The only magazine specialising in narrow gauge railways. We recall the past, and offer comprehensive, in-depth coverage of today’s narrow gauge scene. We speak with authority to our readers, many of whom run narrow-gauge railways.
“A 40-year fable became a reality as the remarkable gathering of locos emerged into the sunlight on their way to new homes…” Welcome to NGW199, the first edition of 2026, but of course produced in the closing days of 2025 – in fact completing this page is the final task I have before signing off the issue, and I am writing these words with Rosemary, the wonderful Mrs C, waiting patiently in the background for me to finish so she can immerse me in all of the preparation for the festive celebrations, just 11 days away. So it’s time to take a look back at 2025, and what kind a year it has been for the narrow gauge world – the first word that comes to mind is challenging. Definitely…
The Vale of Rheidol Railway’s Steam Festival weekend on 25th-26th October proved a major success, with the highlight being the public debut of 2-6-2T locomotive no 9 ‘Prince of Wales’ following repainting into the ‘Rail Blue’ livery of the late 1960s and ’70s. While controversial in period, the livery certainly proved popular with Festival visitors, more than 1600 attending over the two days where no 9 worked alongside no 7 ‘Owain Glyndwr’ in the lined green employed between 1957-’60 and no 8 ‘Llywelyn’ in unlined black introduced in 1954 – the first time all three locos have worn BR colours in 44 years. Prince of Wales appeared in a lined version of Rail Blue introduced in 1976, and last seen in 1983 when a historic liveries programme, one of the…
Along-established practice of flagging Leighton Buzzard Railway trains across three level crossings looks set to end after the 2ft gauge Bedfordshire line was issued with improvement notices by the Office of Rail & Road. ORR inspectors visited the line on 23rd July 2025, and subsequently issued the identically-worded notices regarding the crossings on Hockliffe Road, Standbridge Road and Vandyke Road. These stated that “while the duty holder (the railway) has risk assessments in place for the three level crossings inspected, there were no plans in place for the duty holder to improve the risk control arrangements at these crossings to account for the increase in risk from the growth of the town.” Currently at the crossings a LBR staff member halts road traffic with a flag, the train then crossing.…
The relocation of the late Peter Rampton’s ‘Collection X’ by custodian the Vale of Rheidol Railway has continued, and one of the latest locomotives to leave the Surrey farm in which the collection was housed for more than 40 years departed in spectacular fashion, behind a steam road loco. Orenstein & Koppel Luttermoller-type 0-10-0T no 11128, built in 1925 for the Ingenio San Martin Del Tabacal sugar mill in Argentina, was acquired in October by the Les Searle Group, a specialist earthworks contractor based in Horsham, Sussex, and the loco made the 15-mile trip from the farm near Dunsfold to Horsham on a trailer hauled by the 1919-built McLaren road locomotive ‘Boadicea’. The group has a heritage operation called the Horsham Traction Company, which owns what is widely regarded as…
As the relocation of the former Collection X moves towards its conclusion, the Vale of Rheidol Railway is still seeking new homes for two of the 2ft 6in gauge locos in the collection. North British CC class 4-6-2 Pacific no 666 (17111/1906), built for the Bengal-Nagpur Railway in India, and Bagnall Delta class 2-6-2T AK16 (2029/1916), which also spent its working life in India, have both been designated as not fitting into the VoR Collection and suitable for rehoming, but so far acceptable new owners have not been found. The locos currently remain undercover in one of the barns at the farm, penning in Manning Wardle 0-6-2T ‘Conqueror’, which was gifted to the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway and once released will be heading to the mid-Wales line. Parties interested…
A group of young Bala Lake Railway volunteers has unveiled a project to recreate the 1918-built Kerr, Stuart Wren 0-4-0ST no 3114, which ran on the north Wales line in the 1980s. While the original loco is today still operational as part of the heritage collection at the Vale of Rheidol Railway, the major aim of the project is to teach engineering skills to young volunteers, providing a skills base for future railway preservation. Project chair Sammi Gleave, aged 19 and a trained CAD & general mechanical engineer, said that the small group of mainly under 30-year-olds was inspired by the appearance of the Amerton Railway’s Wren ‘Jennie’ at a BLR 50th anniversary weekend in 2022. “Following a lot of research into the locomotive’s history and design, myself and a…
