Features

A Phoenix from the Ashes

by

Sam Hewitt

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6th March 2019

If ever a place deserved to rise from the ashes, then it is Sierra Leone’s National Railway Museum (SLNRM). Nicola Fox tells the fascinating history of a museum, whose locomotives were less than a week from being scrapped, plus its on-going British connections. On the western coast of Africa lies a small country with a…
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Practice & Performance: Thames-Valley transformation

by

Sam Hewitt

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6th March 2019

In the third and final instalment, Keith Farr concludes his analysis of the steam-to-electric transformation the Great Western Main Line has undergone in the Thames Valley. Part two of this series ended with a brief eulogy of Class 387s, the electric trains that have transformed stopping services between Paddington and Didcot. The new EMUs are…
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Unboxing of Hornby’s King George VI and Duchess of Hamilton

by

Andy

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4th March 2019

Here’s the latest unboxing of Hornby’s LMS Princess Class Locomotives, the Duchess of Hamilton and King George VI.
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Behind the scenes: Retaining heritage skills for the future

by

Sam Hewitt

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18th February 2019

In our latest feature about apprentices at the Severn Valley Railway, we meet 21-year-old George Brogan, who is in his final year in the carriage & wagon department at Kidderminster. Since July, he’s been working on vehicle No. 80776, a British Railways Mk1 carriage. This innovative project will see the creation of an entirely ‘new’…
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Feature | Re-creating Ivatt’s LMS diesel pioneer

by

Sam Hewitt

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13th February 2019

No. 10000 was withdrawn in 1963 and 10001 in 1966, and both were sent for scrapping in 1968.
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Heritage Explorer: Four lines in four days

by

Sam Hewitt

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13th February 2019

Last summer Robert Drysdale embarked on an 800-mile round trip to visit four heritage railways in four days using the national rail network and occasionally a local bus. His personal account provides some interesting observations and food for thought. On the morning of Friday, July 3, 2018, I arrived at Newark North Gate station to…
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LOCAL LOCO TRIALS: 1931 style

by

Sam Hewitt

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13th February 2019

In this month’s Practice & Performance, John Heaton FCILT recalls loco trials undertaken by the LMS to assess locomotive coal consumption in a bid to discover whether trains of lower overall weight could cut costs on lesser used lines. Any casual lineside observers on September 9, 1931 at Chellaston (some four miles from Derby on…
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70 YEARS BEHIND THE LENS

by

Sam Hewitt

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6th February 2019

He took his first train photograph in 1949 and is still active on the lineside today. We turn the spotlight on one of Britain’s best-known and most prolific railway photographers – Les Nixon. by Nick Pigott THE name Dr L A Nixon first came to my attention 54 years ago. I’d just had my first…
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Retaining heritage skills for the future

by

Sam Hewitt

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9th January 2019

The third feature in our series about Severn Valley Railway apprentices focuses on Ryan Parsons, who is building a new boiler for an Isle of Man loco. IN THE Severn Valley Railway’s (SVR) boiler shop at Bridgnorth, improver boilersmith Ryan Parsons is tacklinga new-build boiler. An improver grade is the first level for qualified employees…
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‘Highline’ for London?

by

Sam Hewitt

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9th January 2019

After the success of New York’s ‘High Line’ project, which converted a disused railway in to a hugely popular pedestrian walkway, Keith Fender looks at plans to bring a similar project to London. NEW York was by no means the first city to develop a linear urban park based on an old railway line. Paris…
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