News

ON Friday, April 21, after a prolonged restoration, Bodmin & Wenford Railway-based Bagnall Austerity 0-6-0ST No. 2766 was lit up at Bodmin General station. The following day it was successfully steamed, and then moved up and down the yard under its own power for the first time since 1976. It now awaits boiler certification, scheduled…

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With the Settle & Carlisle line fully reopened on March 31, the first steam train to be operated by one of the regular tour promoters was the Railway Touring Company’s ‘Cumbrian Mountain Express’ on April 22. The train was to follow the established format with Class 86 electric No. 86259 Les Ross heading the train…

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THE vehicle that recorded both Flying Scotsman’s official 100mph run on November 30, 1934, and Mallard’s 126mph unbroken world record run on July 3, 1938, is to appear as an exclusive proprietary model in OO gauge. Leading model railway retailer Rails of Sheffield is working with Rapido Trains Inc to produce an outstandingly detailed OO…

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East Coast sunrise spectacular FLYING Scotsman – the locomotive which has the uncanny ability of writing world transport history without a second thought – has done it again. As helicopters circled overhead, global headlines and newsreel footage were generated on a steady production run after dawn on Sunday, April 23, when No. 60103 stood to…

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WITH the ongoing overhaul of A4 4-6-2 No. 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley reported to be on schedule at York and Llangollen (boiler), it is likely that the 4-6-2’s return to the main line will coincide with the planned and permanent withdrawal of sister locomotive No. 60009 Union of South Africa. Then the national A4 line-up…

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By Cedric Johns WHAT was described as a vision for the future was launched by Tyseley Locomotive Works chairman Michael Whitehouse on Saturday, March 18 when he officially unveiled plans for a multi-million project to redevelop Vintage Trains’ existing facilities as a major Midland tourist centre. The pre-publicised launch, held at nearby Tyseley Working Men’s…

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AS PART of the BR Class 8 Steam Locomotive Trust’s ongoing efforts to raise funds to pay for the heavy overhaul of its unique BR three-cylinder 4-6-2 No. 71000, the human Duke of Gloucester has signed several prints taken from a new painting by Nick Trudgian. Commissioned by trust secretary Ron Mitchell, the painting depicts…

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With no Premier League heavyweight in the mix, the nameplate category at Great Central’s March 4 auction at Stoneleigh looked on paper to be a close call for top honours. And so it proved, with the leading three being less than £3000 apart, followed by another batch of three snapping at their heels Pride of…

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By Hugh Dougherty WORK has started on the restoration of ex-BR Class 311 103 at Summerlee Industrial Museum as part of the site’s 30th birthday celebrations which fall in March next year. Originally a three-car unit built by Cravens in 1967 as one of the second batch of the famous Glasgow ‘Blue Trains’, two cars,…

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By Geoff Courtney FORMER quarry company 0-6-0ST Ring Haw is to boost the Spa Valley Railway steam fleet during the summer after its arrival at the Tunbridge Wells-based line on May 22, when it will join resident steam locomotives Nos. 62 and 72. The saddletank is a wartime product, having been built by Hunslet Engine…

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