News

By Geoff Courtney THEY were ubiquitous on tracks throughout the BR network, but generally ignored by passengers and trainspotters alike. They provided an essential service, but were accorded no accolades or recognition. They ground out the miles on the national network carrying personnel, but didn’t figure in the Ian Allan ABCs and were rarely photographed.…

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FOUR full-size steam locomotives took centre stage as the Warley National Model Railway Exhibition celebrated its 50th birthday. The Sandwell-based Warley Model Railway Club was founded in 1966, and held its first exhibition the following year. Around 15,000 people attended the event this year, in Hall 5 of the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. Music…

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A STEAM outline locomotive, which featured on the closing credits of the Eighties TV holiday camp comedy series Hi de Hi, has returned to running order on the Groudle Glen Railway in time for Santa specials. Baguley diesel No. 3232 of 1947 once worked at Butlin’s Clacton holiday camp. Previously named Parracombe, it arrived on…

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THE Ecclesbourne Valley Railway has launched an appeal to raise £500,000 to construct a new Midland Railway-style station building at Wirksworth. The new station is intended to replace the original portable buildings, which have served the railway since trains first started running on the short quarter-mile section to Gorsey Bank in 2004. While the opening…

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Exclusive By Geoff Courtney AUSTRALIAN officials are refusing to confirm the identity of the purchaser of UK-built Garratt No. 6029, one of the world’s largest preserved steam locomotives, despite a social media post from an individual saying that he and a colleague now owned the engine. The giant Beyer-Garratt has been mired in controversy and…

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By Paul Appleton WHAT was described as ‘unprecedented local demand’ for roofing slates means that the Severn Valley Railway’s new refreshment room at Bridgnorth will not receive the order for its new roof until “sometime in March”. Project managers are determined to remain true to the original design spec and use traditional Welsh slate for…

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HUNSLET Austerity 0-6-0ST No. 3193 of 1944 Norfolk Regiment has been moved by road transport from boilermaker Mervyn Mayes’s premises at the Old Goods Yard, Yaxham to Bressingham Steam Museum for trials. No. 3193, which was built for the War Department where it was numbered WD140, later 75142, was rebuilt by Hunslet in 1962 as…

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By Paul Appleton THE contract overhaul of the boiler from the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway’s Ivatt 2-6-2T No. 41241 has been completed at the Severn Valley Railway – paving the way for the locomotive to restage its role in the Yorkshire’s line’s opening celebrations 50 years ago. The boiler is soon to be delivered…

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THE Aln Valley Railway’s former Port of London Authority Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0T No. 1243 of 1917 Richboro passed its boiler test on November 24, allowing it to work the line’s Mince Pie Specials between Christmas and the new year. These will be the first public trains scheduled to travel on the railway’s extended track as…

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A £475,000 appeal to restore and repair a canal bridge as part of the Great Central Railway’s Bridging the Gap project has been launched. Following the installation of the long-awaited bridge over the Midland Main Line at Loughborough on September 3, attention has now turned to the bridge over the Grand Union Canal to the…

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