Steam

  • Swanage Railway launches £350,000 ‘T3’ restoration appeal

    Swanage Railway launches £350,000 ‘T3’ restoration appeal

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    Dorset’s Swanage Railway has launched a £350,000 appeal to return London & South Western Railway (LSWR) ‘T3’ 4-4-0 No. 563 to full working order. The 563 Locomotive Group, under the umbrella of the Swanage Railway Trust, hopes to raise the money in a suitable time window to allow the 1893-built former National Railway Museum loco to…

  • £120,000 appeal launched to return Irish preservation group’s Slieve Gullion to steam

    £120,000 appeal launched to return Irish preservation group’s Slieve Gullion to steam

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    The Railway Preservation Society of Ireland has launched a £120,000 appeal to complete the restoration of its semi-overhauled flagship Great Northern Railway (Ireland) ‘S’ class No. 171 Slieve Gullion. The popular 4-4-0 last steamed in July 2002, and in early 2014 it crossed the Irish Sea to undergo a contract overhaul by Rail Restorations North East…

  • Double-headed ‘Manors’ help WSR mark 40 years of steaming to Bishops Lydeard

    Double-headed ‘Manors’ help WSR mark 40 years of steaming to Bishops Lydeard

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    A FOURTEEN-coach train hauled by a pair of Collett ‘Manor’ 4-6-0s was the undoubted highlight of the West Somerset Railway’s 40th Anniversary gala on June 8-9. The event celebrated four decades since the ‘Wizzer’ returned steam to Bishops Lydeard on June 9, 1979, and was a strong illustration that the worst of the railway’s problems…

  • ‘Crab & Winkle’ Invicta re-homed in Whitstable

    ‘Crab & Winkle’ Invicta re-homed in Whitstable

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    Canterbury & Whitstable Railway (C&WR) 0-4-0 Invicta left its long-term home in the city of Canterbury on June 16 to become the star exhibit in the Whitstable Community Museum and Gallery. The veteran locomotive was constructed in 1829 at Robert Stephenson & Co’s Forth Street works in Newcastle immediately after the world-famous Rocket. On arrival…

  • Didcot’s ‘Saint’ unveiled  in full Georgian finery

    Didcot’s ‘Saint’ unveiled in full Georgian finery

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    THE Great Western Society’s re-creation of a Churchward ‘Saint’ 4-6-0 – No. 2999 Lady of Legend – is officially complete. The milestone has been achieved 45 years after donor locomotive No. 4942 Maindy Hall was acquired from Barry Scrapyard in 1974. The ‘Saint’ made its public debut at Didcot, albeit cold and in unlined black, in November…

  • Heritage profile: The Wensleydale Railway

    Heritage profile: The Wensleydale Railway

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    Running through some of the best scenery North Yorkshire offers, the Wensleydale Railway is a relative newcomer to the heritage and tourist railway sector. Graeme Pickering finds out more about its growth and expansion plans. A train ride is undoubtedly the main highlight of a trip to a heritage line, but with railways increasingly trying…

  • New cylinders for ‘flagship’ Hagley Hall reach Bridgnorth

    New cylinders for ‘flagship’ Hagley Hall reach Bridgnorth

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    THE highly anticipated return of Severn Valley Railway (SVR) flagship No. 4930 Hagley Hall has moved a step closer following the delivery of the ‘Hall’s newly machined cylinder blocks to Bridgnorth on June 14.    The new cylinders were one of the last machining jobs carried out by Harco Engineering in Brierley Hill, which worked on…

  • Humphrey Platts, the railway photographer

    Humphrey Platts, the railway photographer

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    Nick Pigott meets Humphrey Platts, who began photographing trains just after the Second World War, capturing a fascinating transitional period on the railways.

  • VIDEO: A short footplate ride on Urie S15 No. 506

    VIDEO: A short footplate ride on Urie S15 No. 506

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    If you’ve watched our clip of the recent relaunch intro traffic of Urie S15 No. 506 at the Mid-Hants Railway, you may be interested to see what life is like on the 4-6-0’s footplate, as shown in this video.

  • ‘P2’ construction makes progress behind the scenes

    ‘P2’ construction makes progress behind the scenes

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    Things may appear to have gone quiet in Darlington, but the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust continues to make what it described as “a lot of essential but relatively unspectacular” progress.

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