News

THE charity open day held by DRS at its Carlisle Kingmoor depot on July 22 raised £29,000 for charities and local causes – a new record for the event. The event alternates between Carlisle and Crewe, giving people a chance to see behind the scenes, and despite the wet weather, more than 2,500 visitors attended.…

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TWO Class 707 EMU sets were released for public service on the penultimate weekday of the SWT franchise. The development comes more than eight months after the first ‘707’ for South West Trains arrived in the UK. Of the 30 five-car sets ordered (RM August), 10 are in the UK, based at Wimbledon, where they…

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PASSENGER services on the former GNR(I) main line between Dublin and Belfast were at their peak on August 5 as both Northern Ireland Railways (NIR) and Iarnród Éireann (IÉ) worked to take supporters to Dublin for the GAA Football All-Ireland Championship quarter-finals at Croke Park. The matches between Armagh and Tyrone and Dublin against Monaghan…

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THE Railway Preservation Society of Ireland’s LMS-NCC ‘WT’ 2-6-4T No. 4 has returned to the society’s Whitehead engineering base for boiler repairs, after leaking tubes ruled it out of the ‘Slaney’ railtour on August 6. The ‘Jeep’ had been booked to work the seven-coach excursion from Dublin Connolly to Enniscorthy and Wexford, and no issues had…

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TWO 14in-cylindered Bagnall 0-4-0STs are set to star at the Chasewater Railway’s Summer Gala on September 9-10, just days after this issue of The RM goes on sale. Making its formal debut at the event will be ex-Royal Ordnance Factory, Burghfield, Bagnall Dunlop No. 6 (2842/1941), fresh from being repainted into full Dunlop green livery. The…

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A £60,000 APPEAL to complete the overhaul of Hawthorn Leslie 0-4-0ST Swanscombe No. 6 has amassed its first few thousands as the Leeds line bids to have the loco back in traffic during 2020. The chunky saddle tank (3860/1935) spent its entire working career at the Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers’ Swanscombe Cement Works in Kent,…

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WORLD famous steam locomotives Flying Scotsman and Tornado (pictured) have arrived at Barrow Hill Roundhouse ahead of this weekend’s celebrations to mark the reopening of the iconic visitor attraction following its £1.2million refurbishment. Sir Peter Luff, chairman to the board of the National Heritage Memorial Fund and Heritage Lottery Fund, will visit Barrow Hill Roundhouse…

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FINAL painting of ‘Modified Hall’ No. 6989 Wightwick Hall will soon begin at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre as the last pieces of the Hawksworth 4-6-0’s cladding are completed. Most of the work has now been finished with just the ‘elephant ears’ that cover the top corners at the front of the firebox still to finish (RM…

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BLUEBELL Railway-based Riddles ‘5MT’ 4-6-0 No. 73082 Camelot and Jeremy Hosking’s Bulleid ‘West Country’ No. 34052 Lord Dowding (a.k.a No. 34046 Braunton) will be helping the West Somerset Railway rekindle memories of the iconic Somerset & Dorset (S&D) route this autumn. The visiting pair will star at the WSR’s Bath & Beyond gala on October 5-8, which is…

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THE Embsay & Bolton Abbey Railway’s 40m extension to its carriage shed at Embsay has been completed by Spanlite UK Ltd. The new structure is formed of plastisol-coated steel panels over a galvanised-formed steel frame, and almost doubles the length of the original 50m shed. The extension has been built to safeguard the future of…

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