Sam Hewitt
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Severn Valley supports £50m scheme which could reopen Eardington Halt
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THE Severn Valley Railway has backed a £50 million holiday venue plan which could see Eardington station reopened. General manager Nick Ralls has written to Shropshire Council in support of multi-million pound plans for the leisure development on the Astbury Estate near Bridgnorth, drawn up by the FCFM Group. The estate, which already includes a…
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South Devon confirms golden anniversary celebrations
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While there will be many activities and events going on throughout the year to mark 50 years since part of the GWR Ashburton branch reopened as the Dart Valley Railway, the key centrepiece events are the April 6-14 steam gala and the July 19-21 diesel gala, the South Devon Railway has confirmed. Two locomotives which…
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Impromptu ‘gala’ brings in the crowds
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By Paul Appleton THE first day of the Severn Valley Railway’s 2019 operating season, February 16, had the air of a gala event, with former BR Standard 4MT 4-6-0 No. 75069 making its public debut on the 10.30am ex-Bridgnorth and the first train off Kidderminster double-headed by GWR/PTR 0-6-0ST No. 813 and Collett 0-6-0PT No.…
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Helston gets historic St Austell GWR footbridge
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ST AUSTELL station’s landmark GWR footbridge is to stay in Cornwall after all – having been moved to the award-winning Helston Railway. There had been calls for the 1882 riveted iron lattice footbridge to remain in the duchy as part of its heritage, despite it being superseded by a new £500,000 fully-accessible footbridge five years…
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‘Hoover’ arrives at new Loughborough home
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Class 50 No. 50017 Royal Oak – bought from Boden Rail by the Great Central Railway – has been delivered to the line and is set to make its debut at the April 13-14 spring diesel gala. The ‘Hoover’ was brought by road from Boden Rail Engineering’s new Nottingham Eastcroft site and is currently being…
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New Grange approaches the finish line
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By Paul Appleton New-build No. 6880 Betton Grange has spent the winter at Tyseley Locomotive Works following the completion of boiler work there in order to finish off a number of other outstanding tasks prior to its return to Llangollen, where it should steam for the first time this summer. As is often the case…
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Tornado returns in ECML triumph – and plans a record run!
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Peppercorn A1 Pacific No. 60163 Tornado made its first main line passenger-carrying run for nearly 11 months on Sunday, March 3, hauling The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust’s ‘The Auld Reekie’ from Doncaster to Edinburgh. The A1 has been off the main line since its mishap while hauling the ‘Ebor Flyer’ from King’s Cross to York…
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BR locoman drives Aln Valley train 53 years on
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Nearly 53 years ago, in June 1966, BR fireman Kenny Middlemist from Alnmouth shed last worked on a steam locomotive over the Cawledge Viaduct on the Alnwick branch. Alnmouth-allocated K1 2-6-0 No. 62011 hauled the branch passenger train set on the morning of the last day of steam-hauled passenger services on the line. His driver…
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In 1950 Leo helped build Clun Castle: now he rides behind it!
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FOR 68 years, Leo Leeney kept a very dark secret all to himself. During his five years with the Royal Engineers, Leo served a three-year apprenticeship as a boilersmith. That work would see him labouring inside the blackest interiors of brand new boilers, riveting them, with only a pair of earmuffs to drown out the…
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Drummond K10 ‘Small Hopper’ is on the way from OO Works
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Model manufacturer OO Works is following its production of the London & South Western Railway’s large Drummond D15 4-4-0 with a model of the same designer’s small K10 4-4-0s which were nicknamed ‘Small Hoppers’. A batch of 40 K10s was built at Elms Works between 1901 and 1902 for mixed traffic work, and because of…
