News

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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By Hugh Dougherty The Loch Lomond Steamship Company has been given a grant of £122,000 from Forth Valley and Loch Lomond LEADER and Scottish Enterprise to help the charity in its final push to raise the last £1 million of the £5.5 million needed to return railway paddle steamer Maid of the Loch to sailing…

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The Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways has been contracted to build a new boiler for Quarry Hunslet 0-4-0ST No. 409 of 1886 Velinheli. The former Dinorwic Quarry locomotive, which when built was the prototype for a new class of smaller locomotives now known as the Alice class, for use in quarries where the standard size…

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