News

  • Best spots to see Scotsman on the Severn Valley Railway

    Best spots to see Scotsman on the Severn Valley Railway

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    TICKETS to ride behind Flying Scotsman and Tornado during the Severn Valley Railway’s September 22-26 Pacific Power event may have sold out – but there are plenty of choice locations to watch them in action from the lineside. In one of the biggest heritage steam events that the SVR has ever hosted in its 51-year…

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  • Met steam will continue despite Amersham cancellation

    Met steam will continue despite Amersham cancellation

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    THE organisers of the award-winning steam trips over London Underground are now looking towards holding events next year – despite the late cancellation of the planned September 10-11 runs from Wembley Park and Harrow-on-the-Hill to Amersham. The weekend’s programme was cancelled by London Transport Museum because of the threat of industrial action precluding access to…

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  • Five injured as Romney train ploughs into tractor

    Five injured as Romney train ploughs into tractor

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    A Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway driver was hailed a hero after leaping from his cab seconds before his locomotive smashed into a tractor on a level crossing. Zak Clarke, who is in his early 20s, immediately picked himself up and went to help passengers from the train, which was derailed by the force of…

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  • Letters: Why a ‘Night Owl’ beats The Great Bear

    Letters: Why a ‘Night Owl’ beats The Great Bear

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    You invited comment on a possible new-build of The Great Bear.  An intriguing proposition;  this was GJ Churchward’s experiment based on his view of probable future requirements for more powerful express locomotives. As a departure from traditional GWR motive power design it didn’t do too badly. The main drawback was a seeming lack of availability…

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  • REVIEWS: A4 Pacific Locomotives

    REVIEWS: A4 Pacific Locomotives

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    By Peter Tuffrey (hardback, Ian Allan, 144pp, £22.50, ISBN 0 7110m 3847 9). It seems that there can never be enough books on Sir Nigel Gresley’s A4 Pacifics, one of which placed Britain back at the top of steam locomotive development, if only for its style and speed record. While most of what can be…

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  • NARROW GAUGE HISTORY: Not to be – the end of the Corris Railway

    NARROW GAUGE HISTORY: Not to be – the end of the Corris Railway

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    The Corris Railway was one of the first lines to be closed by BR and it was a very long time before a part of it was reopened. Dan Quine presents a series of views of the railway in the period immediately following closure. The 2ft 3in gauge Corris Railway has long been a favourite…

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  • REAL STEAM DAYS: A visit to a dump

    REAL STEAM DAYS: A visit to a dump

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    Many pre-Grouping steam engines soldiered on until the end of the 1950s but were then withdrawn faster than the locomotive works were able to scrap them. Robert Anderson recalls a trip to see some vintage steam power dumped in a remote corner of Lancashire in 1959. By the mid to late 1950s most of us…

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  • WORKSHOP REPORT: GER No. 229 – a born survivor

    WORKSHOP REPORT: GER No. 229 – a born survivor

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    An eagerly awaited return to steam is the 0-4-0ST sold by the Great Eastern Railway in 1917. Mark Smithers reports on the overhaul being carried out at the Flour Mill. The world of railway preservation is full of stories of tragic near-misses in terms of locomotives and other items that should have survived, but for…

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  • The LMS after Stanier

    The LMS after Stanier

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    Charles Fairburn took over the reins as the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the LMS from Sir William Stanier in 1944 before being quickly succeeded by George Ivatt. Brian Sharpe examines the contributions made by these two engineers to British locomotive development. The Second World War led to British steam locomotive design taking a new direction.…

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  • We’re all turning 50!

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    Our cover picture depicts a BR Standard 4MT tank back at Midsomer Norton and is a classic and quite wonderful example of the heritage movement thumbing its nose at the inevitable march of time, for it is 50 years since the closure of the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway system. This year we have also…

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