From the archive

Could the record-breaking success of the Fairbourne Railway’s Centenary of Steam Spring Bank Holiday gala weekend, which saw four of the line’s original 15in gauge engines return to the now-12¼in gauge outfit, pave the way for a new dual-gauge incarnation? asks Michael Whitehouse. With a pop on the whistle, Fairbourne once again echoed to the…

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One of West Coast Railways’ most respected drivers has retired. Don Benn met him and discussed Ray’s long career on the footplate. When Ray Churchill stepped off the footplate of LMS ‘Black Five’ 4-6-0 No. 44871 at Crewe in the early afternoon of Thursday April 28 it brought to an end 59 years working on…

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Fifty years ago, a remarkable variety of steam power was still in control of passenger and freight workings in the North-West. Trevor Gregg looks back to a camping coach holiday at Grange-over-Sands. Our annual summer holiday was always something that I looked forward to especially as a young trainspotter. Two memorable holidays were spent in…

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Mark Smithers reports on the launch at Scarborough’s North Bay Railway of its first steam locomotive. Billed in its 2010 souvenir brochure as ‘Britain’s biggest miniature railway’, Scarborough’s 20in-gauge North Bay Railway has constituted an important part of the town’s tourist industry for a period of more than eight decades. Unusual, but not unique in…

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The death of Geoff Bird, York shedmaster between 1965 and 1980, was announced just before Christmas. Phil Marsh was fortunate enough to meet Geoff several times to record a fascinating railway career that spanned five decades. Geoff was born in Essex but his family were evacuated to Harrogate in 1939. He recalled the Tilbury tanks…

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Friday, December 18, 2015 saw the end of deep coalmining in Britain when Kellingley Colliery was closed, and with it came fears from steam enthusiasts that the heritage railway movement was going to suffer as a direct result. Peter Brown canvasses opinion from the industry. Suggestions from some enthusiasts were rife and equally gloomy that…

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Flying Scotsman’s last run for BR was in the ‘Big Freeze’ in January 1963. Robert Anderson recalls that at the time many of Scotsman’s sister A3 Pacifics had a last spell of frontline express service as a result of the new diesels on the East Coast Main Line not taking kindly to the freezing temperatures…

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Yorkshire’s East Riding is a rare stamping ground for steam these days and rarely visited by enthusiasts. Chris Gee presents his selection of views of classic steam on the surviving routes in the area in recent years. Until the mid-1960s there were a number of railway routes criss-crossing this agricultural ‘county of the Broad Acres’.…

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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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September 5, 2016 celebrates half a century since the final workings of the streamlined A4 Pacifics in BR service. Fred Kerr recalls the last fortnight of their Scottish operations – and notes how the future was not as bad as many feared. As a child in post-war Edinburgh my memories veered between the Caledonian hooters…

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