News

THE award-winning Leighton Buzzard Railway is marking its 50th anniversary year with a £150,000 appeal to rebuild more of its ‘main line’. The 2ft gauge line in Bedfordshire was built to serve several sand quarries and to take the extracted material to a transhipment siding of the main line near the town’s LNWR station. There…

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WELSHPOOL & Llanfair Light Railway Hunslet 2-6-2T No. 14 is to spend much of the summer on display in the Ironbridge Gorge, following its appearance at the Tyseley Locomotive Works Castles open weekend. No. 14, which last ran in 2010, was built in 1954 for service in Sierra Leone, where it carried the number 85,…

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WR 4-6-0 No. 7029 Clun Castle will definitely make its main line comeback this year – half a century after it hauled a special train to mark the closure of the route from Paddington to Birkenhead. The 1950-built icon was one of the star attractions at the Castles open weekend held at the engine’s home,…

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By Paul Appleton Engineers at the Severn Valley Railway’s Bridgnorth locomotive works continue to take great strides in the overhaul of BR Standard 4MT 4-6-0 No. 75069, with the chassis now rewheeled and much of the bottom end overhaul moving close to completion. The lubrication pipework is also largely complete and looks most impressive. Meanwhile,…

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By Paul Appleton MORE than 7000 visitors attended the Severn Valley Railway’s flagship 1940s event held over June 24-25 and July 1-2, many dressed in period attire and waving Union flags as they entered into the spirit of the event. People lined the platforms to catch a glimpse of the much-anticipated battle re-enactment at Highley,…

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THE West Lancashire Light Railway is to hold a series of special events to mark its 50th anniversary. There will be a ‘Nearly 50’ gala on August 12-13 and a 50th anniversary gala on September 23-24. The 2ft-gauge line was started by six local schoolboys in September, 1967. They were concerned by the loss of…

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THE A1 Steam Locomotive Trust has launched one final effort to take ownership of No. 60163 Tornado’s tender. The trust’s 163 Pacifics Club fundraising campaign to purchase the 101mph locomotive’s tender has already reached 95% of its 163-member target to raise a total of £200,000. It now has more than 150 members. By 2014 the…

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STEAM returned to Kingsbridge nearly 53 years after the GWR branch line to the South Hams town closed. The Kingsbridge branch, axed by Beeching on September 14, 1963, was the subject of attention from early preservationists, who were thwarted by the haste with which the tracks were lifted by BR, the same day that support…

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THE Electric Railway Museum – an oasis of preservation for stock that most other heritage venues reject – is set to close after its final open day of the season. The museum in Rowley Road, Baginton, next-door to Coventry Airport, is being forced to find a new site for its unique collection due to the…

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AMBERLEY Museum’s July 8/9 rail gala proved a huge success, with both steam and diesel traction in operation. Resident steam locomotive Bagnall 2-4-0T Polar Bear and Bagnall 0-4-0ST Peter hauled passenger trains. Goods trains ran with a selection of trucks, including the green ‘V skips’ better known for their role in the 1985 James Bond…

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