Sam Hewitt

Poetic justice as station totem sign sells for £2700

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Sam Hewitt

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8th January 2018

A totem sign from a station immortalised in a poem by the late Poet Laureate and railway enthusiast Sir John Betjeman was the top seller in a one-off railwayana sale held by Chippenham Auction Rooms on November 10. The BR(S) sign, which went under the hammer for £2700, was from Dilton Marsh Halt, opened by…
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Are you Master I Ritchie, formerly of Ilford, England?

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Sam Hewitt

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8th January 2018

Railwayana collector and Heritage Railway reader Richard Wadeson has a 62-year-old Ian Allan ABC Combined Volume in his book collection which he would love to return to its original owner, trainspotter Master I Ritchie… if he could only find him. Richard, a railway enthusiast since the mid-1950s, was given a copy of a winter 1955/56…
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90 years on, Correspondence Society celebrates milestone

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Sam Hewitt

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8th January 2018

JANUARY marks the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Railway Correspondence and Travel Society, which plans to hold special events throughout 2018. The society began when a small group of enthusiasts, meeting in a garden shed at Cheltenham in September 1927, formed themselves unto the Cheltenham Spa Railway Club with Aubrey Broad as secretary…
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Phil gives his 60th birthday gifts to Severn Valley Trust

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Sam Hewitt

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8th January 2018

LONG-STANDING Severn Valley Railway member and locomotive owner Phil Swallow wanted just one thing for his 60th birthday – to raise money for the future of the railway he loves so much. He asked friends and family not to buy him birthday presents, but instead to donate to the SVR Charitable Trust’s endowment Future Fund.…
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Steam returns to Essex town 52 years after line closure

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Sam Hewitt

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8th January 2018

By Geoff Courtney A passenger steam train has returned to the Essex town of Halstead 52 years after its line was closed and the track was lifted. There was, though, no fanfare, no gathering of preservationists and enthusiasts, and very few cameras clicking, for the train is but an image, albeit an innovative one that…
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Mallard should have been restored ahead of Flying Scotsman

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Sam Hewitt

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8th January 2018

Issue 233 of Heritage Railway was a real treat – and not least the Platform section. Three very noticeable aspects of railway preservation became very obvious from the letters. First was the issue regarding the lengthening of heritage lines so that they do, indeed go, as Clive Thompson so eloquently put it, from “somewhere to…
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PRESERVATION HISTORY: Alexander Macdonald – From scrap to Swallows and Amazons: The 43924 story

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Sam Hewitt

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8th January 2018

It is nearly 50 years since the first steam locomotive was rescued from Barry scrapyard for preservation. Fiona Kennaugh tells the story of how her father, Alexander Macdonald, was instrumental in saving this locomotive, a move which was to open the door for a further 212 steam engines to leave the famous yard. The only…
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WITH FULL REGULATOR: LOCOMOTIVE PERFORMANCE THEN AND NOW

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Sam Hewitt

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8th January 2018

By Don Benn As a change from the usual full day out with steam, and in response to demand, UK Railtours and the Merchant Navy Locomotive Preservation Society decided to try a short day circular trip on Saturday, November 18. The itinerary was different from the usual Belmond Surrey Hills circuit and embraced lines where…
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Workshop report – a Herefordshire gem

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Sam Hewitt

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2nd January 2018

One name is synonymous with narrow gauge locomotive restoration and new-build projects. Mark Smithers reports on progress to be seen at an open day at Alan Keef Ltd. The name of Alan Keef Ltd will doubtless be familiar to most operators and fans of heritage railways, especially in the narrow gauge field, as its product…
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Railways at War: The Longmoor Military Railway

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Sam Hewitt

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2nd January 2018

Few people are fully aware to what extent the railways, and certain sections of the army, were able to play such a large part in assisting the war effort during the two world wars. Brian Bell, who served at Longmoor in the 1950s, outlines how both the Allies and the Germans realised just how strategic…
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Sam Hewitt

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