News

A SPECIAL train headed by Flying Scotsman is being planned for the autumn as a tribute to Sir William McAlpine, who rescued it from the USA and owned it for 23 years. The A3’s owner the National Railway Museum is in talks with Sir William’s widow Lady Judy McAlpine about the historic memorial run, for…

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THE North Norfolk Railway has turned its June 15-17 spring diesel gala into a mixed traffic event because of a shortage of locomotives. Its class Class 03, 31 and 37 locomotives are still undergoing major overhauls. However, its special guest will be the Bury Hydraulic Group’s 1961-built Warship D832 Onslaught. Long-term visitor Class 20 No.…

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FINTOWN station building has been gifted to Comhlacht Traenach na Gaeltachta Lair, operator of the Fintown Railway, by owner Donegal County Council, to help boost the narrow gauge line. Fintown station was built in 1895 to a standard design for the Stranorlar to Glenties railway. It was in use until the last passenger trains ran…

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By Hugh Dougherty COUNTY Donegal Railways’ railcars Nos. 19 and 20 could be leaving the Isle of Man to return to Donegal if an offer by Isle of Man Railways to lend the diesel duo to the Fintown Railway is accepted. This move represents a U-turn by IOMR which has turned down previous requests for…

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THE Ferryhill Railway Heritage Trust in Aberdeen has saved Taylor Hubbard 10-ton six-wheel steam crane DRT 80169 which was declared surplus to requirements at the Bodmin & Wenford Railway. Built at Leicester in 1947, it spent most of its working life on the Western Region, before moving to Bodmin in 1981. It has now made…

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THE two-mile Rhondda Tunnel on the Rhondda & Swansea Bay Railway is set to be revived as the longest underground cyclepath in Europe. The railway opened from Treherbert through the tunnel under insurmountable terrain to Port Talbot and Aberavon in 1890, and five years later was extended to Swansea. It later became part of the…

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A Grade 2-listed Victorian landmark on the West Coast Main Line near Rugby is being preserved for decades to come by Network Rail. Repair and maintenance work has been carried out inside the Great Northern Shaft which was built to provide light and ventilation inside the 1½-mile-long Kilsby Tunnel in Northamptonshire. A huge scaffolding structure…

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FURNESS Railway 0-4-0ST No. 25 has been donated to the Furness Railway Trust. No. 25 is an unrestored sister locomotive to the trust’s A5 class 0-4-0 tender engine No. 20. When the type became obsolete on the Furness Railway, they were sent back to maker Sharp Stewart and converted into industrial saddle tanks for use…

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SINGER Shirley Bassey flew in from Monaco so she could visit the Snowdon Mountain Railway for a very special ceremony on May 17. The 81-year-old star, who was born in Bute Street in Cardiff’s Tiger Bay, was said to have held back tears when she unveiled a carriage named after her at the line’s waterfall…

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The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway Trust has bought another half-mile of original trackbed near Lynton. The latest stretch is at Barbrook on the approach to the resort. The purchase reinforces the trust’s commitment to rebuilding the line from Woody Bay to Lynton after restoring services from Killington Lane to Blackmoor and Wistlandpound which has just…

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