Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 549 i Steam Railway

One constant in the world of railways is that nothing lasts forever, and this has sadly been proved to be the case in my former home town of Stafford with the sad news that the former engine shed – 5C to some of you – is to be demolished. It was refurbished in the 1990s for use as industrial units and later for use as a college training centre. A new bespoke college building will be built on the site in the next few years. Its razing to the ground will mean that Stafford’s railway heritage is, in essence, gone, with the former Bagnall works (later GEC Castle Engineering) and both mechanical signal boxes also having gone in recent years. This event, and John Squire’s letter in Mailbag (p46‑47) got…

THREE OF the National Railway Museum’s North Eastern Railway locomotives are moving for re‑display. Fletcher‑designed ‘X2’ 2‑2‑4T No. 66 Aerolite, built in 1869 and the only surviving two‑cylinder compound locomotive in the UK, left the NRM on August 2 for transfer to Locomotion at Shildon. It went by rail, through York station to Holgate Network Rail depot on the traverser and then by low loader to Shildon as part of the Vision 2025 Master Plan. Also on the move are Fletcher ‘901’ 2‑4‑0 No. 910 and ‘1001’ class ‘Long Boiler’ 0‑6‑0 No. 1275. The latter – designed by William Bouch and built by Dübs & Co. in 1874 – is currently on display at the NRM, but will be joining Aerolite at Shildon. The locomotive was inspected at the NRM…

LAMBTON, HETTON & Joicey Collieries Kitson 0‑6‑2T No. 29 was the star guest at the Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway’s Autumn Steam Gala on September 1‑3. The North Yorkshire Moors Railway-based locomotive was making its first ever visit to the Scottish line for the event, and worked alongside BKR residents ex‑Caledonian Railway 0‑4‑4T No. 55189, Neilson Reid 0‑6‑0T Works No. 5710 ‘Lord Roberts’, and Hunslet ‘Austerity’ 0‑6‑0ST NCB No. 19 (Works No. 3818). It was also No. 29’s second gala appearance at another railway this year, following its recent visit to the North Tyneside Steam Railway (SR548). In exchange for No. 29 visiting Bo’ness, the Scottish Railway Preservation Society is sending No. 55189 to the NYMR for its annual steam gala. Both the BR black McIntosh tank and Severn Valley Railway‑based…

TWO OVERSEAS‑BUILT locomotives have broken new ground on the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways during respective gauging test runs. The first is ex‑War Department Light Railway’s ‘10‑12‑D’ 4‑6‑0PT No. 608. The 1917 Baldwin‑built locomotive moved from Boston Lodge to Dinas on the WHR on May 25, and subsequently underwent gauging runs between Dinas and Caernarfon on July 9. It was the first time a Baldwin has traversed this part of the WHR, which was built on the former LNWR standard gauge trackbed. Original WHR Baldwin 4‑6‑0PT No. 590 would have only ever travelled as far north as Dinas, which was the original terminus of the WHR. The second foreign‑built locomotive to traverse new track was the partially restored Chinese ‘C2’ 0‑8‑0 Dahuichang No. 4, built in Harbin in the mid‑1980s.…

DECAUVILLE ‘TYPE 3’ 0‑4‑0T Works No. 648 ‘Lily’ – the Richmond Light Railway’s latest acquisition – made its British preservation debut at the RLR’s Annual Charity Steam Fair on August 12. Built in 1912 for the Thessaly Railway in Volos, Greece, and originally named Dimitrias, No. 648 worked alongside its sister locomotive, Argos, until 1939 when it was moved to a chrome mine in Lamia. It ran there until the mine closed in the 1960s; it was then stored outside until 1980 when it was acquired by the German Steam Locomotive Museum in Neuenmarkt Wirsberg. It later went to a private collector in Berlin, who sold it to Dampfbahn Fränkische Schweiz, where it was purchased for restoration by the Frankfurter Feldbahnmuseum in 1993. Also running at the steam fair was…

LONDON & South Western Railway ‘T3’ No. 563 is expected to haul a passenger train for the first time since 1945 when it is launched into traffic over the weekend of October 7/8. The completed locomotive was reunited with its newly restored tender at Norden on the Swanage Railway on August 30. The move was just six weeks after the Adams 4‑4‑0 steamed for the first time in 75 years at the Flour Mill in Gloucestershire on July 12 (see SR547). The former National Collection locomotive was then towed behind a diesel to Swanage itself, ahead of commissioning and test runs. ‘Purbeck Line’ crews will also be trained in how to drive and fire No. 563, something that has never been done in preservation. The Swanage Railway Trust 563 Locomotive…

The HRA view IT’S THE end of the last operating day of August. The social media image is of Paul Lewin sitting on the bufferbeam checking the season’s passenger and revenue figures via his phone. And Paul’s accompanying comment: “I must admit, I do like the mix of modern IT and heritage trains captured here. Many folk wouldn’t know how important IT is to our business.” But aren’t heritage railways simply about preserving and reviving past eras?! Don’t we pride ourselves on recreating history down to every last nut and bolt, and doing things the way they were done in Southern, LMS or BR days, believing “If it was good enough then, it’s still good enough now”? The key to success of any heritage railway organisation is reinventing itself…

NUMBER 33 Crossword aficionado and railway enthusiast Alan Frost has come up with the perfect way to spend ten minutes (if you are quick) or a couple of hours (if research is required). The Steam Railway crossword is back – just for fun. No need to send in your answers – just test yourself and find the answers here next issue. ACROSS 1Country formerly south-west4 Down country (7)5 Vale of Glamorgan ‘Hall’ named on Collett WR 5952 (5)8 Craft of LMR 46164 creative type (3)9 Farm worker seen on the nameplate of Gresley ‘A3’ class 60074 (9)10 One might do this on an overnight sleeper train! (5)11, 13 & 15 Down: Brilliant engineer proclaimed on WR engine 5069 (8,7,6) 14 Former Oxfordshire station and railway, originally broad gauge (8)19 MPD of…

‘CASTLES’ IN PRESERVATION CLASS SURVEYTRACKING DOWN BRITAIN’S LOCOS No. 4073 CAERPHILLY CASTLE As the first of Collett’s 171-strong ‘Castle’ class 4-6-0s – one of the finest express passenger designs to ever run in Britain – it was inevitable that No. 4073 Caerphilly Castle should be one saved for the nation. Outshopped in August 1923, it was chosen to represent the Great Western Railway at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley from April to October the following year, where it was displayed alongside its rival from the London & North Eastern Railway, ‘A1’ No. 4472 Flying Scotsman. As built, No. 4073 sported a taller chimney and a different design of outside steam pipes, and was paired with a Churchward-pattern 3,500-gallon tender. The frame plates also have a ‘joggled’ section at the…

6E SHEDCODE Special Another shed with a somewhat nomadic existence in terms of ownership was Wrexham Rhosddu, later coded 6E. It began under the auspices of the Wrexham, Mold & Connah’s Quay Railway (WMCQR), with a simple two-road building being first noted soon after the company began operating on January 1 1866. Located adjacent to the GWR’s Chester-Shrewsbury line, the site rapidly began to expand with first sidings then a turntable, until by 1874 the WMCQR valued it at £1,000 – with a nearby hay stack being valued at £100. As the locomotive fleet grew, so the shed followed, with a maintenance facility being added around 1876. However, the entire shed lost its roof in a November 1877 gale, necessitating costly repairs. Following this, the shed, still known as…

It is probably fair to say that, prior to March 30 2017, very few people gave much thought to ‘T3’ No. 563. To many, it was ‘just another’ locomotive in the National Collection – merely one of several elegant Victorian 4‑4‑0s, whose history and significance were obscure. It arguably wasn’t a ‘star’ exhibit like Mallard or Duchess of Hamilton and, as it had not yet steamed in the preservation era, it had a low profile compared to the likes of Stirling ‘Single’ No. 1 or Hardwicke, or any of the other pre‑Grouping locomotives that were briefly reactivated during the 1970s and 1980s. In playing its role in two stage productions of E. Nesbit’s The Railway Children, its status had largely reduced to that of a prop, a background player. One…

THE FUTURE of the Swanage Railway’s connecting services to the national network at Wareham is in question after a £100,000 subsidy from the line’s trust was required in order to reach a break-even point. The last through train to Wareham for 2023 was set to operate on September 9 after a year of mixed fortune for the diesel multiple unit-based services. Management at the line will now analyse all of the data before reviewing options. “The railway company has genuinely not made up its mind about Wareham services in future years.” Swanage Railway Company finance director Robert Patterson told Steam Railway. “We have fulfilled our obligations regarding the trial service and an evaluation will commence.” Writing in the railway’s magazine, Swanage Railway News, Mr Patterson revealed that patronage has not…

HUGE QUESTION marks remain about the future of Ffos-y-Fran coal mine in South Wales, with a closure date widely reported but an appeal against the earlier refusal for an extension to mining still under way. National news outlets carried details of an August 16 announcement that the mine in Merthyr Tydfil would close later this year, jeopardising 180 jobs. The November 30 date for closure was greeted with surprise and shock from the heritage steam sector, coming only weeks after the mine’s operators – Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd had publicly asked for support with an appeal to continue coal extraction. The appeal, which would be heard by the Welsh Government, was widely seen as a key opportunity for the sector to make a strong case that domestically extracted coal was…

HAWKSWORTH ‘MODIFIED Hall’ No. 6990 Witherslack Hall was temporarily transformed into scrapped classmate No. 6988 Swithland Hall for the Great Central Railway’s Railways at Work gala on August 19/20. The event was the 4‑6‑0’s first public outing since the completion of boiler repairs earlier in the month. It was stopped last summer for attention to a blow in the smokebox saddle. Although repainted into familiar mid‑chrome green, the locomotive was still awaiting the final application of lining and tender crests, so the opportunity was taken to rename and renumber it as Swithland Hall, whose namesake is a short distance from the GCR’s Swithland sidings. Built in March 1948, the real No. 6988 was something of a nomad, first being allocated to Weymouth shed before temporarily relocating to Old Oak Common…

THE TALYLLYN Railway has taken delivery of its first new carriage in 48 years, as it seeks to expand its fleet and ease the burden on its heritage vehicles. Bogie coach No. 24 was delivered to Tywyn on August 15, following the completion of its construction by the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways at Boston Lodge. The new carriage is one of three being built for the TR, funded by a £300,000 grant from the Welsh Coastal Communities Fund (SR518) and the TR’s legacy income. All three will be wheelchair accessible, and will allow the TR to take its 1860s-built Brown, Marshall wooden-bodied four-wheelers out of frontline service, although they will be retained for special events. Carriage No. 24 also features miniature tables and First Class accommodation, which the railway…

ONE OF narrow gauge preservation’s most enigmatic locomotives – Bagnall 4‑4‑0T Works No. 2627 A. Boulle – has moved on loan to the Statfold Barn Railway. Built in 1940, A. Boulle was one of 14 Bagnall locomotives ultimately built for the Tongaat Sugar Company to work on the 2ft gauge railways that served its sugar plantations on its Maidstone Estate in Natal Province. The engine was one of three Tongaat Bagnall 4‑4‑0Ts repatriated to the UK from South Africa by Graeme Walton‑Binns in the early 1990s, the other two being Works Nos. 2287 Sinembe (currently in storage at the Teifi Valley Railway) and No. 2819 Charles Wytock (under overhaul at the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway, where it will be renamed ‘Sir George Newnes’ when it returns to traffic). Until its arrival…

Down Main THE CHARTER train sector is at a “fundamental tipping point” and there is an opportunity for operators to be seen by the wider railway world as professional outfits, according to Locomotive Services Limited MD Tony Bush. “The sector has to step up and say ‘we are professional, we don’t want to be seen as second‑tier operators. We want to be seen as professional, safe, competent operators like everyone else’. Whenever I speak to anyone, I say I am from a train operating company, not a charter train company. It is almost like it is a dirty word.” “Everyone has to decide who they are and what they want to be”, he added, and it is clear to me, having spent a bit of time with Tony and understanding…

Living with GETTING TO KNOW OUR FAVOURITE LOCOS I suppose it all began about 1949 – trainspotting I mean. One of my two pals had suggested it; they lived near me in Crankhall Lane in Wednesbury. We got a notebook and pencil and trudged over to the LMS Bescot shed, about ten minutes’ walk away. My other mate and I continued on right up until and after I started work on the railway at Bescot in 1957. I forget when I stopped taking numbers, but as soon as I could afford a decent camera, we slipped into taking photos of steamers in various places. One of the places we migrated to just after starting trainspotting was Wednesbury Central station, which carried the Great Western main line from Paddington to Birkenhead…

The much-anticipated double-headed ‘Castle’ circular tour from Birmingham, ‘The Castle Centenarian’, originally scheduled for May 13, took place on June 10 with an altered itinerary. Repairs to the Thames Viaduct at Nuneham between Culham and Radley, resulting in complete closure of the line from April 3 to June 9, prevented use of the intended homeward route from Hereford beyond Severn Tunnel Junction. Instead of returning via the Severn Tunnel itself, Foxhall Junction, Oxford, Banbury and Hatton Bank to Snow Hill, the train was scheduled to return to New Street via Chepstow, Gloucester and the Lickey Incline. The tour was run to celebrate 100 years since the GWR’s first ‘4073’ or ‘Castle’ class 4-6-0 locomotive emerged from Swindon Works in August 1923. No. 4073 Caerphilly Castle was the first of an…

AN ICONIC Beattie well tank is set to return to the Bodmin and Wenford Railway after a vital deal was reached with the National Railway Museum. The National Collection’s 149-year-old London and South Western Railway 2-4-0T No. 30587 is due to move back to Cornwall within weeks – if £7,000 can be raised to fund transport from York. The agreement between the NRM and B&WR is the result of many months of negotiations. The deal will initially bring the Joseph Beattie-designed machine back to its former stomping ground for public display. It is hoped that it will receive a full overhaul and a fresh ten-year operational stint. The move from York to Bodmin could take place during this autumn. However, with the Bodmin and Wenford fully committed financially at present,…

News The Corris Railway has two resident steam locomotives for the first time since the original line’s closure in 1948, following the arrival of its new-build Hughes ‘Falcon’ 0-4-2ST No. 10. The delivery of the 2ft 3in gauge locomotive – a near replica of original Corris Railway No. 3 ‘Sir Haydn’, now based at the Talyllyn Railway – to Maespoeth Junction on August 30 came 11 months after it first steamed at the Alan Keef Ltd 50th anniversary open day in September 2022 (SR537). Although nominally complete at that stage, there were several outstanding jobs that needed doing – such as the fitting of buffers and couplings, and cladding the boiler – before No. 10 was ready for its final delivery to the CR. At the time of going to…

ARE‑CREATION OF the Stockton & Darlington Railway’s inaugural train could run on the main line from Shildon to Stockton as part of the railway’s bicentenary celebrations in 2025. The train, which is planned to be hauled by the 1975‑built replica of Locomotion (currently under overhaul at Locomotive Maintenance Services of Loughborough), will consist of six replica S&DR‑type chaldron waggons and a replica of the S&DR’s first passenger carriage Experiment, which formed part of the original train. The waggons are being built by North Bay Railway Engineering Services in Darlington, contracted by Darlington Borough Council, and will be fully main line certified; the wheels and axles have been built to main line profiles and specifications, “which has been quite an interesting exercise,” an official source close to the project told Steam…

FIFTEEN GUINEA Special’ veteran ‘Black Five’ No. 45110 has a new owner after being sold by the Severn Valley Railway. The sale to an as-yet undisclosed buyer in mid-August followed weeks of speculation that SVR (Holdings) plc might dispose of the Stanier ‘5MT’. It confirmed at its June AGM that the sale of assets – including locomotives and rolling stock – was “absolutely on the radar”, as the company seeks to address its financial deficit. The SVR confirmed to Steam Railway last month that it was “actively looking into selling some assets”, but refused to identify which assets were being sold. In response to Steam Railway’s questions following the announcement of No. 45110’s sale, the railway did not disclose how much the 4-6-0 had been sold for, nor the identity…

STOP and Examine THE SALE of No.45110 to an unknown buyer has obviously raised eyebrows. However, this act must surely be a clear metaphor for what’s happening in the heritage railway sector now. Let’s not beat around the bush here, there is a scramble for cash to see off the looming crisis we see in the sector today. Nearly all railways are watching their cash situation carefully, and where they are in the spectrum of survivability is simply a matter of how much cash they have in reserve and how fast they are burning it. Regardless of size, costs have now gone up at a level approaching 25%. In an industry that rarely makes a large surplus this is a very big problem indeed. Therefore, when one railway turns an…

A basic skill of locomotive spotters was to be able to tell one class of engine from another. More advanced spotters could advise that the locomotive was an ‘O4/3’ rather than an ‘O4/6’, if by no other means than remembering the details printed in their Ian Allan Abc. However, there were those who could on many occasions advise the exact number of an engine simply by looking at it, discerning a certain combination of variations coming together to make it unique or one of only a small number of possibilities. One class to practice on was the former Great Western ‘Castles’ which, over the years, received various minor changes to help suggest which the approaching locomotive might be. When No. 4073 Caerphilly Castle entered service in 1923, one commentator described…

SEPTEMBER SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 1 ECCLESBOURNE VALLEY MODEL RAILWAY: Wirksworth Model Railway Exhibition. SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 1 RIBBLE STEAM RAILWAY: Autumn Steam Gala. SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 1 STRATHSPEY RAILWAY: Flying Scotsman. Loco: 60103. SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 1 TELFORD STEAM RAILWAY: Mixed Traffic Gala. OCTOBER 1 AMBERLEY MUSEUM: Autumn Historic Car Gathering. 1 AVON VALLEY RAILWAY: Chocolate Sundays featuring Sentinel 7492/1928. 1 BREDGAR & WORMSHILL LIGHT RAILWAY: Steam Day. 1 FOXFIELD RAILWAY: Classic Car Rally. 1 WHITWELL & REEPHAM STATION: Steam Day. 2 ROCKS BY RAIL: Open Day & Diesel Driver for a Fiver. 5-8 GREAT CENTRAL RAILWAY: Autumn Gala. 6-8 MID-HANTS RAILWAY: Autumn Steam Gala. Locos: 72, 1054, 5239. 7/8 ISLE OF WIGHT STEAM RAILWAY: Teddy Bear Days. 7/8 NORTH NORFOLK RAILWAY: Autumn Showcase. 7/8 SEVERN…