News

UK RAILTOURS’ ‘Passchendaele Javelin’ tour on November 11 raised more than £20,000 for the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal. The tour took specially decorated Southeastern Class 395 EMU No. 395017 to various locations away from its usual HS1 haunts. It ran from Ashford International (which it also visited several times during the day) to St Pancras…

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THE months of September and October proved to be busy ones for Blackpool Heritage Tram Tours (BHTT), with thousands flocking to the famous resort for the ‘Illuminations’ season. From September 1 until November 5 BHTT provided nightly tours of the illuminations, departing from the Pleasure Beach Loop at regular intervals. Much of the working fleet…

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SOLE-surviving Stockport Corporation tram – No. 5 – is on the cusp of its post-overhaul return to service at the Heaton Park Tramway. The 1901-built Dick, Kerr open-top four-wheeler is owned by the Stockport 5 Tramway Trust, but in the care of the Manchester Transport Museum Society (MTMS). It was first restored in 1996, and…

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THE Summerlee Transport Group (STG) is hopeful a Heritage Lottery Fund grant application will be successful, enabling it to complete the restoration of Glasgow Corporation ‘Coronation’ car No. 1245. The group is based at the Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life, near Coatbridge. The double-deck tram arrived in Coatbridge from Blackpool in 2003, but restoration…

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THE extension of London Underground’s Northern Line in South London took a major step forward on November 8 as tunnel boring machine (TBM) Amy broke through at Kennington to complete the job. A pair of two-mile (3.2km), 17ft (5.2m) diameter tunnels have been bored from the former Battersea Power Station to Kennington via Nine Elms.…

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CONFIRMED locos for the Mid-Norfolk Railway’s Winter Warmer diesel gala on December 29-30 include Class 50 No. 50026 Indomitable, on its last runs before leaving the railway following an extended stay. Indomitable will be backed up by residents Class 37 No. 37688 and Class 47s Nos. 47367 and 47596 Aldeburgh Festival. It is hoped a main line loco…

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BRIAN Stabler named his 88DS class 4wD No. 46 (Ruston & Hornsby 242868 of 1946) Heather, in honour of his wife, on October 15. He bought the loco in 2015 and moved it from the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway to the private site at Finmere station (ex-GCR), Oxfordshire, in 2016, following completion of restoration. It…

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THE star attraction at South Devon Railway’s (SDR) November 3-5 diesel gala was the Diesel Traction Group’s sole-surviving Class 17 ‘Clayton’ No. D8568. It is based on the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway, but came from its Gloucestershire debut at the Dean Forest Railway’s September 15-17 event (RM November, p83), making an equally welcome debut in…

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THE Nene Valley held a major event on October 13-15 to commemorate the entry into service of the first Brush Type 2 No. D5500 (31018), on October 13, 1957. This loco is now part of the National Collection on static display at York, and the only surviving Class 31/0. To mark the occasion, the gala fielded…

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THE Bodmin & Wenford Railway Trust has secured one of the two much sought after Class 121 ‘Bubblecar’ single-unit DMUs used by Chiltern Railways until May 19. They were the last first-generation DMUs in passenger use on the national network, having been modified to comply with present-day main line safety standards, and were used on…

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