Heritage Railway

WE cannot praise enough the all-but-superhuman efforts of our heritage railways who have written a new chapter in the 70-year-old history of the sector, by getting trains moving again in the face of the Covid-19 virus. None of us knew at the start of

A FRESH drive is underway to have the Bala Lake Railway’s £2.5 million extension funded by the Welsh Government – which considers it to be“a strategically important project”. Designs for the half-mile extension into Bala town centre are set to form t

DURHAM County Council has voted to invest £2.1 million in the Weardale Railway in a fresh bid to boost local tourism in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic and create new jobs and improved transport links. On September 16, the council’s cabinet vo

THE Heritage Railway Association (HRA) has vowed to fight to the last to save supplies of British steam coal. With several of the UK’s last mines producing the essential type of coal either having just closed or about to cease production, the Governm

THE fleet of second generation‘Pacer’ DMUs in preservation has been boosted in recent weeks, with no fewer than five units taking up their new homes at heritage lines. Class 142 No. 142055, which has been acquired by the Pacer Rail Group from leasing

NOT only has the Bluebell Railway been given a National Lottery Heritage Fund emergency grant of £250,000, but its own survival appeal has passed the £400,000 mark. The heritage line launched an emergency appeal at uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/ supp

SINCE restarting its services following lockdown, the Great Central Railway has limited its passenger trains to starting at Quorn & Woodhouse and running nonstop round trips from there to Leicester North, with the empty carriages being deep cleaned w

A MARATHON effort has seen Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway (WLLR) raise £95,000 in just three months to complete the mandatory 10-year overhaul of its original Beyer Peacock 0-6-0T No. 822 The Earl. As previously reported, the overhaul of the 1902

WHEN they were built in 1941, three bogie carriages played their part in the war effort – and 79 years later, they’re helping to maintain passenger services on the Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway (SKLR) at a time when the country attempts to de

THE Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways (Ff&WHR) has replaced its popular annual Victorian Vintage Weekend with a simpler and more socially-distanced Bygones Weekend. The October 9-11 event will still include the official naming of Large England 0-4

WILL there ever be another specialist railwayana auction in front of a saleroom audience? That is the question vexing many within the movement as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to have a debilitating effect on everyday life throughout the country. P

DESPITE the Covid-19 pandemic having scuppered its planned 60th anniversary event and left the present-day operation closed for the season, the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway (LCLR) – the first in the world to be built by volunteers on a green fiel

THIEVES have stalled progress on the Churnet Valley Railway’s (CVR) Leek extension by stealing £10,000 worth of difficult-to-replace signalling equipment. During September 5/6, thieves forced their way into storage containers in private sidings at Ki

ARTIST Oliver Pyle has come to the aid of the Swanage Railway’s £360,000 Save Our Service appeal to mitigate the impact of revenue loss through lockdown. Exhibiting his work at the Mulberry Tree Gallery in the resort’s High Street, West Sussex-base

AN ENGLISH Electric diesel preserved in New Zealand has returned to service after an overhaul started two years ago by a 13-year-old volunteer. The diesel, De class Bo-Bo No. 511, was built at EE’s works in Preston in 1951 for New Zealand Government

THE Middleton Railway’s Hawthorn Leslie 0-4-0ST No. 3860 of 1935 Swanscombe No. 6 has received its refurbished boiler. The railway successfully launched an appeal to pay for the necessary repairs and sent the boiler to Northern Steam Engineering la

IRELAND’S 3ft gauge Cavan & Leitrim Railway (CVR) continues to push north, with volunteers carrying out essential works in line with the government pandemic guidelines. Phase 1 of the relaying of track from the Dromod platform to the gate was compl

FOLLOWING the resounding success of the illuminated Christmas train phenomenon pioneered in the UK by the Dartmouth Steam Railway & Riverboat Company two years ago, several lines which produced similar events last year are bringing them back this tim

SUMMER may have given way to autumn only last month, but the Spa Valley Railway has already unveiled its plans for 10 days of steam-hauled Santa specials – some of them featuring its new resident locomotive. The specials will run on December 5/6, 12/

UNIQUE 1948-built LNER four-wheel express fish van No. 75169 is taking shape at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR), where it is being rebuilt at Pickering on behalf of the LNER Coach Association (LNERCA) by contractor Andrew Daniel, who has bec

THE Leighton Buzzard Railway’s first weekend of passenger trains since its six-month closure during lockdown proved to be a sell-out success. Despite the capacity of trains having to be reduced due to social distancing regulations, more than 400 pass

THE University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) is helping the builders of new BR Clan Pacific No. 72010 Hengist‘redesign’ the locomotive for the 21st century by ironing out faults in the original manufacturing process. The

THE recent death of Barry Buckfield at the age of 72 has robbed the heritage movement of yet another steam enthusiast who contributed much to the present railway scene. A professional railwayman, he worked in the carriage and wagon shops at BR Eastle

THE Clan Project’s No. 72010 Hengist is being joined by another new-build locomotive scheme at CTL Seal Ltd’s premises in Sheffield. The B17 Steam Locomotive Trust has announced that both it and B17 No. 61673 Spirit of Sandringham are leaving the Lla

JUST £175,000 is now needed to complete the building of GWR Hawksworth 4-6-0 No. 1014 County of Glamorgan. The Great Western Society is launching a fundraising campaign with the aim of raising the money by December 2021, so the locomotive can steam i

TYNESIDE’S Stephenson Steam Railway – the venue formerly known as Stephenson Railway Museum – reopened to the public on August 28, with trains operated by volunteers from the North Tyneside Steam Railway Association restarting over the bank holiday w

A HERITAGE trail commemorating the Mansfield & Pinxton Railway, the oldest continuously-running commercial line in England, has been opened. After months of isolation, around 25 members of the Mansfield & Pinxton Railway Project group, who designed t

THE Narrow Gauge Railway Museum at Tywyn reopened on September 5. Thanks to financial grants totalling £19,700 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Welsh Government, two attendants have been employed for the first time. Luke Ryan and Frank

THE Llanberis Lake Railway’s Quarry Hunslet 0-4-0ST No. 849 of 1904 Thomas Bach steamed on September 14 for the first time in eight years after being rebuilt by North Bay Railway Engineering (NBRE) in Darlington. Supplied new to Dinorwic Quarry whe

A STEAM locomotive component has been rediscovered on the Mid-Norfolk Railway at the site of a train crash of 105 years ago. The firehole deflector plate was uncovered by volunteers at County School station during maintenance work on the permissive f

hammer for £3000 each was a Gauge I live steam LNER Class A3 Pacific No. 60046 Diamond Jubilee and an electric 7¼in gauge Class 35 D7086. Three more Gauge I live steam models filling the next slots were Talyllyn Railway 0-4-0T Dolgoch (£2900), Vale o

GREAT Central’s sixth fortnightly internet, email, telephone and postal auction that ended on August 21 peaked at £6000, thanks to nameplate Snowdon, from London & North Western Railway Precedent class No. 2191. This 2-4-0 was built at Crewe in 1875,

THE West Highland line has proven a hit in the late summer, with West Coast Railways operating up to five charters a week to satisfy public demand during August and September, despite the impact of lockdown, as well as increased seven day-a-week‘Jaco

Yet more history was made on the Ffestiniog Railway on September 5, when newly-restored Large England 0-4-0STT No. 5 Welsh Pony not only hauled the first passenger train beyond Tan-y-Bwlch since lockdown, but made its first-ever journey over the spir

TWO men from Tyneside were arrested after making a journey of more than 100 miles to spray graffiti on West Coast Railways vehicles stored at Hellifield. Lancaster-based British Transport Police (BTP) officers arrested the pair on suspicion of crimin

THE original Bristol Temple Meads terminus of the GWR has been brought back into railway ownership. Network Rail has purchased Grade I listed Bristol Old Station from the city council, it was announced on September 15, the 161st anniversary of design

PLANNING a new start in the coming year, UK Railtours has added one of its classic ‘forgotten tracks’ trips to its existing 2021 tour programme, namely ‘The Tinsley Tugger’. Covering industrial south Yorkshire, the ‘Tugger’ will be routed over a myri

WITH Vintage Trains declaring itself absent with leave from the main line scene until next year, the tour promoter’s‘other half’, Tyseley Locomotive Works, is busily preparing motive power for the future. Accordingly, Vintage Trains will benefit from

THE Friends of the Settle-Carlisle Line have bought Dent station, the highest on the network in England – standing at 1150ft above sea level. Considered one of the jewels in the crown on the line, the building was purchased in 2006 and restored in au

It is nearly 30 years since The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust (A1SLT) was launched, at the Railway Institute in York on November 17, 1990. It had the stated ‘Mission Impossible’ aim of building a new Peppercorn class A1 Pacific, one of the greatest of th

WHEN it came to building Tornado, the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust drew up the concept that it should be funded by a large number of affordable, regular donations. Supporters could covenant (donate) the equivalent of just the ‘price of a pint of beer a

London King’s Cross, Lowestoft & return. Steam-hauled throughout. No. 60163 Tornado. RTC Preston, Carlisle & return. Steam-hauled throughout. No. 6201 Princess Elizabeth. NB Crewe, Bridgnorth & return. Steam-hauled throughout. Loco: TBC. ST Sca

THE first liveried samples of the new OO gauge South Eastern & Chatham Railway D Class 4-4-0 locomotive model have been received by Locomotion Models and Rails of Sheffield from Dapol and are now under review. Seven different variants have been produ