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  • Transport secretary Shapps says Northern Train deal will be ‘brought to an end’

    Transport secretary Shapps says Northern Train deal will be ‘brought to an end’

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    Train operator Northern is to have its contract ripped up, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has announced.

  • Coastal repairs secure future of Wicklow line

    Coastal repairs secure future of Wicklow line

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    SPECIALIST contractors and Iarnród Éireann-Irish Rail (IÉ) workers have completed essential coastal defence repairs on the scenic stretch of the former Dublin & South Eastern Railway line between Greystones and Bray. The work at Bray Head saw the line temporarily closed between Bray and Greystones over the Bank Holiday weekend (October 26-28), and again on…

  • Peckett Hornet for 2020 Ribble Steam Railway debut

    Peckett Hornet for 2020 Ribble Steam Railway debut

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    RESORATION of Peckett ‘W6 Special’ 0-4-0ST Hornet (1935/1937) is expected to be complete in time for the loco to star at Ribble Steam Railway’s (RSR) 2020 spring gala on March 28-29.  The former Black Park Colliery loco has never run in preservation, and its rebuild has been a major undertaking for the RSR team at…

  • West Calder footbridge installed at Birkhill

    West Calder footbridge installed at Birkhill

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    A FORMER Caledonian Railway footbridge that was rescued from West Calder on the Shotts line in West Lothian was installed at the Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway’s Birkhill station on October 28.  The station’s new second platform is still under construction, so the footbridge is not yet in use, but it made an attractive ‘Caley’ tableau…

  • ‘Black Five’ returns for Great Central’s Last Hurrah

    ‘Black Five’ returns for Great Central’s Last Hurrah

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    STANIER ‘Black Five’ No. 45305 Alderman A E Draper made its return to traffic at the Great Central Railway’s (GCR) Last Hurrah of the Season mini-gala on November 16-17. The 5305 Locomotive Association 4-6-0 had spent several months on the side lines having been taken out of traffic earlier in the year for a programme…

  • New Year curtain call for Gloucs-Warks 2807

    New Year curtain call for Gloucs-Warks 2807

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    CHURCHWARD ‘28XX’ 2-8-0 No. 2807 will work the last trains of its current 10-year boiler certificate at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway on December 31-January 1. No. 2807’s ‘ticket’ expires on March 10, but the 1905-built veteran will be withdrawn on January 2 to enable work on its overhaul to begin.  The loco’s owning group Cotswold…

  • East Lancs puts new canopy in place at Rawtenstall

    East Lancs puts new canopy in place at Rawtenstall

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    THE East Lancashire Railway has completed the first phase of its £600,000 redevelopment of Rawtenstall by installing the newly refurbished canopy on October 29. The railway made good use of its Cowans Sheldon 75-ton crane to lift the canopy frame from its fabrication yard alongside the platform, and position it onto two cast iron columns…

  • Llangollen heavy freight 2-8-0 sold – but will remain in Wales for now

    Llangollen heavy freight 2-8-0 sold – but will remain in Wales for now

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    COLLETT ‘2884’ 2-8-0 No. 3802 has been sold by the Llangollen Railway-based Great Western 3802 Ltd, with a return to steam expected before the end of the year. The locomotive’s new owners are Nick Gilbert, owner of ‘Hall’ 4-6-0 No. 5967 Bickmarsh Hall, and Steve Andrews, who have bought it through their operating company 3802…

  • Twin 4-6-0s for Quainton Road   as ‘Owsden’ moves from Swindon

    Twin 4-6-0s for Quainton Road as ‘Owsden’ moves from Swindon

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    BUCKINGHAMSHIRE Railway Centre (BRC) is the official home to a pair of Hawksworth ‘Modified Hall’ 4-6-0s after adding semi-restored No. 6984 Owsden Hall to its list of resident locos.  The surprise news that owner Trevor Westbury was transferring No. 6984 from the Swindon & Cricklade Railway (S&CR) to Quainton was announced in mid-November, with the…

  • More Longmoor memories

    More Longmoor memories

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    I ENJOYED reading the Longmoor article by my former colleague Gary Boyd-Hope (RM October), particularly as I visited the premises at least five times during their open days in the 1960s. I remember one of these occasions vividly as the day turned into quite an adventure after the army team split the points at Longmoor…

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