News

BRITAIN’S latest new-build steam locomotive will be one of the star attractions at this year’s Warley National Model Railway Exhibition. NBR Engineering Services Limited, the engineering arm of the 20in gauge North Bay Railway in Scarborough, has been following up its success in building replica Bagnall Sipat 0-4-0ST Georgina, as highlighted in issue 215, with…

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THE Government has backed the National Railway Museum’s controversial decision to gift LSWR T3 4-4-0 No. 563 to the Swanage Railway. The question of the NRM’s “giveaway” of the T3 and two other steam locomotives in public ownership to outside organisations was raised in the House of Commons by MP Kelvin Hopkins (Labour, Luton North)…

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THE Swanage Railway Trust has launched an initial £50,000 appeal in a ground-breaking bid to return LSWR T3 4-4-0 No. 563 to working order for the first time since 1945. A supporter has underwritten the cost of taking the 1893-built locomotive to Bill Parker’s Flour Mill workshop at Bream in the Forest of Dean for…

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THE Great Central Railway is planning to have six steam locomotives in action for its Last Hurrah of the Season gala on November 18/19. Subject to completion of its overhaul, this will include Austerity 0-6-0ST No. 68067 hauling its first passenger trains – and rekindling memories of the heritage line’s earlier days when, like many…

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Exclusive by Robin Jones FIFTY years after the end of BR steam, a growing shortage of main line steam drivers is set to hit parts of the charter market. West Coast Railways, which along with DB Cargo, is the principal provider of steam operations for tour operators, has said that it will struggle to provide…

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JUST 80 yards now separates the ground-breaking planned £2.5 million Bala Lake Railway extension from its town centre goal. As previously reported, the 2ft-gauge line is to be extended by 1200 yards from its current terminus at Pen-y-Bont into the heart of Bala – giving a major boost for both visitor numbers and the local…

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WESTERN Region 4-6-0 No. 7029 Clun Castle – one of the heritage sector’s biggest icons outside of Flying Scotsman and Mallard – was afforded a welcome for a hero as it made its first public movements at an exclusive VIP launch. Shortly after 11am on Saturday, October 28, the 1950-built Swindon product in gleaming BR…

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NEARLY three decades of hard graft, not only to save Britain’s last rail-connected roundhouse but to convince people it could become a major attraction in its own right, have reaped more dividends for Barrow Hill. At the Heritage Railway Association’s annual awards committee meeting in Birmingham on October 7, major honours were bestowed on Barrow…

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It could be reasoned that the original Great Eastern Railway, and latterly the London Transport line linking Epping to Ongar that closed in 1994, would not have that many railway skeletons in its closet. Heritage Railway troubadour writer, photographer and regular at the present day Epping and Ongar Railway, Geoff Silcock, disagrees. Far to the…

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Early October saw half of the preserved production Deltic fleet drawing the crowds at the Bluebell Railway, which for so long was a no-go area for diesels, writes Robin Jones. THERE was a time, not so long ago, when the mere mention of the word ‘diesel’ on the Bluebell Railway was nothing short of sacrilege.…

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