News

NEARLY 3000 visitors attended the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway’s spring bank holiday Cotswold Festival of Steam. The highlight of the event was the double-heading of two former Salisbury shedmates, home-based Bulleid Merchant Navy Pacific No. 35006 Peninsular & Oriental S. N. Co and visiting BR Standard 4MT 2-6-0 No. 76017. The double-headed combination of residents WR…

Continue reading »

AS the roof was being installed on the main building at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway’s new Broadway terminus, the heritage line was busy opening another ‘new’ station. Monday, June 5, saw Hayles Abbey Halt officially reopened by railway patron Lord Wemyss, the Earl of Wemyss and March from nearby Stanway House. This is the family…

Continue reading »

THE North Somerset Railway CIC has moved its 0-4-0 diesel to Radstock for restoration. Originally starting out its life as a Sentinel chain-driven steam locomotive, it was converted to diesel by Thomas Hill (Rotherham) Ltd, which replaced the boiler with a six-cylinder/179hp diesel engine and installed hydraulic transmission. The locomotive once worked at Whatley Quarry…

Continue reading »

By Geoff Courtney A nascent steam railway restoration project in West London that opened only three years ago and currently has just 300 yards of operational track has received a major volunteers’ award and a significant grant that will enable the purchase of enough track to reach the halfway point in its ambitious plan to…

Continue reading »

By Paul Appleton AMID a plethora of End of Southern Steam 50th anniversary events marking the end of an era on BR’s Southern Region in 1967, the Severn Valley Railway’s September 21-24 autumn steam gala will have an appropriate Sunny South flavour. SR Schools class 4-4-0 No. 926 Repton will be making its first appearance…

Continue reading »

A REVIVALIST group has been formed to campaign for the restoration of the King’s Lynn to Hunstanton branch. However, the King’s Lynn to Hunstanton Railway Steering Group wants to see it rebuilt as a fully fledged part of the national network, not a heritage line. Campaigners point to the infamous traffic queues on the A149…

Continue reading »

ONCE the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway’s flagship locomotive, Peckett 0-6-0ST No. 1008 of 1903 Jurassic has returned to steam after 31 years. Jurassic was delivered new to the quarries and cement works of Kaye and Company in Southam in Warwickshire, together with similar locomotives named after prehistoric geological periods. It was bought by the LCLR…

Continue reading »

WD Austerity 2-8-0 No. 90733 is a confirmed guest for the North Norfolk Railway’s September 1-3 autumn steam gala. The Keighley & Worth Valley Railway locomotive will be meeting newly overhauled Sheringham-based WD No. 90775, which has just returned to steam after overhaul. It will be the first time in preservation that a 2-10-0 and…

Continue reading »

Over the May Bank Holiday weekend, the annual Fairbourne Railway steam gala featured the long awaited return of 15in gauge 2-4-2 Sian. Built for the line in 1963 by Trevor Guest, Sian had been away for more than 30 years. Partnered by Mountaineer, Sian pulled two ex-Fairbourne glass screen-ended coaches on the extended 15in gauge…

Continue reading »

A REPLICA Ford railmotor, typical of those employed by Col Holman F Stephens on several of his light railways, has been moved from Yorkshire to Tenterden Town station on the Kent & East Sussex Railway. The replica was built in Yorkshire, using some original Ford components, by the late Colin Shutt, a member of the…

Continue reading »