Features

Raising a glass – the intensive timetable as beer workers flocked to the seaside

by

Sam Hewitt

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26th January 2018

By Geoff Courtney An INTENSIVE timetable of 15 trains jam-packed with excited families departing every 10 minutes, and their arrival at a station 182 miles away that allowed only two minutes for each train of more than 500 passengers to be emptied and shunted into a siding, would be fraught enough with today’s modern traction…
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The great survivor’s last Indian summer

by

Sam Hewitt

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17th January 2018

With ‘Terrier’ No. 32670 being withdrawn from service at the end of the year, Geoff Silcock reminisces about the 12 consecutive days in August that saw two of the class rostered for more than 500 miles of timetabled running. No. 3 Bodiam has been on the Rother Valley/Kent & East Sussex Railway (KESR) since 1901,…
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Taste of the Regulator | Swindon & Cricklade Railway

by

Sam Hewitt

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12th January 2018

Gareth Evans samples a steam taster driver experience course at the Swindon & Cricklade.
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Twenty Years of the Elsecar Heritage Railway

by

Sam Hewitt

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11th January 2018

The Elsecar Heritage Railway is one of Britain’s smaller standard gauge heritage lines, but as Mark Smithers reports, the only preserved railway in South Yorkshire potentially has an exciting future ahead of it. The history of the line goes back to the year 1850 when a single-track mineral branch was opened from Elsecar Junction, near…
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China Railway Museum

by

Sam Hewitt

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10th January 2018

With steam surviving into the 21st century, China was perhaps slow in making efforts to preserve its earlier railway heritage, but Paul Stratford reports from Beijing on the country’s impressive railway museum. The United Kingdom may be able to boast the National Railway Museum in York and the annexe at Shildon, but China, better known…
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PRESERVATION HISTORY: Alexander Macdonald – From scrap to Swallows and Amazons: The 43924 story

by

Sam Hewitt

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8th January 2018

It is nearly 50 years since the first steam locomotive was rescued from Barry scrapyard for preservation. Fiona Kennaugh tells the story of how her father, Alexander Macdonald, was instrumental in saving this locomotive, a move which was to open the door for a further 212 steam engines to leave the famous yard. The only…
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WITH FULL REGULATOR: LOCOMOTIVE PERFORMANCE THEN AND NOW

by

Sam Hewitt

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8th January 2018

By Don Benn As a change from the usual full day out with steam, and in response to demand, UK Railtours and the Merchant Navy Locomotive Preservation Society decided to try a short day circular trip on Saturday, November 18. The itinerary was different from the usual Belmond Surrey Hills circuit and embraced lines where…
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Workshop report – a Herefordshire gem

by

Sam Hewitt

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2nd January 2018

One name is synonymous with narrow gauge locomotive restoration and new-build projects. Mark Smithers reports on progress to be seen at an open day at Alan Keef Ltd. The name of Alan Keef Ltd will doubtless be familiar to most operators and fans of heritage railways, especially in the narrow gauge field, as its product…
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Railways at War: The Longmoor Military Railway

by

Sam Hewitt

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2nd January 2018

Few people are fully aware to what extent the railways, and certain sections of the army, were able to play such a large part in assisting the war effort during the two world wars. Brian Bell, who served at Longmoor in the 1950s, outlines how both the Allies and the Germans realised just how strategic…
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The 21st Railway Children

by

Sam Hewitt

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29th December 2017

The Keighley & Worth Valley Railway is world famous as the setting for EMI’s immortal big-screen version of Edith A Nesbit’s novel The Railway Children. However, the heritage line is now leading the way with a ground-breaking new visitor attraction, Rail Story, based around a coach which has been converted into a classroom to teach…
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