News

AN EARLY return to action of Maunsell U class 2-6-0 No. 31806 – which is being prepared for main line test runs – has helped get the Swanage Railway’s summer steam timetable back on track. High season services were left in the hands of diesel traction for several days after two steam locomotives collided during…

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FOLLOWING much speculation, the National Railway Museum has announced that GWR 2-8-0 No. 2818 is the third main line steam locomotive to be gifted to another organisation from the National Collection. The locomotive is to be given to Swindon Borough Council, operator of STEAM – Museum of the Great Western Railway in Swindon, which occupies…

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Although now in the middle of its busy summer season, the Railway Touring Company has taken an early opportunity to announce two extra excursions with Flying Scotsman in late autumn. The first of these, ‘The Cotswold Venturer’, departs Paddington on Saturday, October 28 heading for Worcester via the Cotswold Line and Evesham. The second train,…

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By Cedric Johns The weekend of July 8/9 proved to be a busy period for the Yeovil Railway Centre volunteers when the appearance of two Bullied 4-6-2s drew crowds to the former Great Western transfer goods yard running alongside the Southern’s Junction station. The weekend, which coincided with the marking of the 50th anniversary of…

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By Geoff Courtney A FEATURE of postwar life in Kent that brought tens of thousands of Londoners to the county but is now a distant memory is to be recalled by the Kent & East Sussex Railway at a steam gala weekend on September 9-10. The catalyst for the arrival of the capital’s East Enders…

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By Hugh Dougherty Two former County Donegal Railways 2-6-4 tank locomotives – Meenglass and Drumboe, built for the line by Nasmyth Wilson 110 years ago in 1907 – could be on the move later this year if funding plans work out. No. 4 Meenglas, currently on outdoor display at Derry/Londonderry’s Foyle Valley Railway Museum, may…

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By Geoff Courtney Britain’s railway history is spread over many generations, and indeed centuries, and this has been no better illustrated than by a tie-up between the Middleton Railway, the world’s oldest working railway, and Virgin Trains, one of the new breed of operators. The Middleton Railway is based in Hunslet, Leeds – another name…

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Words and pictures by Stuart Chapman PROGRESS on a bid to restore a closed military line in Scotland is making headway. The Shed47 group takes its name from the original locomotive shed number at the former Royal Naval Store Depot at Lathalmond north of Dunfirmline. The preservation group is on the site of the Scottish…

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It is now half a century since Britain’s last steam main line went over to electric traction overnight. Brian Sharpe gives a summary of how this historically significant anniversary was marked. When Britain’s railways were nationalised in 1948, the decision was made to appoint Robert Riddles as British Railways’ chief mechanical engineer and this undoubtedly…

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