Sam Hewitt

By Stuart Chapman POPPLETON Community Railway Nursery is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its internal narrow gauge railway. What is Britain’s last surviving railway nursery, located at Poppleton near York, dates back to the Second World War, when the station goods yard was used by the LNER to grow food for the company’s hotels and…

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By Phil Marsh At AN Isle of Wight Council meeting on May 3, it was confirmed that the UK’s only offshore franchised main line railway will see its 80-year-old trains replaced. The news became public knowledge when representatives from South Western Railway, the Island Line franchise operators, presented an outline of its proposals concerning the…

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THE National Railway Museum is exploring other avenues of major funding after the Heritage Lottery Fund’s shock refusal to back its planned £50 million redevelopment scheme as a part of the city’s York Central rejuvenation. In April, dismayed officials of the York venue heard that their application for £13.4 million from the Lottery had been…

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A 1959 tube stock driving motor vehicle, donated by London Underground to the Epping Ongar Railway, has been delivered to North Weald station. The carriage, No. 1031 previously in the Northern Line depot at Morden, had to be moved as part of a major upgrade project and was donated to the heritage line by the…

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A SCHEME to preserve the history and heritage of the route of the Stockton & Darlington Railway – the world’s first public steam-operated line – and turn it into a world-class visitor attraction has been given a £700,000 boost. Historic England has awarded the grant through its Heritage Action Zone programme. It will see work…

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A SPECIAL train headed by Flying Scotsman is being planned for the autumn as a tribute to Sir William McAlpine, who rescued it from the USA and owned it for 23 years. The A3’s owner the National Railway Museum is in talks with Sir William’s widow Lady Judy McAlpine about the historic memorial run, for…

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THE North Norfolk Railway has turned its June 15-17 spring diesel gala into a mixed traffic event because of a shortage of locomotives. Its class Class 03, 31 and 37 locomotives are still undergoing major overhauls. However, its special guest will be the Bury Hydraulic Group’s 1961-built Warship D832 Onslaught. Long-term visitor Class 20 No.…

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FINTOWN station building has been gifted to Comhlacht Traenach na Gaeltachta Lair, operator of the Fintown Railway, by owner Donegal County Council, to help boost the narrow gauge line. Fintown station was built in 1895 to a standard design for the Stranorlar to Glenties railway. It was in use until the last passenger trains ran…

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By Hugh Dougherty COUNTY Donegal Railways’ railcars Nos. 19 and 20 could be leaving the Isle of Man to return to Donegal if an offer by Isle of Man Railways to lend the diesel duo to the Fintown Railway is accepted. This move represents a U-turn by IOMR which has turned down previous requests for…

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THE Ferryhill Railway Heritage Trust in Aberdeen has saved Taylor Hubbard 10-ton six-wheel steam crane DRT 80169 which was declared surplus to requirements at the Bodmin & Wenford Railway. Built at Leicester in 1947, it spent most of its working life on the Western Region, before moving to Bodmin in 1981. It has now made…

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