Heritage Railway Issue 316

OPINION THE resounding success of the Great Central Railway and Battlefield Line winter gala have greatly illuminated a dismal winter and paved the way for what could well be a superb 2024 season, proving beyond doubt that heritage railways have lost none of their popularity – far from it. We now eagerly await what stands to be two new pinnacles of the sector: the launches, all being well, of two new-build standard gauge steam locomotives, not forgetting the return to action of the market leader in the field, A1 Peppercorn Pacific No. 60163 Tornado. As we closed for press, the green livery of GWR 4-6-0 No. 6880 Betton Grange was drying in the Tyseley Locomotive Works paint shop, in advance of its first private trial steaming and yard moves –…

NEW-BUILD GWR 4-6-0 No. 6880 Betton Grange has been booked as a star guest for the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway’s award-winning Cotswold Festival of Steam. Subject to completion and successful running-in, and following earlier public appearances, No. 6880 will appear at the Cotswold line’s May 25-27 popular bank holiday weekend event. Festival organising committee chairman Tom Willson said:“We are thrilled to welcome this brand-new steam locomotive, and it’s sure to be a star attraction. “The Grange class, as a powerful mixed-traffic design, could be found working over most of the GWR network until the mid-1960s and was a common sight on the Stratford-upon-Avon to Cheltenham line, part of which is now used by the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, so this is, in a way, a welcome homecoming for the class.” Paul Appleton,…

WITH a diverse collection of freight rolling stock to be found across our heritage railways, there are not many consists that have been missed at photographic charters. However, for some, October 1996 is one that brought with it a missed opportunity when several milk vehicles came together at the Severn Valley Railway for an autumn diesel event, their departure coming before a chance to recreate scenes from the 1960s could be seized. Now, a chance conversation with the team at the East Somerset Railway, at which new GWR 4-6-0 Betton Grange is set to star in the 50th Anniversary Steam Gala, (see separate story), brought with it a fresh chance to revisit the opportunity. With the ESR having two residents on the line, discussions with other milk tanker owners have…

RENOWNED for his lectures on footplate practices, having started his BR career on steam at Norwood in 1951, the heritage sector was in mourning on February 4 when it was announced that Bluebell stalwart Clive Groome had died at the age of 93 following a short illness. A former Nine Elms‘Top Link’ fireman, after his transferral there in 1954 he later became a driver in 1961. He regularly drove to Bournemouth and Salisbury as part of No. 3 link before the depot’s closure. On August 14, 1966, he drove BR(E) Peppercorn A2 No. 60532 Blue Peter on the Locomotive Club of Great Britain’s‘A2 Commemorative Railtour’excursion to Salisbury and Exeter. He also spent eight months in India, where he fired WP pacifics on the broad-gauge route between Madras and Bagalore, as…

THE Vale of Rheidol and the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland railways are once again working hand in hand after agreeing for small England 0-4-0STT No. 4 Palmerston to return to Aberystwyth, where it helped operate the line to Devil’s Bridge on several occasions during the earlier decades of 20th century, for display in the refurbished GWR locomotive shed before undertaking its overhaul to bring it back into steam. Palmerston will join other items from the VoR’s collection on display in its new museum, including former Dinorwic Quarry 0-4-0 Fire Queen, which moved from Penrhyn in January (see news pages 14-16). No. 4 was loaned to theVoR to operate services for short stints during 1912-14 and again during 1920-22, helping with increased traffic generated by the opening of aTerritorial Army camp…

WEST Coast Railways was considering its next step in its hopes of running heritage Mk.1 carriages in public services on the main line. As reported last issue, the Carnforth-based operator of‘The Jacobite’failed in its High Court application for a judicial review of the ORR’s decision-making process, which it used to refuse the granting of a further Regulation 5 of the Railway Safety Regulations 1999 exemption. However, just after we closed for press, on January 10, the ORR then revoked the current exemption, which was due to run until February 29. WCR has reaffirmed that it is keen to work with the ORR to identify solutions to enable its services to continue to operate, protecting jobs and vital income for businesses along its routes. In the long-term It may consider applying…