News

VOLUNTEERS and friends of the Middleton Railway have been in mourning following the death on July 27 of Susan Youell , the widow of the line’s founder, Dr Fred Youell. Susan, 86, played a major part in the early running of what claims to be one of the first two standard gauge heritage lines, while…

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A LONG-forgotten Hunslet 0-6-0ST which was recovered by Nene Valley Railway volunteers from a convent in March last year needs a new home. Thought to have been long since scrapped, 16in Hunslet No. 1589 of 1929 Newstead was rediscovered by NVR fireman Steve Thomas. Members of the line’s Small Loco Group paid a visit to…

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THE overhaul of SR Schools Class V 4-4-0 No. 926 Repton at its North Yorkshire Moors Railway home was completed in late July when the locomotive was steamed for the first time, little more than three weeks after the boiler was craned into the frames. Running-in trials began in early July when the locomotive, resplendent…

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By Roger Melton AN ONLINE appeal to raised money to repair vandalism to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway’s world-famous LNER teak trains raised £42,000 from the public inside a fortnight. As Heritage Railway closed for press, more cash for the appeal, boosted by the seven-coach rake’s appearance in the international hit drama series Downton Abbey,…

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LANCASHIRE’S Windmill Farm Railway has celebrated its 20th anniversary with a gala weekend. Since opening on May 24, 1998, the 15in gauge line at Burscough has become in effect a miniature railway museum. Over the weekend of August 12-13, founder Austin Moss hosted a special event to mark the occasion. The emphasis was on steam…

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TESCO’S plastic carrier bag charge fund has paid dividends for conservationists caring for preserved Hadlow Road station on the Wirral. The Friends of Hadlow Road Station group in Willaston has been given £5000 from the supermarket giant’s Bags of Help funding initiative. The group was formed three years ago to care for the 1950s-themed station…

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THE first wheelset for new-build Gresley P2 2-8-2 No. 2007 Prince of Wales is now complete. The Cartazzi wheelset has had its wheels pressed onto its axle by South Devon Railway Engineering at Buckfastleigh and its tyres were due to be shrunk onto the wheels by late August. The completion of the wheelset has been…

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PACKED four-carriage trains were the order of the day throughout a weekend of celebrations on August 5-6, to mark the formal commissioning of the mile-long 2ft gauge Hayling Railway’s new operating depot at Eastoke Corner. Trains were hauled by 1919 Bagnall 0-4-0ST Wendy, courtesy of the Hampshire Narrow Gauge Railway Trust, and normally based at…

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By Paul Appleton A decade on from the disastrous floods that temporarily closed the Severn Valley Railway – subject of a new display at the Engine House museum and visitor at Highley – £1 million repairs to a new landslip that has threatened to sever the line during the busiest part of the main operating…

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