News

THE newly extended Gwili Railway has launched a £150,000 national appeal to build a shed for its heritage carriages. In 2003 the heritage line obtained planning permission for a two-road carriage shed at Abergwili Junction. This shed is capable of holding the equivalent of four Mk.1 carriages on each road. As previously reported, the extension…

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EXCLUSIVE: By Phil Marsh Thames Valley Police firearms officers identified a gap in their training needs earlier in 2017 after being called to a Chiltern Railways train at High Wycombe following reports of an armed passenger on board. As a result, in late summer a confidential meeting was held at Chinnor station on the Chinnor…

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IN a move that has caused “extreme disappointment”, the Royal British Legion has distanced itself from the LMS-Patriot Project, which aims to build a new example of the class as a National Memorial Engine. Eight years after the project team was led to believe that the new-build, No. 5551 The Unknown Warrior, had British Legion…

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THE Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway Preservation Society’s Train From Spain is to make its debut on the Lakeland line in the spring. The engine, to be named Whillan Beck, has been painted in Caledonian Railway blue livery following its overhaul at Old Hall Engineering in Bouth, South Lakeland, and delivered to the 15in-gauge line on…

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BR Standard 5MT 4-6-0 No. 73096 is back on the Mid Hants Railway after the Watercress Line bought it from previous owner John Bunch for its “operational value”. The purchase apparently brings to an end an acrimonious dispute that saw John, who once ran the line’s locomotive department, banned from the railway 18 years ago,…

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THE Southern Railway main line between Exeter and Plymouth may be reopened as part of radical Government plans to expand Britain’s rail network, reversing Beeching cuts to increase network capacity and to boost housing opportunities. On November 29, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling announced a new and far-reaching rail strategy to boost the economy, and which,…

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MEMBERS of the public are invited to sponsor a component for the world’s market-leading standard gauge new-build steam project. For a limited time only, parts for giant new Gresley class P2 No. 2007 Prince of Wales will be available for sponsorship to people who are not members of the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust’s The Founders…

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THE Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway is on course for a passenger numbers record with more than 100,000 carried for the second year in succession. The figure is expected to soar next year following the opening of Broadway station on March 30. As we closed for press, the track on the northern extension from Laverton had reached…

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Mid-November traditionally sees most heritage lines running a minimum service, if at all, as they prepare for the intensive but profitable festive season. The Great Central Railway though ends the season with a bang, by staging a Last Hurrah of the Season enthusiasts’ gala with an intensive service running on double track that only the…

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By Geoff Courtney Designs for a tunnel under the Thames that were drawn up by two of the greatest railway engineers, Marc Isambard Brunel and his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel and personally signed by both, sold for £160,000 at an auction in central London on November 15. The Thames Tunnel was the world’s first successful…

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