Features

  • Life on Mars

    Life on Mars

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    Yorkshire’s East Riding is a rare stamping ground for steam these days and rarely visited by enthusiasts. Chris Gee presents his selection of views of classic steam on the surviving routes in the area in recent years. Until the mid-1960s there were a number of railway routes criss-crossing this agricultural ‘county of the Broad Acres’.…

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  • No surprise as BB nameplate is the star at Stoneleigh

    No surprise as BB nameplate is the star at Stoneleigh

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    RAILWAYANA: By Geoff Courtney A nameplate from Bulleid Pacific No. 34072 257 Squadron reinforced the status of the class as firmly in the elite category by selling for £33,500 at Great Central’s auction at Stoneleigh on June 3. To some these SR Battle of Britain class plates are not the most aesthetic, but when, as…

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  • WITH FULL REGULATOR: LOCOMOTIVE PERFORMANCE THEN AND NOW

    WITH FULL REGULATOR: LOCOMOTIVE PERFORMANCE THEN AND NOW

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    By Don Benn In this 50th anniversary year of the end of steam on the Southern, much is being written about the last year, 1967 and specifically about the last few weeks, so this time, although I am writing about Southern steam, I am covering some performances from earlier years, prior to the final run…

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  • A visit to a dump

    A visit to a dump

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    Many pre-Grouping steam engines soldiered on until the end of the 1950s but were then withdrawn faster than the locomotive works were able to scrap them. Robert Anderson recalls a trip to see some vintage steam power dumped in a remote corner of Lancashire in 1959. By the mid to late 1950s most of us…

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  • 50 YEARS ON: The end of the A4 Pacifics… NOT!

    50 YEARS ON: The end of the A4 Pacifics… NOT!

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    September 5, 2016 celebrates half a century since the final workings of the streamlined A4 Pacifics in BR service. Fred Kerr recalls the last fortnight of their Scottish operations – and notes how the future was not as bad as many feared. As a child in post-war Edinburgh my memories veered between the Caledonian hooters…

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  • Flour Mill ‘greats’ back in the Forest!

    Flour Mill ‘greats’ back in the Forest!

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    Bill Parker’s Flour Mill workshop at Bream, which is widely renowned for its steam locomotive restorations and overhauls, celebrated its 20th anniversary with a stupendous gala at the nearby Dean Forest Railway. The event saw three of its best ‘customers’ return to thrill the crowds at one of the most successful events in the line’s…

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  • In ‘The Middy’ of a Revival

    In ‘The Middy’ of a Revival

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    One of the first branch line closures by BR, the Haughley to Laxfield branch, lay dormant for 40 years until it became the subject of an unlikely revival. Peter Brown visited the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway and reports on its progress. J15 0-6-0 No. 65447 hauled the very last passenger train on the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway…

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  • LNWR pairing shines in Sunny South

    LNWR pairing shines in Sunny South

    THE Bluebell Railway’s May 13/14 branch line weekend saw SECR Wainwright C 0-6-0 No. 592 not only bow out of service prior to overhaul, but fail on the first day with a blown dome joint. The 1902-built locomotive which arrived at the Bluebell in 1970 and was last restored in 2007, was stopped in traffic…

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  • Triumphant  ‘Great Britain X’

    Triumphant ‘Great Britain X’

    The Railway Touring Company’s tenth ‘Great Britain’ tour set off from King’s Cross in style at 7.38am on Saturday, April 29, behind LNER A3 Pacific No. 60103 Flying Scotsman. This was the A3’s first departure from the London terminus since its inaugural run after completion of its overhaul, on February 25, 2016 and fortunately the…

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  • WITH FULL REGULATOR:  LOCOMOTIVE PERFORMANCE THEN AND NOW

    WITH FULL REGULATOR: LOCOMOTIVE PERFORMANCE THEN AND NOW

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    By Don Benn In this 50th anniversary year of the end of steam on the Southern I am covering a few recent runs on the Bournemouth line and also looking back to 1967 to set the recent 100mph exploit of Tornado into the context of similar events 50 years ago. With nine coaches for 315…

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