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OPINION EVER since the heritage railway sector became 73 years old, with the reopening of the Talyllyn by volunteers, overcoming perceived obstacles big and small has been its trademark. Some of its biggest successes has been down to those who are prepared to rip up the rulebook, establish blueprints and plan new courses of action from blank sheets of paper. For long it has been widely considered that January and early February are ‘close down’ periods, during which many heritage railways do not run in an attempt to save costs at a time of the year when the weather and lighting conditions are held to be far less attractive to visitors. In this issue, we report on the huge success of several post-Christmas galas that drew the crowds. The Severn…
WEST Coast Railways said it will work with the rail regulator in its aim to continue to run heritage stock on the national network, despite a ‘disappointing’ High Court decision. After this magazine closed for press last issue, it was announced the Carnforth-based operator of ‘The Jacobite’ had failed in its application for a judicial review of the Office of Road and Rail's decision making process, which it used to refuse granting WCR a further Regulation 5 of the Railway Safety Regulations 1999 exemption – essential for heritage train companies intending to operate hinged-door carriages on the main line unless central door locking (CDL) is in place. Following an application submitted by West Coast two years prior to its exemption expiring, the company was told that, following an ORR inspection…
A UNIQUE event onthe weekend of March 16/17 will see Great Central Railway and Great Central Railway (Nottingham) link up to mark the 125th anniversary of the opening of the London Extension of what was then the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway. It is the first time the two companies have teamed up to offer a single ticket for an event on the two sections of the line, looking to their future as a reunified 18 mile heritage railway. Linked events will take place at the Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre, Rushcliffe Halt station and along the length of the GCR from Loughborough to Leicester North. GCR general manager Malcolm Holmes said: “While this is the first time we've worked so closely together, it's the start of a new era. As…
MORE than 30,000 visitors descended on the Locomotion museum in Shildon for the free exhibition marking the end of LNER A3 Pacific No. 60103 Flying Scotsman's centenary year programme. The exhibition ran from December 16 to January 7, after which the locomotive, built at Doncaster in 1923, was due to return to the National Railway Museum at York where, as reported last issue, careful consideration was being given to the future maintenance operation of the A3 following the expiry of the previous contract on December 31. No final decision had been made as we closed for press. Visitors were able to see No. 60103 in light steam outside the main hall during the event. Locomotion head Sarah Price said that the exhibition had “gone absolutely brilliantly and the feedback from…
TWO men from the heritage sector have been made officers of the Order of the British Empire in King Charles’ New Year's Honours List. Edward Album, a senior corporate lawyer in the City of London who has been the legal advisor to the Friends of the Settle to Carlisle Line for more than 40 years, was honoured as Founder of the Settle to Carlisle Railway Trust and for services to railway heritage and to communities in the North of England. He was instrumental in establishing the trust, initially to raise funds for the repair of Ribblehead viaduct, cited by BR as the main reason for its plans to close the line in 1989. BR costed the repair as £10 million, but eventually it was repaired at for just £2.5 million…
LNER Peppercorn A2 Pacific No. 60532 Blue Peter has been booked for trials and running on the SevernValley Railway in February, following the completion of its overhaul by LNWR Heritage at Crewe, and its repaint into BR blue livery. Built at Doncaster in 1948, it was bought from BR by Geoff Drury and forged close links with the BBC children's programme of the same name. The A2's main line certificate expired in September 2001 after which it was based at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, where it worked until the end of the 2002 season when its boiler certificate expired In October 2014, No. 60531 was sold by the Drury family to Jeremy Hosking under the ownership of the Royal Scot Locomotive & General Trust, of which LNWR Heritage is…
