News

The North Norfolk Railway staged its annual diesel gala on June 9-11, starring three Peaks representing Classes 44, 45 and 46. Class 44 was represented by newly-repainted green-liveried D8 Penyghent visiting from Peak Rail; Class 45 by blue No. 45133 and Class 46 by D182 in rail blue but with small yellow warning panels and…

Continue reading »

FOLLOWING the controversial gift of LSWR T3 4-4-0 No. 563 by the National Railway Museum to the Swanage Railway, the locomotive was unveiled at Corfe Castle station by a descendant of one of the locomotive’s designers. Designed in 1890 by William Adams for smooth running at up to 80mph, and built at Nine Elms in…

Continue reading »

HAMPSHIRE has its Watercress Line. The GWR’s Cheddar Valley branch was the Strawberry Line. Now North Yorkshire has an Asparagus Line! If a WR Class 42 Warship was booked to haul real freight near Pickering, thoughts might immediately turn to a hired-in locomotive running a photographic charter on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. However, nothing…

Continue reading »

NEARLY 3000 visitors attended the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway’s spring bank holiday Cotswold Festival of Steam. The highlight of the event was the double-heading of two former Salisbury shedmates, home-based Bulleid Merchant Navy Pacific No. 35006 Peninsular & Oriental S. N. Co and visiting BR Standard 4MT 2-6-0 No. 76017. The double-headed combination of residents WR…

Continue reading »

AS the roof was being installed on the main building at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway’s new Broadway terminus, the heritage line was busy opening another ‘new’ station. Monday, June 5, saw Hayles Abbey Halt officially reopened by railway patron Lord Wemyss, the Earl of Wemyss and March from nearby Stanway House. This is the family…

Continue reading »

THE North Somerset Railway CIC has moved its 0-4-0 diesel to Radstock for restoration. Originally starting out its life as a Sentinel chain-driven steam locomotive, it was converted to diesel by Thomas Hill (Rotherham) Ltd, which replaced the boiler with a six-cylinder/179hp diesel engine and installed hydraulic transmission. The locomotive once worked at Whatley Quarry…

Continue reading »

By Geoff Courtney A nascent steam railway restoration project in West London that opened only three years ago and currently has just 300 yards of operational track has received a major volunteers’ award and a significant grant that will enable the purchase of enough track to reach the halfway point in its ambitious plan to…

Continue reading »

By Paul Appleton AMID a plethora of End of Southern Steam 50th anniversary events marking the end of an era on BR’s Southern Region in 1967, the Severn Valley Railway’s September 21-24 autumn steam gala will have an appropriate Sunny South flavour. SR Schools class 4-4-0 No. 926 Repton will be making its first appearance…

Continue reading »

A REVIVALIST group has been formed to campaign for the restoration of the King’s Lynn to Hunstanton branch. However, the King’s Lynn to Hunstanton Railway Steering Group wants to see it rebuilt as a fully fledged part of the national network, not a heritage line. Campaigners point to the infamous traffic queues on the A149…

Continue reading »

ONCE the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway’s flagship locomotive, Peckett 0-6-0ST No. 1008 of 1903 Jurassic has returned to steam after 31 years. Jurassic was delivered new to the quarries and cement works of Kaye and Company in Southam in Warwickshire, together with similar locomotives named after prehistoric geological periods. It was bought by the LCLR…

Continue reading »