News

A historically-priceless document from the dawn of public steam-operated railways was rediscovered by Network Rail in April this year after more than half a century. It was nothing less than George Stephenson’s notebook from 1822, detailing his redesign of George Overton’s original 1821 route for what was to become the Stockton and Darlington Railway, and…

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MODERN technology is unlocking the deepest secrets of Stephenson’s Rocket to a worldwide audience for the first time – and you can build your own model with a 3D printer! The Science Museum Group has published online a high-resolution 3D model of the 1829-built Rainhill Trials winner, enabling audiences across the globe to examine it…

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By Jonathan Webb AFTER years of open air storage, and having not been started since 2009, former National Railway Museum Class 50 No. 50033 Glorious erupted into life at the Severn Valley Railway’s Kidderminster diesel depot on September 15. The ‘Hoover’ has had a chequered life since withdrawal in March 1994. It was first being…

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By Geoff Courtney THE tens of thousands of visitors that flocked to the Revival event at Goodwood circuit in West Sussex over the September 7-9 weekend were eagerly anticipating the sight and sound of classic road and racing cars from a bygone era. Few, however, were expecting the form of transport that greeted them at…

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By Geoff Courtney STEAM enthusiasts in Australia are celebrating two events they feared would never happen – the unveiling of a plan to reopen one of the country’s major railway museums, and the appearance in their capital city of the southern hemisphere’s flagship operational preserved locomotive. It was the latter event, involving British-built Garratt No.…

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THE Llangollen Railway and its workshops came up trumps when a guest locomotive was pulled out of the West Somerset Railway’s September 27-30 ‘Cross Country Trains in the Days of Steam’ autumn steam gala with only a few days to go until the event. With just five days to go, the Swanage Railway announced that…

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By Roger Melton THE North Yorkshire Moors Railway’s September 28-30 annual autumn steam gala celebrated the centenary of the line’s NER Q6 No. 63395 along with the 100th anniversary of the RAF. The 0-8-0 was newly returned to service, having had its overhaul completed just in time for it to run at the Severn Valley…

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GREAT Western Society founder member Jon Barlow has retired from footplate duties at Didcot Railway Centre at the age of 73. Jon was one of a quartet of 16-year-old schoolboys in 1961 who wrote a letter to our sister title The Railway Magazine proposing preservation of a Great Western Railway 14XX 0-4-2T. It was Jon…

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By Colin Tyson THE Bluebell Railway Trust has announced its second fundraising appeal in relation to the new carriage shed at Horsted Keynes. The ‘Wall-to-Wall’ appeal is part of a larger project entitled ‘Operation Undercover’ – with the aim of getting the Sussex railway’s unique and renowned collection of heritage rolling stock undercover and no…

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By Paul Appleton THE protracted construction phase of the Severn Valley Railway’s new refreshment room and toilet facility on Platform 1 at Bridgnorth has almost reached its conclusion, with external work completed and work on final fitting out of the interior underway as Heritage Railway went to press. It is hoped that the building can…

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