Sam Hewitt

BELGIAN heritage railway Stoomcentrum Maldegem (Maldegem to Eeklo), located between Bruges and Ghent, held a successful gala on May 5-6, with the theme being the centenary of the end of the First World War. The location of the line was occupied by the German Army from 1914 to 1918 and some Belgian historical re-enactors came…

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THE Haapamäen Museoveturiyhdistys ry (HMVY) railway museum, at Haapamäki, central Finland, is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. And at the start of the anniversary year, an ambitious five-day rail tour ran in late-April, covering many freight and secondary lines in central Finland. The tour was run as a joint venture between the HMVY and…

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POLISH Intercity operator PKP IC has leased two ‘Griffin’ electric locos from Polish manufacturer Newag. and will use them until December to replace older class EP09 locos, which are being overhauled by Newag. The two PKP IC ‘Griffins’ are part of an order for five placed in 2015 by freight operator Lotos Kolej and ING…

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THE Canberra Railway Museum’s former flagship Beyer, Peacock-built 4-8-4+4-8-4 Garratt No. 6029 has returned to the mainline after the museum’s former owner, the Australian Railway Historical Society, was declared insolvent in late-2016. As reported in the November 2017 issue (p97), the society became involved in a legal battle that was heard by the Australian Supreme Court…

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THE Belmond ‘British Pullman’ made its annual trip to the West Country on April 27-29. Both of DB Cargo’s dedicated Pullman-liveried Class 67s hauled the train, which ran west from London Victoria to Truro on April 27, returning to the capital two days later. April 28 saw the pair top-and-tail a day excursion from Penzance…

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THE Swanage Railway’s main line-registered Class 33 – No. D6515 Lt Jenny Lewis RN – made a rare venture away from its Dorset home on May 10 when it worked ‘The Purbeck Explorer’ railtour from Ealing Broadway to Swanage. The run was organised to move London Transport Museum’s ‘4-TC’ set from the capital to provide additional…

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JUNE 2018 marks the 20th anniversary of West Coast Railways’ (WCRC) first main line operations. The charter specialist was granted its operating licence in April 1998, and ran its first trains as an open access operator in June of that year. WCRC now operates several hundred trains per year, many of which are hauled by…

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THE latest in UK Railtours’ occasional series of shorter day tours covering rarely-visited freight lines will head to Kent on November 17. Highlights of ‘The Return of the Short Haired Bumblebee’ tour will be the meandering 11-mile branch from Hoo Junction to Grain, the last remnant of a number of branches on the Isle of…

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STEAM Dreams has unveiled its programme of tours for the second half of 2018 and given advance notice of three attractive steam-hauled landcruises for 2019. Highlight of the programme is a nine-day tour of Scotland on May 9-17 employing LNER favourites Nos. 60103 Flying Scotsman and No. 61306 Mayflower. The ‘A3’ is booked to handle the first…

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BLACKPOOL ‘Standard’ car No. 147 re-entered service on March 31 after a two-year absence from ‘home’ metals. The 1924-built, double-decker returned from a year-long loan to Beamish in March 2017, and since then has undergone an extensive refurbishment at Rigby Road Depot.The work has included body repairs, replacement of several ruby quarterlight panes, full internal re-varnish,…

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