News

THE Llangollen Railway’s new Corwen Central terminus will have a ‘capital city’ feel about it. The project has obtained 13 cast-iron columns that came from Blackfriars station for use as the basis of the platform canopy. Collected from the Pontypool & Blaenavon Railway, the columns are thought to be of London Chatham & Dover Railway…

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SEVERN Valley Railway patron Prince Richard, the Duke of Gloucester, was scheduled to launch new workshop facilities on the South Tynedale Railway, on the day that its northern extension to Slaggyford was also officially opened. At an official engagement in the afternoon of July 24, after we closed for press, the duke was to visit…

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THE Penrhyn Quarry Railway at Bethesda has closed down at short notice. The group running the fifth-of-a-mile section of the former Penrhyn Railway is also dispersing its stock from its Felin Fawr base to other narrow gauge lines. In a statement posted on Facebook, Penrhyn Rail Ltd director Ellis Griffith Morey said: “It is true…

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SATURDAY, July 8, was the first time that a DMU operated on a timetabled revenue-earning service over the Gwili Railway’s newly-opened extension from Abergwili Junction near Carmarthen to Bronwydd Arms. The only previous known operations of DMUs on the former Carmarthen to Aberystwyth line were in the late 1960s and early 1970s when several railtours…

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A MAJOR investigation was launched after a mother saved her young son from falling through the open floor of a toilet compartment on a moving South Devon Railway train. The service from Totnes Riverside to Buckfastleigh had just passed Staverton on June 22, when the pair opened the door of the lavatory compartment on the…

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THE demolition of historic Wolverton Works began in July, signalling the end of 179 years of history. The works was built in 1838 by the London & Birmingham Railway at the mid point of the 112-mile route between the two cities. The redevelopment on the disused two acres of land at the east end of…

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The North Bay Railway saw a new steam engine unveiled in 2016 and more are to follow. Mark Smithers reviews the progress on its latest new-build projects. New Bagnall-pattern Sipat class 0-4-0ST Georgina made its public debut on the 20in-gauge North Bay Railway on March 23, 2016. At the time, more locomotive projects were in…

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By Brian Sharpe LMS Jubilee No. 45690 Leander returned to main line service in June with a couple of trips over the Hope Valley route for the Railway Touring Company but things did not go according to plan. The engine had made a main line test run from Carnforth to Hellifield and back on May…

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