Heritage Railway Issue 290

I cannot recall an event on a heritage line where our mailbox was deluged with the amount of photographs as were submitted during and immediately after the Great Central Railway’s January 28-30 winter steam gala, as featured on pages 44-49. The quality of submissions was excellent and selecting those for publication out of the avalanche proved the hardest task of the month. There were sufficient numbers to fill the entire magazine several times over, and those that did not make it were by no means lesser quality pictures by any reckoning. I wholeheartedly thank everyone for sending them in. The gala had everything going for it: blue skies, a home fleet in fine form backed by two attractive guest engines, a combination of passenger and freight workings at a venue…

UNDERGOING testing on the Severn Valley Railway, BR Standard Class 7 Pacific No. 70000 Britannia found itself at the centre of FA Cup fever when it was parked next door to Kidderminster Harriers’ Aggborough stadium on the morning of the fourth round home clash with premiership outfit West Ham United. BBC Match of the Day presenter Mark Chapman visited Kidderminster station on Saturday, February 5, where Britannia was on hand to welcome him. Footplate first-timer He took the opportunity for a ride on the footplate as Britannia set back out of the station with seven Mk.1 carriages. It was his first time on a footplate and afterwards he commented that he enjoyed it, especially blowing the whistle, saying: “It was hard work!” He said watching the footplate crews had made…

AFTER final assembly and testing at Locomotive Services Limited in Crewe during January, BR Standard Pacific No. 70000 Britannia and its tender were transported by road on Monday, January 24, to Kidderminster for live testing and running in on the Severn Valley Railway which, closed at the time, made it an ideal test base. Most locomotive arrivals take place at Bridgnorth but due to the rebuilding of the embankment at Sterns (issue 289), the line is severed between Hampton Loade and Bridgnorth, making that impossible. Instead No. 70000 and tender arrived on January 25 at Kidderminster on two Allely’s low-loaders, with a support coach on a third. Unloaded onto SVR metals where Britannia is no stranger, after coupling up a fire was lit the same evening in Kidderminster yard, warming…

JUST over a decade since it was last sold and less than three years after returning from its most recent overhaul, GWR 4-6-0 No.4953 Pitchford Hall has been offered for sale by owner and Epping Ongar Railway managing director Roger Wright. Following a recent review of EOR operational requirements, it was decided that 1932-built No. 4953 was considered excessive for the six-mile branch – of which only 3½ miles is between the line’s two stations. Rolling stock manager Tony Goulding said: “At the time, and with not much else on the market, its purchase secured a steam presence for the line, and it was felt Pitchford Hall would also make an ideal flagship locomotive for the railway’s reopening in 2012. However, while more than capable of tackling our steep gradients,…

AT LNWR Heritage at Crewe, A4 Pacific No. 4498 Sir Nigel Gresley, still carrying wartime black livery, is being worked on by the Gresley Society and is in an advanced stage of completion. Negotiations yet to be finalised are taking place between the Severn Valley Railway and LNWRH regarding running in. On January 31, No. 4498 passed its hydrologic boiler test, resetting its boiler clock. If all goes well, the locomotive could be tested on the SVR in late or February or March but will have to clock up about 1000 miles, which is higher than Britannia because it has not run for such a long time due to the more in-depth overhaul it has received. A possible train with the SVR teak carriages is presently being considered. Locomotive Services…

THE Great Western Society has scooped the Heritage Railway Association’s Interpretation award for 2022. The annual award, sponsored by Heritage Railway magazine, has been given for 60 years of excellence for the society’s ever-expanding collections of exhibits, ranging from its locomotives and rolling stock collection down to museum display and railway relics and extensive photographic archive, plus the activities of the education team and individual attractions such as the Swindon signalling panel, the genuine Second World War air raid shelter and the re-enactors team. As highlighted in our special 60th anniversary special feature in issue 282, the venue, which houses the biggest collection of historic rolling stock from any railway company in the world, had its beginnings in 1961 when four teenage enthusiasts, disappointed by the omission of a GWR…