Features

Cliff Thomas reports on a special commemorative event which brought 19 Hunslet locomotives together in North Wales – creating a new record for one manufacturer. THE Ffestiniog Railway held a Hunslet 100 gala in 1993 that is still revered as a landmark narrow gauge event. Twenty-five years on and the formula was not merely repeated,…

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With so many new trains being delivered and electrification schemes shelved, Porterbrook and Brush Traction are using their engineering expertise to convert surplus Thameslink commuter trains into ‘go-anywhere’ bi-mode trains. Ben Jones visits Loughborough to see how the project is progressing. When you’ve invested millions of pounds in maintaining and updating trains to bring them…

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The Ulster Folk & Transport Museum at Cultra, near Belfast, is home to the largest collection of locomotives, rolling stock and trams not just in Northern Ireland, but in the Emerald Isle as a whole. Gary Boyd-Hope looks at the core collection and its origins, without which preservation in Ireland would be considerably poorer. IT…

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Rail Cameramen records that the birth of railways pre-dates the practice of taking photographs of railway-related subjects. However, the advent of cameras with better lenses and ones with faster shutters speeds meant enthusiasm for photographing trains increased in the latter half of the 19th century, and railway photographers became a more common sight. According to…

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The CrossCountry (XC) passenger franchise is the first of four passenger rail franchises due for renewal in the next couple of years, with East Midlands, South Eastern and Chiltern being the other three. The deadline for responses to the DfT’s XC Franchise Consultation is set for August 30, and Fraser Pithie, a member of Campaign…

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This August marks the 50th anniversary of the end of steam on BR, and Keith Farr recalls some of the day-to-day performances in the North West as steam was in decline, but also chronicles the famous ‘1T57’ final special from Liverpool to Carlisle and back. One Saturday in 1969, my wife and I were by…

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Consultant Editor Nick Pigott tells the little-known story of British circus trains – almost certainly the most colourful and unusual workings to grace the network on a regular basis. MANY readers will have fond childhood memories of travelling circuses, with clowns, acrobats and exotic animals producing thrilling performances beneath a colourful ‘big-top’. However, for rail…

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