Sam Hewitt

By Hugh Dougherty Ayr Station Hotel, built as an integral part of the town’ station in 1885 to a French Renaissance design, is under threat of demolition. The hotel, one of three built and owned by the Glasgow & South Western Railway, and operated after 1923 by the LMS, was an early sell-off by the…

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By Geoff Courtney The country’s leading railway artists were celebrating at their annual exhibition at Kidderminster Railway Museum on August 26 when nine paintings sold within hours of its opening. The exhibition, Railart 2017, put on by the Guild of Railway Artists, featured 61 works by 28 artists – from oil on canvas and watercolour…

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SIX brake failures have occurred on the Snaefell Mountain Railway in the past five years, the Isle of Man government has admitted. The figures were released following the latest incident, when Car No. 2 suffered a brake failure after it left the Summit terminus, as reported in our last issue. The Manx Director of Public…

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By Geoff Courtney AUSTRALIAN preservationists and enthusiasts who are reeling from the shock closure of one of the country’s leading railway museums and the controversial auction in August of two of its locomotives, and other rolling stock, have received another major blow with the decision by the museum’s liquidator to sell the museum’s most-prized asset,…

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Initial indications are that the North Norfolk Railway’s autumn steam gala was the best supported since the visit of Tornado back in 2013. Marketing manager Trevor Eady said: “Passenger numbers over the weekend of September 1-3 were good and apart from a short delay to services late on Friday the weekend went with almost perfect…

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THE latest Barry scrapyard locomotive to be returned to steam will run in the identity of a long-gone sister when making its gala debut BR Standard 5MT 4-6-0 No. 73156, the rebuild of which has been completed at the Great Central Railway’s Loughborough shed, will take the identity of No. 73084 Tintagel. The GCR’s October…

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WENSLEYDALE Railway shareholders have backed a controversial plan to sell off its westernmost station in order to clear debts. At the company’s annual general meeting held in Leyburn Methodist church hall on Saturday, September 9, shareholders voted in favour of selling off the currently isolated Aysgarth station, which is yet to be connected to the…

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THE Leighton Buzzard Railway is to hold its 50th anniversary gala over the weekend of September 30 and October 1, with up to 10 locomotives in steam. The event will celebrate 50 years since the initial formal meeting held in October 1967 that led to the formation of the preservation society. A special train service…

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TWO Bulleid Battle of Britain light Pacifics are set to join the Swanage Railway’s operational fleet. Fifteen years after it last steamed, Battle of Britain No. 34072 257 Squadron will be making its comeback imminently. Following the completion of its overhaul at Herston Works, the locomotive was taken by low loader back to the heritage…

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SEPTEMBER 30 will see the £650,000 replica Baldwin 2-4-2T Lyn officially launched at the start of Lynton & Barnstaple Railway’s two-day autumn gala. Lyn is a new-build replacement of the original locomotive built in 1898 to operate the railway. It passed a steam test at Alan Keef’s Ross-on-Wye works on September 7. The first Lyn…

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