News

The Welsh Highland Heritage Railway (WHHR ) in Porthmadog formally relaunched into traffic its popular Bagnall 0-4-2T Gelert on July 29. The locomotive is now sharing passenger duties with the line’s flagship locomotive, Hunslet 2-6-2T Russell. Gelert last steamed in 2013. It had been known for some time the boiler was not in the best…

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By Geoff Courtney The close-knit world of railwayana is mourning the death of David Lewis, who died on August 2 at the age of 56 after a long battle with cancer. He is the second auction house principal to pass away in his fifties in a little over a year, following the death 14 months…

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TOWNSFOLK in Brackley have launched a campaign to save its former Great Central Railway station from being demolished. The late-Victorian structure in Top Station Road was vacated by tyre firm ATS Euromaster in July, and is due to be sold at auction via sealed bids. Residents fear it will be demolished and the site used…

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THREE tours commemorated the legendary 1T57 ‘Fifteen Guinea Special’ – the last BR steam-hauled trip – with trips on the anniversary day operating over part of the route taken on August 11, 1968. However, in recalling the end of steam, all three trips on Saturday, August 11, may be viewed to some extent as symbolic,…

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By Geoff Courtney Against a background of a fierce ongoing debate about the planned link-up of two heritage railways in Kent and Sussex, a local tourist organisation has come out in strong support of the value of one of the railway’s gala events. Kevin Boorman, manager of 1066 Country Marketing, which promotes the region’s history…

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THE North Gloucestershire Narrow Gauge Railway has restored a coach which was built for a special line at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1924/25. The body of the 2ft-gauge vehicle was retrieved from Teddington Fields, next to the A46 between Tewkesbury and Teddington Hands, by members of the narrow gauge line based at…

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By Geoff Courtney Michael Portillo, one of the highest-profile names in the world of railways, has become president of the Friends of the Settle-Carlisle Line. A former Conservative MP, government minister and close friend of Margaret Thatcher, he will be welcomed into the fold of the scenic Cumbrian line’s many supporters because of his reputation…

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On July 19, 1908, a votes for women rally was held in Manchester’s Heaton Park. Present was Manchester-born Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst, the political activist who led the British suffragette movement She stopped a tram to highlight the issue, and a photograph was taken as a record of the protest. The modern-day Heaton Park Tramway Company…

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THE controversial move of the National Collection’s GWR 2-8-0 No. 2818 to Swindon’s STEAM museum was due to have taken place on Tuesday, August 21. The National Railway Museum was criticised in some quarters for gifting the 113-year-old Churchward heavy freight locomotive to the museum, after it has been on static display at the Locomotion…

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THE opening of the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railways’ northern extension to the tourist honeypot of Broadway has seen passenger numbers soar by 52% at the halfway stage of the season. Figures revealed that by the end of June, nearly 72,000 passengers had travelled between Cheltenham Racecourse and the newly opened station at Broadway. That compares with…

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