Heritage Railway Issue 280

THERE are many people who visit Torbay today, not necessarily by rail, but because of the trains. For decades, the Dartmouth Steam Railway, with its unique blend of sweeping coastal landscapes and estuarine views, has been an Outstanding Visitor Attraction in the south west, and now that has been officially recognised on a national basis by the line winning the major Heritage Railway Association award to that effect. Such an accolade was never as richly deserved as it has been in the past year. With Britain and the rest of the planet plunged into the biggest crisis since the Second World War, the railway was determined not only to survive, but to succeed in the face of adversity. We reported how, despite most full-time staff being on furlough, the management…

A GROUND-BREAKING Herculean effort to pioneer Covid-19 measures to ensure the safety of its travelling public has earned the Dartmouth Steam Railway & River Boat Company the Heritage Railway Association’s Award for Outstanding Visitor Attraction 2021. At the heart of a mainstream holiday destination, the railway, like the rest of the heritage sector, found itself during the first lockdown groping in the dark in a bid to discover or invent new means of keeping its passengers and staff safe in unprecedented and bizarre modern-day circumstances. With all but three of the line’s staff on furlough, managing director John Jones and his head of engineering Paul Merrington spent several weeks working against the clock to break vast amounts of new ground in readiness for the resumption of summer services. As reported…

RAIL Minister Chris Heaton-Harris has backed plans to run passenger services between Darlington and the Weardale Railway, saying that they have “massive potential.” Under the Government’s Restoring Your Railway feasibility study fund scheme announced by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps on January 28 last year, North West Durham MP Richard Holden launched a campaign to reopen the Weardale line to regular services, with a link to Crook (line closed in the 1960s) via Howden-le-Wear and enhanced walking and cycling routes. The Weardale Railway Preservation Society was formed in 1993 to take over the line after freight services ended. In January 2018, the Weardale Railway, at 19 miles one of Britain’s longest heritage lines, was one of two offered for sale by British American Railway Services (BARS), the other being the Dartmoor…

BOB Meanley has rejoined the board of the West Somerset Railway (WSR) as director of mechanical engineering. The Board of the West Somerset Railway is delighted to announce two new appointments, with immediate effect. One of the foremost locomotive engineers of the heritage era, for nearly 25 years Bob was the chief engineer of Tyseley Locomotive Works, overseeing the restoration and operation of much of the Vintage Trains fleet including Castle 4-6-0s No. 5043 Earl of Mount Edgecumbe and No. 7029 Clun Castle. He was responsible for managing the restoration of many other mainline steam engines and for the restreamlining of LMS Princess Coronation Pacific No. 6229 Duchess of Hamilton for the National Railway Museum. He also oversaw the operation of the Vintage Trains operation for nearly 20 years. He…

THE North Yorkshire Moors Railway is set for big-screen stardom after actor Tom Cruise arrived by helicopter in late April to film scenes for his delayed Mission: Impossible 7 blockbuster. The release of the big-budget movie, which will see the 58-year-old actor reprise his role as spy Ethan Hunt, has been delayed from November until May 2022 due to the pandemic disrupting the production and international schedules. Filming was scheduled to begin in Italy in February 2020 but was halted as cases rose in that country. It restarted at locations including Warner Bros Studios Leavesden in Hertfordshire, and as reported in issue 272, at the Great Central Railway. There, a mystery black-liveried ‘Foreign’ Class 7 4-6-2 was spotted from the public overbridge by Loughborough shed. The locomotive – a cleverly-built…

“We discovered the Vintage Trains operation at Tyseley through your magazine so have become shareholders in that venture and were able to go up and visit before the pandemic.” EIGHT-YEAR-OLD enthusiast Josh Davies has joined the battle to save the Llangollen Railway – by raising nearly £500 by cycling, walking and running 60 miles over his Easter holiday. Josh, the son of former National Railway Museum head Steve Davies, now chairman of The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, has been an avid steam fan since he was very young, inheriting his interest from his grandfather. Josh has a substantial Hornby and wooden railway which has gradually taken over his bedroom, his family’s spare room and a part of a hallway during lockdown, and is now determined to help rescue a full-size…