Heritage Railway Issue 323

OPINION I CANNOT but wholeheartedly agree with VisitEngland's 94% rating (News, page 18) it gave to the new £27 million Hopetown Darlington railway venue under its Quality Assured Visitor Attraction Scheme, as featured last issue. Making unrivalled use of 21st-century digital technology to highlight the worldchanging nuts-and-bolts achievements of the steam era, Hopetown has ushered in a bright new dawn for popular museum culture. The raison d’être for heritage railway venues from the outset was the burning desire of enthusiasts to preserve the rich legacies of our transport past – at least, for like-minded fellows. Hopetown, however, offers a far wider-ranging public appeal, with education and enlightenment through fascination and entertainment for all. In August, I visited the Great Central Railway's Railways at Work gala, which recreated scenes from the…

HEADLINE NEWS AUGUST 18 was a day of celebration for supporters and all involved in the construction of the Bluebell Railway's LBSCR 4-4-2 Brighton Atlantic No. 32424 Beachy Head, which has claimed the title of Britain's newest steam locomotive from GWR 4-6-0 No. 6880 Betton Grange. The completion of new-build steam projects has seen a plethora of locomotives enter service in the past 12 months alone, with the aforementioned Grange having held the mantle of ‘newest’ since debuting at the Gloucestershire War wickshire Railway in May. However while the Grange and the likes of GWR Saint No. 2999 Ladyof Legend fill a gap in the GWR 4-6-0 collection, Beachy Head‘s completion is perhaps a little more significant in representing a design that harks back to the pre-Grouping era–at a cost…

ATLANTIC House has not remained empty since Beachy Head vacated it in March, as another Atlantic was immediately moved in. LSWR Adams radial 4-4-2T No. 488 is one of the next locomotives being tackled by the group alongside B4 0-4-0T No. 96 Normandy, the latter of which is already well-stripped for work to commence. The overhaul of Normandy is being carried out on behalf of the Bulleid Society, which owns the locomotive, and is perfectly poised to bring back a steam shunting turn for which the railway once had the only regularly rostered duty for it until its withdrawal for overhaul in 2006. No. 488, meanwhile, is set to be a lengthy project, but its Atlantic wheel arrangement has ensured that Atlantic House does not need to be renamed. Keith…

THE planned August bank holiday weekend visit of Peppercorn A1 Pacific No. 60163 Tornado to the Nene Valley Railway was cancelled and will now take place in October, it was announced. The two-and-a-half year overhaul of the locomotive had been due to be completed in time for it to be moved from Loughborough on the Great Central Railway to Wansford on August 19. However, a statement issued by the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust issued on that date said: “Following a hopeful start to last week, with a warming fire lit, it has become apparent that we no longer have the time required to confidently meet our August bank holiday heritage line commitments and operate reliably. “We had hoped to expedite the running-in process by having a boiler inspector visit the…

THE Severn Valley Railway has been selected as a finalist in three separate categories – Large Visitor Attraction, Business Event Venue of the Year and the Unsung Hero – for the 2024/2025 Visit Worcestershire Awards, which has received a record number of applications this year. SVR's managing director, Jonathan ‘Gus’ Dunster, said: “We pride ourselves in putting our visitors front and centre, while also keeping focus on the history, passion and commitment that have made us ‘the leading standard-gauge steam railway’, according to VisitEngland. “We are constantly listening to visitor feedback and making improvements. This is borne out by 150 five-star visitor reviews on Tripadvisor in the last year, and the fact that we have held more than 50 bespoke corporate events in the past year, with excellent levels of…

LITTLE over a year after moving to Essex from its previous home at the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Railway, BR Drewry Class 04 No. 11103 has emerged from the workshops on the Mangapps Railway Museum at Burnham-on-Crouch in a guise not seen for nearly 60 years. Built in 1952 at the Vulcan Foundry under contract from the Drewry Car Co, No. 11103 was one of three class members allocated to working the Wisbech & Upwell Tramway. Originally operated by GER Class C53/LNER J70 0-6-0 tram locomotives, their displacement by the newly-constructed trio in 1952 saw the branch become the first line in Britain to be wholly operated by diesel traction under BR, with the line lasting up until closure under the Beeching axe in 1966. Much like the steam trams,…