Features

By Don Benn It has been some years since I sampled steam round Kent due to there being less available and what there is almost always having a tail gunner in the form of a diesel locomotive. However, as soon as I saw that UK Railtours had advertised a trip to Canterbury behind Tornado I…

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Working on the footplate is often regarded as having been glamorous, especially as a driver. Brian Bell tells what it was like as a fireman, keeping the coal flowing towards the metropolis in the 1950s. Monday, January 26, 1959. Driver R (Dick) Peart. New England shed. Booking on duty at 2.30am on a cold, windy…

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Narrow gauge heritage lines run on former standard gauge trackbeds in many parts of Britain. Mark Smithers outlines the history of one such line in South Wales and its motive power with a transatlantic flavour. The abandonment of parts of the standard gauge railway network deemed to be of no further commercial use during the…

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Britain’s heritage railways may set out to recreate the experience of a bygone age but they still have to interact with the digital age. Peter Brown reports on how the use of social media now has potentially far-reaching implications for the steam movement. So many changes have happened in recent years affecting the lives of…

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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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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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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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The London & North Eastern Railway led the way for the 4-6-2 to become the preferred wheel arrangement for British express steam power. Brian Sharpe delves into the contrasting way the various types evolved. The London & North Eastern Railway had 140 Pacifics by the end of its existence in 1947, already more than any…

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With several keynote events already planned and others still in the melting pot, Robin Jones and Brian Sharpe look at the big happenings awaiting us in 2017. 1 The reopening of the Settle and Carlisle line The Settle & Carlisle line, arguably the most scenic inland railway route in England, was closed north of Appleby…

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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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