Sam Hewitt

THE influence of a local family on the fortunes of the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway has been celebrated in the latest open wagon to join the line’s heritage fleet. John Lloyd Peate was a coal merchant based in Llanfair Caereinion, and when the railway opened in 1903 he ordered five private owner coal wagons…

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The Snowdon Mountain Railway’s 1896-built 0-4-2T No. 5 Moel Siabod is back in traffic following a £60,000 refit. The locomotive, built by the Swiss Locomotive & Manufacturing Co of Winterthur and sold to Britain’s only rack railway for £1500, had been out of action since 2000. It has undergone a £60,000 refit and refurbishment of…

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THE award-winning Leighton Buzzard Railway is marking its 50th anniversary year with a £150,000 appeal to rebuild more of its ‘main line’. The 2ft gauge line in Bedfordshire was built to serve several sand quarries and to take the extracted material to a transhipment siding of the main line near the town’s LNWR station. There…

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WELSHPOOL & Llanfair Light Railway Hunslet 2-6-2T No. 14 is to spend much of the summer on display in the Ironbridge Gorge, following its appearance at the Tyseley Locomotive Works Castles open weekend. No. 14, which last ran in 2010, was built in 1954 for service in Sierra Leone, where it carried the number 85,…

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WR 4-6-0 No. 7029 Clun Castle will definitely make its main line comeback this year – half a century after it hauled a special train to mark the closure of the route from Paddington to Birkenhead. The 1950-built icon was one of the star attractions at the Castles open weekend held at the engine’s home,…

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By Paul Appleton Engineers at the Severn Valley Railway’s Bridgnorth locomotive works continue to take great strides in the overhaul of BR Standard 4MT 4-6-0 No. 75069, with the chassis now rewheeled and much of the bottom end overhaul moving close to completion. The lubrication pipework is also largely complete and looks most impressive. Meanwhile,…

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By Paul Appleton MORE than 7000 visitors attended the Severn Valley Railway’s flagship 1940s event held over June 24-25 and July 1-2, many dressed in period attire and waving Union flags as they entered into the spirit of the event. People lined the platforms to catch a glimpse of the much-anticipated battle re-enactment at Highley,…

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THE West Lancashire Light Railway is to hold a series of special events to mark its 50th anniversary. There will be a ‘Nearly 50’ gala on August 12-13 and a 50th anniversary gala on September 23-24. The 2ft-gauge line was started by six local schoolboys in September, 1967. They were concerned by the loss of…

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