reflects the contrast between city and country life, is a keenly-fought competition for independent lifestyle businesses around the UK that this year attracted 500,000 nominations and votes cast in 21 categories nationally. KESR general manager Robin Coombes is in no doubt about the significance and potential impact of the railway winning the regional best family experience category…

THE Princess Royal Class Locomotive Trust (PRCLT) has unveiled plans to transform a currently unkempt plot of land adjacent to its Midland Railway – Butterley workshops into a new green space that will also display historic artifacts recovered from St Pancras station, including some items that were made nearby more than 150 years ago. Based at West Shed, the plan will create a link demonstrating the connection between the Butterley Ironworks and Swanwick Junction. The surrounding area of Derbyshire had been mined for its outcrops of iron ore since at least the middle ages, with the blast furnaces installed some time after the formation of the Benjamin Outram and Company (latter Butterley Company) in 1790. In 1814, the firm was employed to produce the ironwork for Vauxhall bridge in London,…

THE 80th anniversary of the publication of the first book in the Rev Wilbert Awdry’s Railway Series was celebrated at the Talyllyn Railway on May 10/11. Although Thomas the Tank Engine has become a household name, he was not present in the publication of the first of Wilbert’s books, Three Railway Engines, in 1945, which told the tales of Edward, Gordon and Henry and drew inspiration from some scenes that the rector saw on the railways close to where he was living. What started as a short story to amuse his son, who was laid up in bed with measles, has since flourished into a multi-billion-dollar franchise with followers the world over. Having heard about the Talyllyn and becoming a member in 1951, Awdry visited the Welsh narrow gauge line…

ON Saturday, June 21, Hastings Diesels will run a trip from its base of operations via the capital to Norfolk, titled of the ‘Wymondham Winder.’ Starting from Hastings, two DEMU sets will make a nine-coach train. Collecting passengers at St Leonards Warrior Square, West St Leonards, Crowhurst, Battle, Etchingham, Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge and Bromley South, the tour will cross the capital for the final passenger pick-up at Kensington Olympia. After leaving Kensington, the trip will take the North London Line, before a deviation at Gospel Oak onto the Barking route sees the train join the East Coast Main Line at Harringay Junction. Heading north to Hitchin, the planned route is along the Cambridge Branch via Cambridge to Ely, Thetford, Wymondham and finally Norwich. Passengers will have just under four hours…

CORNISH model retailer Kernow Model Rail Centre has joined forces with other model railway names and the Southern ElectricTraction Group to show its support for the plans to bring 4VEP EMU No. 3417 Gordon Pettitt (picture, News, page 31) back into main line service by producing three unique versions of it in OO scale. EMU modeller Dan Havlik was commissioned to produce three highly-detailed and accurately decorated models of No. 3417 using Hornby 4VEP OO gauge models, each of which was donated by the retailer along with Gaugemaster and The Winchester Railway Modellers. Each will be auctioned to raise funds to complete the restoration of the unit back into main line operating condition. During a recent visit to the SETG base at Strawberry Hill depot, opportunities were presented to photograph…

June 7 Settle & Carlisle Steam Special Coventry, Carlisle and return. Steamhauled between Carnforth (outward) and Preston (return). Loco: 34067 Tangmere. NB 7 ‘The Tynesider’ King’s Cross, Morpeth and return. Steamhauled between York and Morpeth. Loco: Electric: 86529 Les Ross. Steam: TBA. RTC 7 ‘English Riviera Express’ Northampton, Kingswear and return. Steam-hauled between Taunton and Kingswear. Loco: 34046 Braunton. ST 7 ‘The Kent Coaster’ East Midlands Parkway, Faversham and return. Locos: Class 47 + 2 class 33s TBA. UKRT 8 ‘The Shakespeare Express’ Derby, Stratford-upon-Avon and return. Loco: 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe or 7029 Clun Castle. VT 10 ‘The Dalesman’ Chester, Carlisle and return. Steamhauled throughout. Loco: ‘Black Five’ TBC. WCR 11 ‘The Fellsman’ Crewe, Carlisle and return. Steam-hauled between Chester and Carlisle. Loco: 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley. ST…

In recent times, the world of domestic new-build projects has encompassed a variety of designs and much media attention has focused on the more glamourous main line specimens such as Tornado, Beachy Head and Betton Grange. There have also, however, been some important narrow gauge additions, such as Blyth for the Southwold Railway Trust and Falcon No. 10 for the Corris Railway. The subject of this feature predates both of the original versions of these latter locomotives and indeed dates back virtually to the dawn of narrow gauge steam locomotive evolution. After years of purely horse and gravity operation in 1863, the Ffestiniog Railway took delivery of four tank engines from George England & Co, of Hatchham Ironworks, London. The first, an 0-4-0T+T named Mountaineer, was delivered to Porthmadog on…

IN Heritage Railway issue 330, the article‘Once In A Lifetime’mentions Flying Scotsman hauling freight trains. Here are two photographs taken in September 1961 one week apart, which shows ‘how the star has fallen’ from hauling the ‘Flying Scotsman’ train to freight a week later. Both of these were taken at Doncaster station. The photographs were passed on to me by the widow of the person who took them and with them are two spotting books from 1961 and 1962. Unfortunately, I do not have his name, but they are in my collection now.…

YOU would think with an already exciting catalogue to offer, Rapido might hold off from announcing anything further. Yet that seems to be far from the case, as the firm has also unveiled yet another pre-Grouping era model with its LNWR diagram 17B brake van – the first ever LNWR brake van prototype to be produced ready to run in OO scale. First introduced in 1917 by the London and North Western Railway, the Dia.17B brake Van design was conceived as a general-purpose 20-ton brake. Given that LNWR records show that during this period overall brake van numbers did not increase, it is a fair assumption that these were built as replacements for any dated and condemned stock. A total of 539 vans were built to this diagram, each carrying…

SOUTH EAST Amberley Museum 2ft gauge, ¼ mile. Arundel, West Sussex. Tel: 01798 831370. Open: Weds-Sun. Bluebell Railway Standard gauge, 11 miles. Sheffield Park, East Sussex TN22 2QL. Tel: 01825 720800. Running: Tues-Suns, bank hols, sch hols. Bredgar & Wormshill Light Railway 2ft gauge, ½ mile. Bredgar, Sitting bourne, Kent. Tel: 01622 884254. Running: Weds + Thurs & Fris (from July 24) + June 21. Chatham Historic Dockyard Standard gauge, one mile. Chatham, Kent. Tel: 01634 820800. Open: Daily. East Kent Railway Standard gauge, two miles. Shepherdswell, Kent. Tel: 01304 832042. Running: Suns. Eastleigh Lakeside Railway 10¼ in & 7¼ in gauge, 1¼ miles. Running: W/Es, sch hols. Exbury Gardens & Steam Railway 12¼ in gauge, 1½ miles. Exbury, Southampton. Tel: 023 8089 1203. Open: Daily. Hayling Light Railway 2ft…

A ONCE-POPULAR fixture of its autumnal steam weekends, the Severn Valley Railway will be bringing its overnight trains back for this year’s October 18-21 steam gala. In recent years, rising base costs have seen off the added attraction of moonlit travel through the Shropshire and Worcestershire countryside, much to the dismay of both visitors and railway volunteers. Recognising the demand for this, however, gala planners have negotiated for a brief reprise of these services. Announcing the initial plans, a spokesperson said:“With rising costs and so on, our group reached a decision with the railway management which will see overnight running happen in anniversary years every five years, with this year being our 60th anniversary.” Up to four visiting locomotives are being sought, which will be announced once confirmed. Services will…

A GB Railfreight Class 69 is to be named North Norfolk Railway as part of the line’s 50th anniversary celebrations. The locomotive, unidentified as we closed for press, will join the steam and diesel line-up at the Poppy Line’s June 13-15 annual Rails & Ales event. It will be one that entered service within the last 12 months, making its first-ever visit to a heritage line, and the occasion will also be the first time it has hauled timetabled public passenger trains. At the event, the 69 will join GBRf stablemate No. 66714 Cromer Lifeboat, Class 40 D213 Andania, from Locomotive Services Limited, and returning Waggon and Maschinenbau railbus E79960, which has been on loan to the Ribble Steam Railway. Making its first gala appearance is BR Standard 2-6-4T No.…

THE Swanage Railway has been in mourning following the unexpected death of long-time former director and volunteer trustee and Southern preservation powerhouse Bill Trite. He was 77. In 1991 it was Bill who led the fight to save the Isle of Purbeck line from collapse in a financial crisis that threatened the existence of the then fledgling heritage railway. Bill died at his home in Swanage, which overlooks the railway. The line’s volunteers received the sad news on Sunday, May 11. Working as a marketing consultant in London, Bill joined the SR’s team of dedicated volunteers in the late 1980s when its two-mile extension from Herston to Harman’s Cross was nearing completion. A volunteer director of the Swanage Railway Trust for 22 years and a volunteer director of the trust’s…

THE Stockton& Darlington Railway 200 festival has announced that six artists mark the bicentenary by creating new artworks at key historic locations. The nine murals will be located along the S&DR Trail of Discovery, a new trail between Witton Park in County Durham and Stockton in Tees Valley which closely follows the original 26-mile route of the world’s first passenger and goods train’s journey. Each artist will work with local community groups, including young creatives and asylum seekers, to reflect the people and places shaped by the S&DR and reveal the hidden histories of key stations, while forming a lasting legacy that enables future generations to discover the importance of the line’s past and present – and serve as connection points for communities and visitors. The artists, selected by South…

THE long-awaited extension of the Bala Lake Railway into the heart of its namesake town is starting but needs £300,000 worth of track material must be found, and the heritage line has launched an appeal to fund this vital milestone of its long-held ambitions. As reported in Heritage Railway issue 324, on September 4 last year, Snowdonia National Park gave the BLR’s extension proposals the green light following revisions to a submission in April 2023 that was denied. This was owing to concerns about increased pollution levels in the River Dee should the forecast rise in visitors have materialised as a result of the extension. The BLR’s project team spent many months making adjustments for its successful revised bid. The extension will divert from its current terminus at Pen-y-Bont Halt,…

KENT & East Sussex Railway stalwart Geoff Crouch, one of the most influential supporters of the heritage line in the past 30 years, has died at the age of 67 after a long illness. During those three decades his roles have included trustee, chairman, deputy chairman, permanent way manager, and latterly finance director, a legacy that general manager Robin Coombes said would not be forgotten. “His contribution helped to shape the KESR into what it is today,”said Robin.“We give thanks for his life and for all that he gave to the railway over many years. “He was instrumental in guiding us through some of the most challenging periods in our history, and his wisdom, strength of character, and commanding presence will be remembered by all who worked with him. I…

MODEL railway manufacturer Accurascale has often released models in support of charities, donating proceeds from sales to several good causes in recent years. With the stories of Thomas the Tank Engine celebrating their 80th anniversary this year, the firm has revealed a new model which will help to cosmetically restore the locomotive named after their author. Hunslet 0-6-0ST Austerity No. 3806 of 1953 has been on the Dean Forest Railway since 1976 following its withdrawal from West Cannock Colliery by the National Coal Board. A few years later, those who saved it from scrap transferred ownership to the DFR, making it the first locomotive to be owned by the heritage line, which named it G. B. Keeling, in 1981 in honour of its first Chief Mechanical Engineer. Six years later,…

An eclectic mix of locomotives which included two small industrial tank locomotives of mid-Victorian origin and ofasimilar age, the O1 from the Bluebell resplendent in its South Eastern & Chatham Railway livery, joined forces with their later counterparts in a line-up of 11 steam engines for the Railway 200-themed event on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway. Three very unusual guests were the industrial tanks engines, which proved a big hit with the crowds. The King, an 0-4-0WT built by Borrows in 1906, was delivered new to the United Glass Bottle Company Ltd at St Helens, Lancashire. Much later it was transferred to the company’s Charlton works in south-east London, working until 1967. It was on loan from Ribble Steam Railway. Willy the Well Tank (as it is affectionately known) is a…

REBUILT Bulleid Battle of Britain Pacific No. 34028 Eddystone is being prepared for its heritage era main line debut – and it will become the first Southern Locomotives Ltd engine to run on the national network. On May 15, the ex-Barry scrapyard locomotive left the Swanage Railway’s Herston Works after its latest overhaul to prepare it for running on the main line for the first time since withdrawal in May 1964. A date for its first main line test run was being awaited. As this issue closed for press, the locomotive’s wiring was being completed prior to running-in on the Purbeck heritage line. It is intended to have Eddystone run by West Coast Railways for operators like the Railway Touring Company. The origins of SLL date back to a meeting…

THE Railway Touring Company’s ‘Great Britain XVII’ proved another major success – despite steam twice having to be briefly replaced by diesel haulage. The land cruise, operated by West Coast Railways, departed from London Victoria on Saturday, April 26, heading for Bristol Temple Meads. The second day saw it run Cardiff to Pembroke Dock and Fishguard Harbour, returning to Cardiff. However, the next day, the leg to Shrewsbury, Wrexham, Chester, Carnforth and Grange-over-Sands saw LMS ‘Black Five’ 4-6-0 No. 45212 failed with a tender hot box (later repaired at Carnforth) and replaced by a West Coast Railways diesel. The repairs enabled the ‘Black Five’ to resume its scheduled haul of the Peterborough to Norwich leg on May 3 and then Norwich to King’s Cross the day after. Diesel haulage was…

TRANSPENNINE Route Upgrade (TRU) engineers have begun initial preparation work to raise and renovate Crawshaw Woods Bridge, the earliest cast-iron railway bridge to still be in place over an operational railway anywhere in the world. Built between 1830 and 1834, the Grade II-listed bridge is recognised by Historic England as a significant structure on the Transpennine route. It overlooked trains steaming into Leeds during the city’s Industrial Revolution textile production boom and served as a main access bridge to Barnbow Munitions Factory during the First World War. After renovations in 1943 and 1999, the cast-iron girders, bridge deck, parapets and original iron railings will be carefully removed for off-site repair and renovation. Once reinstated, the historic bridge will be raised by about five feet to create enough room for the…

FOR a landmark birthday in January, my daughter arranged a day out for four of us on the Belmond ‘British Pullman’ on Thursday, April 24. My good friend Alan Rawlings, of the Merchant Navy Locomotive Preservation Society, had also planned a special welcome by the train crew at Victoria. After cocktails, I was met by Peter Underwood, who took us through the barriers and up front to meet the crew before the other passengers appeared. There, Jim and Don Clarke and Tim Steadman welcomed me and we had a lovely photographic session and chat before boarding Pullman car Ione. For me, the day was about enjoying the cuisine, the company, and the service – but also one to record the performance of No. 35028 Clan Line, so I got busy…

At the Bluebell it might be Sharpthorne Tunnel, for the Ffestiniog it could Pen Cob or the spiral at Ddualt, while the Severn Valley has the likes of Victoria Bridge and Eardington Bank, to name but two examples. These are just a select few locations that are synonymous with their respective railways. As stills cameras have become more affordable, so too has the number risen of people flocking to the lineside to capture passing trains. Yet anyone who has been to Kinchley Lane on a Great Central Railway gala day will be familiar with the crowds that congregate there, many of whom will come away with a near-identical shot to the people either side of them. Photography is, for some, an art, while to others it is merely a relaxing…

The living history museum that is Beamish has seen steam-operated passenger services return to its Rowley station for the first time since 2020, with the journeys forming part of a nine-day-long festival of transport. Though trains have run at Beamish since then, passenger services along the standard gauge line have been absent until their return on May 24, when Manning Wardle 0-6-0ST No. 1210 Sir Berkeley arrived back in County Durham on loan from the Vintage Carriage Trust. Paul Jarman, director of development (transport, industry and design), said: "The absence of a working passenger train at Rowley has been keenly felt since the operation was suspended at the point of the museum's closure due to the Covid-19 restrictions five years ago. It was important to us that we could get things…

The North Yorkshire Moors Railway has added two further locomotives to its diesel gala line-up, with one joining the resident fleet for an extended summer stay. Already announced Class 55 Deltic No. 55009 Alycidon and Class 50 'Hoover' No. 50021 Rodney will be accompanied by Class 33 'Slim Jim' No. 33202 Dennis G Robinson and Class 37 'Tractor' No. 37688 Great Rocks for the June 12-15 gala. The quad of visitors join resident Class 31 No. 31128 Charybdis, Class 37 No. 37264 and Class 47 No. 47077 North Star. Following the event, Great Rocks will remain on the line to assist with operations during the summer to support the home fleet at times of high fire risk, with the line having been run without steam for the majority of May.…

WANTED Your lighter takes If you've got a quirky photo, tale, poem, or anything else you think might be appropriate, please email staff writer Owen Hayward on ohayward@mortons.co.uk A NAMEPLATE that is to go under the hammer at a GW Railwayana auction on July 19 will bring into the limelight a Southern Railway Pacific that was unique in a way that bypassed steam era trainspotters and indeed many enthusiasts since. It is 66 Squadron, from Battle of Britain No. 34110, which was built at Brighton in January 1951 as the last of the class. Only eagle-eyed spotters whose interest stretches beyond the engine's number - in other words, very few - would have noticed that the Pacific's nameplate was not accompanied by a crest. No. 34110 went into my notebook…