Indholdsfortegnelse for Issue 302 i Heritage Railway

INTHE depthsofwinter, Cornwallhasbeengenerating international headlines – not this time for its stunning summer landscapes, its temperatures and sunsets, its Atlantic surfing waves and cream teas, but as the location of Britain’s first rocket launch into space. Roads were gridlocked as locals and visitors alike flocked to Newquay Airport to glimpse a converted Boeing 747 jet named Cosmic Girl take off from Spaceport Cornwall on the evening of January 9 at the airport and cruise up to 35,000 feet to release the 24-tonne LauncherOne rocket carrying nine satellites from seven civilian and defence customers to head into orbit. Sadly, the rocket did not burn sufficient fuel to reach the right altitude, failed to release the cluster of satellites, and burned up on re-entry into the atmosphere – a mission failure! Nonetheless,…

GWR 2-6-2T No. 4555, now owned by the Dartmouth Steam Railway, features in a new mural which has been unveiled at Network Rail’s Yatton station, once the junction for the Strawberry Line to Shepton Mallet. The vibrant artwork created by Clevedon-based Damien Jeffery was officially revealed at a celebratory event on January 10. The design, sprayed on to a shipping container that houses hire bikes, also features a yellow siskin bird, a kingfisher, strawberries, forget-me-nots, and pine leaves from the Dawn Redwood (one of the trees planted around Yatton as part of the Treasured Trees project in 2012) and a sprightly Springer Spaniel leaping in the air. The container belongs to Strawberry Line Cycle Hire and houses adapted bikes for use by people with disabilities. Brightening it up was the…

THE suddensnowfallofDecember11 led to picturesque moments for Santa specials, illumination trains and Polar Expresses in several parts of the UK, but the joy was short-lived for some as a week of below-freezing temperatures led to big problems – with Friday, December 16 proving the worst. Perhaps the railway that suffered the most was the Spa Valley. On that morning, four of the six carriages forming the rake for its Polar Express trains were not serviceable. Volunteers arriving for duty discovered that water had got into the vacuum braking system the day before, potentially as condensed steam before freezing in the overnight sub-zero temperatures, resulting in damage rendering the carriages unfit for passenger service. Following discussions with event operator PNP Events, it was decided that a static show would instead be…

THE Northampton & Lamport Railway has issued an SOS appeal for £87,500 to reopen its Bridge 13, which has just been closed because of deteriorating timbers. The large timbers on this mid-point bridge, which run lengthways and secures the track to the steel structure, have unexpectedly deteriorated in recent months, to the point that trains were stopped from running over it as from January 1, when the last mince pie specials ran. Accordingly, services can now run over just part of the existing line, with the northernmost third currently closed. Due to the size of the necessary 40ft-long, 10in-deep and 16inwide timbers, they are expensive and can be purchased only from specialist suppliers. Four are needed to reopen the bridge to traffic, two for immediate replacements and two for spares.…

A £100,000appealtocompletethe restoration of Swanage Railway-based William Adams LSWRT3 4-4-0 No. 563 has been launched. The Swanage Railway Trust 563 Locomotive Group aims to have the locomotive in steam in May – for the first time in more than 75 years. The 1893-built T3 has been undergoing its overhaul by Victorian locomotive restoration experts at Bill Parker’s Flour Mill workshop at Bream, in the Forest of Dean. Sustained hard work by Flour Mill staff has focused on the laborious task of fitting stays to the boiler and firebox, which has now reached the throat plate and backhead areas. The angle ring at the front of the boiler will be riveted into place soon before the boiler is turned to be the right way up and the stay fitting continues. The…

THE oldest working GWR locomotive on the GloucestershireWarwickshire Railway, 42XX 2-8-0T No. 4270, bowed out of service in style on January 2 after hauling its last passenger train for the foreseeable future. No. 4270 had been running on an extension to its boiler certificate, extended by three months for it to take part in the railway’s successful mixed traction gala at the end of October, as highlighted in issue 300. During December, it worked on every Santa special day, as well as the post- Christmas mince pie specials. The 42XXs were designed by George Jackson Churchward specifically for use on heavy coal trains in South Wales. All were Swindon-built by the Great Western Railway, with the first of the class appearing in 1910. Eventually, the class totalled 165 and were…

EXPERTS at Historic England have identified a coal refuelling stage at the Locomotion museum in Shildon as the first of its kind in Britain – and maybe the world. The coal drops were designed to speed up the process of refuelling steam locomotives hauling coal to docks on the River Tees for onward shipment and were built in 1847 by the Stockton & Darlington Railway. As a result of new research into the site, Historic England now believes that the site, known locally as the ‘coal drops’, was the first-ever attempt to mechanise, by the use of gravity, the process of refuelling steam locomotives in Britain. Before then, refuelling was a labour-intensive process involving men shovelling coal by hand into a locomotive’s tender. Shildon became a transport hub for coal…

THE modern-day reincarnation of the LNER has unveiled an evocative 2023 calendar exactly 100 years after the launch of the original company. Described as a collector’s edition, the calendar’s cover features an image at Darlington station of No. 60103 Flying Scotsman, itself a century old this year, with a dieselelectric hybrid Azuma, the legendary Pacific’s East Coast Main Line spiritual successor that entered service in 2019. David Horne, managing director of LNER – the new company does not use ‘and’ in its name, unlike the original – said the history of the LNER, which ran its first services on January 1, 1923, was both humbling and inspiring. “Thanks to industry legends such as Sir Nigel Gresley, the LNER name became synonymous with speed, comfort and style, as seen in his…

THE auditing of its‘spectacular’ accounts from 2021 has given the Llangollen Railway an insight into how its income avenues were divided, as it reflects on a challenging 2022 but a year that has seen the financial position improve despite continued challenges. As previously reported, following a financial crisis, on March 1, 2021, Llangollen Railway plc entered receivership, with debts of about £350,000. Operation of the railway was handed over to the Llangollen Railway Trust and the line reopened in July 2021. The 2021 accounts revealed that £215,000 in donations from the public was subsequently received in support of the Full Steam Ahead and rolling stock appeals, with a significant £353,000 in grant income by way of Covid relief grants from the Welsh Government’s Cultural Recovery Fund and business rates relief…

Summer holidays have long been a trademark of Swanage and its glorious coastline, yet a special new year event on the Isle of Purbeck’s heritage line proved yet again that the crowds will turn up in winter too, if the right product is on offer. The Winter Warm Up event of January 7/8 had an even split of two of each steam and diesel locomotives in operation, offering something for fans of each type of traction. In action were Southern Railway U class 2-6-0 No. 31806, recently returned to traffic unrebuilt Battle of Britain class Bulleid Pacific No. 34040 Manston, Class 50 diesel-electric No. 50026 Indomitable and Class 33 dieselelectric No. D6515 Lt Jenny Lewis RN. Operating to an intensive timetable, trains ran between Norden, Corfe Castle, Harman’s Cross and…

THE Settle and Carlisle line looks set to be a popular route for Statesman Rail day trips, the first running on January 28. It starts at Uttoxeter at 8.30am, running via Derby and Sheffield before the serious climb begins northbound at Settle. Return is via Shap, with a Uttoxeter return at a civilised 7.30pm. The February 18 train starts at Chester-le-Street at 8.10am before heading south, picking up en route through Durham, Darlington, York and Leeds. Again, it is a northbound run to Carlisle, from where it heads east along the Hadrian line to Newcastle and reaches Chester-le-Street at 4pm. Its final destination, Leeds, is reached at 6.35pm. Following the usual pattern over the Settle and Carlisle line, two more take place on April 5 and April 22. Hereford is…

TWO steamnameplates – 222 Squadron with badge from SR BoB No. 34078 and Shooting Star from Britannia No. 70029 – accompanied by a‘Cambrian Coast Express‘ headboard and a SRWest Country class Devon badge were five-figure successes in Great Central’s December 3 auction, as reported in last month’s column. Also as reported, other nameplates to go to new homes were Seaton, Mabel and Bronzino, from SR West Country class No. 34020, LNWR/LMS Precedent No. 619/5060, and LNER A2 Pacific No. 60539 respectively. With these high-fliers making the immediate post-sale headlines, further nameplates and other locomotive items such as smokebox, cabside and worksplates, and station signs including totems deserve a share of the limelight in this issue’s column. Sixth main line nameplate For starters, a sixth main line steam nameplate that sold…

THE announcementofHornby’s2023 catalogue of models brought something for all as the company introduced several new toolings and prepared to celebrate Flying Scotsman’s centenary and also the 10th anniversary of the National Railway Museum’s‘Great Gathering’. For full details of the new range, visit Hornby.com Anniversaries honoured As lead sponsor for the year of celebrations for the world’s most famous steam locomotive, it comes as no surprise that six different variants of Flying Scotsman from the last 100 years are on offer, including as-built condition as LNER No. 1472, its USA tour appearance with twin tenders, cowcatcher, bell and headlight as No. 4472, and its current BR lined green guise as No. 60103.These will all form part of the Hornby Dublo range, with diecast bodies and retro-style packaging.The RRP starts at £362.99,…

Gordon Newton knows the importance of passing on the baton. Following in the footsteps of his family, among them his great grandfather Israel, grandfather Harry and father Fred, Gordon was the sixthgeneration Newton to take the helm of the family’s Bradford-based boiler works business, Israel Newton & Sons. The late Fred Dibnah visited the works during his BBC Two documentary series, Made in Britain, which saw him travel around the country in his restored traction engine. Fred was shedding light on industries and skills that we are now in very real danger of losing – and some we have since sadly lost. BESTT (The Boiler and Engineering Skills Training Trust) was born out of the need to halt the decline and the ultimate death of those engineering skills that are…

PEOPLE keep asking what the NRM is doing to acknowledge SirWilliam’s care of Flying Scotsman for 23 years after he rescued it from dereliction in the States. Obviously, I must answer‘nothing’, but those who have been to record their experiences with her are a bit bemused – after all, were it not for SirWilliam, there would be no Scotsman. The NRM has consistently ignored his role in its existence, and I am sad he is no longer with us to stamp his foot a little, though that was never his way. However, if, as at its relaunch, Pegler is beatified and Sir William is ignored, many will be upset and bewildered – as Sir William was then! When I hear Alan Pegler’s daughter saying how much her father loved the…

Those who have long yearned to become a train driver can realise their dreams behind the controls of a Pacer DMU on the Llanelli & Mynydd Mawr Railway. The heritage line at Cynheidre and the South Wales Railcar Group are offering Pacer driving experience days under full instruction from a qualified driver instructor. The line is home to Class 142 No. 142006, which was retired from main line duties in late December 2020, and Class 143 No. 143607, which came out of service in May 2021. Each experience will include a full safety brief, the opportunity to fully prepare the unit for service, and shunt it over track not available for passenger use, and three complete journeys over the LMMR running line. It also includes a personalised certificate signed by…

WHEN the Arctic weather saw Severn Valley Railway’s shunting team arrive for duty on December 16, only to find Class 08 No. 13201 with flat batteries, there was much head scratching to find a solution to perform the morning shunts required. No. 13201 was the only operational ‘Gronk’ out of five at Kidderminster, and needed to be recharged before it could be started up. The solution came in the form of GWR 0-6-0PT No. 7714. Having undergone a valve and piston exam and a repaint (as reported last issue), the locomotive was out on test and so the opportunity was seized to have it cover for the diesel while it was ‘plugged in’ to charge. However, the solution threw up another problem – the pannier was facing Bridgnorth, which meant…

NEGOTIATIONS‘behind the scenes’have resulted in the successful conclusion of BR Standard 9F 2-10-0 No. 92214 Leicester City’s future on the Great Central Railway. In mid-2022, its owner indicated a wish to secure the locomotive’s longterm future, which saw negotiations commence with a view for the ‘Spaceship’ remaining on the 81/4-mile Loughborough to Leicester line. Chairman Richard Patching said: “Negotiations can’t always be rapid, and maintaining confidentiality for everyone is paramount; nevertheless, the discussions proved to be positive and cordial throughout, leading to a most successful outcome for all parties. “Patience pays off and I am sure that all GCR supporters will welcome the result.” An important factor, the owner felt, was that No. 92214 should remain at the GCR, where it will be well looked after and continue to play…

IT IS withimmensesadnessthatwe must record the death of Peter Kelly, who played a pivotal role in the founding and launch of Heritage Railway magazine 24 years ago. It was at 9am on a Monday morning in January 1999 that I telephoned CMS Publishing in nearby Stamford, Lincolnshire, inquiring if the firm might need the services of a freelance journalist for one or more of their niche titles. By chance, Pete answered the telephone. I had been aware of his tremendous and hugely acclaimed track record in magazine publishing but had never met or spoken to him before. However, within two minutes, we had established a mutual understanding and rapport, and we agreed to meet at the Periwig pub in Stamford town centre to discuss matters. In short, later that day,…

TWO stalwartperformersonthe SevernValley Railway have been withdrawn from traffic after a decade of sterling service. The boiler tickets of GWR Churchward 2-8-0 No. 2857 and Hawksworth WR 0-6-0PT expired after they pulled their last trains at the beginning of the new year. Built in Swindon in 1918, No. 2857 was among the first batch of 28XXs, the first of which appeared in 1903. Production continued up to 1942, the class eventually totalling 167. For more than 60 years they hauled long-distance heavy freight trains on the GWR and into BR days. During its life on the main line, No. 2857 ran nearly 1.3 million miles. After withdrawal in 1963, it went to Woodham Brothers’Barry scrapyard. One non-working 28XX example was preserved by the National Railway Museum but the 2857 Society,…

SOUTH Africa’s Sandstone Heritage Trust, which, like the rest of the country, suffered badly during the Covid-19 pandemic, is to hold its Easter Steam and Cosmos Festival from April 7-10. Sandstone, the premier 2ft gauge preservation site in the country and possibly the world, is located near Ficksburg in the Eastern Free State on the border with Lesotho. The trust is a private preservation initiative established on a commercial arable farm growing wheat, maize and sunflowers covering 20,000 acres near Ficksburg, and was bought by its present owner, a British-owned company, in 1995. Easter is the time when the cosmos is in full bloom, which has to be seen, and makes a wonderful backdrop to the steam trains. Heritage Railway 254 reported on its major Stars of Sandstone event and…

STEAM traction inspector Bob Hart has just celebrated 60 years working on the footplate, predominantly on steam locomotives. Bob is now employed by Locomotive Services Limited at Crewe as footplate steam inspector, where a small celebration was held for him. He started working on November 5, 1962, as a cleaner of steam engines at Stafford 5C, cleaning ‘Black Fives,’ Class 8s and Fowlers. After four months he transferred to Northwich 8E in 1963 to be a regulator fireman and then after 12 months switched back to Stoke. In 1970, aged 23, Bob, became a passed fireman/secondman at Stoke. Soon after, he returned to Stafford, which was in rapid decline, working the branch to Shrewsbury, which was faring no better. Still keen to follow steam, he transferred to Stoke 5D. However,…

THE first of 125 Preservation’s operational Class 43 High SpeedTrain power cars arrived atWansford on the NeneValley Railway in the early morning of January 10 – in a slight change to the original plan for its journey to RailworldWildlife Haven in Peterborough. Power cars Nos. 43045 and 43060 were originally intended to make their way from storage at Long Marston to the Peterborough site by rail, along with the first HST production coach buffet car No. 40904 (built as No. 40001), but as reported on Headline News, page 6, the NVR’s Fletton Loop main line connection is currently closed in need of repair, meaning that the move had to be undertaken by road. No. 43060 was the first to be offloaded at Wansford, from where it will travel along the…

AS 2022 ended, several heritage railways seized the opportunity to run one last event to fill the void between Christmas and the new year – with several doubling up as locomotive farewells to boot. The first withdrawal came at the East Lancashire Railway. Having been on hire from the Furness Railway Trust since 2021, GWR 0-6-2T No. 5643 bowed out on December 27 and will shortly return to the Ribble Steam Railway at Preston Docks for overhaul to commence. The ELR also bid farewell to Bulleid West Country class No. 34092 City of Wells on January 2 (picture, page 82) as it was withdrawn for an intermediate overhaul that was set to commence in the railway’s own workshops at Bury almost immediately. The first job will be a firebox inspection…

A £4.2 million project to redevelop the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways’workshops at Boston Lodge has been boosted by additional grant aid to allow work to begin. The project, supported by £3.1 million from National Lottery Heritage Fund, aims to conserve the remaining 19th-century buildings so they can continue to function effectively. Boston Lodge is in the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest railway workshop in continuous operation. Also funded by the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways Trust and the Ffestiniog Railway Society, the project will see new buildings erected, while attracting more visitors and providing work, training and volunteering opportunities in Porthmadog and the wider area. In a statement, the railway said it is enormously grateful to its funders which, in these economically challenging times, have all increased…

LIKE so many other heritage railways, the pandemic lockdown period and the ramifications arising from it proved challenging for the Midland Railway – Butterley. However, with a renewed board of directors and a growing band of determined volunteers, the way forward looks bright. Following the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions in mid-2021, the resumption of services have largely been in the hands of DMUs, periodically supplemented with diesel locomotive haulage. Steam services returned for last year’s festive season services following a sold-out one-night debut on the November 5 Bonfire Night service. The boiler certificate of Hunslet WD Austerity 0-6-0ST No. 3883 of 1944 Lord Phil, which has been on loan to Butterley since 2019, expired at the beginning of 2022 and the locomotive is currently undergoing overhaul in the Swanwick workshops.…

THE Glasgow & SouthWestern Railway’s Ayr Station Hotel, which dates from 1885, is on borrowed time, after South Ayrshire Council decided on December 15 to go ahead with demolition of the southern section of the B-listed building at a cost of £6.6 million. The demolition will not take place for 18 months, however, while a compulsory repair order is served on the absentee owner, Malaysian businessman Eng Huat Ung, in the slim hope that he will comply, repair the building, and allow it to remain standing while a sustainable use, with funding streams, is found for it. Councillors made clear that they do not wish to see the demolition of the hotel, once a prestige establishment built and run by the railway to develop holiday and tourist traffic in and…

THE 132-year-old canopy at the entrance to Knaresborough station has been restored to its former glory. The Grade II-listed structure – which provides passengers protection from the elements as they enter the station building from Station Road – has received attention from Network Rail in order to secure its future. The work carried out has seen a complete roof renewal and redecoration throughout into the traditional white and green livery. This is the latest work to be carried out at the station near Harrogate, which has additionally seen the platform canopies restored in 2016 and an upgrade of the station roof in 2019 at a cost of £150,000. Now that the canopy over the entrance has been restored, it matches the work already carried out on other parts of the station…

A £35,000appealhasbeenlaunchedto help fund work for the Bluebell Railway’s newly acquired Class 73 electro-diesel No. 73133, formerly named The Bluebell Railway, that will see the bodywork rubbed back to bare metal to allow areas of corrosion to be treated, with a view to having the locomotive available for service as soon as the spring. Speaking on a visit to inspect the locomotive at Arlington Fleet Services Ltd at Eastleigh works on January 3, project manager Paul Auckland said:“We have been looking at the locomotive today, doing a more detailed inspection, and found that some areas that have been corroded have had fibreglass put on many years ago, perhaps seen as a temporary job, which we now hope to fully put right. “The corroded material will be cut out as we…

Much has happened in the 19 months since my last visit to London North Western Railway Heritage works at Crewe – not only on the steam locomotive front, but also with modern traction. The works physically covers the large area between the main line station and the avoiding lines. Located in the old diesel shed which it bears no resemblance to, it is now a modern engineering environment, making it an ideal site in which to work. The works accommodates the requirements of LNWRH to overhaul and service most types of traction. On site is a newly built boiler shop, carriage sheds, and maintenance facilities. Unlike the old diesel shed, it is a clean, bright and a well-organised workplace. When I last visited on April 13, 2021, BR Standard Class…

Tour promoters A1SLT A1 Steam Locomotive Trust 01325 488215 BEL Belmond Pullman 0845 0772 222 IC Intercity 0800 038 5364 MP Midland Pullman midlandpullman.com NB Northern Belle northernbelle.co.uk PT Pathfinder Tours 01453 835414 RTC Railway Touring Company 01553 661500 SD Steam Dreams 01483 209888 SRPS Scottish Railway Preservation Society 0131 202 1033 SR Statesman Rail 0345 310 2458 ST Saphos Trains 0800 038 5320 UKRT UK Railtours 01438 715050 VT Vintage Trains 0121 708 4960 WCR West Coast Railways 0333 996 6720 JANUARY 28 ‘The Winter Cumbrian Mountain Express’ London Euston, Carlisle and return. Steamhauled between Carnforth (outward) and Preston (return). Loco: Class 86 + Steam TBA. RTC 28 Settle & Carlisle Circular Circular tour from Uttoxeter. Diesel-hauled throughout. Loco: TBA. SR 28 Midland Meander Lunch Circular tour of London…

Without doubt, winter is the most evocative time when it comes to steam trains: still days, freezing temperatures and the combination of low winter sun creates an atmosphere all of its own. By far these are the best days to either be out at the lineside or sitting inside a steamheated carriage and enjoying the view through a misted-up window. However, our winters are not ‘real’ ones anymore thanks to global warming. So far this winter, we have had about two weeks of serious frosts when the temperature stayed below freezing for an extended period. Yes, there has been the occasional day of frost, and snow in some parts of the country, but it has been localised and intermittent. Longrange forecasts predict that the weather will continue to stay mild…

SO,‘Old King Coal’is now seen to be a dirty old soul, and the‘green lobby has had some success in discouraging what few attempts have been made to open new, often open-cast coal mines. Agreed, one can always import from countries like Russia and Colombia and run the gauntlet of the human rights lobby, or even further from Australia, with a larger CO2 output just for the journey. And also, at what price will preserved railways pay to fuel their locomotives in a sustainable future? Could we have our own ‘dash for gas’? Butane is used on the larger scales of live steam model railways. How about a bit of blue sky thinking and have compressed natural gas powering bigger steam locomotives? It would seem not impossible to put a much…

THIS publicationwouldhavemade an ideal Christmas present, for it’s an absolute cracker, writes Geoff Courtney. Within its pages are 180 superb and imaginative images of the 1950s and early 1960s by a master photographer, admirably supported by informative captions that are stories in their own right and not merely just an adjunct to each illustration. The author of the captions is Leslie Price, who was born into a railway family in Shrewsbury in 1945 and spent his early days in a house that backed onto the main line to Crewe. “I went to sleep listening to the sound of a Princess Coronation Pacific pounding up the 1-in-124 climb to Harlescott crossing with the heavy overnight‘York Mail’,”he said. His father was an LMS goods guard and in the 1950s a passenger guard…

ELEVEN HIGHLY individual and characterful cottages set in peaceful gardens within walking distance of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway and the pretty market town of Pickering. A selection of cottages ranging from two-five bedrooms, all with log fires or wood burners. Six dog-friendly cottages available, and a secure children’s playground for our younger guests. In addition to the easy proximity of Pickering and the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, Hungate is located on the doorstep of Yorkshire’s finest sights including York, Castle Howard, the North Yorkshire Moors National Park and the coastal towns of Whitby and Scarborough. ■ www.hungatecottages.co.uk ■ 01751 476382 ■ holidays@hungatecottages.co.uk…

EXCLUSIVE NEWLY-REPAINTED LNER streamlined A4 Pacific No. 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley is to steam on the NeneValley Railway for Easter – provided that the main line connection is upgraded in time. It will be the first visit to a heritage line that No. 60007 will make following its repaint into BR express blue livery. The locomotive will haul regular passenger trains, and the public will have the opportunity to access the footplate via the corridor tender for a pre-booked supplementary fare while the train is in motion. There will also be two LNER-themed evening dining trains, the ‘Silver Jubilee’ and the ‘Coronation’, as well as an evening photographic opportunity hosted by the NVR Wagon Group. However, its arrival depends on the completion of work to repair and reopen the Fletton…

THEWest Somerset Railway was starting emergency repairs and taking legal action after its running line was severed by a landslide following heavy rainfall before Christmas. The collapse of the embankment occurred on the morning of Tuesday, December 20 at Tribble Bridge alongside the A358 near Combe Florey, a short distance from Bishops Lydeard. It left the line covered in mud and a large portion of potato crop from a field alongside, with drainage channels blocked. The A358 was closed for more than hour while flooding and debris was cleared. Several local residents also found their back gardens filled with mud. However, the railway was left with a major engineering challenge, resulting in experts being hired to assess the whole area near the bridge. Change of plan The landslip occurred during…

THIS yearmarksnotjustthecentenaryof the‘Big Four’and the A3 Flying Scotsman, but also the 100th anniversary of the K-type Pullman.This very long-lived design was also the first Pullman to feature a separate steel underframe. The Bluebell Railway’s Car 54, built by Clayton in Lincoln, was one of the first three of the type. It is coming to the end of a thorough overhaul in the workshops at Horsted Keynes, and is seen up on the jacks, where it has been for some time while the brake gear is remade, steam heating fitted, and electrical work completed. The overhauled bogies have now been fitted with new springs. The final fitting-out of the toilet compartment, guard’s compartment and guard’s vestibule remains, plus exterior painting, lettering, lining and varnishing.…

FOLLOWING completion of ongoing maintenance, Snowdown Mountain Railway trains will operate to the summit this year for the first time since 2019. For the last three years the summit section of the only rack-and-pinion railway in the UK and Hafod Eryri visitor centre at the summit itself have been closed, initially because of the Covid-19 pandemic but also as a result of essential upper mountain trackwork. Services have been terminating at its early season destination of Clogwyn. The mountain railway will reopen on April 1, with diesels still terminating at Clogwyn as is customary for this early season. Summit services will recommence on May 13, with steam trips starting two days later. The railway management and employees are currently preparing for the start of the 2023 and a recruitment drive…

RECORD-breaking Class 91 No. 91131, the last locomotive to be built at Crewe Works, is to go on permanent display in the Museum of Scottish Railways at Bo’ness. The 25kv overhead electric locomotive set a record for the UK’s fastest passenger train, reaching 154mph with a Newcastle to Peterborough train on June 2, 1995. This occurred on Stoke Bank, just south of Little Bytham, near the spot where LNER A4 Pacific No. 4498 Mallard set its unbeaten 126.1mph world record on July 3, 1938. Previously, on September 26, 1991, and then numbered No. 91031, the Class 91 hauled five Mk.4 coaches and a driver vehicle trailer on a test run between King’s Cross and Edinburgh Waverley in three hours, 29 minutes and 30 seconds – a timing which is still…

A BELGIAN-builtformerSpanishmine railway locomotive that became part of the mysterious‘Collection X’, owned by the late Peter Rampton, has been bought and returned to Brugelette in Belgium. Société Métallurgique de Couillet 0-6-0T Works No. 1318 was built in 1900 as the third locomotive to work the Hullersas de Sabero, a Spanish industrial railway system comprising both metre and 600mm gauge lines that served what became the second most important mining system in the country. No. 1318, allocated fleet No. 3 Olleros, was built in Hainaut-Sambre, Belgium, to work the 6km line that ran between Olleros de Sabero and Las Quemadas Sotillos in north west Spain and serving the various coal mines along the route. Established on September 7, 1892, the railway was transporting an average of 1600 tonnes of coal per…

A DAYbeforetheHytheFerrywasdue to sail for the last time – plunging the future of the 2ft gauge Hythe Pier Railway into doubt – a potential buyer has come forward. Lee Rayment, managing director of Blue Funnel Cruises Ltd, who bought the 135-year-old ferry operation from White Horse Ferries in 2016 when it last faced the threat of closure, issued a statement on December 21, which said that it was scheduled to cease trading on New Year’s Eve. The statement read:“It has sadly got to a point where Hythe Ferry has reached a position whereby it is no longer financially viable to continue trading as a business, despite best efforts, cutbacks and voluntary assistance. In fact, we are now running at a loss, which cannot be sustained during the historically quiet winter…

THEWELSHPOOL & Llanfair Light Railway is appealing for funds for the overhaul of its 1949-built Drewry 0-6-0DM No. 7 Chattenden. The reprofiled wheelsets for the former Upnor & Lodge Hill Railway locomotive have been returned to Llanfair Caereinion from the Vale Of Rheidol Railway, and volunteers will now set to work reuniting them with the chassis. While Chattenden can haul passenger services in an emergency, it is regularly used for heavy civil engineering duties and general line maintenance. A WLLR statement said:“We are currently raising funds to conduct a major overhaul on this magnificent piece of history. If you’d like to support this appeal or learn more about donating, please visit wllr.org.uk/appeals/ ITV’s This Morning presenters Alison Hammond and Josie Gibson paid a visit to the Keighley & Worth Valley…

LANCASHIRE & Yorkshire Railway Horwich Works 18in gauge shunter 0-4-0T Wren could temporarily leave the National Railway Museum for display at another as yet unconfirmed venue. One of eight shunting locomotives built for the locomotive building workshops tramway, Wren was constructed by Beyer Peacock & Co in 1887 and by 1948 was the only survivor operating the truncated remains of the system. It worked through until 1957, after which it was retained as a standby for the diesel locomotive that replaced it. It is not the first time that interest in Wren has surfaced, as in early 2020 the NRM was approached by Bolton Council and Bolton Museum Services for the loan of both the 18in gauge shunter and L&YR 2-4-2T radial tank No. 1008, to be displayed as part of…

THE Scottish Railway Preservation Society has announced changes to its plans for diesel operation at the Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway this year. Previously, one diesel service was run at 3.45pm on operating weekends, but this arrangement has now been dropped in favour of longer running days, for which a calendar has been confirmed. March 25 will see a full running day before the main SRPS running season begins, and it is planned that Class 26 No. 26038 will make its debut after completing mechanical overhaul. As Heritage Railway went to press, the bodywork had seen the first coat of primer applied after having had some bodywork repaired. Trains will be warmed with electric train heating, powered by either Class 37 No. 37403 or Class 47 No. 47643. Two diesel galas…

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THE restorationoftheIsleofWight Steam Railway’s LBSCR E1 0-6-0T No. 110 has taken a giant leap forward with the ordering of an all-new boiler from Israel Newton and Sons Ltd of Matlock. The sole survivor of a class of 80, the railway aims to have it running again in time for its 150th birthday in 2026. Four similar locomotives came to the island in the 1930s, primarily for goods traffic but also to haul‘the tourist’through trains from Ventnor to Freshwater. The last E1 to run on the island was withdrawn in the 1960s, with all four scrapped. One example survived at Cannock Wood Colliery on the mainland, and it was later preserved at the Chasewater Railway and then the East Somerset Railway. It last ran in preservation in 1997 and was withdrawn…

NATIONAL Highwaysmaybeorderedto remove material it used to infill a historic railway bridge inYorkshire. Selby District Council has ordered the Government-owned company – which has responsibility for operating, maintaining and improving motorways and major A roads in England – to submit a retrospective planning application to retain the infill beneath 1846-built Rudgate Road overbridge spanning the disused Harrogate-Church Fenton line near Newton Kyme. The bridge is one of 3100 bridges, tunnels and viaducts, including 77 listed structures, in the Historical Railways Estate portfolio that is managed by National Highways on the Department for Transport’s behalf. ‘Ongoing risk’ In October 2020, National Highways consultants told the council that the Rudgate Road bridge presented“an ongoing and increasing risk to public safety”and would be infilled at a cost of £133,000“to prevent an emergency arising.”…

TO END a successful year, SaphosTrains placed its recent acquisition, B 1 4-6-0 No. 61306 Mayflower, at the head of its last tour of the year, the‘Pennine Moors Christmas Cracker’on December 21. It was the B1’s first outing under new ownership following its purchase from former Steam Dreams supremo David Buck and with its newly fitted air-pump. The trip started from Leicester with 10 coaches, top-and-tailed by Locomotive Services Ltd’s Class 47s D1935 and D1924. Departure was two minutes late at 8.59am, with the tour heading to Crewe and picking up throughout the Midlands and the Trent Valley. After the locomotive change at Crewe, the B1 took over, departing a minute late for a run to Blackburn and arriving three minutes early. From here the train took the Copy Pit…

LOCOMOTIVE Services Limited’s Midland Pullman starts the year with two trips over the Settle and Carlisle route on February 4 and 22. The February 4 trip starts at Cardiff Central at 6.45am, returning at 9.45pm, and picking up at Newport, Chepstow, Gloucester, Cheltenham and other points further north for a run over the route, returning via Shap. The tour on February 22 starts at Potters Bar at 5.50am, returning at 9.20pm. Routing is via Cambridge, Ely, March, Peterborough and Grantham for pick-ups before a dash across the country to Settle, to follow the same route as the previous trip. Two ‘Whitby Jets’ take place on March 4 and 25, interspersed with several Scottish long weekends. The March 4 ‘Jet’ starts at Aviemore at 5.30am, returning at 10pm, and heads south…

PERHAPS the first big set-piece event on the modelling calendar is only a few weeks away and modellers across the UK will be preparing for a feast of layouts and inspiration. Model Rail Scotland is back at the SEC (Scottish Event Campus) in the heart of Glasgow from Feb 24 to 26. Dozens of layouts are due to be there at the SEC Centre, including Bash Street, Brandywine Junction, Grangemouth, New Hay, New Mills, Greatwestern RR, Calderside and many more, with a wide range of gauges and displays including N, P4, table top, OO gauge and O. And it’s not just the layouts and dioramas, as there will be something to pique everyone’s interest, with various railway models, accessories, techniques of painting, lighting systems, white metal castings and components, plus…

SOUTH EAST Amberley Museum 2ft gauge, ¼ mile. Arundel, West Sussex. Tel: 01798 831370. Open: Weds, W/Es from Jan 14. Bluebell Railway Standard gauge, 11 miles. Sheffield Park, East Sussex TN22 2QL. Tel: 01825 720800. Running: W/Es from Feb 11 + Feb 14 Bredgar & Wormshill Light Railway 2ft gauge, ½ mile. Bredgar, Sittingbourne, Kent. Tel: 01622 884254. Running: W/Es. Chatham Historic Dockyard Standard gauge, one mile. Chatham, Kent. Tel: 01634 820800. Open: Daily from Feb 11. East Kent Railway Standard gauge, two miles. Shepherdswell, Kent. Tel: 01304 832042. Reopens March 2023. Eastleigh Lakeside Railway 10¼in & 7¼in gauge, 1¼ miles. Running: W/Es & Sch Hols. Exbury Gardens & Steam Railway 12¼in gauge, 1½ miles. Exbury, Southampton. Tel: 023 8089 1203. Open: Daily from March 19. Hayling Light Railway 2ft…