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POLISH Intercity operator PKP IC has leased two ‘Griffin’ electric locos from Polish manufacturer Newag. and will use them until December to replace older class EP09 locos, which are being overhauled by Newag. The two PKP IC ‘Griffins’ are part of an order for five placed in 2015 by freight operator Lotos Kolej and ING…

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THE Canberra Railway Museum’s former flagship Beyer, Peacock-built 4-8-4+4-8-4 Garratt No. 6029 has returned to the mainline after the museum’s former owner, the Australian Railway Historical Society, was declared insolvent in late-2016. As reported in the November 2017 issue (p97), the society became involved in a legal battle that was heard by the Australian Supreme Court…

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THE Belmond ‘British Pullman’ made its annual trip to the West Country on April 27-29. Both of DB Cargo’s dedicated Pullman-liveried Class 67s hauled the train, which ran west from London Victoria to Truro on April 27, returning to the capital two days later. April 28 saw the pair top-and-tail a day excursion from Penzance…

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THE Swanage Railway’s main line-registered Class 33 – No. D6515 Lt Jenny Lewis RN – made a rare venture away from its Dorset home on May 10 when it worked ‘The Purbeck Explorer’ railtour from Ealing Broadway to Swanage. The run was organised to move London Transport Museum’s ‘4-TC’ set from the capital to provide additional…

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JUNE 2018 marks the 20th anniversary of West Coast Railways’ (WCRC) first main line operations. The charter specialist was granted its operating licence in April 1998, and ran its first trains as an open access operator in June of that year. WCRC now operates several hundred trains per year, many of which are hauled by…

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THE latest in UK Railtours’ occasional series of shorter day tours covering rarely-visited freight lines will head to Kent on November 17. Highlights of ‘The Return of the Short Haired Bumblebee’ tour will be the meandering 11-mile branch from Hoo Junction to Grain, the last remnant of a number of branches on the Isle of…

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STEAM Dreams has unveiled its programme of tours for the second half of 2018 and given advance notice of three attractive steam-hauled landcruises for 2019. Highlight of the programme is a nine-day tour of Scotland on May 9-17 employing LNER favourites Nos. 60103 Flying Scotsman and No. 61306 Mayflower. The ‘A3’ is booked to handle the first…

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BLACKPOOL ‘Standard’ car No. 147 re-entered service on March 31 after a two-year absence from ‘home’ metals. The 1924-built, double-decker returned from a year-long loan to Beamish in March 2017, and since then has undergone an extensive refurbishment at Rigby Road Depot.The work has included body repairs, replacement of several ruby quarterlight panes, full internal re-varnish,…

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THE last remaining Stockport Corporation Tramways car returned to the town where it worked for almost 50 years to take part in Stockport’s Community Rail Festival on May 5. The 1901-built Dick, Kerr open-top, double-deck tram left its Heaton Park Tramway home on the back of an Allelys low-loader shortly after 07.00 that morning. The…

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HISTORY was made in the early hours of May 8 when No. 399202 became the first tram-train to travel over Network Rail metals. The move was part of initial gauging trials and took place between the Sheffield Supertram depot at Nunnery and the Magna Science Park on the outskirts of Rotherham. No. 399202 ran under its own…

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