Indholdsfortegnelse for Issue 304 i Heritage Railway

FLYING Scotsman centenary year’s lead sponsor, modelmaker Hornby, has released a new range of metal-bodied 00 gauge limited edition collectors’models to represent the locomotive in six of its ‘incarnations’during its career. The models are part of the Margate manufacture’s modern-day Hornby Dublo range launched in 2020. Each comes in a bespoke box with a medallion featuring Flying Scotsman’s centenary logo, operator, running number and year, plus a numbered commemorative certificate. The six depict the locomotive as LNER A1 No. 1472, LNER A1 No. 4472, LNER A3 No. 103, BR No. 60103, No. 4472 in the Alan Pegler era and No. 4472 in the heritage era with two tenders. There is also a special Flying Scotsman 100th anniversary four-wheel coach. Speaking at the 100th birthday event at Edinburgh Waverley (see page…

GEORGE and Robert Stephenson’s Rocket is now on public display in the Locomotion museum in Shildon after being moved from the National Railway Museum inYork on March 1. Built in nearby Newcastle at Robert Stephenson and Co, the world’s first locomotive workshop, in 1829, it is first time that Rocket has visited Locomotion and will join early legends of the steam age such as Timothy Hackworth’s Sans Pareil and Locomotion No. 1. It is the first time that the trio of early locomotives have been on display together. The temporary move allows Rocket to remain on show to the public while repair work is completed at the NRM’s Station Hall as part of the museum’s Vision 2025 development masterplan. Rocket won the Rainhill Trials, a competition held in 1829 to…

THE Severn Valley Railway may make up to 18 compulsory redundancies in a bid to save an extra £300,000 in staffing costs this year. As reported last issue, the railway is taking steps to address soaring operating costs and falling passenger numbers of up to 30% since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, followed by the current cost-of-living crisis. A SVR statement said: “Taking 2022 and 2023 together, existing measures mean we will have identified a saving of £650,000 in staff costs. This has been achieved by not filling vacancies and redeploying existing staff to cover. We are also having to allow for a significant statutory increase to minimum wage levels. “We need to reduce costs in the coming year. For the first few months of our season, we will…

THE Llangollen Railway has taken delivery of Hunslet 0-4-0DM No. 2145 from theTanatValley Light Railway to aid with shunting duties at the Pentrefelin carriage works. Built in 1940, the locomotive worked the Newport Royal Ordnance Factory, shunting the private sidings that connected to the GWR’s South Wales main line. After withdrawal, it was preserved at the Dean Forest Railway in the early 1970s before moving to the TVR. It has now been purchased by a member of the LR’s Suburban group, which will now restore the locomotive, which has not operated for about six years, and use it for shunting at the carriage shed to relieve Class 08 D3265 of some of the workload.…

THE Mid-Hants Railway has been presented withThe Queen’s Award forVoluntary Service by the Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire, Nigel Atkinson. As reported in issue 295, the award, the highest honour that a voluntary group can receive, was announced in last year’s Platinum Jubilee Honours List, but the presentation ceremony was postponed following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September. It instead took place on February 27. Mr Atkinson said:“This award has been given in recognition of the contribution made by the Watercress Line’s many dedicated volunteers over almost 50 years.” Railway president Richard Lacey said:“Everybody at The Watercress Line is honoured that our efforts have been recognised by this award. “Since 1974, our wonderful volunteers, working with our small core of paid staff, have driven the restoration of the railway…

THE Embsay & BoltonAbbeySteam Railway has purchased Class 20 No. 20110 from the Harry Needle Railroad Company, taking delivery of the newest member of its diesel fleet on February 21. It is the second HNRC diesel sold in recent months, with No. 20166 bought by a member of the Caledonian Railway, as reported last issue, having been advertised by the firm as part of a mass reduction in assets that has seen examples of Classes 08 and 47 listed for disposal. Among the list of available locomotives are also 0-4-0 and 0-6-0 Barclay locomotives and two Class 04s, D2867 (operational at the Battlefield Line) and D2853 (operational and fully restored, based at Barrow Hill Roundhouse). No. 20110 (D8110) was built at Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns’ Darlington Works in January 1962,…

WHEN Class 58 No. 58023 makes its historic first ever heritage sector appearance at the SevernValley Railway’s May 18-21 Spring Diesel Festival, it will be the first time that a ‘Bone’has seen operation in the UK since the withdrawal of the entire class in 2002. The locomotive is one of the special guests lined up for what SVR interim managing director Jonathan ‘Gus’ Dunster said will be a diesel gala on a scale that’s “never been seen before – with up to 13 classes of heritage locomotives and an extensive fleet of visiting modern diesels to mark 50 years of diesels in preservation.” Another guest will be Class 47 No. 47712 Lady Diana Spencer, accompanied by a set of push-pull Driving Brake Second Open coaches, which were specifically designed to…

THE fist service to run over the whole 16 miles of the Weardale Railway for more than three years will operate on Saturday, April 22 following extensive refurbishment of the lined by The Auckland Project, which acquired it in January 2020. In conjunction withWeardale Railway Limited, the project will run the service between Bishop Auckland and Stanhope to coincide with the Bishop Auckland Food Festival, which attracted about 30,000 visitors last year. Festival visitors will be able use the heritage DMU services to explore the Durham Dales, while residents of Stanhope andWolsingham will be able to use them to travel to the event. It is intended to reintroduce regular services from Bishop Auckland to Stanhope, with trains running on selected Saturdays and Sundays during this summer. In May last year,…

THE Swanage Railway’s Heritage Carriage Group took delivery of a new acquisition during February – BR Class 415 4EPB trailer second No. 15396, which was previously located on the Northamptonshire Ironstone Railway. However, this carriage was not purchased for restoration but is acting as a source of spare parts for the Purbeck line’s Bulleid carriage restorations, having contained many such features in its design. No. 15396 was deemed surplus to requirements at the NIR, as it also required a vast amount of time and expenditure to fully restore. The doors on the EPB trailer have been found to be in better condition than those currently fitted to Bulleid semiopen brake third No. 4366 that is one of the group’s projects (alongside maintaining composite No. 5761) and will be salvaged for…

FORMER Snowdonian slate quarry 0-4-0ST Lilla has hauled its first stone train in 68 years. Hunslet No. 554 of 1891 was built for for Cilgwyn Quarry and transferred to Penrhyn Quarry in 1921. It was worked there until it failed a boiler test in 1955 and was laid up. In 1963, Lilla was bought by enthusiast Bernard Latham, who restored it in his back garden and, once operational, moved it to the Knebworth Park & Winter Green Railway in the grounds of Knebworth House, Hertfordshire. After moving to other venues, Lilla came to the Ffestiniog Railway in 1993 for the Hunslet Hundred event – and stayed there. In 1997, it was bought by a consortium of FR members and has remained in the fleet ever since. In October 2004, its…

ONCE astopontheMidlandRailway’s Mangotsfield to Bath branch, Oldland Common is now the northern terminus of theAvonValley Railway. Closed by BR on March 7, 1966, and demolished soon afterwards, volunteers are now fundraising to revert the heritage line’s reconstructed station to a 1960s appearance. The original station was opened on December 2, 1935, to support suburban development in the area, with two wooden platforms long enough for four coaches and winding ramps up to an adjacent road bridge that crossed over the line. The branch connected Bath with the Midland’s Bristol to Gloucester main line, and later the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway connected to it at Bath, where the GWR also had a station. Oldland Common thrived and saw more passengers than Bitton after opening. Although it was a Midland Region…

FOR themanytrainspottersinthe 1950s who were fed on a diet of such pre-Nationalisation grandees as Kings, Merchant Navies, Princess Coronations and A4s, the new Britannia Pacifics were mere B-listers, members of a supporting cast that didn’t warrant top billing. However, they were state-of-the-art locomotives for other enthusiasts whose everyday fayre was rather more mundane, and into that category came those of us living in the eastern environs of London within the proximity of the Liverpool Street to East Anglia route. Yes, we had Gresley’s B17 4-6-0s bearing the names of country houses and football clubs, but they were edging towards their sell-by dates as the decade progressed, and the very last I recorded passing through my local station of Ilford was No. 61625 Raby Castle on a Down Yarmouth express on…

THREE historic long-disused bridges in Devon have undergone repairs totalling £243,000 to ensure that they are safe for years to come while retaining their distinct characters. The repairs have been carried out by the Historical Railways Estate, once part of BR and which is now looked after by National Highways on behalf of the Department for Transport. Elsewhere in Britain, National Highways has been widely criticised for infilling old bridges in its portfolio of 3100 historic structures. Wortha Mill Bridge on Dartmoor, Broadpark Road Bridge at Brentor, and Castle Bridge in Exeter have all undergone an extensive programme of works including masonry repairs, repointing of brickwork, the removal of vegetation and roots that can damage the bridges, and the installation of fencing. Ecology surveys were also undertaken and enhancements such as…

THE Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway has completed significant remedial work on its steel rail-over bridge No. 32, which crosses the road between Gretton and Gotherington, near Prescott. While the highway below was closed for this essential work to be carried out, Gloucestershire County Council took the opportunity to carry out road resurfacing work in the area. The work on Bridge 32 was funded by the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway Trust and undertaken by civil engineering firm Walsh Construction, which has carried out repairs on several of the railway’s bridges and earthworks in recent years. The railway has many steel bridges, all of which are well over 100 years old. Its finance director, Richard Winstanley, said: “These steel bridges are really beginning to show their age. This one is suffering leaking decks following…

LMS 4-6-0‘Black Five’No. 44932 made its way from Carnforth to Hull on February 13 with a rake of passenger stock to participate in a contract filming job – complete with three Southern Railway Bulleid carriages from the Bluebell Railway. The three carriages, Nos. 2526, 1482 and 1464, along with BR Mk.1 buffet No. 1818, were observed departing Sheffield Park over the first few days of the month, their destination a closelyguarded secret. However, all was revealed when the main line convoy behind No. 44932, along with some of West Coast Railway’s own coaching stock and Class 47 No. 47804, arrived at Hull at 11.47am. The stock had been hired by Apple TV for its latest feature film production called Blitz, a wartime drama following the lives of Londoners during the…

fasp stripesfasp stripes THE third project announced under the Ellis ClarkTrains brand has been delivered and is perfect for those operating small layouts or wanting to set the scene of permanent way works. The Wickham type 27 inspection trolleys saw the first example roll out of the firm’s Ware works in 1948 for delivery to Nigerian Railways in Appa, before the Western Region of British Rail received its first Type 27A the following year. Various types of trolley were introduced by Wickham, and examples of this type could be found operating on the network right up until the mid-1990s. Their ability to ferry up to eight people with a light amount of equipment, or even more when towing accompanying trailers, meant they were incredibly useful and cheap to operate; their…

THE end of January saw RapidoTrains’ N gauge class 28 models arrive – the first ever ready-to-run model of the Metropolitan Vickers type 2 diesel electric locomotive. Known as ‘Metrovicks’, ‘Crossleys’ and ‘Co-Bos’, 20 locomotives were built under the pilot scheme for diesel locomotives during BR’s 1955 modernisation plan, being introduced between 1958/59. It was unique in BR practice for having a both a six and four-wheel bogie with drive on all axles. The V8 two-stroke, eight-cylinder Crossley engines were problematic from the off, with frequent failures leading to the return to their builders in 1961 for remedial work to rectify both these and issues with cab windows falling out. They did not last long and were withdrawn after just 11 years in service, with one – D5705 – surviving…

ONE hundred years to the day it moved for the first time out of Doncaster Works to enter LNER traffic as the first of Nigel Gresley’s Pacifics, A3 No. 60103 Flying Scotsman, complete with support coach, appeared at a special celebratory birthday event at Edinburgh Waverley station. Organised by the National Railway Museum, the event was off-limits to the general public and had not been publicly announced – unlike its centenary launch at King’s Cross on October 14 (as highlighted in issue 299) – and took travellers at the station by complete surprise. To mark the occasion, Poet Laurate Simon Armitage read his new work, The Making of Flying Scotsman (a phantasmagoria), while dancers from the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society and South Morningside Primary School performed ‘The Flying Scotsman’,…

IN anothermajorfirstinitsproud100- year history, Flying Scotsman was crewed by an all-female team for three round trips on the East Lancashire Railway to mark InternationalWomen’s Day on March 8. The ground-breaking crew comprised three ELR volunteers in Linda Henderson, Charlotte Instance and Steph Elwood, along with Beth Furness from Network Rail, who drove the A3. Linda began volunteering at the ELR in 1993 at just 14 years old, along with her mum and younger brother. Throughout the years she has taken on many different roles at the railway, including dispatcher and signal operations manager, and in March 2017 she became the ELR’s first-ever female main line locomotive driver. Steph joined the ELR team in October 2021 with a background in maintenance and repair, eager to push herself further and build on…

ADDED tothecalendarofeventsforthe centenary year celebrations for A3 Pacific No. 60103 Flying Scotsman is its first working visit to a Scottish heritage line, at which it will also launch the Strathspey Railway’s first steam gala to take place for several years. While No. 60103 has run through Aviemore before on a railtour on May 10, 2019, double-heading with LNER B1 No. 61306 Mayflower from Edinburgh to Inverness, it has neither visited the Strathspey nor operated public services on any other Scottish heritage line in preservation. It spent two days at the Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway in May 2016 after being stopped from working a Steam Dreams railtour across the Highlands because Network Rail had not completed gauging assessments over the planned Fife and Borders routes in time. During the stay at…

BULLEID West Country light Pacific No. 34027 is to feature in the Severn Valley Railway’s April 14-16 Spring Steam Gala in wartime black livery for the first time. Last year, the locomotive carried purple livery in its temporary identity change as No. 70 Queen Elizabeth II to mark The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. On February 23, No. 34027 emerged from the Bridgnorth Shed resplendent in wartime black, complete with Southern Sunshine lettering and cabside number 21C127. Sunshine lettering was carried on the Southern Railway between 1939 and 1948. Built at Brighton Works in 1946, Taw Valley was originally numbered 21C127 and entered service allocated to Ramsgate Shed before moving to Exmouth Junction in 1947. After Nationalisation, it was renumbered 34027 and rebuilt from its original form at Eastleigh in 1957. Top…

THE Scottish Railway Museum CollectionTrust and the Scottish Railway Preservation Society have approved the temporary repaint of Caledonian Railway 0-4-4T McIntosh 439 class No. 419 in BR lined black livery as No. 55189. The proposal was made by photographic charter group In Search of Steam, and the newlyrepainted Bo’ness & Kinneil Railwaybased locomotive will star in a small number of events in this guise, which will be carried for up to 12 months, after which it will be repainted either back into CR colours or into its LMS guise of No. 15189, an identity it has yet to carry in the heritage era. It could be the final time that the Caley tank appears in BR colours for some time; the owners of No. 419 prefer more ornate liveries on…

THE Mid-Norfolk Railway has delayed the start of its 2023 season while it raises funds to carry out urgent track and bridge repairs. Following the line’s management restructure (announced in issue 303), a new business model was implemented as a matter of urgency. “It has become clear that, like many other heritage railways, the financial climate means that the revenue that the railway is currently raising does not allow it to keep pace with the deterioration of the permanent way,” said a statement from the railway. The most pressing issue is the permanent way in the vicinity of Crownthorpe Bridge and its weigh beams. The track and beams must be replaced immediately to allow running to Wymondham as the rate of deterioration has accelerated since the last six-month inspection, to…

UNRESTORED rebuilt Bulleid light Pacific No. 34058 Sir Frederick Pile, which has been stored at the Mid-Hants Railway since arriving there from the AvonValley Railway in 2011,is being transferred into the ownership of Southern Locomotives Ltd. Taking its tally of light Pacifics to seven, an agreement between SLL (which has already instigated plans for its restoration to commence) and the MHR (where workshop space for the full overhaul of No. 34058 would not have been available for many years) has been reached. The company has now taken on the project alongside the restoration of two of its own locomotives, Nos. 34010 Sidmouth and 35025 Brocklebank Line. No. 34058 was built at Brighton in 1947 with air-smoothed casing and numbered 21C158. Rebuilt in March 1960 with the casing removed, it continued…

THE BluebellRailway’s‘kidsforaquid’ offer proved to be such a successful draw over the February 11-19 half-term that it has been extended to cover most of 2023. With the exception of special events, children aged between three and 15 can now enjoy the discounted travel rate when accompanied by a full fare-paying adult during any weekend and school holiday when trains are running on the 11-mile line. Due to the truncation of the line north of Horsted Keynes, where track relaying was taking place at Vaux End, half-term services were limited to operating between there and Sheffield Park only. However, the holiday was also a perfect opportunity to launch newly-overhauled LBSCR 0-6-0T A1‘Terrier’No. 72 Fenchurch back into traffic following a winter period of finishing off and crew familiarisation training runs. Fenchurch headed…

A KENT & East Sussex Railway volunteer – hailed by one of the line’s managers as “a breath of fresh air”who always strived to ensure visitors had the best time possible at the railway – has reached the final of a prestigious nationwide hunt to find the country’s top tourism superstar. He is 70-year-old Geoff Colvin, the railway’s chief stationmaster, who became a KESR volunteer at the start of the Covid pandemic in 2020 and was promoted to his present role last year. The annual ‘tourism superstar’ competition is run by the official tourist board VisitEngland in partnership with the Mirror newspaper and is now in its 11th year. The 10 finalists, of which Geoff is one, are selected by a panel of judges from hundreds of nominations sent in…

INWHAT was described byTanfield Railway general manager Simon Smith as“the Robson Green effect”, the line got off to a flying start on its first day of operation in 2023. The railway featured in episode seven of BBC2’s Robson Green’s Weekend Escapes, broadcast on January 31 – and well before the first train was due to depart at 11am on February 19, the station car park at East Tanfield was nearly full and the platform thronged with visitors. It soon became clear that the usual four-coach train would not be able to cope with the passenger numbers. Some quick thinking saw Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns 0-6-0ST NCB No. 49, in the hands of driver Jonny Charlton and his fireman Luke Griffith, despatched to the carriage shed for an extra coach. Several…

WHILE mostfamilieshavejustrecovered from the festive season, heritage railways have already been formulating their 2023 Christmas plans – with two lines already releasing their Polar Express tickets for sale. In recent years, these trains, inspired by the 2004 Warner Brothers animated feature film starring Tom Hanks, have proven immensely popular, and demand often exceeds availability, with record visitor numbers often carried over the short time period in which they operate. The on-board entertainment that reenacts scenes from the international box-office smash has won over passengers, the trips offering an experience a step up from the regular Santa Special services. The Telford Steam Railway’s services will commence on Friday, November 24 and operate over 21 days until December 21, initially running Friday to Sunday, but adding Tuesdays to Thursdays to the available…

SCOTLAND’S Saughtreestation, complete with track, working diesel locomotive, two BR tube wagons and a brake van, is up for sale for £500,000 – and current owner Geoff Mann, who bought the then semi-derelict station in 1989 and restored and extended it, would like to see it bought by someone who would keep the train wheels turning. Dating back to 1867, the stone-built station is situated a mile north of the hamlet of Saughtree (pronounced Sawtree) and two miles from the border with England. It once served the Border Counties Railway that linked the Newcastle & Carlisle railway, near Hexham, with the Border Union Railway at Riccarton Junction, Roxburghshire. Its remote location meant it was never served by frequent services, with just one train each way timetabled to call on Mondays,…

DURHAM County Council has been given £161,000 by Historic England to repair and revitalise the remains of the world’s first iron railway bridge. Completed in 1823, Gaunless Bridge was designed by Stockton & Darlington Railway matermind George Stephenson and spanned the River Gaunless in West Auckland. It was the first bridge to use the lenticular truss design, with two curved girders in a lens shape, one above and one below. It is particularly unusual as its wooden deck is installed above the truss girders, whereas in most lenticular trusses, the deck is hung beneath the trusses on rods or cables. Forming part of a branch line serving the Witton Park Colliery, the bridge originally carried horse-drawn coal wagons before steam traction took over in about 1833. It was the first…

EAST Ayrshirecouncillorsreceived a surprise at their meeting on Wednesday, February 15, when they discovered that the council owned a B-listed railway viaduct in Newmilns. It had always been assumed that the 1896-built sandstone and bluebrick 1035ft-long 26-arch structure, which dominates the Ayrshire town, was owned by National Highways, as part of the Historic Railway Estate. However, engineers from the Ayrshire Roads Alliance revealed that the bridge was not listed on its structures databases. Following subsequent enquiries, council ownership was confirmed. The engineers told councillors that repairs costing £99,000 were necessary to keep the structure – which is closed to the public – safe, and part of the town’s heritage. Councillors agreed to the request for funding and so the long-term future of the viaduct, built in 1896 by the Glasgow…

SITTING on what was once the busy line from Falkland Junction to AyrWest Dock is a carriage that’s worth its salt. Thought to be the only Great Eastern Railway carriage in Scotland, the former six-wheeler, with an intact underframe, its Clemenson running gear and fixing points, has found a new life combining railway heritage with high-quality sea salt production. Brought on site in 2021, on appropriately-named Salt Pans Road, by Blackthorn Salt, the carriage, believed to date from the 1880s, is thought to have been designed by the GER’s locomotive and rolling stock chief James Holden and built in the company’s works at Stratford. “We brought it here after we acquired it from Hendrick’s Gin Girvan distillery,” said Whirly Marshall, who founded and directs the Scottish sea salt company with…

THE Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway is mourning the death of its company chairman Frederick (Fred)William John Ellis. Fred was also president of the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway Historic Vehicles Trust, whose chairman, Richard Shepherd, summed up his extraordinary contribution to saving, rebuilding and reopening the LCLR at a new home in Skegness Water Leisure Park, as “quite simply, Fred was the best friend the LCLR ever had.” Born in 1948, Fred attended Skegness Morris School and became a trainee draughtsman with the Anglian Water Board and then a quantity surveyor and contracts manager with Simons of Lincoln. His principal business, Ellis Bros (Contractors) Ltd., was started in 1947 by his father Kenneth and uncles Brian, Ronald and Douglas. The firm was instrumental in newbuild projects after the Second World War…

CONSTRUCTION has begun on the major new collection building at Locomotion in Shildon that will significantly expand the visitor attraction and create one of the world’s biggest collections of historic railway vehicles. Due to open in November, the 2000 square-metre New Hall will house a further 46 vehicles from the National Collection, including carriages, wagons and locomotives, and will celebrate the North East’s role in the development of world railways. It will also be a key hub in plans to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway in 2025. New Hall will be built on the brownfield ‘Ashfield’s’ site, close to the museum. Locomotion’s existing collection building, Main Hall, will remain open to the public as usual during construction. The design of New Hall…

AN appeal has been launched to find a new permanent home for the solesurviving standard LNWR passenger carriage. The six-compartment brake third survived by entering industrial service, while all other preserved LNWR carriages are royal and picnic saloons, TPO, and an observation car. Built at Wolverton in 1917 and a typical LNWR wooden-bodied noncorridor carriage, it survived through LMS and onto BR ownership as No. M22667M before being withdrawn in 1957 and purchased by the National Coal Board in 1958 for use as a ‘Paddy’ train taking miners to work. The Cannock Wood Colliery ‘Paddy’ ran from Hednesford to the colliery but ceased in the mid-1950s due to the older carriages having fallen into disrepair. However, trade union pressure led to restoration of the service in 1958, for which the LNWR…

The 150th anniversary of railways took place between Shildon and Darlington at the end of August 1975. The event celebrated the Stockton & Darlington Railway, which opened on September 27, 1825, when it became the world’s first public railway to use steam locomotives – placing Britain at the head of the global transport revolution that followed in its wake. On that watershed moment in human history, 0-4-0 Locomotion No.1, which hauled an 80-ton train nine miles between Shildon and Darlington at the opening ceremony, was designed and driven by the ‘father of the Railways’, George Stephenson, with a passenger carriage attached for dignitaries. The announcement on February 7 by the National Heritage Lottery Fund that £3,211,630 had been awarded in grant aid towards projects linked to the 2025 bicentenary, as…

FOR the much-anticipated visit to the NeneValley Railway of A4 Pacific No. 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley over the Easter period, the provisional timings of its April 5 movement from Crewe to the heritage line have been released. Leaving Crewe at 9.45am, the movement will see No. 60007 head south on the West Coast Main Line, passing Stafford at 10.16am and then Nuneaton at 10.58am. Sir Nigel Gresley will then head east towards Leicester, passing North Junction at 11.27am and taking the line towards Melton Mowbray, Oakham, and Stamford, before joining the East Coast Main Line and arriving in Peterborough at 1.26pm. From here, the A4 will continue south to Fletton Junction and on to NVR metals, with an expected arrival at Orton Mere at 1.40pm. The movement will allow the…

TO celebrate the coronation of King Charles III on May 6, Locomotive Services Limited will be donating the use of the Midland Pullman train for a very special tour on behalf of the Railway Children Charity two days later. The money raised will go to vulnerable children in the UK, India and East Africa. The train will depart Paddington at 10am, heading for Bath and Newport and returning via Chepstow to Paddington. Two options are available: first class for £200, which includes a light lunch and a glass of wine, or the fine dining option for £500, including a seven-course Best of British menu. There will also be entertainment on board, plus wine and cheese tasting. For further information, visit www.railwaychildren.org.uk/getinvolved/pullman/ On March 25, the ‘Whitby Jet’ runs from Dundee,…

A MIDLAND Railway cloth-bound plan of the Burton and Ashby Light Railways dated June 1906 was the top seller in the Paperchase January 14-31 auction with a realisation of £460.The 3ft 6in gauge electric tramway ran 10 miles between Burton uponTrent and Ashby-dela-Zouch via Swadlincote, and was operated by the MR from opening in July 1906 until the 1923 Grouping, and subsequently by the LMS until the line’s closure in February 1927. From 1925 came a bound and gold titled ex-Perth 800-page volume of the LMS northern division’s passenger and freight working timetables (£410), and at £360 was an LNWR commemorative book titled Fifty Years of Successful Railway Enterprise, a publication dating from the 1890s that contained within its leather-bound hardback covers 276 gilt-edged pages of illustrations, diagrams and maps.…

THE Royal Mint has launched its collectable £2 coin in several formats to mark Flying Scotsman’s centenary in collaboration with the National Railway Museum, part of the Science Museum Group. The coin, as reported in Headline News, issue 302, features the inscription LNER followed by 4472, Flying Scotsman’s second service number, as well as the date of the locomotive’s centenary. The design captures a side-on view of the locomotive steaming. The edge inscription reads ‘Live for the Journey’, a fitting tribute to a locomotive that continues to be admired 100 years since it emerged from Doncaster Works. The colour version of the coin was officially released on February 21. The last coloured £2 coin was issued more than 20 years ago. Ffion Gwillim, in the Royal Mint’s design team, ensured…

GWR 4-6-0 No. 7812 Erlestoke Manor is to spend the summer on theWest Somerset Railway and will take part in its April 28-May 1 Spring Steam Spectacular. The loan of the recently overhauled 1939-built locomotive has been mutually agreed by its owner, the Erlestoke Manor Fund, and its Severn Valley Railway home. Still to complete its final running-in, No. 7812 will appear in the line’s April 14-16 Spring Steam Gala before being taken to Minehead. It will return in the autumn to take up duties for the remainder of the season in the run-up to Christmas, traditionally the busiest time of the year at the SVR. SVR’s head of steam engineering, Duncan Ballard, said: “This is an excellent opportunity for the SVR to continue our close working relationship with the…

VANDALS targeted the ChurnetValley Railway on February 19, with several intruders damaging a fence using tools they had brought with them. The railway posted images from CCTV and passengers on social media, and said: “Sadly, again some members of the public believe it is perfectly acceptable to trespass on the railway. Some people don’t understand that even a heritage railway such as ours will kill.” Protective equipment at Leekbrook level crossing was also destroyed. Rolling stock on the West Somerset and Swanage railways were also hit by vandals, with both attacks occurring on February 26. The Swanage Railway incident saw windows smashed on its Swanage Belle dining carriages, with further damage sustained inside. At the WSR, windows were smashed on the operational Class 117 DMU, and its interior, along with…

FAMOUS for its double-track heritage main line, the Great Central Railway has switched to running branch services while two 125-year-old bridges are replaced. Services between Loughborough and Leicester North have been suspended for the whole of March while the bridges near Quorn & Woodhouse station are lifted and replaced. As a replacement service for visitors, heritage DMUs and railcars are running between Leicester North and Swithland, where they change onto the onto the Mountsorrel branch and head to Nunckley Hill visitor centre and museum. ‘Leading attraction’ GCR chairman Richard Patching said: “The contrast between the branch line and our main line is really something. The train slows right down, leaving plenty of time to enjoy the scenery and relax. “As our main line was built in the 1890s, we need…

AT HORSTED Keynes, the Bluebell Railway’s wagon division has outshopped three wagons from the carriage and wagon workshops. On February 13, the restoration of SR 20- ton engineer’s wagon ED 62002 was officially completed after a two-yearlong restoration, which has seen the vehicle finished off in the bright‘orange oxide’colour the region’s engineering fleet were found in. Behind this on February 21 was SR eight-plank open No. 37786 that had undergone a rapid one-week repaint and spot-plank replacement. It was in overall good condition, with just three planks requiring swapping out. It has been repainted into the previously worn SR freight brown and early SR-style lettering; it had been hoped to change this for the later style that the wagon would have carried, but it has retained the current style to…

A FIVE-year vision for the Blackpool Tramway’s Rigby Road depot, known asTramtown, has been revealed as the heritage seafront tram tour operator seeks to better conserve and present its historic fleet. A £70,000 appeal has been launched to aid the purchase of new shed doors as part of the first phase of the work on the 1935 building, the only one of its type in the UK still in operation. The heritage tram and depot tours receive more than 500,000 visitors each year. The plan has been developed to improve both visitor access, which is currently restricted to pre-booked tours, and fleet maintenance by developing a new visitor centre in part of the depot and undertaking essential repairs to the building. With some finance coming from Blackpool Council and Blackpool…

THE Rail Accident Investigation Branch confirmed on February 15 that it was looking into an incident that occurred at the Great Central Railway a month before, which had resulted in a passenger sustaining a serious injury. A train arriving at the railway’s Loughborough Central station at 11.49am on January 14 reportedly stopped with the leading door of the first carriage adjacent to the platform ramp. Though full details have not been disclosed while the investigation takes place, it is known that the affected passenger then lost their footing as they alighted from the train via this door, which then resulted in their sustained injuries. The RAIB said that its investigation will seek to identify the sequence of events that led to this, taking into consideration the actions of those involved…

LOCAL master craftsman Carwyn Lloyd Jones has built a traditional wooden-framed signalbox by hand for theVale of Rheidol Railway’s Aberystwyth terminus. The plans were drawn up by the VoR’s designer, James Corbett, and the structure is similar in appearance to that of the original long-disappeared ’box in Smithfield Road (now Park Avenue). Lacking a blueprint of the original, Carwyn, the owner of Timber Designs Wales, searched the internet to find similar ’boxes and studied photographs to work out the finer details. A VoR statement said:“We think it looks great. Thank you, Carwyn.”…

ESSEX is not a county that might spring instantly to the minds of steam enthusiasts – although until the London boundaries were fiddled around with in 1965, the vast Stratford works and engine shed complex was within its borders – but it has a railway history that stretches back more than 180 years. And on April 1, that history, allied to the present and the future, will be the theme of a one-day conference at the Essex Record Office in the county town of Chelmsford, featuring top industry speakers and historians. The Great Eastern Railway Society will be represented by chairman Peter Walker with a talk titled ‘All things Great Eastern’, and archivist Lyn Brooks, who will provide highlights of the society’s historical collection, supported by Colin Runeckles, of Ilford…

FOOD andwineloverscanenjoyafirstclass culinary experience behind a steam locomotive following the relaunch of the Mid-Hants Railway’s‘Watercress Belle’ fine dining service. The service has been‘on hiatus’for a few years while the restaurant car, BR Mk.1 No. 1973, underwent overhaul in the Ropley workshops. The interior layout has been modified to open up the kitchen space, with partition walls and redundant cupboards removed to make for the easier flow of personnel through the vehicle. The railway has also employed a new catering firm, Lemon Stone Events, which uses locally sourced ingredients in meals. It was launched on February 18 by broadcaster and gardening expert Alan Titchmarsh at an event sponsored by estate agent Hellards, and the inaugural journey was toasted with wine from Arlesford’s Hattingley Valley vineyard. Alan, a patron of the Watercress…

THE East Lancashire Railway has boosted its pub trade by adding static carriages at two of its stations to give customers extra seating and better protection from the weather. The carriages have been placed alongside theTrackside Pub at Bury Bolton Street, adding 100 extra seats, and the Buffer Stops pub at Rawtenstall, providing another 40 seats, and generating vital extra revenue for the railway. ELR chairman Mike Kelly said:“We fully appreciate that sitting outside through the winter season is not possible every day. “So, while the railway is closed in January and February for important track maintenance works, we brought up a couple of vintage carriages to ensure that there is an additional welcome place for people to enjoy a drink in a unique setting. “We put in extra heating…

A 146-year-old footbridge railway in Glasgow’s southside has been donated by Network Rail to the Caledonian Railway at Brechin. The bridge, which was made by Paisley ironworks Hanna, Donald & Wilson in 1877 and linked Darnley Road and Moray Place at Strathbungo, was removed in January as part of the Glasgow to Barrhead electrification project, a Scottish Government investment to decarbonise passenger by 2035. Key stakeholders and Network Rail explored several options to try to keep the footbridge in Glasgow, but could not find a suitable location for both it and the railway columns that once supported Susie’s Store in Nithsdale Road, which was also demolished as part of the project. The heritage line intends to use the columns to develop ramp access to Brechin station and provide much-improved facilities…

A BR Class 309 EMU’s future could be in jeopardy unless a purchase and restoration plan can be settled in the next few months. Unit No. 309624 has been based at the Lavender Line since the closure of the Coventry Electric Museum in 2018, but due to changing priorities was offered for sale in 2021. In March 2021, the Clacton Express Preservation Group agreed to purchase it to prevent it from going to scrap. The deal was funded by a private benefactor, but the CEPG announced on February 10 that this individual had decided to step back for personal reasons, meaning the group now needs to find a new backer to keep the unit’s future secure. As a result, No. 309624 has been listed ‘for sale’ and the group’s priority…

AS IT enters its 40th year, Blaenavon’s Heritage Railway has acquired a new brake van for its‘Windcutter’ set thanks to one of its carriage and wagon volunteers. When Matthew Harris heard that BR 20-ton brake van No. B955112 was potentially going to be scrapped, he saw an opportunity to fulfil a dream. “Since 2019, I’ve been involved with carriage and wagon restorations and in that time I’ve been part of some very satisfying projects, most recently the repaint of SR Queen Mary brake van No. S56286 (at Midsomer Norton), which sparked a desire to own a brake van myself,”he said. Built in 1963, No. B955112 started out under London Transport ownership as No. B587, one of a batch for locomotive-hauled engineering workings and one of just four of this design…

THE SeatonTramway has scooped two accolades in the 2023 Devon Tourism Awards. The tramway won the silver award in the Large Visitor Attraction of the Year category and bronze in the Accessible and Inclusive Tourism category. Tramway chief executive Jenny Nunn said: “We are thrilled to receive these awards and honoured to be recognised for our efforts in providing a unique and enjoyable experience for our visitors. “These awards are a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team, as well as the support of our visitors. We look forward to continuing to deliver exceptional experiences for all who visit Seaton Tramway.” More than 90,000 passengers are carried each year and a variety of activities are on offer, including birdwatching trams, tram driving lessons and various interactive family…

WHEN did two LMS Royal Scot 4-6-0s last run over Shap summit on one day – let alone 20 minutes apart? Two tours took place on February 11, Saphos Trains’The Lakelander’ and the Railway Touring Company’s ‘The Winter Cumbrian Mountain Express’. The Saphos train originated at Rugby at 5.50am for a journey through the Midlands via Stafford to Preston, where No. 46100 Royal Scot took over for a run to Carlisle. This arrangement was unusual because the tour operator normally exchanges locomotives at Crewe. Preston was departed six minutes late for a steady run to Grayrigg and a scheduled stop in the loop. From there, it was a standing start for the run over Shap, but watching it come past, you would have thought it was running non-stop over the…

March 17 The Golden Age of Travel by Steam Circular tour from London Victoria. Steam-hauled throughout. Loco: 35028 Clan Line. BEL 18 ‘The Great Eastern’ Crewe, Norwich, Great Yarmouth and return. Loco: 40145. PT 18 ‘The Second Bite’ Derby, Whitby and return. Loco: 50008 Thunderer + Class 37. BLS 18 The Winter Cumbrian Mountain Express London Euston, Appleby and return. Steam-hauled between Carnforth (outward) and Preston (return). Loco: 86259 Les Ross + Steam TBA. RTC 18 Castles Up The Lickey Birmingham Moor Street, Worcester and return. One trip each AM and PM. Locos: 7029 Clun Castle, 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (AM/PM TBC). VT 18-20 ‘West Highland Pullman’ Three-day tour of Scotland and West Highland line. Departs Finsbury Park (18) and Fort William (19/20). Loco: 43406 + 43055 (HST). MP…

No. 4073 Caerphilly Castle Once its showpiece duties on the GWR stand in the Palace of Engineering at the British Empire Exhibition were over, class prototype No. 4073 was allocated to Old Oak Common as its first shed before transferring to Bristol Bath Road in July 1950. Later allocations saw it move to St Phillips Marsh Road (October 1952), Bristol Bath Road again (February 1953) and finally Cardiff Canton (February 1957). Originally due for withdrawal in 1955, it received an overhaul at Caerphilly Works between August 1956 and January 1957, after which it continued in service until its time finally came in May 1960, having run 1,910,730 miles in service. It was refurbished at a cost of £11,000, initially for displaying at Swindon, but it was handed over to the…

TWO LNWR nameplates from locomotives built more than 140 years ago will be making their auction debuts in Great Northern’s timed online sale that will run from April 6-8.They are Caradoc and Duchess of Lancaster, from FrancisWebb-designed Precedent class Nos. 2192 and 480, both of which have been in the same family for many years. No. 2192 emerged from Crewe (works No. 1919) in April 1875 and was withdrawn in January 1894, while, despite its lower number, No. 480 was built at the same works more than five years later, in November 1880 (works No. 2404) and was taken out of service in February 1897. Each of these 2-4-0s was officially ‘renewed’ on withdrawal, but this was a term used by LNWR for accountancy purposes and they were in fact…

TWO GgaugemodelsheadedaVectis railwayana and model train auction at Thornaby on February 17, while on the same day a similar sale held by Lacy Scott & Knight saw a 5in gauge live steam 0-4-0T make the headlines. The leader of the Vectis duo at £1100 was an LGB of Germany model of Harz Narrow Gauge Railways’ 99 class No. 99 222, a 2-10-2T built in 1931 that survives today on the metre gauge line. Behind at £850 came an Accucraft SR Lynton & Barnstaple Railway 2-6-2T No. E188 Lew. Shadowing these two with a price of £800 was a late Victorian/early Edwardian 2½in gauge live steam train set built by Ernst Plank, a German manufacturer of toy steam engines established in 1866. The set included an 0-4-0 named Vulkan, which comprised a…