Sam Hewitt

TYSELEY’S ‘Castle’ No. 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe has stepped in to deputise for ‘Hall’ No. 4965 Rood Ashton Hall on Vintage Trains’ ‘Red Dragon’ (‘Y Ddraig Goch’) to Cardiff on March 11 after the g-word (gauging) raised its head once more. The route would have taken the ‘Hall’ from Tyseley (Warwick Road) to Worcester…

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STANDARD 4MT 2-6-0 No. 76084’s main line comeback will continue on March 18 when it works the Railway Touring Company’s ‘Whitby Flyer’ excursion from York with ‘B1’ 4-6-0 No. 61264. The two mixed traffic locomotives will depart the Yorkshire city at 08.30 and head first for Darlington, picking up at Thirsk (09.20) and Northallerton (09.35), before…

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LUXURY train operator Belmond has awarded the Severn Valley Railway (SVR) a 10-year contract to service and stable its ‘Northern Belle’ carriages at Kidderminster. The 11 operational vehicles and two spares are currently serviced by LNWR Heritage at Crewe and will be housed on Carriage Siding No. 1 at Kidderminster between trips. The SVR will also…

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CONSTRUCTION work to modify the former Waterloo International for domestic suburban trains is well underway, as this view shows. The former Eurostar concourse has been demolished and around 50ft of the concrete platform deck has been cut away to accommodate an elevated walkway connecting the new platforms to the station. Between 1994 and 2007, the…

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BUILDING work has started on a new heritage railway platform and run-round loop at Princes Risborough. The station is on the site of the former Watlington and Chinnor branch platforms and will be the new eastern terminus of the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway (C&PRR), giving it a direct interchange with Chiltern Railways and the…

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SOUTHEASTERN services were severely disrupted for six days after a loaded sand train derailed at Courthill Loop North Junction between Lewisham and Hither Green on January 24. Two of the 18 bogie hopper wagons derailed, with one coming to rest on its side, damaging around 50 metres of track and a set of points. A…

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WORCESTER is to gain an out-of-town parkway station offering better connections to the national network – more than 40 years after it was first mooted. The Department for Transport (DfT) has given its approval for the development of Worcestershire Parkway, allowing Worcestershire County Council to press ahead with its construction on a site at Norton,…

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THE first vehicle of a fleet of 36 new trains being built by Hitachi for London to Devon/Cornwall services has been completed. The shell of a driving car for the Class 802 AT300 sets has been constructed at Hitachi’s Pistoia factory in Italy. GWR has ordered 22 five-car and 14 nine-car sets, which will be…

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