Sam Hewitt

THE end of June saw the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway celebrate 50 years of steam operations with an eight-day steam spectacular that featured a blend of original pioneers, returning favourites and visiting ‘royalty’. The royalty in question was LMS ‘7P’ 4-6-0 No. 46100 Royal Scot, which together with newly overhauled Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-2T No. 41241 led…

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GREAT Central-based ‘Britannia’ No. 70013 Oliver Cromwell will be making a return visit to the North Norfolk Railway later this summer to take part in the line’s early Autumn Steam Gala on August 31-September 2. August marks the 50th anniversary of the end of British Railways steam, and the National Collection Pacific has been in high…

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THE Great Western Society’s re-created ‘Saint’ No. 2999 Lady of Legend will soon make a long-anticipated comeback for the class that disappeared from our railways in October 1953. Work on getting the locomotive ready for its debut continues at Didcot as the new cladding sheets and smokebox are rubbed down ready for application of BR…

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THE A1 Steam Locomotive Trust is now able to present the upper structure of a non-streamlined Gresley ‘P2’ Mikado – for the first time since 1937. The remarkable transformation of new-build 2-8-2 No. 2007 Prince of Wales has been made possible by the manufacture and trial fitting of the boiler cladding to the upper works of…

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LNER-liveried Thompson ‘B1’ 4-6-0 No. 1264 and ‘West Country’ Pacific No. 34092 City of Wells are to headline the Great Central Railway’s (GCR) Autumn Steam Gala on September 4-7. The event will commemorate the 70th anniversary of the famous British Railways Locomotive Exchange Trials of 1948, with the guest locomotives both representative of classes that took part…

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THE North Norfolk Railway’s historic Gresley Quad-Articulated suburban carriage set No. 74 has returned to front-line service on the Sheringham to Holt line after an absence of two years. The 350ft-long set (Brake Third No. 48861 and Thirds Nos. 48862, 48863 and 48864) were withdrawn in 2016 pending routine maintenance and bodywork attention. However, the considerable length of…

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THE usefulness and worth of diesels and DMUs on the nation’s preserved railways has been highlighted across the country during the intense dry spell of June and July. Notices announcing the substitution of steam with diesel on passenger services have been a regular sight across social media as our railways took precautions against the risk…

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