Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 457 i Steam Railway

An important rule of reporting news is that you stick to the facts and don’t allow personal opinions to influence you. That doesn’t apply to comment columns, so I have no hesitation in expressing my disgust at the shortlisting of what looks like two crashed main line locomotives for a giant £2 million sculpture outside Birmingham Curzon Street station (see News). Let me repeat that... a sculpture of a train crash outside a station. The models are based on the city museum’s Stanier ‘Pacific’ No. 46235 City of Birmingham which, as we know, is identical to No. 46242 City of Glasgow, an engine involved in the October 1952 Harrow & Wealdstone disaster that cost 112 lives. What is alarming is that no-one in authority - or anywhere else - has…

Bressingham Steam Museum will soon be able to offer live standard gauge steam operations once again, with the return of its celebrated ‘Terrier’ 0-6-0T Martello to service. The Stroudley tank is presenting a very different appearance this time round, having been outshopped in Southern Railway green - the first time that it has carried this livery in preservation. It previously ran in LBSCR umber as No. 662, and also wore BR black towards the end of its last stint in service. Withdrawn in 2011 with leaking tubes, it has since been overhauled by the volunteers of the Bressingham Steam Society, concluding in a successful steam test on July 25 and an official launch the following day. No. B662 (as it is now numbered) will be used to give rides on…

BOTH OF the BR ‘Standard 4’ tanks that hauled the last service train on the Somerset & Dorset are to reappear at Midsomer Norton, courtesy of sister engine No. 80072. The Llangollen-based 2-6-4T is to visit the Somerset & Dorset Railway Heritage Trust at Midsomer Norton for two special steam weekends on September 10/11 and 17/18, in a second commemoration to mark this year’s 50th anniversary of the line’s closure. A Timeline Events charter on September 9 (see Photo Charters, page 35) will see it renumbered as No. 80041, while S&DRHT Trustee Stephen Lacey confirmed that, thanks to the offer of a replica smokebox numberplate, “it is envisaged that we will run it as No. 80043 for at least one of the other weekends.” For the charter, the Riddles tank…

Just over 59 years after the Watlington branch closed to passengers, a GWR ‘57XX’ 0-6-0PT has entered the bay platform at Princes Risborough with a train from Chinnor. Two special trains on July 23, behind South Devon Railway-based No. L92 (5786), heralded the arrival of the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway at the latter station, over a quarter of a century after it first set out to reconnect the two locations in its title. The first train, leaving Chinnor at 2.30pm, conveyed invited VIPs and passengers who had pre-booked tickets - some of which were reserved up to 20 years ago - while the second, at 4.30pm, was run for the benefit of the railway’s volunteers. With the run-round loop at Princes Risborough still to be relaid, the trains made…

A MERE £18,000 is now all that stands in the way of the Great Western Society achieving the major milestone of wheeling Churchward ‘47XX’ 2-8-0 No. 4709, as an appeal is made for your help in pushing the project forward. This relatively modest sum - in railway preservation terms - is needed to pay for the full overhauls of the ‘Night Owl’s’ ten axleboxes. The two for the pony truck (originally from ‘Barry Ten’ ‘Large Prairie’ No. 4115) will cost £1,300 each, while the six leading driving axleboxes can be done for £1,650 each. The rear driving ’boxes are of a more complex design to allow lateral movement on sharp curves, and require £2,800 each. They were peculiar to the ‘47XXs’ and the ‘42XX’ and ‘5205’ 2-8-0Ts and ‘72XX’ 2-8-2Ts,…

WINIFRED - the ‘Quarry Hunslet’ that was famously repatriated from America in untouched, as-withdrawn condition - is to return to its former workplace of Penrhyn Quarry this autumn. For the first time since it was shipped across the Atlantic in 1965, Julian Birley’s 0-4-0ST will run on its original stamping ground at ‘Penrhyn Redirected’, being held by the Penrhyn Quarry Railway on September 17/18. Another guest will have waited even longer for its homecoming - Kerr Stuart ‘Tattoo’ 0-4-2ST Stanhope, which last steamed there in 1948 before being withdrawn with boiler problems and used as a source of spares. It left the Coed-y-Parc workshops in 1966 for Bressingham, and is now part of the Moseley Railway Trust collection. A third ex-Penrhyn engine at the gala will be Avonside…

On board was a party of disabled children from Bradford City Disability FC, as well as club mascot ‘Billy Bantam’, while the ‘Dub-Dee’ carried a circular headboard in the style of those used on many 1950s football specials. Its number ‘149’ referred to the remarkably cheap cost in pounds of a City season ticket, which has resulted in crowds of up to 18,000 spectators for the League One club. A ‘WD’ 2-8-0 has been pressed into service on a ‘football special’ - to mark the first-ever supporters’ club to be formed on a preserved railway. With several ‘Bantams’ fans in the ranks of its volunteer team, the KWVR has formed the Worth Valley Branch of the Bradford City Supporters Club, which organised the round trip over the line behind No.…

The overhaul of Yugoslavian-built USATC 0-6-0T No. 30075 has begun at Shillingstone station, with the aim of returning the locomotive to steam within three years. Its owning group, Project 62, hopes to have the boiler removed later this year or early next year, when it will be sent off to contractors for overhaul. It is estimated that renovating the boiler will cost £12,000 and the total cost of returning No. 30075 to steam will be £25,000. Project 62 Press Officer Bob Bunyar says: “We’re hopeful there won’t be too much work needed on the bottom end. The firebox will need a bit of work, but we’ve already got all of the tubes for the boiler.” So far, volunteers have removed the steam pipes, tanks and the cab floor. Project 62…

THE RPSI scored a first on July 24 when two of its ‘big engines’ passed each other mid-section on the Belfast-Dublin route. On what was billed as ‘Great Northern Super Sunday’, No. 85 Merlin operated a ‘Steam Enterprise’ from Whitehead to Dublin, while 2-6-4T No. 4 hauled ‘The Boyne’ special from Dublin to Drogheda and Dundalk, with an additional excursion to Skerries. No. 85 was accelerating away from Dundalk when, with a brief exchange of whistles, No. 4 whisked past in the opposite direction heading north from Drogheda. On the way home, the two trains crossed again at Milepost 18, near Skerries station. Mervyn Darragh, the RPSI’s Belfast area operations officer, said: “We have been running rail tours in Northern Ireland since 1965 and in the Republic since 1966, so…

The Vintage Carriages Trust’s grand ambition of bringing together all three of its steam locomotives at a single event was accomplished at the Middleton Railway on July 15-17. The Leeds line’s Victorian Gala brought together Haydock Foundry 0-6-0WT Bellerophon of 1874, Manning Wardle 0-6-0ST Sir Berkeley of 1891 and Hudswell Clarke 0-4-0ST Lord Mayor of 1893. Lord Mayor was on static display, having not steamed in decades. The threesome had never before appeared together, despite all being owned by the Vintage Carriages Trust. It is known that all three had been based at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway simultaneously, but it is believed they had never all been in the same location at the same time. The trio of VCT machines was joined by Manning Wardle 0-6-0ST ‘Matthew Murray’…

A handful of locomotives were preserved in the inter-war period, which has given us such notable examples as the four-wheel tender attached to Furness Railway No. 3 and the Fletcher 2,500gal tender with NER ‘901’ class 2-4-0 No. 910. Further tenders were set aside with particular locomotives towards the end of steam to form part of the National Collection. They were only intended to be static exhibits, and great effort was made to present them as far as possible in their original condition, with any recent alterations removed. NRM documents show that Ashford Works made 17 alterations to the tender with SECR ‘D’ 4-4-0 No. 737, including replacing an axlebox lid embossed ‘SR’ with an ‘SECR’ one. A careful search was also made when the existing tender was considered inappropriate.…

Around 1925, the LNER provided the Forcett Limestone Company in County Durham with a replacement water carrier in exchange for an original Stockton & Darlington Railway ‘Collier’ class 750gal tender for the newly opened York Railway Museum. By a substantial margin, this is the earliest tender retrieved from industrial use. In 1978, three chassis were purchased for the Bluebell Railway from the Duport steel works at Briton Ferry. These were two BR1-type chassis and one came from a Bulleid ‘Light Pacific’. All were in poor condition, but the two BR types were restored with new tanks and are now coupled to 4-6-0 No. 73082 Camelot and 2-10-0 No. 92240. The Bulleid chassis was beyond repair, and broken up after removal of components for a new-build tender, now No. 3273. Other…

“Above all, both staff and volunteers should enjoy being with us” Most, though not all, steam railways have both paid and volunteer staff. As managers, we should be asking: what are their roles? What is the correct balance? And how should they be managed when they work together? My perspective on these questions comes from being a former volunteer at the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway and the Groudle Glen Railway, before transitioning to my paid position at the W&L just over a year ago. Here, we currently budget for 5.3 full-time equivalents in paid staff, including full-time and seasonal staff, and we exceed the 32% ratio of wage costs to income, as mooted by North Norfolk Railway Managing Director Hugh Harkett in last month’s issue. I’d like to say…

The Embsay & Bolton Abbey Railway will soon have an even more impressive eastern terminus - as Bolton Abbey station expands from one platform to three, in readiness for extra traffic from a western extension. With plans afoot to run trains into Skipton’s main line station over the freight-only Grassington branch, the E&BAR commenced work last autumn on a new island platform at Bolton Abbey, to cope with an expected surge in visitors to the tourist hotspot. The face of the new Platform 2 was completed on July 24, after which work shifted to the opposite face of Platform 3 - which will be mainly used for storing rolling stock, but can also host passenger trains if needed. To control the extra movements, Westinghouse colour-light signalling of 1906 vintage -…

“After King Edward’s withdrawal in 1951, ‘QMII’ became the only steamer sailing from Glasgow” Mention the words ‘LMS’ and ‘turbine’ and most steam enthusiasts will think of Stanier’s ill-fated ‘Turbomotive’ No. 6202 Princess Anne. Yet while such machines were largely unsuccessful ashore, steam turbines were integral to British rail travel into the 1980s - not slogging up Shap and Beattock, but connecting Britain with Ireland and the continent, or conveying holidaymakers and commuters from Glasgow to coastal towns. Queen Mary, now the last LMS turbine, is of a type which dominated the seas for 100 years. The subject of various failed museum and hotel projects, she fortunately survived as a London restaurant - and now a group has bought the ship for preservation. Kings and Queens Queen Mary’s keel was…

THE P2 Steam Locomotive Company is halfway to funding the rolling chassis of the first standard gauge 2-8-2 in Britain for over 70 years - having signed up 80 of the 160 donors needed for its ‘Mikado Club’. The milestone has been reached just four months after the ‘Club’ was launched in late March, aiming to put No. 2007 Prince of Wales on its wheels by this autumn. The 80 donors are pledging £1,000 each, which - once Gift Aid is added - represents 50% of the fund’s £200,000 target. It also means that the kitty for the entire locomotive is not far from the halfway mark. Of the £5 million needed to complete the Gresley giant by its steaming date of 2021, 44% has now been pledged via the…

The Great Central Railway is gearing up to commemorate the 50th anniversary of its closure next month, with a special mini-gala recalling the events of the ‘London Extension’s’ last day. The mixed-traction event is to be held on the weekend of September 3/4 - precisely 50 years to the day since the last through trains operated over the Marylebone-Nottingham trunk route on September 3, and in the early hours of September 4 1966. Organiser Martyn Ashworth is promising “as accurate a re-creation as possible” of the last day - with resident ‘Black Five’ No. 45305 representing the class most closely associated with the GC’s final years. It will be used to re-create Nos. 45292 and 44984 - two of the engines that hauled the final trains - complete with appropriate…

AFTER LANGUISHING in sidings for more than 50 years, BR Western Region ‘Castle’ No. 7027 Thornbury Castle has at last found salvation - and its new owner wants to see it in steam in six years’ time. Jon Jones-Pratt, the 32-year-old vintage transport enthusiast behind the 2012 revival of the Crosville bus company at Weston-super-Mare, has bought the derelict hulk from Pete Waterman, and is assembling a team to restore it for main line operation. His acquisition of the ‘Castle’ comes just weeks after GWR ‘Hall’ No. 4936 Kinlet Hall, of which he has been a director for the past two years, was also formally transferred into his ownership. Both engines have become registered assets of JJP Holdings (South West) Ltd which he formed last year,…

Oliver Cromwell has run at the Great Central Railway for the first time since early 2015. The ‘15 Guinea Special’ engine hauled its initial public passenger trains on July 16. Major work has been undertaken on No. 70013, including on the boiler, as well as the fitting of new tyres (SR456). A high-speed proving run is expected to take place at the Loughborough line shortly before this issue of Steam Railway reaches the newsstand. If successful, it should herald the imminent return of the 1951-built ‘Pacific’ to the main line; all being well, it is understood that could take place on the Railway Touring Company’s ‘Pembroke Coast Express’ from Bristol, on August 21. Oliver Cromwell returned to operation in 2008, following a Steam Railway readers’ appeal to revive it for…

A NEW preserved line for Gloucestershire could be up and running within four years, with the Vale of Berkeley Railway set to commence negotiations with Network Rail for a lease on the Sharpness branch. A unique arrangement in preservation will see the VoBR take over the operational and maintenance liabilities of the western section of the currently freight-only line. The move follows months of discussion with NR and Direct Rail Services (DRS), the freight operating company that uses the branch for flask traffic to Berkeley. The flask trains currently run to Oldminster Junction loop at Sharpness, the only point where their Class 37 diesels can run round, before returning to Berkeley and reversing into the railhead. DRS see this procedure as presenting “operational difficulties” and therefore welcome the VoBR initiative…

THE NEXT new-build locomotive to steam will be wheeled this month - having briefly achieved this milestone once already, but with the frames upside down. Replica Lynton & Barnstaple Railway Baldwin 2-4-2T No. 762 Lyn had its driving wheelsets, and the coupling rods, trial-fitted in late July, while the frames were in an inverted position in Alan Keef’s Ross-on-Wye workshops. “They all turned round perfectly!” said Peter Best, Technical Director of the 762 Club. The typically American-style bar frames have since been painted and turned the right way up, with the smokebox saddle being fitted on August 1, and the cylinders (which were also temporarily in place during July) expected to follow later the same week. The frames were then due to have been placed back on the driving wheelsets…

Shrewsbury, on November 28 that year, towing ‘8F’ No. 48471 - but while the 2-8-0 received an overhaul at the works and survived until 1968, the ‘Jubilee’ had in fact been officially withdrawn in the week ending November 21. Other examples of the class made several forays to Weymouth in the early 1960s. Remarkably, Galatea was not even the first to be used as a banker, Holbeck’s No. 45660 Rooke being recorded on such duties for a period after working in with a pigeon special from Crewe on September 22 1964. Undoubtedly a pioneer, however, was ‘Royal Scot’ No. 46115 Scots Guardsman, which worked the RTC’s ‘Swanage Belle’ from Victoria on July 14 - the first incoming steam tour to cross the Swanage Railway’s new Norden Gates level crossing, and…

Beattie 2-4-0WT No. 30587 - still active in what is now its 142nd year - approaches the site of Tufts Junction at the Dean Forest Railway, during a Steamscenes photo charter on July 6. The Beattie, together with LSWR stablemate ‘T9’ No. 30120, were brought up from the Bodmin & Wenford Railway for the DFR’s two back-to-back gala weekends on July 1-3 and 8-10, celebrating the 20th anniversary of Dean Forest locomotive engineering company The Flour Mill, which restored both locomotives. Buckinghamshire Railway Centre’s celebrity Metropolitan Railway 0-4-4T No. 1 - another Flour Mill restoration - also featured in the gala.…

Some of the heaviest frame repairs carried out on a locomotive in preservation are nearing completion on one of two surviving Urie ‘S15’ 4-6-0s, and progressing well on the other. Ex-Barry project No. 499, and under-overhaul No. 30506, have both had the front ends of their frames replaced at the Mid-Hants Railway’s Ropley works. No. 30506 has nine feet of new frame, while No. 499 required 14 feet - running back to the leading driving axle, where a crack through the original frames had effectively ‘broken its back’. No. 30506’s centre casting (the frame stretcher supporting the bogie and smokebox) is being riveted to the new frame sections, after which the cylinders can be refitted. A new bufferbeam has been cut and drilled, and in the boiler shop, work has…

Steam has returned to ‘Route 104’ from Chabówka to Nowy Sa¸cz in southern Poland following its closure last year due to the condition of the track, writes Andrew Rapacz. Campaigning efforts by the Nowy Sa¸cz Enthusiasts group, PKP Cargo, local residents, parliamentarians and the media proved successful, securing around 1 million zloty (about £195,000) to perform essential track maintenance. The grant awarded to the project to promote tourist services along the line and in the surrounding area has almost doubled from last year’s amount to 380,000 zloty (roughly £73,800). The ‘Rail Tourism Routes in Malopolska Region’ project is organised by the Nowy Sa¸cz Enthusiasts group. The principal partners in the project are PKP Cargo (the largest freight carrier in Poland) and the local area government of Malopolska Region. Around 25…

Plans to get the RPSI’s former Great Northern 1901 ‘Q’ 4-4-0 No. 131 back on the road have reached an advanced stage at Whitehead works. Professional staff from Heritage Engineering Ireland are focusing on the construction of a virtually all-new tender on the base of the one from ‘U/UG’ Class No. 37. The tank sides and internal baffles are almost complete, and next on the schedule are the coal rails and bunker, followed by the installation of pipework and smaller items. No. 131 passed its annual boiler inspection on July 21, and an appeal has been launched to raise £60,000 to complete the restoration. The commendation award from the Heritage Railway Association is being marked by a celebratory RPSI dinner in Belfast on October 21.…

The Welsh Highland Railway continues to outperform its sister railway, the Ffestiniog, with higher passenger takings - but it’s a close-run thing. The parent company registered a profit of £268,680 last year, an increase of over 10%, and shareholders heard in July of plans for an ambitious programme of improvement to take place in the year ahead. The surplus compares with £240,157 in 2014, despite the turnover falling slightly to £4,773,364, attributed to a wet season. Traffic revenue on the WHR (£1,544,957), continues to outpace the FR (£1,517,401). Gross profit on catering and shops was down on both lines, while on-train services returned £92,636 gross profit, nearly £20,000 up on the previous year. Major works scheduled later in the year include three new turnouts at Boston Lodge for access to…

“There are not enough superlatives in the English language to describe a ‘Princess Coronation’ locomotive in full cry. We shall never see their like again.” O.S. NOCK Without Brian Walker, we may not have seen a working LMS ‘Duchess’ 4-6-2 in steam since 1964, let alone had the pleasure of seeing one in streamlined form. In preservation, there are many names that stand out when we think of individuals who saved locomotives that were not on the official lists, such as Captain Bill Smith, Alan Pegler, Ted Watkinson, Viscount Garnock, John Cameron, Geoff Drury, Brian Hollingsworth, Pat Whitehouse, Peter Beet, Fred Youell, and David Shepherd. The name Brian Walker, however, is almost unheard of. While Butlin’s is usually credited for saving four large LMS engines - Royal Scot, Princess Margaret…

A grand total of 147 tender locomotives were purchased by Woodham Brothers of Barry, and although all but 16 survived, not all the tenders were so lucky. By 1967, nine Great Western engines had lost their tenders, and it is not known if they were sold for further use or cut up to maximise storage space. A further 35-40 tenders were disposed of in 1969/70, some sent to a steelworks at Briton Ferry and (it is thought) others to a steelworks at Llanelli, both owned by Duport. Most were from Bulleid ‘Pacifics’, LMS ‘Black Fives’ and BR Standard types. The tanks were cut off and the frames used as ingot carriers, often with the middle axle removed, to enable them to negotiate the curves within the works. The disposal of…

In the early days of the railways, there was little interference from central Government as to how they should be run. In 2016, we have to adhere to so much legislation that we can hardly breathe. However, we do have one of the safest railways in the world, and our steam movement, thankfully, shares all these benefits. In the beginning, there was no such thing as standardisation. Individual engineers set their own rules on track and rolling stock and, in Brunel’s case, even the distance between the rails. Signalling was installed according to the whims of those building the railway, and safety measures were basic, if they existed at all. As the network expanded and the need to connect different railways grew, it became necessary to have some form of…

The boiler of Severn Valley Railway-based ‘57XX’ 0-6-0PT No. 7714 underwent its steam test at Bridgnorth on July 25, and the locomotive is tipped to appear at the SVR’s ‘Season Finale Gala’ on November 4-6. Also nearing completion and due to make its debut at the same event is Port Talbot Railway 0-6-0ST No. 813, which may make its first moves in mid-August. Prominent in this view is GWR ‘Hall’ No. 4930 Hagley Hall, which is awaiting the removal of its cylinder block.…

IS IT the height of bad taste, or just freedom of expression? A pair of giant sculptures, closely resembling one of the locomotives wrecked in the October 1952 Harrow & Wealdstone accident, has been shortlisted for a £2 million grant to exhibit it outside Birmingham’s revived Curzon Street station. Jaws are dropping across the railway movement because the display of full-size battered and wrecked locomotives lying on their sides is based on LMS ‘Duchess’ 4-6-2 No. 46235 City of Birmingham, which is preserved in the city’s museum. The locomotive is identical to No. 46242 City of Glasgow, the driver of which was blamed for the high-speed collision involving three trains that resulted in the deaths of 112 passengers and left 340 seriously injured. It remains the UK’s worst-ever peacetime rail…

The first red paint has been applied to Ivatt ‘2MT’ No. 41241, as it prepares for its appointment to haul a 50th anniversary re-creation of the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway’s first train in 2018. The brightly-coloured right-hand cylinder and bunker of the 2-6-2T are the first tangible signs of the re-created Midland-style livery that the locomotive will wear when it returns to steam - replicating its appearance on June 29 1968, when it piloted golden ochre ‘USA’ 0-6-0T No. 72 on the ‘Reopening Special’. The overhaul of the locomotive’s ‘bottom half’ is on schedule for completion in 2018, with the frames rewheeled, the tanks repaired and ready for refitting, and awaiting a new set of valve and piston rings. The boiler is undergoing a contract rebuild at the Severn…

While Ivatt ‘2MT’ No. 41241 prepares to re-create the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway’s reopening, another star locomotive of 1968 has reappeared in Haworth shed, with the return of ‘Black Five’ No. 45212. The celebrated Stanier 4-6-0 has been overhauled by Ian Riley under a ‘restore-andrun’ agreement with the KWVR, in which it will return to the main line for the first time since the end of steam in 1968. Its place in railway history was secured on the evening of August 3 that year, when it was rostered for BR’s penultimate steam-hauled train from Preston to Blackpool. It is currently being painted and lined out in BR black, with the agreement stipulating that it will carry the later ‘ferret and dartboard’ crest. Its smokebox numberplate and 10D Lostock Hall…

Unique Maunsell ‘Q’ 0-6-0 No. 30541 will break new ground for its class at the Nene Valley Railway this autumn - to help welcome a Bulleid ‘Pacific’ back into traffic. With resident ‘Battle of Britain’ No. 34081 92 Squadron now in the final stages of its overhaul - and expected to make its debut at the September 10/11 steam gala - the NVR has secured Bluebell-based No. 30541 to bolster the ‘Southern Region’ theme of the event. It looks set to be a colourful weekend, with the BR black ‘Q’ and the early BR Malachite Green ‘Spam Can’ to be joined by the NVR’s blue ‘Thomas’ - Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0T W/No. 1800, itself recently outshopped from Wansford works - and War Department green ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0ST No. 75008 Swiftsure. The timetable…

THE GLOUCESTERSHIRE Warwickshire Railway’s ambition of reopening its northern extension to Broadway has taken a step closer to reality, following the purchase of rail from British Steel Limited. The initial 56 lengths of rail will be delivered in four weeks’ time, with a further two orders to arrive at the railway in the middle and end of September. Permanent Way Director Lee Alibone, said: “These will enable us to complete the re-laying of the Laverton headshunt and then the Buckland to Peasebrook section.” GWSR Finance Director Chris Bristow elaborated: “More rail will need to be ordered in 2017 to complete the Peasebrook Farm to Broadway station approach, but we have the points and track in stock for the station trackwork.” It’s not just the railway that’s moving northwards. The ‘Broadway…

It spent more than a decade rusting in Ropley’s infamous headshunt full of out-of-ticket locomotives, looking fit only for a trip to the scrapyard - an impression heightened by the word ‘COND’ (condemned) painted on its tender. But on July 11, BR ‘4MT’ 2-6-0 No. 76017 triumphantly rolled over the same siding - under its own steam. Now cleared of its dumped engines, the headshunt provided a suitable test track for the privately owned Riddles ‘Mogul’ as it made its first moves after a six-year overhaul. Following an official unveiling on July 7, its first fire in over 20 years was lit on July 11, and ten days later it made its first test run as far as Alresford. As this issue was going to press, the locomotive was expected…

Part of a Gresley ‘B17’ 4-6-0 has been seen in the important East Anglian railway crossroads of March station, for the first time since the class was rendered extinct in 1960. The B17 Steam Locomotive Trust has taken delivery of the brass nameplates for No. 61673 Spirit of Sandringham - and took them to the ‘1940s Day’ at March station on July 23. Sponsored by John Dewar, Peter Wright and Ben Colson, the ’plates have been manufactured by Procast of Cleckheaton. At five feet, they match those of the longest original ‘B17’ name - No. 61605 Lincolnshire Regiment - and to get the Spirit of Sandringham title to fit, have the slightly narrower and taller lettering used on the ‘Footballers’. ‘B17s’ were used in the top link at March shed…

The LNWR George the Fifth Steam Locomotive Trust was in celebratory mood in early August, having taken part of its new Bowen-Cooke 4-4-0 to Crewe - and paid for its first rod. Trustee Paul Hibberd declared himself “delighted” by an anonymous donation received at the group’s Kidderminster meeting on July 30, which was specified for one of the coupling rods. The previous weekend, the left-hand splasher and cabside of the new No. 2013 Prince George appeared in the ‘Premier Line’ railway town of Crewe, to be displayed at the Direct Rail Services open day at Gresty Lane on July 23.…

Having brought a steam presence back to Ashburton last year, the South Devon Railway’s ‘14XX’ No. 1420 has paid homage to another South Devon branch line - by visiting this year’s Torbay Steam Fair. The Collett 0-4-2T spent the weekend of August 5-7 on display at the traction engine rally, just 200 yards from Churston station on the Dartmouth Steam Railway. Its presence marked 55 years since a ‘14XX’ last worked the ‘Brixham Whippet’, the affectionate nickname for the auto-train on the Churston-Brixham branch. The two-mile branch was taken over by diesel railcars in 1961, but closed two years later. Out-of-ticket No. 1420 was given a fresh coat of paint, and its boiler cladding was reassembled - making it appear complete when, in fact, the boiler is already in the…

THE LAST LMS ‘Jinty’ 0-6-0T to be in commercial service in Britain could steam for the first time in preservation next year, in a fast-track bid to overhaul two members of the class. The Midland Railway - Butterley is seeking tenders for the contract overhauls of two of its four ‘3F’ boilers - to be paired with the frames of Nos. 47357 and 47445. The latter became the last LMS locomotive in service in mainland Britain when it was sold by BR to British Oak opencast colliery near Wakefield, where it continued in use until 1970 with its side tanks and bunker painted bright orange. When it arrived at Butterley, recalls spokesman Alan Calladine: “It was almost in working order - but it had been well and truly thrashed. It…

ONE OF the United States’ most revered locomotives is back in steam, with the return of Union Pacific 4-8-4 No. 844 to the rails after almost three years. The ‘FEF’ (Four-Eight-Four) class travelled from the UP Heritage Program’s base of operations in Cheyenne, Wyoming, to Denver, Colorado, on July 21. Two days later, it pulled several hundred passengers on a 22-car train on an approximately 200-mile round trip from Denver to the Cheyenne Frontier Days Festival. Demand for tickets was so high that Union Pacific decided to raffle them, instead of selling them on the usual first-come, first-served basis, while the event attracted lineside photographers from as far afield as California and Pennsylvania. The next day, the locomotive returned to Cheyenne, having kept to schedule, and with no mechanical issues…

AN ‘A3’ and an ‘A4’ have double-headed a train together for the first time in preservation, as No. 60103 Flying Scotsman teamed up with No. 60009 Union of South Africa to haul a brake van shuttle. Taking the phrase “using a sledgehammer to crack a nut” to its extreme, this unusual pairing took place at the ‘Shildon Shed Bash’ on July 30 at Locomotion: the NRM Shildon. It is believed that the sight of an ‘A3’ and ‘A4’ double-heading the same train has not been seen since the 1960s. Gary Campbell, Museum Manager at Shildon, said of the pairing: “This is the perfect showstopper to close our Scotsman Season in style - rail fans won’t have seen anything similar for more than…

Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway ‘23’ class 0-6-0ST No. 752 is retracing some of its early preservation steps - with a return to L&YR territory for its overhaul to be completed. The unique Aspinalldesigned engine, which last steamed in 1982, has been moved to the East Lancashire Railway from its long-time home of the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway. The frames, cab and saddle tank arrived at Bury’s Baron Street shed on July 20. With work on the boiler already complete, the crank axle is being prepared for trial-fitting of the repaired axleboxes. The Bury Standard 4 Group (restorers of 2-6-4T No. 80097) will be carrying out most of the work, with assistance from No. 752’s owners, the L&YR Trust. Several examples of the ‘23’ class (rebuilt from Barton Wright ‘Ironclad’…

“When an ‘A4’ became beyond repair, it would be used as a parts donor for others” SEPTEMBER 3 will mark 50 years since the final timetabled runs of LNER Gresley streamlined ‘A4’ 4-6-2s on BR’s Scottish Region, although it seems that they have never been away from the main line. After a glorious summer, the fleet had been run down to just two examples - Nos. 60019 Bittern and 60024 Kingfisher - and it appeared that the ruling that steam should not be employed on timetabled passenger services (except the Southern) could not come soon enough. Their final diagram, which included the 1.30pm Aberdeen-Glasgow and 11.02pm return, went over to diesels, but the no-steam edict had little effect, and regular steam substitutions and through workings were quite common well into…

The Talyllyn Railway has achieved one of its greatest ambitions, by bringing together all five surviving Fletcher, Jennings engines for the grand finale of its 14-month-long 150th anniversary celebrations. The unique gathering at Tywyn Wharf station on July 1-3 included the railway’s own original locomotives, Talyllyn and Dolgoch, but also three locomotives originally built to work in a quarry, at Betchworth, in Surrey. Captain Baxter, now at the Bluebell Railway, was in steam, making it the first standard gauge locomotive to operate at the TR. Its smaller companions were Townsend Hook from the Amberley Museum and Heritage Centre in West Sussex, and William Finlay, which has been acquired by the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum for permanent display this winter. Both Townsend Hook and William Finlay were built to run on…

THE FOXFIELD Railway took the unusual step of bringing in two visiting locomotives for its July 16/17 steam gala. Avonside 0-6-0ST Cranford made a hugely appropriate return to the Staffordshire line after spending many years based there under restoration. It was joined by ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0ST No. 35 ‘Norman’, visiting from its adopted home at the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway. The duo were joined by a further ‘guest’ in the shape of re-created ‘Austerity’ Hurricane, thanks to the cosmetic transformation of home-based Hunslet Whiston. Fellow home fleet machines were Bagnall 0-4-0ST Kent Electric Power Company No. 2 and Dubs 0-4-0CT W/No. 4101 of 1901. The visiting pair was considered necessary by the event organisers after Beyer Peacock 0-4-0ST W/No. 1827 of 1879 was withdrawn from the line-up after it…

Few visitors to the National Railway Museum are likely to know that LMS Hughes/Fowler ‘Crab’ 2-6-0 No. 13000 has far more history attached to it than they might think. How many know that it’s displayed with a Midland Railway tender whose chassis dates back to 1881 - 45 years before the engine was completed at Horwich Works? There’s a similar story at the Mid-Hants Railway, where the tender frame and wheels from LMS ‘Jubilee’ No. 45593 Kolhapur were fitted with a new shortened BR-design tank to run with ‘Standard Five’ 4-6-0 No. 73096, and that the original tank is now on a Midland chassis behind ‘8F’ No. 48305 at the Great Central. It’s this level of detail that can make the study of locomotive tenders far more interesting than you…

…

Firemen could end up with green fingers rather than blackened ones, with the first ever trials of a steam locomotive burning the carbon-neutral fuel of torrefied biomass - or ‘biocoal’. In the United States, the Coalition for Sustainable Rail (CSR) - a not-for-profit Minnesota-based group that aims to restore Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 4-6-4 No. 3463 to run on biofuel - has started off in a smaller way with a 15-inch gauge 4-6-2. ‘Pacific’ No. 1924, one of two locomotives on the mile-long Milwaukee County Zoo railroad, was used for controlled tests on June 11/12 in conjunction with the Natural Resources Research Institute. Fitted with instruments to measure the temperatures of the firebed, combustion space and exhaust gases, No. 1924 was fired with coal on the Saturday and ‘biocoal’…