News

THE Stephenson Railway Museum’s star attraction – Killingworth Colliery 0-4-0 the Killingworth Billy (or simply Billy) – can claim to be the world’s oldest surviving standard gauge locomotive after an archaeological survey revealed the loco was 10 years older than originally thought. It had previously been believed Billy had been built by Robert Stephenson &…

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THERE was a certain historic irony to a Great Western ‘King’ sharing the spotlight with a locomotive named after Oliver Cromwell at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway’s (GWSR) gala on May 26-28 – an event which has smashed many records for the heritage line. The high-profile ‘Royal’ No. 6023 King Edward II and ‘Roundhead’ No. 70013 were…

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CREWE-based ‘Black Five’ No. 45231 The Sherwood Forester will be one of the star attractions at the Severn Valley Railway’s (SVR) Last Days of Steam event on August 4, exactly 50 years on from British Rail’s last timetabled steam-hauled main line service. The event is being hailed as a commemoration of steam’s final fling, featuring 1968-surviving…

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SQUADRON Leader ‘Johnny’ Johnson MBE, DFM, the last British survivor of the Dambusters raids, has named GWR Class 800 IET No. 800019 Johnny Johnson. The event marks the centenary of the Royal Air Force and the 75th anniversary of the raids on the Sorpe, Eder and Möhne dams. Mr Johnson was the bomb aimer in the…

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SIEMENS has beaten off competition to win an order to build 94 deep-level Tube trains for London Underground. The order, confirmed by Transport for London, will be to design and build a new generation of trains for the Piccadilly Line. Construction will take place at Siemens’ Goole factory, which is yet to be built. Each…

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A CELEBRATION of 50 years of Class 50 locomotives will see at least 10 of the popular class appearing at the Severn Valley Railway’s diesel gala on October 4-6. However, as many as a dozen of the class could attend. The gala is expected to be the largest event in preservation featuring one type of…

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THREE graffiti artists were struck by a train and killed in south London in the early hours of June 18. They have been named as Alberto Carrasco, 19, Jack Gilbert and Harrison Scott-Hood, both 23. Their bodies were found around 7.30am. The incident occurred near Loughborough Junction, Brixton, with British Transport Police believing they were…

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WORK to convert Northern Class 319 EMUs into Class 769 ‘Flex’ bi-mode trains is continuing at the Wabtec/Brush works in Loughborough. The first two sets – Nos. 319434 and 319456 – are nearing completion, with much of the work to modify the driving trailer cars with 390kW (523hp) MAN D2876 diesel power packs now in place.…

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