Innehållsförteckning för Issue 316 från Heritage Railway

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 –…

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…

HUGE concern in Lochaber surrounds the continued operation of‘The Jacobite’ following the Office of Rail and Road’s decision to rescind the exemption granted toWest Coast Railways to operate Mk.1 carriages until February 29. Ian Blackford, MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber, said he speaks for many in his constituency who worry that the service may not run in 2024. He told Heritage Railway: “‘The Jacobite’ steam train service is one of the Highland’s most-loved tourist attraction and is extremely popular with visitors to Lochaber. There is huge concern locally that the service may not run this season as a result of the ORR’s decision to deny a further extension to WCR.” In 1995, when ‘The Jacobite’ began running, about 16,000 passengers were carried over 100 days of operation. By 2022,…

MORE than 1000 visitors attended the Battlefield Line’s most successful winter gala to date on February 3/4 to welcome back a former resident after more than 42 years. BR Standard 2MT 2-6-0 No. 78018, which was built at Darlington North Road in 1953 and entered traffic at West Auckland shed in 1954, was withdrawn by BR in November 1966 and sent toWoodham Brothers scrapyard at Barry the following June. It rusted there until October 1978, when it was purchased and moved to Shackerstone on what was then known as the Market Bosworth Railway for restoration. However, it was resold unrestored to the Darlington Railway Preservation Society (DRPS) in 1981 and moved to Darlington that July. Work begins The locomotive was stripped down before the restoration, replacement, and sourcing of fixtures…

LOCOMOTIVE Services Group’s Class 37 No. 37409 has been named as the first of several guests for the Severn Valley Railway’s Spring Diesel Festival, taking place on May 16 to 19. As the SVR looks to build on the outstanding success of its diesel events in 2023, the four-day festival will feature an intensive timetable of diesel traction. Loch Awe, which hauls premium charter trains, was recently overhauled, and repainted into a ‘striking’ 1980s ScotRail livery, in which it has not run previously, before re-entering traffic. SVR’s managing director, Jonathan ‘Gus’Dunster, said:“It will be an honour to welcome No. 37409 to the Valley. Our event will be one of the first occasions at which it appears in this guise, and we are very grateful to our friends at LSG and…

THE Severn Valley Railway is to stage a series of night shoots and photography workshop events. The first nighttime event, which will take place on February 23, was advertised on social media and sold out immediately. Seeing a pent-up demand, a second one was arranged for the following day. Professional lighting will illuminate Bewdley Station between 6.30pm and 9.30pm, recreating scenes of a busy junction station from the late 1950s. GWR 4-6-0 No. 7812 Erlestoke Manor and pannier No. 7714 will be paired with appropriate stock and posed at various locations within the station. For more atmosphere, a vintage bus will be parked in front of the station building for added interest. Places are limited and there will be no access without a valid ticket. They cost £60 and are…

THE Ecclesbourne Valley Railway has launched an SOS appeal to raise £30,000 for essential repairs after a landslide cut off the main line interchange at Duffield. The slippage occurred following embankment damage that began last April but was exacerbated by Storm Babet in October. The landslide, which occurred through no fault of the railway, has left the EVR in a challenging situation, with passengers currently unable to enjoy trips along the full length of the line. Furthermore, the railway’s financial stability is at risk; because passengers arriving by rail to the main line interchange at Duffield are no longer able to easily access the heritage line, revenue for its continued operation and maintenance is reduced. Track slew Insurers have been assessing the slip, but to overcome the setback in the…

A COMMEMORATIVE interpretation board to mark the Abbots Ripton rail disaster of January 21, 1876 – in which 13 passengers died and 53 passengers and six crew members were injured – has been unveiled in Huntingdon’s Priory Road cemetery, where three of the victims are buried. At a ceremony on January 22, the board was unveiled by Coun Phil Pearce, Mayor of Huntingdon, and Charles Saunders, who recently restored the grave of victim Dion William Boucicault. The event attracted local residents, history enthusiasts and town councillors, all joining together to pay respects to the past and to underscore the importance of historical preservation. Coun Pearce said: “This interpretation board serves as a lasting tribute, recounting the events of that historic day, and also paying tribute to the individuals who perished.…

THE vital replacement of the roof on the Grade II-listed New Warehouse at Manchester’s Science and Industry Museum has begun. The museum is on the site of the world’s first inter-city passenger station, Manchester Liverpool Road, which opened in 1830 as part of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. The station frontage and 1830 warehouse are both Grade I-listed. In 1978, Greater Manchester Council purchased the earliest part of the station following its closure by BR three years earlier. The museum opened at this site on September 15, 1983, and later expanded to include the whole of the former station. The museum celebrates ideas that change the world, from the Industrial Revolution to today and beyond. At more than 140 years old, the New Warehouse, which dates from the 1880s when…

JIM Dutton’s passion for steam led to his latest acquisition. The 75-year-old travelled from his home on the outskirts of Wigan to Leeds to see Peckett No. 2103 safely onto a low-loader, ready for its journey from The Middleton Railway to Ribble Steam Railway. Built in Bristol in 1950, No. 2103 will join Jim’s other engine, Hawthorn Leslie 0-6-0ST No. 3931 of 1938 Linda, at the railway. The R4 Class 4 special shunting engine is one of three Pecketts built in 1948 for Croydon Power Station B. 'Intermittent' residency Ian Smith, vice president of the Middleton, the home of No. 2103 for the last 27 years, said: “They were delivered; however, because Croydon Power Station wasn’t ready, they were returned back to Peckett & Sons Ltd. When they were finally…

A BID to save the first-built Merseyrail Class 507 EMU before the last of the class is withdrawn and scrapped has been gathering support. The 33 Class 507s were built by BR at York Works between 1978 and 1980 as one of five classes based on the 1972-built Prototype Electro Pneumatic Train (PEP) prototype, alongside the 313s, 314s, 315s and 508s. The 507 units spent their working lives on the Merseyrail network of third-rail suburban lines centred on Liverpool. The campaign to save a unit began last September in response to the withdrawal of Merseyrail’s Class 507 and 508 stock, which had been proceeding slowly up until that point but gathered pace in the final months of 2023 as the new Class 777s were introduced. Increasing interest A mailing list…

BEAMISH – the North of England Open Air Museum has expanded its tram fleet with the arrival of Lisbon No. 730 from its previous home at the Wirral Tramway. The Lisbon ‘standard’ class emerged in Portugal after the First World War, which saw a move to home-built tramcars (rather than imported vehicles) to mitigate rising import costs during a period of political turmoil and social unrest. No. 730 entered service in Lisbon in 1938. Later withdrawn, it came to the UK in the mid-1990s and was first stored at Colyton on the Seaton Tramway, with the aim of regauging it and using it as a mobile shop. Subsequently privately purchased, it came into the ownership of the Merseyside Tramway Preservation Society in 2004. In 2013, No. 730 visited Beamish as…

CLIBURN station, which was built to serve the original EdenValley Railway and later converted into a four-bedroom family home and holiday let business, is now on the market for offers of about £1.4 million. The station opened to passenger traffic on the line (later part of the Stockton & Darlington Railway and then the NER) between Clifton Junction, near Penrith, and Kirkby Stephen via Appleby-in-Westmorland on June 9,1862, and closed on September 17, 1956. It was bought in 1964 and the main building was converted into accommodation, with the other railway buildings being used to house farm animals. In 2012, Heritage Railway magazine ran a competition to celebrate the opening of a new holiday let in the station’s original signalbox. Since then, the current owners, Gavin and Wendy Matier, have…

HISTORY was made in London on January 27 when, after an absence of just over 18 years, a Class 423 EMU returned to Waterloo station thanks to a collaboration between the Southern Electric Traction Group, South Western Railway, GB Railfreight and Network Rail that saw stars align for the momentous occasion to take place. Following the launch of a £50,000 appeal to fund the purchase of the required equipment to certify it for main line use, the SETG’s 4VEP No. 3417 Gordon Pettitt was towed to the LSWR/SR terminal to celebrate the 88th birthday of the man after which the unit was named, with Gordon and his family invited to the occasion. After joining BR in 1950, his career saw him climb the ranks and start with the Southern Region…

RAPIDO Trains has been known for sharing some amusing ‘rejected’ livery ideas for some of its models (such as the tartan-patterned Jones Goods). However, the response to one was so unexpected that the manufacturer has put it up for consideration. Following the Bluebell Railway’s pattern for naming its SECR P class locomotives after plants (27 Primrose, 178 Nettle, 323 Bluebell), Rapido is taking provisional orders for a variant of its upcoming SECR O1 as No. 65 with the name Bramble – sporting Bluebell Blue livery as per No. 323. “The community reaction to our ‘rejected’ livery of Bramble the blue O1 was unexpected: you absolutely loved it,” a statement said. “We mulled it over and had a word with the folks at the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society to ensure we…

RAILWAY 200 is the theme for the secondYoung Railway Photography of theYear event, which was officially launched on February 1 and is now open for entries. Organised by the National Railway Museum, the Railway Photographic Society, and supported by partners from the railway and photography industries including Heritage Railwaypublisher Mortons Media, Network Rail, and GB Railfreight, the competition is seeking the best images from the UK’s most promising young railway photographers aged 25 and under. Running until January 31, 2025, the contest returns as part of Railway 200, a year-long programme of events and celebrations to recognise the significance of the past 200 years of railway history and the bicentenary of the Stockton & Darlington Railway in September 2025. From complete novices to accomplished amateurs, it aims to encourage more…

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,…

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…

MARCH 31 is the closing date for the joint Railway Correspondence &Travel Society/Mortons Media railway photographic competition – a free-to-enter contest. You can submit up to two entries in any or all of the four categories using photographs taken since January 2022. The Overall Competition winner will enjoy a money-cannot-buy main line cab ride courtesy of DB Cargo, this most likely taking place somewhere in the north of England. The winner of the Modern Traction category will join GB Railfreight for a session on one of its locomotive driver simulators, while the Heritage Railway winner will be entertained at the Nene Valley Railway, a trip which includes a tour of the sheds at Wansford and a cab ride. For the People and Railways category winner, their destination is the East…

WITH its centenary year celebrations concluded, A3 Pacific No. 60103 Flying Scotsman is being rested before it resumesmain line work, its owner the National Railway Museum has confirmed. The locomotive is being displayed at both the York museum and Locomotion in Shildon for the first part of 2024. After travelling 10,000 miles around the UK as part of its 100th birthday celebrations, Scotsman spent the Christmas and New Year period on show at Shildon, and more than 37,500 visitors came to see it since arriving on December 16, as reported last issue. On January 18, it departed under its own steam to return to the NRM’s main museum hub and from January 26 was displayed as part of the Flying Scotsman Story exhibition within the Great Hall, with visitors able…

VESTA: BURY TRANSPORT MUSEUM On January 24, Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0T No. 1223 Vesta arrived on the East Lancashire Railway, where it was promptly shunted into the Bury Transport Museum. Built in 1916, the locomotive was operational at the Shotton Steelworks in NorthWales for its working life before being preserved by the Industrial Locomotive Society. It was then gifted to the NationalTrust and, after being displayed at Shugborough Hall in Staffordshire, was put on display at the castle’s museum. It will be on an initial three-year loan to the ELR, after which full ownership will transfer to the railway, thus giving the line two 0-6-0Ts from this builder, with operational 1903-built No. 32 Gothenburg residing there and brought into steam in order to shunt the new arrival into the museum. Although both…

THE Bodmin & Wenford Railway has sold GWR pannier No. 6435 and its accompanying Hawksworth auto trailer third No. 232 to West Somerset Railway plc chairman Jonathan Jones-Pratt. The sale was conducted through Jonathan’s company, JJP Holding Ltd (JJPH), and completed weeks after the BWR offer the pannier for sale, as reported last issue, as part of a review of its finances. No. 6435 last ran in 2022, and Jonanthan will now take it to the WSR to be overhauled. He said: “We are very thankful to the BWR for allowing JJPH to add this fine set-up to our fleet of heritage railway locomotives. I am really looking forward to bringing it home, and the first job will be a very good clean. “Plans are underway to decide when we…

THE East Somerset Railway is looking for a new chairman after Dick Masters announced his intention to resign following 22 years in the role. At the line’s recent annual general meeting, he said he was proposing to step down and give someone else the opportunity to take charge and lead the railway forward. From a desperate financial position in 2000, the railway has made tremendous progress, developing the site and its commercial activities, expanding its operations and motive power, and greatly improving its finances. In a statement, Dick said: “This is a challenging and most rewarding role as there are many ways in which we would like to develop and improve the East Somerset Railway, preserve more of the heritage, and provide still more for our visitors to see and…

THE Somerset & Dorset Railway Trust has sold its remaining track and shed within the Washford station goods yard to the West Somerset Railway Heritage Trust as it concludes the vacation of its former home. Furthermore, the heritage trust has signed a new 10-year lease with West Somerset Railway plc for use of the site that will enable some of the charity’s carriage restoration projects to move under cover for the first time. Heritage trust chairman Mike Thompson said: “I am really pleased that we have been able to reach an agreement with the S&DRT for the Washford assets. The agreement will benefit both the WSRHT with improved facilities and the S&DRT by providing funds to invest in their future activities. The deal was very complex to finalise owing to…

THE oldest-surviving Peckett has found itself a new home after being acquired by the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre after years spent in outdoor static display storage at a Kent paper mill. W4 class 0-4-0ST No. 614 Bear was offered for sale last May by the Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway after a review of its collection deemed it surplus to requirements. Built in 1896 for James Dunlop & Co. Ltd.’s Clyde Ironworks, it was rebuilt in 1934 by the Andrew Barclay works which made it a unique hybrid that then carried plates for Peckett on one side of its cab and Barclay on the other. Around the same time, it was acquired by Colvilles Ltd, which amalgamated the James Dunlop and David Colville Firms into one steelmaking company. When that became…

THE Lavender Line is offering a rare chance to see two Class 205 ‘Thumper’ DEMUs operating together with a double unit running weekend on April 20/21. The line is home to units Nos. 1133 (which carries BR Southern Region green) and 1118 (which sports BR blue), but usually only one is in service for the railway’s open days. The railway is also the only one in England to have two of these units based together, with only the Caledonian Railway at Brechin, Scotland, also having a pair based in the same location. While trains normally operate only from Platform 2 at Isfield, this event will see trains depart from both platforms throughout the weekend, with both cars being coupled together at times to form a four-car unit. The last time…

THE Bodmin & Wenford Railway has completed a 12-month reconstruction of its deteriorating permanent way coach to showpiece condition. The BR Mk.1 BSK was built at Doncaster in 1953 and converted at St. Blazey in the 1970s to a rerailing vehicle, forming part of the depot’s emergency works train, and renumbered ADB975033. Half of the vehicle became storage for tools and equipment, with a small workshop area, complete with sliding doors on either side. A galley, saloon, and toilet and washing facilities were provided in the other half for the crew, with a small driving compartment also installed at one end for when the train was being propelled. Underslung between the bogies, racks were fitted for further heavy equipment stowage. With the rundown of St. Blazey depot in the 1980s…

EXCLUSIVE AS the Kent & East Sussex Railway gears itself up for its golden jubilee as a heritage line, general manager Robin Coombes has spoken exclusively to Heritage Railway about the line’s first 50 years, the present, and his optimism for the future. The line was reopened in the preservation era on Sunday, February 3, 1974, and in the half-century since that historic day has moulded itself into a major heritage sector player, a status due to be further reinforced in two years with the reopening of the link from its current western extremity to the Rother Valley Railway’s eastern terminus at Robertsbridge, two miles away. “This year marks a significant milestone as we joyfully celebrate our 50th anniversary,” Robin said. “In reflecting on our past, we pay tribute to…

TWO of Scotland’s major heritage railways, the Bo’ness & Kinneil and Strathspey, are set to receive a financial boost following the launch of a book featuring photographs of steam, some previously unpublished, taken in the 1950s and 1960s in the west of the country. The images were the work of railwayman Bill Smith, who was born in 1926 and in the course of his career became a prolific and respected railway photographer, covering everything from main line expresses to colliery and other industrial locomotives. As part of his professional duties in BR’s Scottish Region train planning department in Glasgow, Bill picked up information about forthcoming unusual workings or locomotive allocations that a majority of enthusiasts, especially photographers, were unaware of. In the introduction to the book, which has been published…

FIVE years ago, the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre laid a set of buffers and a mini-track panel half a mile north of their Quainton Road base, reaching the Doddershall road-over-rail bridge. This move installed a highly visible physical marker aimed at demonstrating the ambition to extend the Up yard demonstration line past Rewley Road station and behind Quainton Road’s Up platform station building, through the northern arch of the 1896 built three-arch road-over-rail Station Road bridge. This extra track section was planned to run past the location of the former Metropolitan Line (to Verney Junction) junction with the former Great Central Railway. High Speed 2 has transformed the area with major construction and earthworks, including using much of Quainton Road’s overflow field car park and surrounding land. Station Road bridge was…

VINTAGE Trains has been finding new owners for two of its locomotives after more than half a century – and plans to convert a third to oil firing as part of its future strategy. The Tyseley-based operator has deaccessioned LMS Jubilee 4-6-0 No. 5593 Kolhapur and GWR pannier No. 7760 as surplus and aims to convert GWR 4-6-0 No. 4965 Rood Ashton Hall to oil burning. Kolhapur, which was built by the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow in 1934, was withdrawn by BR in October 1967 and a year later was bought by 7029 Clun Castle Ltd, which formed the Standard Gauge Steam Trust, and which acquired a long-term lease on part of the Tyseley depot site, which evolved into today’s Tyseley Locomotive Works. In the 1980s, Kolhapur was…

February 17 ‘The Winter Cumbrian Mountain Express’ Euston, Carlisle and return. Steam-hauled between Carnforth (outward) and Preston (return). Loco: Steam: TBC. Electric: 86259 Les Ross. RTC 24 ‘The Whistling Highlander’ (Day 1) Crewe, Inverness. Loco: Class 40 TBA. IC 24 ‘The White Rose’ King’s Cross, York and return. Loco: No. 45596 Bahamas. RTC 24 ‘The Settle & Carlisle Winter Express’ Bristol Temple Meads, Carlisle and return. Steam-hauled throughout. Loco: No. 34067 Tangmere. PT 25 ‘The Whistling Highlander’ (Day 2) Inverness, Aberdeen, Crewe. Loco: Class 40 TBA. IC March 2 ‘The Cheshireman’ Euston, Chester and return. Loco: 44871. RTC 2 York excursion King’s Cross, York and return. Loco: 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley. SD 2 ‘The Cathedrals Express’ Birmingham Snow Hill, Salisbury and return. Steam-hauled throughout. Loco: TBA. VT 5 ‘The Whitby…

DESTINATION: EUROPE In Heritage Railway issue 296, we reported exclusively on a steam freight in Lapland, high up in the Swedish Arctic Circle. Two issues later, we looked at that country’s National Railway Museum at Gävle, with its wonderful collection of historic British-built locomotives dating back to 1856. After being closed for six years, the museum is now in the final stages of renovation and is set to reopen for the summer. There will be no steam specials when it reopens, but on September 28 it plans to offer live steam action. Sweden is not the first European destination that comes to mind when planning a steam railtour. For a country with a population of 10.5 million, there is a surprising number of heritage railways and steam running on the…

I WAS too late to see steam on the Cambrian. By the time I came to Aberystwyth to study, it wasn’t diesels which had displaced main line steam from the area, but a more modern flirtation with ERTMS signalling. Locals still lamented the loss of steam railtours to the areas. The traction I saw was limited to a host of 158s on passenger workings and Network Rail’s canary-yellow Class 97s. They say familiarity breeds contempt and, truthfully, I was distracted by the sheer quantity of charming narrow-gauge locomotives to realise the significance of this seemingly workaday class of locomotive. Because the 97s, as they were classified, were not simply departmental engines rumbling up and down the Cambrian at the beck and call of Network Rail. They were refurbished Class 37s,…

THE Swanage Railway-based team that restored former National Collection LSWR T3 4-4-0 No. 563 has taken a top accolade at the Heritage Railway Association Annual Awards 2024. The prestigious Chairman’s Special Award, which is not handed out every year, went to the 563 Locomotive Group for the stunning results achieved in bringing a locomotive that had not steamed in more than 75 years back to life. Meanwhile, the Volks Electric Railway beat stiff competition to be named Railway of the Year at the biggest awards event in the heritage rail sector. Judges were impressed by the authenticity, attention to detail, and dedication to the unique history of Brighton’s seafront line. The world’s oldest working electric railway, built in 1883, just knocked the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway and Seaton Tramway into…

PEPPERCORN A1 Pacific No. 60163 Tornado may undergo test runs on the Cambrian line west of Shrewsbury before it returns to regular traffic on the national network. Tornado has been expected to undergo test runs at Network Rail’s Rail Innovation & Development Centre at Melton Mowbray (previously known as the Old Dalby test track). However, Ed Akers, Network Rail’s principal programme sponsor, East Coast Digital Programme, said: “With operations at the RIDC site currently affected by a landslip, we are considering options for the best approach to deliver dynamic European RailTraffic Management System (ETCS) testing on the Tornado locomotive as part of our heritage pathfinder project. “The potential feasibility of using the Cambrian line is one option under consideration, and we have commissioned a report to consider its viability, but…

THE Urie Locomotive Society’s restoration of LSWR S15 4-6-0 No. 499 has benefited from support from the Southampton branch of global real estate advisory firm CBRE, which has donated £850 to the restoration fund which will help to pay for some of the hundreds of new boiler stays required. The donations have been made through CBRE’s Benevity platform, which rewards employees’ volunteering efforts, with Sam Wyatt, surveying executive at CBRE Southampton, having been the society’s volunteer co-ordinator since 2022 after being regularly involved with the Mid-Hants Railway since 2016. Hours of dedication He first started volunteering in the heritage sector as a high school student in Australia, through his father’s involvement. He has clocked up more than 550 volunteering hours which saw him named as one of his employing company’stop…

AFTER just over a decade in service, the Talyllyn Railway bid farewell to Andrew Barclay 0-4-0WT No. 6 Douglas, which has been withdrawn for overhaul. Its last overhaul completed in 2013, No. 6 made headlines in 2018 when it adopted RAF blue to commemorate its 100th birthday, as well as commemorate its RAF heritage; it entered service with the Airservice Construction Corps before transferring to the base at Calshot Spit, Southampton, where it worked between 1921 and 1945. After being retired and stored there, it was purchased by Abelson & Co. (Engineers) Ltd in 1949, which then presented it to the TR in 1954. No. 6 worked its last public services on January 1 and then worked private charters on January 20 and 25 before its final fire was dropped.…

NEWS THE conversion of parlour brake third Car No. 54 at the Bluebell Railway will provide the first-ever accessible Pullman dining car when it enters service in the spring on the line’s luxury‘Golden Arrow’services. Originally built as a Kitchen Third by Claytons in 1923, it was rebuilt into its brake configuration in 1937; when new, it was one of the first three K-type Pullman designs, which incorporated a steel underframe with separate timber body in place of the all-timber build of the original cars. Car No. 54 went on to see use on the services such as the‘Devon Belle’and ‘South Wales Pullman’, ending up as part of the spare set for BR’s‘Blue Pullman’trains. Upon withdrawal, it first moved to the Dart Valley Railway, before moving to the Birmingham Railway Museum…

BRAMLEY Line Heritage Railway members who are aiming to reopen the long-mothballed Wisbech to March line must wait for several more months before a decision is made as to whether to restore it as light rail with trams or as a classic heritage line. The members have worked for several years to have the 7.8-mile GER branch released to them so that trains can run between the two towns again. The line closed to passengers in September 1968 and to freight in 2000 and was then placed out of use in 2002. The BLHR currently has permission from Network Rail to work out of the old Waldersea Sidings goods yard and is endeavouring to keep the ever-growing vegetation down on the section of line towards Coldham a mile away. Due…

BR Standard 4MT 2-6-0 No. 76077 – the 186th locomotive to be saved from Barry scrapyard – will soon join the operational heritage-era fleet with its owner, Toddington Standard Locomotive Ltd, having launched a £150,000 appeal to fund the boiler overhaul. The aim is to see it in traffic by the end of 2026. Outshopped from Horwich in December 1956 and withdrawn by BR in December 1967, it moved to Woodham Brothers’ scrapyard with Nos. 76079 and 76084 the following September, being one of just five class members sold to the scrap merchant. In 1987, heavily cannibalised to provide spares for other preserved members of its class (including its tender, which now runs behind No. 76017, currently stored under private ownership at Southall), No. 76077 was purchased by the Standard…

THE Nene Valley Railway has launched an appeal to help fund the completion of overhaul for BR Standard 5MT No. 73050 City of Peterborough, which is owned by its namesake city’s council and from which the heritage line lease it. Built at Derby Works in April 1954, No. 73050 had a career of just 14 years, including stints piloting the ‘Pines Express’ before withdrawal in June 1968, having run around 825,000 miles. Its current preservation life is not far off four times that length, having been saved the same year. It was selected by the late Rev Richard Paten to be preserved in Peterborough, and BR allowed it to make a single run from Manchester via Wakefield and on to New England shed in steam on the night of September…

WHILE several heritage lines rely on hiring locomotives to fulfil their operational requirements, the Plym Valley Railway’s purchase of Andrew Barclay 0-4-0ST No. 2248 Albert from a supporter has secured a steam presence for the long term – and fulfils one of the line’s primary goals in the process. Built in 1948 for the British Sugar Corporation’s Worcester and Somerset plants, Albert arrived on the PVR under private ownership in 2004 where, following repairs and overhaul, it returned to steam five years later. Last August the railway announced it had been offered the opportunity to buy the locomotive (which had recently completed another overhaul) for £40,000. With one of the PVR Co. Ltd.’s goals being to own an operational steam locomotive, an appeal was set up, and on January 14,…

THE BR Class 14 celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, and while the East Lancashire Railway’s half-centenary event in 2014 (which brought together 10 of the 19 UK-based preserved examples) will be hard pressed to replicate, the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway will celebrate the occasion with its own gathering of ‘Teddy Bears’ on July 25-28 – with two guests already secured alongside the resident pair. The first batch of 26 of these 0-6-0 diesel hydraulic ls was built at Swindon Works, with the expectation that they would take on trip working movements between local yards and short distance freight services. Their central cabs also allowed for good all-round visibility which, with their dual controls, made them wellsuited for shunting duties too. Initially all allocated to the Western Region, several make it…

AFTER 30 years as one of the biggest events in the UK modellers’ calendar, the Warley Model Railway Club’s annual exhibition at the National Exhibition Centre near Birmingham has been suspended “for the foreseeable future” as past organisers look to retire with no replacements coming forth to take on the required positions. The high-profile Warley National Model Railway Exhibition is loved by many for its broad range of exhibits which have regularly included one or more full-size centrepieces, ranging from locomotives such as GNR 0-6-2T N2 No. 1744 in 2011, Fletcher Jennings 0-4-2ST No. 1 Talyllyn in 2014, and the Erlestoke Manor Fund’s GWR 2-6-2T No. 5164 at the last event, on November 25-26, 2023, when its transportation to the event was sponsored by Accurascale, to items of rolling stock.…

THE overhaul of 1889 Sharp Stewart 0-4-0ST No. 19B, built for the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, has commenced at the Statfold Barn Railway’s workshops. There was nervousness among the Darjeeling Tank Locomotive Trust leadership team, who formed a Plan A and an alternative Plan B; the decision on which one was implemented depended on what was found when the boiler was removed and, crucially, inspected! Plan A was hoped for as this was the course of action if no major repairs were required to renew its boiler ticket and return to service by the summer. Plan B would have been problematic, for if the boiler’s condition was found to be poor, a replacement one would have been needed, costing an estimated £150,000. Statfold’s engineering team began dismantling the locomotive on January…

A SUCCESSFUL test run for Class 52 Western D1015 Western Champion has given light at the end of the tunnel for the locomotive’s main line comeback. As we went to press last issue, D1015 had headed out light engine from Kidderminster traction and motive power depot on the Severn Valley Railway, bound for Avonmouth on the national network – its first venture out since 2021. There it attached to the front of Class 66 No. 66714 Cromer Lifeboats, which was working the 9.20am Avonmouth-Penyffordd cement train, and worked the consist as far as Gloucester Yard, where it then detached and returned home light engine. Tom Sawyer, chairman of the Diesel Traction Group (DGT), which owns the locomotive, said: “On-board DTG engineers reported that the test run went well and was…

JJohn Fowler & Co, based in the Steam Plough Works in Leeds, was well-known in the production of a wide range of agricultural machinery, notably road locomotives and ploughing engines for customers at home and abroad, many examples of which are still extant today. The firm’s early steam locomotive orders tended to be for standard gauge customers, or for broader gauges such as 5ft 3in or 5ft 6in, and ranged from 0-6-0 tender locomotives for the London, Chatham & Dover Railway in 1866 to four members of an attractive doubleframed 0-6-0ST class in 1885 for the Brecon & Merthyr Railway, the last of which survived in industrial use until 1944, albeit rebuilt by the GWR as a pannier tank. In 1877 or thereabouts, because of its preoccupation with agricultural matters,…

THE decision of the National Trust to rehome most of its industrial steam locomotives formerly based at Penrhyn Castle (News, pages 14-16) has already attracted much comment from industrial railway enthusiasts. Several observations have been made in relation to individual locomotives and for the most part, except for the ultimate plan to move FireQueen from its current place in theVale of Rheidol Railway’s Museum to its original small shed at Llanberis, relatively little for commentators to deplore. There is, sadly, one glaring exception to all of this, namely the proposal for 3ft gauge Black Hawthorn 0-4-0ST Kettering Furnaces No.3. The proposal is currently being put forward by theWaterford & Suir Valley Railway in the Republic of Ireland. This scheme is a six-mile 3ft gauge heritage railway running from Bilberry, Waterford…

SOUTH EAST Amberley Museum 2ft gauge, ¼ mile. Arundel, West Sussex. Tel: 01798 831370. Open: Weds-Suns. Bluebell Railway Standard gauge, 11 miles. Sheffield Park, East Sussex TN22 2QL. Tel: 01825 720800. Running: Feb 16-18. Bredgar & Wormshill Light Railway 2ft gauge, ½ mile. Bredgar, Sittingbourne, Kent. Tel: 01622 884254. Running: Weds from Feb 27. Chatham Historic Dockyard Standard gauge, one mile. Chatham, Kent. Tel: 01634 820800. Open: Daily. East Kent Railway Standard gauge, two miles. Shepherdswell, Kent. Tel: 01304 832042. Reopens: March 2024. Eastleigh Lakeside Railway 10¼in & 7¼in gauge, 1¼ miles. Running: W/Es, sch hols. Exbury Gardens & Steam Railway 12¼in gauge, 1½ miles. Exbury, Southampton. Tel: 023 8089 1203. Reopens: March 9. Hayling Light Railway 2ft gauge, one mile. Hayling Island, Hants. Tel: 07902 446340. Running: Weds, W/Es.…