Heritage Railway

Editor Robin Jones Deputy editor Toby Jennings Senior Contributors Geoff Courtney, Cedric Johns Contributors Hugh Dougherty, Pete Kelly, Roger Melton, Brian Sharpe, John Titlow Designer Tim Pipes Production editor Lucy Wood Publisher Tim Hartley Sale

AN OPERATION by contractors Barnett Engineering of Rhosllanerchrugog has seen the longitudinal beams craned in on the canopy columns either side of the waiting room steelwork on the island platform at the Llangollen Railway’s new Corwen terminus. Mea

A £250,000 appeal to save the Bredgar & Wormshill Light Railway has been launched. The 2ft gauge line near Sittingbourne in Kent was founded in 1975 by brothers Bill and David Best. Friends helped them in their spare time and a track was laid around

WEST Somerset Railway running foreman Stuart Nelhams has been appointed as the new general manager of the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway. Taking up his post on August 11, Stuart, 47, replaces Martyn Budd, who retired on his 65th birthday, having served

THE South Devon Railway has exchanged Mk.1 RMB (Restaurant Miniature Buffet) No. 4802 for the Dartmouth Steam Railway’s CK (Corridor Composite) No. 16071. No. 4802, formerly the SDR’s combined buffet and disabled carriage, which had been stripped bac

A MYSTERY Class 7 4-6-2 which first appeared on the Great Central Railway in August last year is now no more – after plunging to its doom off the edge of a quarry in Derbyshire. As reported in issue 272, the disaster was nothing less than an ultimate

TYSELEY Locomotive Works has completed the assembly of the new superheater and header for new-build GWR 4-6-0 No. 6880 Betton Grange. The superheater is the last major outstanding task required to complete the locomotive, and was due to be fitted ins

→ THE West Somerset Railway is to become the latest line to introduce Christmas illuminated trains in addition to traditional Santa services. The series of 14 Winterlights trains will run between Bishops Lydeard and Crowcombe between November 19 and

CAMPAIGNERS fighting to save the Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway Bridge 234 in Bourne from being demolished to make way for an extension to the Lincolnshire town’s modern Elsea Park housing estate are to set up a charitable trust to maintain i

AN exhibition of railway posters is to go ahead at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway on September 18/19, having been postponed twice because of Covid-19 restrictions. As highlighted in issue 279, the Posters From The Steam Age gallery display,

HERITAGE railways have reported a bumper summer for passenger numbers, buoyed by record temperatures and the easing of Covid-19restrictions. North Norfolk Railway general manager Andrew Munden said that by mid-August, more passengers were carried tha

TWO MPS have endorsed the nationwide Love Your Railway six-week summer campaign to boost awareness of the heritage sector. A total of 55 venues have now joined up, an increase on the original 37 as reported last issue Kevin Hollinrake, MP for Thirsk

→ FIRST World War veteran Hunslet 4-6-0T Works No. 1215 of 1916 will be the guest locomotive at the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway’s Autumn Gala on September 25/26. Repatriated from Australia in 2005 by the War Office Locomotive Society, it returned to

SCHOOLS Class No. 30925 Cheltenham and US Army Transportation Corps S160 2-8-0 No. 6046 are to take part in the Bluebell Railway's‘Giants of Steam’gala on October 8-10. The National Collection’s Maunsell Class V 4-4-0, based at the Mid-Hants Railway,

GWR 4575 2-6-2T No. 5526 is to visit the Gwili Railway between mid-September and January 2022, including the line’s October 9 end-of-season gala. Based at the South Devon Railway and currently on loan to the Dartmouth Steam Railway, No. 5526 will rep

→ CLASS 26 and 27 prototypes Nos. 26007 and 27001 will visit the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway’s Mixed Traffic Gala on September 10-12, which it is hoped will mark the return to service of Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway 0-6-0 No. 957 after overhaul

THE Barrow Hill-based project to recreate a Class 23 Baby Deltic has taken a major step forward in recent weeks. The body shell, shortened and rebuilt from a withdrawn Class 37, was lowered onto an overhauled pair of Class 20 4W bogies, followed shor

A WITHDRAWN Pacer has started a new life as a classroom and library at a Northumberland school. The two-car unit, No. 144002, was donated by leasing company Porterbrook to The Dales specialist education primary school in Blyth. It was delivered on Ju

SUMMER visitors to the East Lancashire Railway have been offered the chance to combine their journey with an open-top bus ride. Diamond Bus North West’s ‘Rammy Rambler’open-top bus will provide three through journeys per day between Wednesday and Sun

THE NorthYorkshire Moors Railway has issued a plea for more volunteers to help with its ongoing lineside conservation projects that are part of its £10 million Yorkshire’s Magnificent Journey (YMJ) project to secure the future of the line. Following

THE ground-breaking project to build the seventh example of Britain’s most powerful express passenger steam locomotive is celebrating signing up its 1000th ‘P2 for the price of a pint of beer a week’ covenantor. The scheme is on track to raise more t

A NAMEPLATE, badge and smokebox numberplate from A4 No. 60027 Merlin will be joined at auction by another A4 plate, and plates from an A1 and A3, in an LNER Pacific bonanza on November 13. It will be the first time an A4 nameplate has gone under the

DESPITE the Government’s ‘Freedom Day’ lifting of Covid-19 restrictions, this year’s Warley National Model Railway Exhibition has been cancelled. With infection rates again reported as rising throughout the country, the show at the National Exhibitio

NER J21 0-6-0 No. 65033 continues to make progress towards a 2023 steaming, as expected by the owning Locomotive Conservation & Learning Trust. With the engine completely stripped and refurbishment of many parts ongoing, rebuilding the tender is this

VISITORS to the quintessential GWR branch line station of Arley on the Severn Valley Railway over the next few months will be confronted by the incongruous sight of five High Speed Train power cars. The Class 43 locomotives – Nos. 43251, 43257, 43272

IT WAS an occasion 60 years ago that many people, particularly Germans, would rather forget. On the morning of August 13, 1961, residents of Berlin awoke to find that two thirds of their city had been isolated by the tearing up of roads, the blocking

CAREER railwayman Geoff Mee has been appointed as the Bluebell Railway plc’s new chairman, and long-serving volunteer Paul Russell as its locomotive engineering director. Geoff joined BR as an engineering student in 1971 and was the last graduate eng

AN APPEAL to reroof the Severn Valley Railway’s Bridgnorth locomotive shed is closing in on its target – despite that figure having significantly increased. When launched in mid-May, the Home and Dry appeal aimed to raise £425,000 to fit a new roof w

BAFTA award-winning actress Julie Walters is to narrate the SevernValley Railway’s all-new Enchanted Express Christmas services. The voice of the Harry Potter star will be heard as passengers arrive at Bridgnorth station, and again once everyone has

A DIESEL shunter and six carriages are up for sale in a clear-out of surplus stock at the Lavender Line. The Sussex line, which was due to reopen on August 29/30, said the sale follows “a reappraisal of what the railway intends to restore and keep lo

A £40,000 appeal to produce the driving wheelsets for new-build Churchward County 4-4-0 No. 3840 County of Montgomery is three-quarters of the way to its target. The Forty 4-4-0s Club, launched in March 2019, allows supporters to‘adopt’one of the ori

YOUNG RAILWAY PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR READERS are reminded that entries for theYoung Railway Photographer of the Year Competition must be submitted by October 31, 2021. Entries should comprise a portfolio of six images illustrating the diversity of

UNDERGROUND Uncovered is the theme of a behind-the-scenes event at London Transport Museum’s Acton depot from September 23-26. Visitors will be invited to a series of talks by disused station history expert Siddy Holloway, co-presenter of the new Sec

THE LNER Coach Association has taken an unexpected opportunity to buy, at a very favourable price, a large quantity of top quality teak – about 20 tons – that has been stored in a barn in Essex since the mid-1990s. It is planning to share its good fo

A MEMORIAL marking when a Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway Letterkenny-to-Burtonport train was blown off its 3ft gauge rails as it crossed the Owencarrow Viaduct in an Atlantic storm, killing four passengers and injuring more, was unveiled on July

KEIGHLEY & Worth Valley Railway volunteer John Morris has celebrated 50 years as a driver on the line this summer. John, universally nicknamed ‘Doggy’for reasons now forgotten, was among the first young volunteers to train as a fireman on the KWVR af

A MIDLAND Railway coach is nearing the end of a five-year restoration to run on a former Midland branch line at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway. The 1886-built six-wheeled Composite No. 358 is part of the Vintage Carriages Trust collection based

NORTH Norfolk Railway Engineering is to restore the trailing truck for ex-Barry Merchant Navy No. 35011 General Steam Navigation. The Bulleid Pacific, based at the Swindon & Cricklade Railway, is being returned to its original air-smoothed condition

→ ONE of the biggest transport collectors’ fairs in the North East is returning. Held by the Samuel Ledgard Society, it is taking place at Pudsey Civic Hall, Leeds, from 10am to 3pm on October 30. Admission is £3. Up to 100 tables will be selling rai

IN OUR feature in issue 272 on the Mortons Book publication The Craft of the Fireman, the author, Trevor Matthews, has requested we clarify the following points: Mr Matthews was not the author of the article. All grammatical errors are the responsibi

ENCOURAGED by the loadings of a series of trains run between Eastbourne, Hastings and Tonbridge on August 7, Hastings Diesels Limited has announced a second outing for its unique six-car DEMU No. 1001, running from Hastings to Faversham via Canterbur

THE North Eastern Locomotive Preservation Group’s LNER K1 2-6-0 No. 62005 has been withdrawn from ‘Jacobite’ services because of excessive tyre wear. The wear has reduced its driving wheel flanges to close to the minimum permissible size, with insuff

LMS Stanier 4-6-2 No. 6201 Princess Elizabeth has been stopped at Carn forth for a boiler examination. Having completed four trips with Northern Belle, the engine was set to undergo its fitness exam on July 23 for its next booking, taking the‘Belle’

A NEW front tubeplate has been ordered for ex-Barry scrapyard GWR 2884 2-8-0 No. 3814, which is under restoration at Northern Steam Engineering of Stockton-on-Tees. Its driving and pony wheelsets are to be sent to the South Devon Railway for new tyre

BETH Cooper has been promoted to travel centre manager for the Northern Belle as the luxury train company gets back on course after the pandemic. Huddersfield businessman David Pitts, who bought the distinctive Pullman carriages from the iconic Orien

THE driving wheels of new-build LMS Patriot No. 5551 The Unknown Warrior have been returned to their makers, the Boro Foundry, for an investigation into their cracking. As reported last issue, the discovery of“widespread serious cracking” means that