News

Nameplates from two GWR 4-6-0s that ended their days within six months of each other at London’s Old Oak Common shed (81A) will headline GW Railwayana’s sale at Pershore on March 17. They are Ketley Hall from No. 4935 and Usk Castle from No. 5032. The Hall was built in June 1929 and withdrawn in…

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Now reaching the final stages of its overhaul, B1 4-6-0 No. 61306 Mayflower has, at this late stage, been declared out of gauge for its first revenue-earning trip, the long delayed charity train from London to Harwich on April 15. As reported last month, the 4-6-0’s boiler has been delivered to Carnforth to enable final…

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Stanier 4-6-2 No. 6201 Princess Elizabeth turned a wheel on the main line, albeit without con rods, on Thursday, February 22, when the big red engine was taken in tow by a West Coast diesel – destination Carnforth for a new beginning. New beginning? Was it for a change of ownership, hinted at in some…

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By Cedric Johns All sorts of rumours flew around linesides when BR 4-6-2 No. 70013 Oliver Cromwell ‘failed’ when working a Valentine’s Day evening trip to Windsor & Eton Riverside and back to Victoria on February 14. It had been a long day, the 7P leaving Southall at 6.45am on the morning of Valentine’s Day…

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This year sees the 50th anniversary of the end of standard gauge steam on British Railways. It all happened in Lancashire in 1968 but with one of Carnforth’s last LMS ‘Black Five’ 4-6-0s being in Hampshire for the early part of 2018, the Mid Hants Railway had an opportunity too good to miss. The ‘Black…

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By Paul Appleton SIX Seacow bogie ballast wagons, acquired by the Severn Valley Railway from DB Cargo in March last year, have seen regular use over the winter on ballasting work, along with recently repainted ‘Shark’ brakevan (plough) No. DB993876, another arrival in 2017. Work during the winter six-week shutdown has included finishing repairs to…

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THE locomotive which started the world railway preservation movement is set to return. It was in 1839 that Invicta, the 20th locomotive built by Robert Stephenson & Company in Newcastle-upon-Tyne for the Canterbury & Whitstable Railway, was placed into storage after failing to find a buyer. This came nine years after the opening of the…

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THE Swindon & Cricklade Railway has launched a £2.5 million fundraising drive so it can extend northwards into the second town in its name. Nearly six decades after track was lifted from the Midland & South Western Junction Railway route, the heritage line wants to extend to a new station site in Cricklade, which will…

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