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.
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“I’ve yet to find a railway at which members don’t routinely complain about the management and executive…” Welcome to NGW 191, as we work our way out of a long, cold winter – probably too short for the lines trying to get all their closed-season maintenance done, but definitely too long for a magazine editor on a winter schedule awaiting his next deadline! One of the sadder duties I’ve had to do for this edition is pen a tribute to Paul Towers, who died in January just shy of the very good age of 94. He was known to many as a pioneer of 009 scale narrow gauge modelling, but to me he was most regarded as a friend of the magazine, one of those who would call me up…
New Year’s Day saw several narrow gauge lines join in a ‘whistle-up’ across the UK heritage rail movement, kicking off ‘Railway 200’, a year-long celebration marking the 200th anniversary of the opening of the first public railway between Stockton & Darlington in 1825. Organised by the Heritage Railway Association (HRA), the whistle-up, at noon on 1st January, involved more than 200 locos sounding whistles and horns across around 60 heritage lines and museums. The Talyllyn Railway whistled up from both ends of the line – Kerr, Stuart 0-4-2ST ‘Edward Thomas’ headed a train at Tywyn Wharf, supported by horns from diesel ‘Alf’ and motor trolley ‘Toby’, while Fletcher Jennings 0-4-0WT ‘Dolgoch’ joined in at Abergynolwyn, all live streamed for the line’s supporters. Down in Devon a small group of hardy…
The Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railway has made its own contribution to Railway 200, repainting Double Fairlie ‘Merddin Emrys’ in the green shade that was chosen by the preservation company as its livery when it first began running trains on the FR 70 years ago in 1955. General Manager Paul Lewin said that the repainting had been carried out entirely by volunteers. “The FfWHR family would like to thank them for this extra effort which is very fitting given the huge contribution volunteers have made to the railway over 70 years,” he said. Newly overhauled England 0-4-0ST ‘Prince’, which dates back to 1863 and is one of the oldest locomotives still in regular service, will also wear the green livery when it returns to traffic this season following an overhaul.…
The only surviving original Welsh Highland Railway locomotive, ‘Russell’ will sign off before its next 10-year overhaul with a number of special trains in April, running on the Welsh Highland line to Beddgelert and Caernarfon. The 1906-built Hunslet 2-6-2T, today owned by the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway, will haul a train of five carriages all with links to either the original Welsh Highland Railway of its predecessor the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railway. On Saturday 5th April there will be two trains to Beddgelert at 11:25am and 3:00pm. Two more will follow a week later, departing at 10:55am and 1:30pm. Then on Friday 18th April Russell will haul a train over the entire WHR line to Caernarfon, departing at 11:10am and terminating in Porthmadog at 5:10pm. All the above trains…
The Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway took the opportunity of the Railway 200 ‘Whistle-up’ to launch its major appeal for 2025, with the aim of restoring Beyer, Peacock 0-6-0T ‘The Countess’ to traffic. With no services scheduled for New Year’s Day the railway staged a whistle-up on 30th December with the arrival into Llanfair Caereinion of its final service of 2024. The ‘Mince Pie’ train was hauled by the other of the line’s two original Beyer, Peacock locos, ‘The Earl’, which wore its sister’s whistle for the occasion. Appeals director Iain McLean announced the plans to raise £150,000 to fund the overhaul of The Countess, which was withdrawn in 2024 following the expiry of its boiler ticket. The aim is to have the loco back in service alongside its sister,…
