Sam Hewitt

By Hugh Dougherty FINTOWN station building has been gifted to Comhlacht Traenach na Gaeltachta Lair (CTGL), operators of the 3ft-gauge Fintown Railway, by owners Donegal County Council, to help boost the narrow gauge line. The station was built in 1895 to a standard design for the Stranorlar to Glenties railway – later part of the…

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THE Downpatrick & County Down Railway (DCDR) took delivery of its now-preserved Northern Ireland Railways 80 Class unit over the weekend of May 12-13 following an unprecedented response to its fundraising appeal (RM April). The four vehicles that make up the ‘Thumper’ – power cars No. 8090 and 8069 and driving trailers Nos. 8752 and 8749 –…

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THE Railway Preservation Society of Ireland’s annual multi-day May railtour ran almost as planned between May 11-15, which included a turn by newly restored ‘Q’ 4-4-0 No. 131 in the north. Whitehead-based GNR(I) Compound No. 85 Merlin arrived at Dublin Connolly with the society’s Mk2 set from Belfast during the afternoon of May 10, but was given…

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FOXFIELD Railway-based Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns 0-4-0ST No. 15 Eustace Forth (7063/1942) has returned to its former home at Locomotion in Shildon to take up a summer residency. The ex-Dunston-on-Tyne power station locomotive was once part of the National Collection, and saw operational use at both the National Railway Museum in York, and latterly at Shildon,…

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THE Tanfield Railway (TR) has achieved something of a master stroke in securing ‘local’ National Coal Board ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0ST No. 60 (Hunslet 3686/1948) for its Legends of Industry gala on June 16-17. The locomotive went new to the well-known Lambton shed at Philadelphia, County Durham, in 1949, and only returned to operation at the Aln Valley…

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STAFF at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway’s (NYMR) Grosmont MPD have wasted no time in getting to grips with the restoration of newly arrived BR ‘9F’ No. 92134, which arrived from the East Lancashire Railway (ELR) on April 23. The 1957-built 2-10-0 is owned by Howard Self, and relocated from Bury to Grosmont by mutual agreement…

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THE North Eastern Locomotive Preservation Group’s ‘J27’ 0-6-0 No. 65894 entered revenue-earning service at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway on May 20, just four months after arriving at Grosmont for the completion of its overhaul.The 1906-built loco ran ‘light engine’ to Goathland early that morning, which was followed by an afternoon loaded run to Pickering and…

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TWO Caledonian Railway locomotives that have never met in preservation will finally be united this autumn during the Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway’s (BKR) steam gala on November 2-4. The highly anticipated event will see the Strathspey Railway’s 1899-built 812 class 0-6-0 No. 828 finally pair up with fellow John F McIntosh-designed 439 class 0-4-4T No. 419, which…

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STANDARD ‘5MT’ 4-6-0 No. 73156 made a triumphant return to Great Central Railway (GCR) service during the line’s Good Galore gala on May 12-13, casting aside memories of its ignominious debut last October. The loco had spent the previous seven months out of traffic, its coupled wheelsets having been sent to the South Devon Railway for…

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FORGOTTEN Barrow Haematite Iron & Steel Co 0-4-0ST No. 17 – better known as former Furness Railway 0-4-0 tender locomotive No. 25 – will be restored to working order after being donated to the Furness Railway Trust (FRT) collection. The locomotive was built by Sharp, Stewart & Co in 1865 as one of a batch of…

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