News

THE West Lancashire Light Railway is to hold a series of special events to mark its 50th anniversary. There will be a ‘Nearly 50’ gala on August 12-13 and a 50th anniversary gala on September 23-24. The 2ft-gauge line was started by six local schoolboys in September, 1967. They were concerned by the loss of…

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THE A1 Steam Locomotive Trust has launched one final effort to take ownership of No. 60163 Tornado’s tender. The trust’s 163 Pacifics Club fundraising campaign to purchase the 101mph locomotive’s tender has already reached 95% of its 163-member target to raise a total of £200,000. It now has more than 150 members. By 2014 the…

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STEAM returned to Kingsbridge nearly 53 years after the GWR branch line to the South Hams town closed. The Kingsbridge branch, axed by Beeching on September 14, 1963, was the subject of attention from early preservationists, who were thwarted by the haste with which the tracks were lifted by BR, the same day that support…

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THE Electric Railway Museum – an oasis of preservation for stock that most other heritage venues reject – is set to close after its final open day of the season. The museum in Rowley Road, Baginton, next-door to Coventry Airport, is being forced to find a new site for its unique collection due to the…

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AMBERLEY Museum’s July 8/9 rail gala proved a huge success, with both steam and diesel traction in operation. Resident steam locomotive Bagnall 2-4-0T Polar Bear and Bagnall 0-4-0ST Peter hauled passenger trains. Goods trains ran with a selection of trucks, including the green ‘V skips’ better known for their role in the 1985 James Bond…

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THE new £600,000 replica of original Lynton & Barnstaple Railway Baldwin 2-4-2T Lyn is to make its eagerly-awaited debut at the line’s September 30/October 1 gala, following its first steam testing in July. As the Sunny South was marking the 50th anniversary of the end of Southern steam, the steaming of the new Lyn at…

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SATURDAY, July 1 saw the Gwili Railway open its long-awaited southern extension to the outskirts of Carmarthen. It was 40 years since the last section of the GWR cross-country route between Aberystwyth and Carmarthen – which had been kept open for milk traffic until 1973 – was lifted by BR. The southern extension to Abergwili…

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TICKETS for the eagerly awaited three-day relaunch of Barrow Hill roundhouse in September following its Heritage Lottery Fund-backed restoration are now on sale – and prior booking is mandatory. As reported in issue 214, the Lottery gave £1,170,600 to Barrow Hill’s Moving Forward project, a transformation of the one-time Staveley Midland shed into a nationally-important…

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PECKETT 0-6-0ST Scaldwell has left its long-time home at Amberley Museum for restoration to running order on the Southwold Railway. The locomotive, No. 1316 of 1913, was taken by low-loader from the Sussex museum where it had spent the last 35 years. As previously reported, the museum agreed that Southwold was the best place for…

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THE Downpatrick & County Down Railway has been in mourning following the sudden death of its co-founder and president Bill Gillespie. Bill, who was 85, passed away on June 30, while on holiday in Jersey with his wife Winnie. He and co-founder Gerry Cochrane first met Eddie McGrady in 1982 to propose a heritage railway…

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