News

A car crashed onto the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway’s tracks in Chinnor on the morning of December 14 – startling local residents with a massive ‘bang’. The car broke through a fence in Hill Road and rolled down an embankment onto the line at Chinnor Railway at around 6am. A man was seen crawling…

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A South African engineer and his team have smashed the world record for the longest distance covered by a coal-fired miniature steam locomotive in a 24 hour period. On December 10, Andries Keyser, from Pietermaritzburg, and nine friends set a new record of 205 miles – beating the one set in the UK in 1994…

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By Roger Melton NORTH Yorkshire Moors Railway-based LMS ‘Black Five’ 4-6-0 No. 44806 reached the end of its current boiler certificate on January 1 and was withdrawn from traffic pending overhaul. For its last day of running it had one of its Magpie nameplates reapplied, which date back to when it was based on the…

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A COUNTY Durham pensioner who built a replica steam locomotive from scratch has received the county’s highest honour. David Young, 80, from Fatfield in Washington, spent more than 6000 hours over three years creating a working replica of a long-lost narrow gauge locomotive with only one surviving photograph of the original, engravings and some wheel…

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A County Donegal Railways 2-6-4T has left the north west of Ireland for the first time since it was delivered by makers Nasmyth Wilson in 1907. No. 4 Meenglas, has been moved from outside Derry’s Foyle Valley Railway Museum, where it had been on static display since 1992, to Heritage Engineering Ireland at Whitehead, for…

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A BIG-hearted benefactor has funded the restoration of the exterior of Queen Victoria’s historic royal carriage for the first time in 50 years. Set to last 18 months, the project will involve a complete overhaul of the saloon carriage sides and roof and restoring it fit for a queen. The benefactor, who has not been…

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The recently-formed Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Museum has appealed for help to save the Gloucester Horton Road Motive Power Depot from demolition. Known as 85B, the brick-built shed is under threat from being demolished with the site used for housing. After being formed in 2016 by a group of local enthusiasts, the museum has…

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THE boiler of LMS ‘Jubilee’ 4-6-0 No. 45596 Bahamas passed its steam test at Tyseley Locomotive works on December 21. The rolling chassis is in the final stages of a bottom-end overhaul, while the tender is complete barring a final coat of paint. Most of the overhaul – backed by a £776,000 Heritage Lottery Fund…

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By Robin Jones VANDALS covered two historic coaches in graffiti when they staged a Christmas raid on the Severn Valley Railway’s Kidderminster Town station. The two coaches were parked up after the last Santa train on Christmas Eve and the damage was only discovered when staff arrived on the morning of Boxing Day. The culprits…

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THE Llangollen Railway’s December 30-31 Winter Warmer weekend provided entertainment when all other tourist attractions in north east Wales were closed. The timetable offered a 45-minute frequency service, starting at Llangollen at 9.30am with a mix of steam and diesel haulage for the return journey to Carrog. First away was GWR pannier No. 6430 with…

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