News

FROM May 6, the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway will be celebrating the return after nearly a century of a 122-year-old steam locomotive following the completion of an extensive restoration programme. Katie, an 0-4-0T built in 1896 by the engineer Sir Arthur Heywood for use on the Duke of Westminster’s private railway at his Eaton Hall…

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The Loch Lomond Steamship Company has marked the 65th anniversary of the launch of the last  paddle steamer to be built for a British railway company, by announcing the appointment of Lord Robert Smith of Kelvin KT CH as patron of the appeal to raise the last £1 million needed to get Maid of the…

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BRITAIN’S most southerly station – the new Truthall Halt on the Helston Railway – has received a royal booster. The Queen’s cousin HRH Prince Richard The Duke of Gloucester KG, GCVO officially opened the rebuilt halt on Thursday, April 5, more than 55 years after the GWR Helston branch was closed by BR. The duke,…

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WORK has begun on rebuilding historic Lincolnshire’s historic Deeping St James signalbox following a campaign by villagers. The 1876-built signalbox was demolished in 2014 to make way for new electric crossing gates as part of a £280 million modernisation of the Great Northern & Great Eastern joint line between Doncaster and Peterborough However, many villagers…

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WORK has begun on rebuilding historic Lincolnshire’s historic Deeping St James signalbox following a campaign by villagers. The 1876-built signalbox was demolished in 2014 to make way for new electric crossing gates as part of a £280 million modernisation of the Great Northern & Great Eastern joint line between Doncaster and Peterborough However, many villagers…

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By Geoff Courtney AMBERLEY Museum has marked the launch of its 40th season with the official openings by television and radio personality Nicholas Owen of a landmark former main line signalbox and a standard gauge locomotive shed. Nicholas, a railway enthusiast who supports the West Sussex visitor attraction, performed the dual opening on March 25.…

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A CAMPAIGN to save the last Northern Ireland Railways 80 Class ‘Thumper’ DEMU – used during the Troubles for the Peace Trains to Dublin and back – has been launched by the Downpatrick & County Down Railway, and for every pound you donate, a DCDR volunteer will match it pound for pound up to £4000.…

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By Geoff Courtney RAILWAY preservationists are well rehearsed in celebrating anniversaries, which provide an ideal opportunity to remember the past, celebrate the present and look forward to the future, while at the same time putting on a good show for visitors. The Derwent Valley Light Railway, whose stretch of standard gauge track at Murton Park…

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By Hugh Dougherty Northern Ireland Railways chose to celebrate its 50th anniversary in style with steam. The award-winning Railway Preservation Society of Ireland’s recently-restored Great Northern Railway of Ireland 4-4-0 Q class No. 131 pulled a special train, packed with members of the public and former and long-service NIR employees, from Belfast Great Victoria Street…

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