News

By Cedric Johns Fifty years ago – on Saturday, August 11, 1968 – the glorious history of British steam ended when a ‘Fifteen Guinea Special’ running over the Settle & Carlisle line brought down the curtain on steam on the national network. For the record, the special involved no less than four locomotives; ‘Black Five’…

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Hosking announces bargain steam tours programme By Cedric Johns ThE UK’s country’s newest Train Operating Company, Locomotive Services (TOC) Limited, part of Jeremy Hosking’s growing influence in the world of charter train operations, has announced details of its main line tour programme for 2018. Operating under the name of Saphos Trains – a division of…

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By Hugh Dougherty AN AMNESTY has been launched by the Loch Lomond Steamship Company to help retrieve vital parts of Britain’s last railway-built paddle steamer, PS Maid of the Loch, as the push goes on to raise steam in it once again. Chairman John Beveridge said that anyone returning any relics of the ship, whether…

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SNOW covered the Llanelli & Mynydd Mawr Railway when it held its first-ever Christmas event at the site of the former Cynheidre Colliery on Sunday, December 10. Train rides ran every 15 minutes over a recent running line extension and the event proved extremely popular with visitor numbers hitting over 200 over the course of…

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The Leighton Buzzard Railway has entered its 50th anniversary year with a vital new lease – and is going full steam ahead with its extension plans. However, it needs another £59,000 to see trains running again to the proposed new destination of Double Arches. As part of its plans to extend beyond Stonehenge Works, the…

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By Geoff Courtney Despite an unexpected late change that saw the sale of unique railway-themed banknotes in aid of charity switched from a specialist railwayana auction house to one of London’s top houses, more than £25,000 was raised for Mental Health UK as enthusiasts and currency collectors vied with each other in online bidding. The…

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THE Friends of Alton Station group has launched a £130,000 appeal to fund the first phase of a £500,000 project to save its Victorian wooden footbridge – believed to be the last of its kind on the national network. The future of the 1892-built footbridge has looked bleak ever since Network Rail, working in partnership…

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FOLLOWING a five-year restoration project, Dudley’s Black Country Living Museum’s 99-year-old tram No. 5 is now back in service for its visitors after a £120,000 restoration. The 32-passenger tram was built in 1919 in Tividale at the works of the Electric Traction Company and operated in the Dudley and Stourbridge area. In the 1970s, No.…

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TRIBUTES have been paid to Tim Godfrey, the eldest grandson of Sir Nigel Gresley, who has died at the age of 79, ending a link between the golden age of steam and today. Tim, one of the Gresley Society Trust’s vice-presidents, died on December 7 after a short illness. He was born Timothy Dan Godfrey…

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By Geoff Courtney While the debate continues in Heritage Railway about the fate of the original Metropolitan Railway electric locomotive brass nameplates that were replaced by alloy plates in 1953, one of the replacements fitted to the class leader has for several generations fascinated – and doubtless intrigued – pupils at a top independent school,…

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