Steam
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A look around the docks on the Ribble Steam Railway
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Craig Amess discovers what’s on offer at the Ribble Steam Railway in Preston, and the railway preservation events that led to its opening in 2005.
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Blonay-Chamby museum celebrates 50th anniversary
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SWITZERLAND’s leading metre gauge heritage railway and museum at Blonay-Chamby, near Lausanne, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2018. The museum and the 3km line began operation in 1968 after closure of the line by operator Chemins de fer électriques Veveysans (CEV), but it retains overhead DC electrification, enabling operation of historic electric trains as well…
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Chinese steam swansong
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THE world’s last bastion for standard gauge steam locomotives continues its 24-hour daily operation in the giant Sandaoling open cast coal mine near Hami in Xinjiang Province, China. About a year ago, the coal mine’s management unexpectedly decided to retain and overhaul some its extensive steam fleet after assessing the cost and benefit of steam…
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Bahamas to return to the S&C after 25 years
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TICKETS are selling quickly for one of the most eagerly anticipated main line returns of recent years. After a restoration costing almost £1million at Tyseley Locomotive Works, Stanier ‘Jubilee’ No. 45596 Bahamas will make its comeback with the ‘Bahamas Renaissance’ from Oxenhope to Carlisle on February 9, 2019. It will be No. 45596’s first main line passenger…
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Trio of VoR tanks as No. 7 returns to steam
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VALE of Rheidol Railway’s (VoR) 2-6-2T No. 7 (nee Owain Glyndŵr) has returned to steam following a four-year £370,000 overhaul. The project amounted to restoration of a loco, which last ran in 1998. No. 7, built at Swindon in 1923, holds the distinction of hauling the last steam-hauled train operated by British Rail prior to the…
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£2.2million reconstruction for VoR’s Aberystwyth station
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THE Vale of Rheidol Railway (VoR) is starting a £2.2million reconstruction of its Aberystwyth terminus. The work will transform it into a Great Western Railway-style station with a multi-function display and entertainment facility in the former standard gauge loco shed. VoR is providing 35% of the finance for the Wales to the World project, supported…
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Bo’ness industrials join Caledonian party
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THE Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway’s Caledonian Reunion gala on November 3-4 was, as the name suggests, primarily concerned with the uniting of Caledonian Railway 0-6-0 No. 828 and 0-4-4T No. 419 for the first time (see p68). However, the line’s working fleet of ex-industrial locos were not to be left out. Neilson, Reid 0-6-0T No. 1 Lord Roberts…
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Horden’s completed chassis leaves Tanfield workshop
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THE removal of a locomotive’s rolling chassis from a workshop might appear on paper like a straight-forward task, but for the Tanfield Railway (TR) the extraction of Andrew Barclay 0-6-0ST Horden (1015/1904) from the railway’s works on November 14 was a true demonstration of logistical planning. Restoration of the ex-Horden and Shotton Collieries’ loco has…
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Onwards and upwards – the ever-changing story of the historic Ffestiniog Railway
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Craig Amess charts the rise, decline and hard-earned rebirth of the Ffestiniog Railway – and enjoys the treats in store on this and the adjoining Welsh Highland Railway this Christmas.
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SDR driver experience raises money for RBL
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THE Royal British Legion benefited from the South Devon Railway’s special Driver for Armistice footplate experience sessions on November 10. A total of 50 slots were available, appropriately priced at £11.11, offering participants the opportunity to drive GWR ‘4575’ 2-6-2T No. 5542 on a two-mile round trip from Buckfastleigh.All places were taken, and the SDR was…
