Sam Hewitt

By Geoff Courtney The distinctive sound of a Rolls-Royce Merlin-engined Spitfire aircraft, Churchillian speeches, military vehicles, and steam-hauled passenger trains, will reverberate around the town of Tenterden on the weekend of May 19-20, as the Kent & East Sussex Railway holds a 1940s gala that will bring back memories to locals and visitors of a…

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THE ‘dream pairing’ of blue-liveried Caledonian Railway survivors 812 class 0-6-0 No. 828 and 493 class 0-4-4T No. 419 will be the highlight of the Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway’s November 2-4 autumn gala. Dubbed the ‘Caley Reunion’, the ‘must see’ event will see 1899-built No. 828 brought from the Strathspey Railway to run alongside No.…

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A GROUND-BREAKING ‘modern’ freight vehicle has been donated to the Locomotion museum. The nationally significant High-Speed Freight Vehicle 1 (HSFV1) has been given to the Shildon venue by the APT-E-Support Group following the enforced closure of the Electric Railway Museum at Coventry. The HSFV1 made international high-speed travel and freight carrying possible. It was developed…

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By Roger Melton A ‘Spaceship’ – the now-unique single-chimneyed BR Standard 9F 2-10-0 No. 92134 – is to be based on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway for at least its 10-year boiler ticket. Class members were so nicknamed by some enthusiasts for the amount of daylight visible under their boilers, which was a rare phenomenon…

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By Cedric Johns TYSELEY Locomotive Works is steaming ahead with plans to launch its own Train Operating Company, and its share issue for the purpose was nearing its £800,00 target as we closed for press. Adrian Shooter, the chairman of Tyseley’s negotiating team, said: “We are discussing various detail issues with members of the Office…

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SPONSORED by Heritage Railway publisher Mortons, the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway’s Cotswold Festival of Steam is set to be the biggest and best ever – with BR Britannia Pacific No. 70013 Oliver Cromwell joining the action. As reported last month, the Great Central Railway-based ‘Brit’ has been given an extension to its boiler ticket so it…

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THE Keighley & Worth Valley Railway’s June 24-July 1 50th anniversary gala will welcome back two old stalwarts. Bulleid West Country light Pacific No. 34092 City of Wells – for which its current home, the East Lancashire Railway has a £340,920 appeal to buy it from its three current owners, and LMS ‘Black Five’ No.…

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The Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway has claimed a world first with the relaunch of 4-8-2 No. 6 Samson on Saturday, March 21. The Mountain class locomotive’s comeback happened five years after it last hauled a passenger train. The action was streamed around the world on Facebook and Twitter with an internet-connected camera on the…

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