News

THERE was something for virtually all tastes at the Severn Valley Railway’s Autumn Steam Gala on September 21-24, featuring four visiting locomotives and much of the home fleet over the four days. Proceedings got off to a grey and wet start on the Thursday with the North Yorkshire Moors Railway’s ‘Schools’ 4-4-0 No. 926 Repton…

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AN EXTENDED station building and full platform canopies are just two of the improvements the East Lancashire Railway (ELR) hopes to deliver as part of its planning application for the redevelopment of Rawtenstall station. The application for the £600,000 project was submitted to Rossendale Borough Council on September 1, with the ELR hoping the improved…

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THE air around the Great Central Railway echoed to two new exhaust beats during September after two locomotives took to the rails following restoration. The first to get a run out was Doncaster-built Riddles ‘5MT’ 4-6-0 No. 73156, which has been the subject of a 15-year restoration by the Bolton Steam Locomotive Company in conjunction with…

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SEPTEMBER 9 saw a small but significant milestone for the team building the Llangollen Railway’s new Corwen Central station – the first rail vehicle reached the end of the new line. Alas, this was no steam-hauled through train from Llangollen as the new station still remains unconnected to the rest of the railway. So the…

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THE West Somerset Railway (WSR) is set to enjoy a lasting reminder of September’s visit by Flying Scotsman in the form of a £250,000 infrastructure investment. The National Railway Museum’s Gresley ‘A3’ appeared for a seven-day stint from September 5, working two eight-coach trains a day between Bishops Lydeard and Minehead, along with a number…

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THE Bury Standard 4 Group has targeted 2018 for a return to steam of its Riddles ‘4MT’ 2-6-4T No. 80097 following the return of the locomotive’s overhauled boiler. The boiler has undergone a major rebuild, incorporating a complete new barrel, a new lower throat plate section, new three-quarter outer firebox sides, and extensive copper welding to…

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SEPTEMBER 2’s Old Oak Common open day provided an opportunity for two Western Region 4-6-0s to return to their old haunts as shedmates one last time. Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway-based ‘Modified Hall’ No. 7903 Foremarke Hall and Didcot’s ‘King’ No. 6023 King Edward II were both allocated to 81A during their pre-preservation careers. No. 7903 was based there from…

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STANIER ‘Princess Coronation’ Pacific No. 46233 Duchess of Sutherland will see out the remainder of 2017 in the guise that several of its classmates carried in their final weeks in traffic during the autumn of 1964. The Princess Royal Class Locomotive Trust has turned the loco out with the late version of the British Railways ‘ferret…

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THE Swindon & Cricklade Railway’s ongoing restoration of Hawksworth ‘Modified Hall’ No. 6984 Owsden Hall has received a boost with the completion of the connecting and coupling rods overhaul at the West Somerset Railway (WSR). The rods, complete with new bearings, await delivery to Hayes Knoll, after which the WSR will tackle No. 6984’s crossheads. The locomotive’s…

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A MONTH is a long time in the world of railway preservation as West Somerset Railway found out when two of its announced Autumn Steam Gala guest locomotives were pulled from the line-up. On September 10 the Camelot Locomotive Society (CLS) announced it had been forced to remove BR ‘5MT’ No. 73082 Camelot from the October…

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