News

On Thursday, June 28, entertainer Jools Holland visited Pecorama in Beer to perform the honour of naming the 7¼in gauge Beer Heights Light Railway’s newest arrival. Jools lunched with Peco representatives in the Orion Pullman car after which he was given a whistle-stop tour of the model railway factory in the company of managing director…

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STEPHEN Middleton’s Nidd Valley Railway sole survivor Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0ST No. 1208 of 1916 Illingworth/Mitchell has officially completed its 22-year restoration with a naming ceremony. Based on the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway, the locomotive’s name honours the former Lord Mayor of Bradford and local architect William Illingworth, who designed the city’s Odeon cinema…

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FAIRBOURNE Railway locomotive Yeo is celebrating its 40th birthday this year. Built in 1978 as works number 1078 by David Curwen and a half-scale replica of a Lynton & Barnstaple Manning Wardle 2-6-2T, it first ran in France on the short-lived Réseau Guerlédan line in Brittany. FR publicity officer Graham Billington handed over a commemorative…

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By Phil Marsh THE Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway is working round the clock to have its new northern terminus operational in time for its palled official opening on August 15. The running line used for heritage services for the last two years into Princes Risborough was severed adjacent to Princes Risborough North Box on…

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A 2ft steam locomotive that was displayed at the Birmingham Museum of Science & Industry prior to the museum’s relocation and relaunch as Thinktank, has returned to steam at the Amerton Railway. Lorna Doone, Kerr Stuart Wren 0-4-0ST No. 4250 of 1922 moved from the museum’s former Newhall Street home in February 2003 on long-term…

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By Geoff Courtney A COUNCIL tourism chief has mounted a fierce attack on plans to link two heritage railways, despite the project being given approval by the council of which she is a member and an independent report saying that the plan would boost the local economy annually by more than £4 million and create…

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FOLLOWING the cancellation of its contract to run Poole Park’s 10¼in gauge miniature railway, the charity that had been operating it on a not-for-profit basis has offered its entire stock fleet for sale. The Borough of Poole cancelled the contract with the Friends of Poole Park following derailments and a mass walkout of staff and…

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AROUND £300,000 is needed to complete new-build GWR 4-6-0 No. 1014 County of Glamorgan, according to the GW County Project, part of the Didcot Railway Centre-based Great Western Society. The society has launched a major drive to fund the boiler, together with a host of components, through sponsorship. The project is one of the beneficiaries…

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THE Lincolnshire Wolds Railway has been in mourning for pioneer and prolific author Alf Ludlam, who has died at the age of 77 after losing a short battle with cancer. Described as a an extremely gifted artist, musician, author and public speaker, Alf passed away in St Andrew’s Hospice in his home town of Grimsby…

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In a year in which the centenary of the Armistice is being marked, it’s easy to forget the pivotal role transport played in the conflict – particularly railways. “Most people have a vision of mud, horses and men – the missing aspect is railways. The problem was the last 20 miles from the storage depots…

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