Sam Hewitt

LINCOLNSHIRE Coast Light Railway Historical Trust’s Peckett 0-6-0ST Jurassic (1008/1903) moved under its own steam at the Skegness line for the first time on May 31. Jurassic provided steam at the original Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway at Humberston from 1961 until that line closed in 1985 and last steamed during a visit to Leighton Buzzard…

Continue reading »

LYNTON & Barnstaple Railway’s (L&BR) May 13-14 Spring Gala featured Bagnall 0-4-2T 3023/1953 Isaac, Kerr, Stuart 0-6-0T Axe and John Uphill’s 0-4-2T Faith from the Gartell Light Railway, in steam. Axe and Faith alternated hauling ‘freight’ trains between passenger services handled by Isaac. Resident Bagnall 4-4-0T Charles Wytock is currently out of service, dismantled for…

Continue reading »

FIVE Kerr, Stuart locomotives line up in the Apedale Valley Light Railway’s yard on May 7, during a shoot organised by 30742 Charters in advance of Moseley Railway Trust’s May 13-14 Stanhope Steam Gala. Left to right are Phil Mason’s ‘Sirdar’ class 0-4-0T Diana, Statfold Barn Railway’s ‘Wren’ 3128/1918 Roger, Gully family owned ‘Wren’ Jennie…

Continue reading »

LONDON Underground introduced a new timetable on the Victoria line on May 22, that sees a train every 100 seconds during the rush hour. This equates to 36 trains per hour each way, making the Victoria Line one of the most intensive metro services anywhere in the world – claimed to be second only to…

Continue reading »

THE 12¼in gauge Exbury Gardens Railway in Hampshire, formally opened its expanded circuit (RM March p80) on April 11. The line now runs for about 1½ miles including a new section around a wildlife lake, with trains stopping at Dragonfly Halt. Part of the original, smaller circuit has been closed and the track lifted. The…

Continue reading »

CHRIS BULLEN, the long-time former owner and operator of Poole Park Railway, has wasted no time in establishing a new 10¼in gauge public line at Honeybrook, a farm park, which is on the B3078 road, a couple of miles north of Wimborne Minster, Dorset. The initial 1,000m of track were laid in a matter of…

Continue reading »

TWO volunteer-managed UK rail enthusiast societies joined forces to operate the first (and probably only) comprehensive tour of the railways in Jordan in mid-May. The tour was run by the Branch Line Society with the LCGB from May 10-15. It took more than two years of planning with local rail and tourism operators assisting in…

Continue reading »

JR East is planning to replace the last double-deck Shinkansen high-speed trains used in Japan with new single-deck ‘E7’ series trains, which are being delivered from 2018 to 2020. Twenty-six of the ‘E4’ series double-deck trains were built between 1997 and 2003 by Hitachi and Kawasaki; each 240km/h train has 817 seats in the eight-car…

Continue reading »