News

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    Golden memories as ‘Streak’ in the spotlight The smokebox numberplate from LNER A4 No. 60031 Golden Plover will head the line-up at a Thirsk Railwayana Auctions’ sale in North Yorkshire on September 22. The Gresley Pacific was built at Doncaster in October 1937 and withdrawn from Glasgow’s St Rollox shed (65B) in October 1965. Another…

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  • Countrywide selection scales the heights at ticket sale

    Countrywide selection scales the heights at ticket sale

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    A collection of 800 mostly BR, but also pre-Nationalisation, platform tickets from all the regions topped the charts among the railway ticket realisations at Paddington Ticket Auctions’ sale in central London on July 21, with a hammer price of £780. An even larger collection, comprising 1500 rail tickets also both pre and post-Nationalisation and mostly…

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  • Latecomers boost Great Central’s Stoneleigh auction nameplate tally to 14

    Latecomers boost Great Central’s Stoneleigh auction nameplate tally to 14

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    Three latecomers have swollen the number of main line steam nameplates at Great Central’s Stoneleigh auction on September 1 to 14. As reported in last month’s column, the sale was listed to offer 11 plates, headed by a GWR Star, a SR Battle of Britain, and an LMS Royal Scot. At a late stage, however,…

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  • Second XI to give stars full support in live steam sale

    Second XI to give stars full support in live steam sale

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    As REPORTED in the news section of this issue, five live steam locomotive models with estimates of up to £50,000 will head a transport sale being held by Dreweatts on September 19. The quintet are GWR No. 7017 G.J. Churchward and a Manor class 4-6-0, LMS ‘Black 5’ No. 5041, BR Standard Class 2MT No.…

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  • Single collection sets tills ringing

    Single collection sets tills ringing

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    Five nameplates from a single collection comprising four GWR examples and a Standard Britannia set the tills ringing at GW Railwayana’s sale at Pershore on July 14, with hammer prices ranging from £3700 to £11,900. The five-figure realisation was for St. Mawes Castle from No. 5018, which emerged from Swindon works in August 1932 and…

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  • Smell the coffee, ladies!

    Smell the coffee, ladies!

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    Just what world do the likes of Amber Rudd MP and Sally Ann Hart live in? For a council tourism chief to claim that extending the Kent & East Sussex Railway into Robertsbridge will have a negative effect on tourism (News, issue 244) shows how totally out of touch they are with reality. I visit…

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  • Basingstoke’s Milestones Museum

    Basingstoke’s Milestones Museum

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    Railways comprise a major part of local history. Phil Barnes visits a Hampshire museum which recognises this with an impressive display. Portraying Hampshire’s living history, Milestones Museum is situated to the west side of Basingstoke only a stone’s throw from the site of the former junction of the branch line to Alton via Cliddesdon, which…

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  • ‘Number Nine’ hits hot spot

    ‘Number Nine’ hits hot spot

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    By Cedric Johns JOHN Cameron’s A4 No. 60009 Union of South Africa hit a hot spot on Thursday, July 26 – the warmest day recorded in the month – when temperatures soared into the eighties as the 4-6-2 led Railway Touring Company’s first summer season ‘Dorset Coast Express’ to Bournemouth, Wareham and Weymouth. Led is…

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  • SRPS: Scots enjoy steam with cream

    SRPS: Scots enjoy steam with cream

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    Scottish Railway Preservation Society officials are pleased with their decision to repeat last year’s ‘one-off’ August programme of steam-hauled trips from Linlithgow over the Borders line to Tweedbank via Edinburgh, following last year’s results. The trips are run every Sunday through August, and this year’s new innovation, afternoon cream teas, has also brought smiles to…

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  • Dry weather through to autumn?

    Dry weather through to autumn?

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    By Cedric Johns RECORD-breaking high temperatures and dry weather, which has resulted in Network Rail issuing an edict saying that main line steam hauled trains be worked by accompanying diesels, is likely to stay until the autumn. According to the Met Office’s three-month forecasts briefed to local authorities and transport organisations for the period August…

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