News

ON January 7, members of the Duke of Gloucester’s management committee, along with engineers Alistair and Bob Meanley, met to discuss modifications to the 4-6-2 as part of its current overhaul programme. It was decided to produce new cam boxes for the exhaust vents to the Duke’s original design plus opening the blastpipe diameter to…

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By Cedric Johns Main line correspondent Gresley A3 4-6-2 No. 60103 Flying Scotsman is set to steal the limelight when the Settle and Carlisle line is officially reopened on March 31 following Network Rail’s £23 million repair programme. No. 60103 has been undergoing winter maintenance in the National Railway Museum’s workshops. The locomotive will head…

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THOUSANDS of people have signed a petition to save Poole’s 101/4in gauge Poole Park Railway after it was closed by its local council landlord. The 700-yard circular railway’s owner was given just a day’s notice by Poole Borough Council to remove his rolling stock from the line in Poole Park, Parkstone Road, while fresh bidders…

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By Geoff Courtney A collection of express locomotive nameplate patterns saved from a bonfire will be going under the hammer at an auction near Derby on February 22. They include some of the most classic names carried by LMS Princess Royal and Princess Coronation Pacifics, including five Duchesses and six cities. The 50 patterns, which…

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By Geoff Courtney Railway preservationists in the UK are set to forge closer links with their Russian counterparts following a nationwide conference in the former Soviet country. The inaugural all-Russia narrow-gauge forum, held in November in Ekaterinburg – Russia’s fourth-largest city located in the Ural Mountains in the west of the country – was hosted…

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WHAT is claimed to be the world’s largest steam locomotive is set to make its heritage-era debut hauling passenger trains on July 1. The Western Maryland Scenic Railroad has set the official roll-out date for restored Chesapeake & Ohio Railway H6 class 2-6-6-2 No. 1309. The Fourth of July week will feature a variety of…

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THE East Lancashire Railway has recorded the highest number of visitors in its 30-year history. A total of 201,000 visits were made in 2016, achieving its Locum Report target of “200,000 visitors in 2020” four years early. The numbers are a 25% increase on the previous year and highlight how the railway has grown over…

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THE Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway’s share issue to finance its northern extension to Broadway may have passed the £1 million mark by the time this issue hits the newsstands. Chris Bristow, the railway’s volunteer finance director, is to say it mildly, thrilled with the result. “We had budgeted to have sold £900,000 worth of shares by…

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THE 50th anniversaries of the closure of the GWR route to Birkenhead and the last ‘Cambrian Coast Express’ are to form the theme of the Llangollen Railway’s March 3-5 gala. Titled ‘Along Birkenhead Lines’, the gala will recall the end of both the famous named train and the Paddington to Birkenhead (Woodside) expresses. Three star…

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A NORTH East-built 4-8-2 donated to preservationists a year ago risks being scrapped – because the new owning group does not have the funds to bring it back to the UK. Now a nationwide appeal has been made for other heritage organisations to take it on before it is too late. South African Railways’ Robert…

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