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The Complete Preservation News Magazine

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Letters

  • A major challenge to the heritage sector

    by

    Sam Hewitt

    –

    It was always going to be the keynote occasion of the year, but the glorious sunshine in the second week of July made certain of that. The series of main line specials marking the 50th anniversary of the end of Southern Region steam proved to be the outstanding success that the occasion merited, and accordingly…

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  • Turning the clock back to the future

    by

    Sam Hewitt

    –

    It is certainly ironic that in the same year that we are holding many excellent events to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of steam traction on the Southern Region, one of its most picturesque seaside branches has been reopened throughout for regular passenger traffic, albeit operated in the first instance by diesels. Full…

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  • Heritage railways going to town!

    by

    Sam Hewitt

    –

    Forget all the bluster about to the general election and Brexit: what is making Britain truly great again is the heritage railway sector! In the past month, attention has again focused on the East Coast Main Line, where a succession of steam, diesel and electric speed records were set, the latest being 101mph recorded by…

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  • The blockbusters are here!

    by

    Sam Hewitt

    –

    “It will never happen in my lifetime.” Now where have I heard that sentence before, in the lifetime of this magazine? The rebuilding of the Welsh Highland Railway… the completion of A1 Pacific No. 60163 Tornado… the repatriation of two A4s from North America…. British railway preservation, however, has proved itself time and time again…

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  • An Indian summer for main line steam?

    by

    Sam Hewitt

    –

    FEBRUARY’S main line charter debut of BR Standard 2-6-0 No. 76084 cannot be but heartily welcomed, along with the John Coiley award that its owning group has been presented with by the Heritage Railway Association. Now David Smith’s Bulleid Merchant Navy Pacific No. 35018 British India Line, restored from Barry scrapyard condition, will shortly be returning…

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  • Magnificent Mountsorrel’s magical moment

    by

    Sam Hewitt

    –

    The royal seal of approval given by HRH The Prince of Wales on January 25, was no less than the 10 years of hard graft by the volunteers of the Mountsorrel Railway deserved. Nearly 12 months after the Great Central Railway’s industrial branch was presented with the Heritage Railway Association’s Special Award in 2015, following…

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  • Books that inspired so many generations

    by

    Sam Hewitt

    –

    There was a time, not so long ago, when the British public woke up to be told there would no longer be Woolworths in the High Street. Now the heritage sector has been told that Ian Allan Publishing will produce railway books no longer. Unlike Woolworths or British Home Stores, Ian Allan is far from…

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  • Slow burner a squirreling success!

    by

    Sam Hewitt

    –

    About three decades ago, there was a muddy field near the River Dart where the GWR Ashburton branch joined the main line north of Totnes station. Today, that field not only has a station of its own, Totnes Riverside, which to the untrained eye looks as if it has been there for a century or…

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  • Will Leicester North herald a new golden age?

    by

    Sam Hewitt

    –

    Impressed with the six shortlisted designs for the planned new £18 million station at the Great Central Railway’s Leicester North terminus that I was shown on the preview day, I am waiting in earnest for the line’s officials to pick a winner. Ever since it was built, Leicester North has been a terminus at next…

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  • We’re all turning 50!

    by

    Sam Hewitt

    –

    Our cover picture depicts a BR Standard 4MT tank back at Midsomer Norton and is a classic and quite wonderful example of the heritage movement thumbing its nose at the inevitable march of time, for it is 50 years since the closure of the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway system. This year we have also…

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