Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 559 i Steam Railway

A load of mothballs If one engine appears in this column regularly, then it has to be sole surviving ‘A3’ No. 60103 Flying Scotsman. Saying that, all has been quiet on that front for some months now as the engine – despite just being in ticket – has been left without a custodian while a tendering process took place. Quite simply, the ‘nation’s favourite engine’ has been in mothballs while the NRM made its decision. Given the amount of public money lavished on Flying Scotsman, it is only right that the NRM should carefully consider who the locomotive’s new custodian should be, but many were surprised that the ‘A3’s’ long-time operator – Riley & Son (E) Ltd – didn’t get the contract as many expected them to. However, as you…

LOCOMOTION AT Shildon is now home to the largest under-cover collection of rail vehicles in Europe, following the opening of its New Hall exhibition space on May 23. The £8m, 2,000m sq. building houses 47 rail vehicles, with NER ‘Q7’ 0-8-0 No. 901, Fletcher-designed ‘901’ class 2-4-0 No. 910, and Worsdell ‘X1’ 2-2-4T No. 66 Aerolite moving from their respective previous homes at Darlington Head of Steam Museum, Kirkby Stephen East, and the National Railway Museum at York to form part of the new collection. Other steam locomotives displayed in New Hall include the 1849-built Hetton Lyon, LNWR ‘Super D’ No. 49395, and Hunslet ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0ST Works No. 3850 Juno. In addition to the locomotives, the collection includes a variety of internal combustion locomotives, wagons, snowploughs, and even a tamping…

THE WELSH Highland Railway has resubmitted a planning application for a new station building at Beddgelert, a year after its original application was refused. Plans for the new building – including a ticket office, café, indoor and outdoor seating, toilets, office, and covered waiting area – were originally submitted to the Snowdonia National Park Authority in January 2023. However, permission was refused in May that year on the grounds that the “inappropriate design and use of materials” would have a “harmful and overbearing effect” on nearby properties, and that the care and retail area would be “harmful to the viability” of established retail areas in the village, among other concerns. Plans for a new building at Beddgelert have existed since 2005, when planning consent for a new structure was granted,…

BOSTON LODGE Works on the Ffestiniog Railway has been awarded the contract to design a new boiler for ex‑Darjeeling Himalayan Railway ‘B’ class 0‑4‑0ST No. 19B. As reported in SR557, the Darjeeling Tank Locomotive Trust which owns No. 19B has launched an appeal to raise funds to build a new boiler for the 1889‑built locomotive, after serious defects were found in the existing boiler. Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways CME Jon Whalley, design engineer and boilersmith Bob Yates, and F&WHR general manager Paul Lewin visited No. 19B’s Statfold Barn Railway base in May to examine the old boiler and discuss the requirements for the new design. The new boiler will be an all‑steel, all‑welded item, with a riveted foundation ring, based on the original design but updated to modern standards.…

THE NENE Valley Railway has spoken exclusively with Steam Railway about the rationale behind its recent £300,000 ‘Back on Track’ appeal. The Peterborough-based line has become the latest heritage railway to launch such an appeal in the last 12 months, following in the footsteps of both the Severn Valley and Swanage railways. The appeal’s announcement came just as Steam Railway went to press with its previous edition (SR558). Explaining the catalyst for the appeal, NVR commercial manager Chris O’Regan said that the railway had been in deficit for the last two years to the tune of “approximately £300,000”, with the appeal aimed at rebuilding its cash reserves. “Without those reserves, we cannot be sure that we could undertake any essential maintenance or repairs that might arise. We are operating safely…

THERE WERE three steam locomotives in action at what was billed as the final Steam & Vintage Transport Festival at Fawley Hill on May 17-19. Held in the grounds of the late Sir William McAlpine’s estate near Henley-on-Thames and featuring a 1-in-13 incline – the steepest adhesion-worked gradient in Britain – the event also celebrated the 80th birthday of Sir William’s widow, Lady Judy McAlpine, who has organised the annual festival since Sir William’s passing in 2018. Fawley Hill resident Hudswell, Clarke 0-6-0ST Sir Robert McAlpine & Son Ltd No. 31 (Works No. 1026 of 1913) was unable to attend the festival as it is currently undergoing overhaul at Didcot Railway Centre. Running in its absence was Didcot-based Hunslet 0-6-0T Works No. 2409 King George (originally built as an 0-6-0ST)…

The HRA view APART FROM the latest on Flying Scotsman, this month’s headlines are dominated by fundraising appeals. When three or four appeals come along at the same time, it’d be easy to draw the conclusion that this is a worrying trend and that we need to panic as a sector. I’m certainly not going to downplay the importance of any fundraising appeal, but let’s understand what’s really going on when an appeal goes out, rather than hitting the keyboard to scaremonger and snipe. Covid seems like an eternity ago. We’ve virtually normalised hearing news reports of the war in Ukraine that sent coal prices spiralling upwards. And, with the general election campaign in full swing, we’re all hearing a baffling array of potentially different outcomes from the cost-of-living crisis.…

GET IN TOUCH Steam Railway, Media House, Lynchwood, Peterborough PE2 6EA steam.railway@bauermedia.co.uk or www.facebook.com/steamrailway STAR LETTER Recalling ‘Clun’s’ Carlisle triumph in 1967 So many happy memories came flooding back when I reached the inside back cover of SR557. The picture of ‘Castle’ class No. 7029 Clun Castle taken by Maurice Burns climbing Shap in 1967 was, in fact, a tour that the writer organised on behalf of the North West Branch of the Locomotive Club of Great Britain. The date was Saturday October 14 1967 and started from the now-closed railway station at Liverpool Exchange. Train reporting number 1T80 departed at 09.15 behind ‘9F’ 2-10-0 No. 92091 with a load of only seven coaches. The tour traversed an unusual route via Southport (avoiding line), Wigan Wallgate, Hindley, Horwich Fork Junction,…

As young firemen in the 1960s, we Bescot (3A) men worked at all the collieries in the Cannock Chase coal fields. There were many collieries on the Chase and surrounding areas but most closed in the 1800s and after. However, many of the collieries had their own rail systems, locomotives and stock that delivered the coal to the nearest BR sidings, so we didn’t work at many of those. Gradually, their wooden private-owner wagons disappeared and were replaced by BR-owned, metal-bodied 16-ton mineral wagon known as a ‘tin’. There was also a larger 24-ton version. Although we always called it the ‘Cannock Line’ it was the Walsall to Rugeley line, branching off from the Lichfield line at Ryecroft Junction about half a mile north of Walsall station. The first port…

GET IN TOUCH Got an event you want to be included? email steam.railway@bauermedia.co.uk AUGUST 3 LINCOLNSHIRE COAST LIGHT RAILWAY: Steam Day. 3/4 LLANGOLLEN RAILWAY: 1960s. 3/4 APEDALE VALLEY LIGHT RAILWAY: WW1 Locomotive Weekend. 3/4 ALN VALLEY RAILWAY: Teddy Bear’s Weekend. 3/4 EAST LANCASHIRE RAILWAY: Days Out With Thomas. 3/4 GROUDLE GLEN RAILWAY: Isle of Man Transport Festival. 3/4 ISLE OF MAN RAILWAY: Isle of Man Transport Festival. 3/4 LLANGOLLEN RAILWAY: 1960s Weekend. 3/4 MIDDLETON RAILWAY: Food & Drink Festival. 3/4 MID-NORFOLK RAILWAY: 1940s. 3/4 SEVERN VALLEY RAILWAY: Brick Weekend. 3/4 WHITWELL & REEPHAM STATION: Festival of Steam. 4 BREDGAR & WORMSHILL LIGHT RAILWAY: Steam & Model Railways Day 9-11 TALYLLYN RAILWAY: Summer Beer Festival. 10 LEIGHTON BUZZARD LIGHT RAILWAY: Jazz on the Sand. 10 LINCOLNSHIRE COAST LIGHT RAILWAY: Steam Day.…

Oh, what might have been. As double-chimney ‘Castle’ No. 7029 Clun Castle came to a halt just 100 yards from the summit of Hemerdon Bank with the Plymouth-Bristol leg of Vintage Trains’ ‘Great Western’ railtour, those on board couldn’t help but feel that they had been denied something truly special. Perhaps that is a little melodramatic, because the two-day celebrations marking 60 years since the legendary ‘1Z48’ railtour were absolutely, undeniably special, and a magnificent showcase of main line steam: high-speed running on the Great Western Main Line, unassisted steam along Dawlish and over the South Devon banks, Clun Castle back under Brunel’s iconic train shed at Paddington for the first time since 1965… It had all the ingredients. So, to lament the fact that No. 7029 had been prevented…

CLUN CASTLE wasn’t the only main line locomotive celebrating an important railtour anniversary in May. On May 23, ‘A4’ No. 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley bore a commemorative headboard marking 65 years to the day since it achieved a post-war speed record of 112mph descending Stoke Bank while hauling the return leg of a Stephenson Locomotive Society railtour between London King’s Cross and Doncaster on the same date in 1959. For the 65th anniversary of that achievement, however, the Gresley ‘Pacific’ was not on East Coast home territory, but on the West Coast Main Line, at the head of a Crewe-Carlisle and return (via Hellifield and Blackburn) ‘Fellsman’ railtour for tour operator Saphos Trains. But, in a nod to its record-setting exploits, Sir Nigel Gresley was adorned with a replica headboard,…

EXPLODING DETONATORS heralded the withdrawal of ‘Jubilee’ No. 45690 Leander, as the Stanier 4‑6‑0 ran for the final time before overhaul at the Epping Ongar Railway in May. The railway was the third heritage line the East Lancashire Railway‑based BR black locomotive had visited in recent months as part of its ‘farewell tour’ before the expiry of its boiler ‘ticket’, following spells at the Lakeside & Haverthwaite and Mid‑Hants railways. The ‘5XP’ hauled its final revenue‑earning public trains on the weekend of May 11/12, setting off detonators on its final departure from Ongar station on the Sunday, before returning to its Carnforth base for overhaul. The weekend was the finale in a trio of enthusiast events held over three consecutive weekends on the former Great Eastern Railway and London Underground…

STEAM RETURNED to the Great Central Railway’s Mountsorrel branch for the first time since 2018, on May 29‑June 2. The three‑day event, which featured shuttle services from Rothley on the GCR along the full length of the branch to Mountsorrel via Nunckley Hill, heralded the first public services hauled by 1954‑built Hunslet ‘Austerity’ 0‑6‑0ST Works No. 3809 following the completion of its overhaul at Locomotive Maintenance Services in Loughborough. Last steamed in 2006, the Giesl ejector‑fitted locomotive has been outshopped in its working days guise as National Coal Board East Fife Area No. 18. The former Wellesley Colliery locomotive was top‑and‑tailed on the Mountsorrel branch services by Class 20 diesel No. D8001 on the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and by BR ‘2MT’ No. 78018 on the Saturday and Sunday. The…

1924-BUILT 15IN gauge Bassett-Lowke Class 30 4-4-2 Count Louis celebrated its centenary at the Fairbourne Railway’s gala on May 25-27. It was the first time the Henry Greenly-designed ‘Atlantic’ had visited the line since 2016, when it attended the railway’s own centenary gala. Count Louis is a Fairbourne stalwart, having originally been based on the railway from 1925 until 1985, when the railway was re-gauged to 12¼in. The centenarian ran up and down the quarter mile of dual-gauge track during the gala. Joining Count Louis at the event was 1998-built 2-4-0STT Mad Bess from the Ruislip Lido Railway. Based on 1893-built Ffestiniog Railway-based Hunslet 2-4-0STT Blanche (Works No. 589), Mad Bess was attending in exchange for Fairbourne’s Darjeeling Himalayan Railway class ‘B’-inspired 0-4-0STT Sherpa, which had appeared at the RLR’s…

KERR, STUART ‘Brazil’ 0‑4‑2ST Melior ran for the final time during its current boiler ‘ticket’ at a special centenary event at the Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway on May 12. The event not only celebrated the 100th anniversary of the 1924‑built 2ft 6in gauge locomotive (Works No. 4219), but also the centenaries of both Bagnall 2‑4‑0F Works No. 2216 Unique and the opening of Kemsley Paper Mill. The withdrawal of Melior leaves the SKLR with only one operational steam locomotive – ‘Brazil’ 0‑4‑2ST Works No. 886 Premier – although the railway hopes to have Melior back in service in 2025, and Bagnall ‘Baretto’ 0‑6‑2T Works No. 2624 Superb in 2024, following the completion of its overhaul. Meanwhile, Unique is set to be moved later this summer from its current location…

THE BLUEBELL Railway’s Branch Line Weekend on May 10-12 was a distinctly Great Western affair, with all three visiting locomotives having Swindon heritage. Fresh from its recent appearance at the Severn Valley Railway’s Spring Steam Gala was ‘1366’ 0-6-0PT No. 1369, visiting from the South Devon Railway. It was joined by a second pannier – Severn Valley-based ‘57XX’ No. 7714 – and, arguably not entirely in keeping with the ‘branch line’ event theme, ‘Manor’ No. 7812 Erlestoke Manor, also from the SVR. They weren’t the only GWR-designed locomotives running at the gala, as ‘Modified Hall’ No. 6989 Wightwick Hall, on long-term loan to the Bluebell, was also in action. Completing the line-up from the resident Bluebell fleet was SECR ‘O1’ 0-6-0 No. 65, LBSCR ‘A1’ No. 72 Fenchurch and BR…

NEWLY OVERHAULED Giesl ejector-fitted Hunslet ‘Austerity’ Works No. 3809 and Bagnall 0-4-0ST Works No. 2623 Hawarden have been confirmed for the Tanfield Railway’s Legends of Industry gala on June 21-23. Fresh from its recent appearance at the GCR’s ‘Steam to Mountsorrel’ event (see separate story), No. 3809 will line up alongside Hawarden – visiting from the Foxfield Railway – as well as five steam locomotives from the resident Tanfield fleet: Andrew Barclay 0-6-0ST Works No. 1015 Horden and 0-4-0ST Works No. 1659 Stanley, Hawthorn Leslie 0-4-0ST Works No. 2859 Keighley Corporation Gas Department No. 2, and Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns ‘Austerity’ NCB No. 49 (Works No. 7098) and 0-4-0ST Works No. 7409 Sir Cecil A. Cochrane, as well as Ruston & Hornsby 0-4-0DE TIC No. 35. Only Hawarden and No.…

IT SOMETIMES feels like this magazine should be renamed Steam Locomotive magazine, reflecting the principal interest of most of its readers, myself included. Herein though lies a bit of a problem in that if we want to enjoy our wonderful steam locomotives then we also need the railways to run them on, plus the necessary funding streams. Most often this means running a business to generate sufficient money. The work involved in doing this is enormous. I see the managers at our place going about their daily work and from one week to another; they might not even see a loco. There is so much we simply don’t hear about that goes into making things happen and we are generally happy if that all stays out of sight. Do readers…

GWR & CONSTITUENTS 4930 In 1984, Hagley Hall became the first locomotive to depart from the Severn Valley Railway’s new Kidderminster Town station. Forty years later, the 95-year-old Collett ‘Hall’ will celebrate the 40th anniversary of this significant milestone in the SVR’s history with a series of commemorative trips on July 27/28. The re-creation of 1984’s ‘The Kidderminster Venturer’ will also feature the SVR’s rake of GWR coaching stock and be preceded by a special ceremony. Also taking part in the celebratory weekend will be ‘4MT’ No. 75069, which was also in service alongside the ‘Hall’ 40 years ago. 6880 New-build ‘68XX’ Betton Grange will spend some of July at the West Somerset Railway, after its trip there planned for early May had to be cancelled owing to testing still…

NUMBER 43 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 1 Early writing material on ER ‘A3’ engine 60096 (7)5 & 4 Down Early London Underground station originally served by steam trains (5,6)8 & 22 Walter Scott hero, after whom Reid designed 62400 named (3,3)9 Eastern Region MPD encoded 30F (9)10 Antelope giving name to Thompson ‘B1’ class 61014 (5)11 Undertakes course for different role concerning engines! (8) 14 Naval Earl to whom ‘Jubilee’ 45641 dedicated (8)19 First…

It is not really the ‘done thing’ to insert oneself into an article, but please allow me this brief indulgence. In March 2016, I paid a visit to the Northampton & Lamport Railway for Steam Railway. Back then, the half-a-mile of new track to Boughton was all in place and ballasted, and the impressive signalling was installed and all but ready to control trains. Little did I realise then that it would be another eight years before I would finally travel by train over the extension for the opening of the NLR’s all-new southern terminus. However, the railway is not resting on its laurels, and there are several exciting projects in the pipeline. From little acorns… The NLR was once part of the London & North Western Railway’s Northampton-Market Harborough…

IN AN unexpected development, Northern Steam Operations Ltd (NSO) – a subsidiary of Northern Steam Engineering Ltd – has been chosen by the National Railway Museum as the new custodian for Flying Scotsman. However, it seems the Gresley ‘Pacific’ will remain in its current latter-day BR-era guise for now. The National Collection ‘A3’ had previously been under the custodianship of Riley & Son (E) Ltd until the contract expired on December 31 2023, and the Heywood-based organisation was widely expected to be awarded the new contract. However, the news that the contract had instead been awarded to Northern Steam – better known for its locomotive engineering business – was widely greeted with surprise. Indeed, this will be the company’s first foray into main line operations, with Northern Steam Operations Ltd…

LOCOMOTIVES LARGE and small came together at the Kent & East Sussex Railway in June to help celebrate the line’s 50th anniversary. The festivities began at Robertsbridge, on May 31, where visiting BR ‘7MT’ No. 70000 Britannia became the first steam locomotive to use the former Hither Green turntable following its relocation to and restoration at the KESR’s future main line connection. The turntable was formally dedicated by Heritage Railway Association and Network Rail chairman Peter Hendy, Baron Hendy of Richmond Hill, while representatives from the Kent & East Sussex and Rother Valley railways signed a memorandum of understanding for the future operation of the railway once the RVR’s extension to Bodiam is completed. At the same event, GB Railfreight-owned Class 73 electro-diesel No. 73128 was named ‘Kent & East…

NEW-BUILD 81ST ‘Grange’ No. 6880 Betton Grange made its long-awaited public debut at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway’s Cotswold Festival of Steam gala on May 25-27. It was a case of ‘fourth time lucky’ for the replica Collett-designed 4-6-0, with planned debuts at the Battlefield, East Somerset, and Severn Valley railways having to be cancelled owing to delays in completing the locomotive. However, the ‘Western Workhorses’-themed event was arguably the ideal venue for Betton Grange’s debut, as it starred alongside two other Great Western new-build locomotives – 2019-built ‘Saint’ No. 2999 Lady of Legend (from Didcot Railway Centre) and 2004-built ‘Mogul’ No. 9351 (from the West Somerset Railway). The gala was the first time that three standard gauge steam locomotives built in the 21st Century have appeared in service together…

THE ROMNEY, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway has said that it needs an injection of up to £30 million over the next ten years, as it battles stagnating income and rising costs. It comes as the railway made a loss of £478,113 for the year ending December 31 2023. In his chairman’s statement in the 2023 accounts, published in May, RHDR Ltd chairman David Packer explained that, while revenues have held up, they “have not increased in line with the increases in fares. This indicates that ridership is down and has not returned to pre-Covid levels. The fact that this is commonly seen across members of the Heritage Railway Association is no comfort, but it does indicate that UK customer confidence is low. There are indications that this is a permanent…

Narrow Gauge VISITING EX-EATON Hall Railway 0-4-0T Katie helped recall the glory days of Sir Arthur Heywood’s estate railways at the Perrygrove Railway’s steam gala on May 18/19. The 1896-built locomotive was visiting courtesy of the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway, and was the first Heywood-designed engine to have run at the 15in gauge Forest of Dean line since 2014. Katie was an appropriate visitor to Perrygrove, which was inspired by Heywood’s Duffield Bank and Eaton Hall ‘minimum gauge’ railways. Further contributing to the estate railways theme was freelance 0-6-0 Jack, originally built by Jack Lemmon-Burton in the 1950s for his estate railway in Sussex. The third and final visitor was 2003 Exmoor-built 0-4-0TT St Egwin from Perrygrove’s sister railway, Valley Railway Adventure (formerly the Evesham Vale Light Railway). Completing the…

THREE STEAM locomotives were in action at the Bodmin Railway’s Branch Line Gala on May 25-27. Running at the three-day event were Bodmin-based ‘Small Prairies’ Nos. 5552 and 5553, and Port of Par Bagnall 0-4-0ST Judy, as well as BR Class 121 bubble car No. 121020. Originally planned as a Spring Steam Gala, the event was rechristened as a Branch Line Gala owing to the appearance of the bubble car. An unusual feature of the event was a classic Mini Cooper, carried on LMS 25-ton Lowmac wagon No. 700709 behind Judy. Making its final public appearance at Bodmin before moving to its new Pontypool & Blaenavon Railway home was ex-Devonport Dockyard Bagnall 0-4-0ST Works No. 2962. The 1950-built locomotive hauled the first public trains at Bodmin in 1986, but was…

Hunslet 0-6-0ST Works No. 1873 – arguably better known as ‘Jessie’ – underwent a rapid two-and-a-half-week transformation so it could appear in its original Hunslet livery in time for the Pontypool & Blaenavon Railway’s Coal Train Weekend on May 26/27. Hitherto running in its previous guise in East Moors steelworks No. 18 in lined black with wasp stripes, work to repaint the 1937-built 18in-cylindered saddle tank into its as-built Hunslet green condition began immediately after its return home following its attendance at the West Somerset Railway’s recent Spring Steam Spectacular earlier in the month. P&BR volunteer Chris Barnes said: “We decided upon the new livery early last year after we learnt about the livery specification in the original order form from Hunslet and seeing a photo of ‘Jessie’s’ sister, East…

Belmond’s ‘Clan Line 50th Anniversary Pullman’ to Bath on April 27 marked 50 years to the day since rebuilt ‘Merchant Navy’ No. 35028 Clan Line made its first public outing in preservation over the same tracks. In 1974, a return journey took place between Basingstoke and Westbury at the head of a Merchant Navy Locomotive Preservation Society charter which then offered participants the chance to visit the then MNLPS Chairman David Shepherd’s East Somerset Railway at Cranmore, or Longleat House. At this time – only three years after BR’s total steam ban had been lifted – steam was limited to 60mph. Furthermore, as a result of trespass issues on previous occasions, steam locomotives were not permitted to haul passenger trains over third-rail electrified lines, so the train from London was…

Standing somewhat forlorn amidst towering glass and steel office blocks in the middle of ‘Wellington Place’ in Leeds is a stone-built tower. Looking like a fragment from some lost medieval castle, it is in fact the only surviving element from the once mighty Leeds Central station complex. Built as a joint central station, and opening in stages during the 1850s, Leeds Central is now long vanished from the bustling, vibrant, modern cityscape of Leeds. But this solitary stone tower – once a pair of wagon lifts built by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway to serve the upper and lower yards at Central’s goods station – is a reminder of Leeds’ railway past. Railway pioneer When one thinks of railway pioneers, most enthusiasts tend to gravitate either to South Wales or…

8F SHEDCODE Special When the London & North Western Railway built the depot at Springs Branch, Wigan in 1859 it was following on the heels of two previous sheds in the area, both of which had been noted prior to 1840. Following its construction, however, the new depot proved to be lacking, with the turntable judged too small by the-then Chief Engineer John Ramsbottom. Some five years later, in October 1864, he was still unhappy with the shed – this time about the size. Yet, despite the powers that be recommending the construction of a new depot – to the point of producing the specifications – nothing was done and in May 1867 Ramsbottom fired off a passionate memorandum stating that “nothing has been done at Springs Branch since October…