WHICH WAS THE FIRST LINE TO RUN SERVICES AFTER LOCKDOWN? FIND OUT INSIDE!
ISSUE 269
July 10 – August 6, 2020
STEAM’S BACK FOR SUMMER! Railways restart in time ffor high season ■ MIDNORFOLK BUYS 18CARRIAGE FLEET! ■ WELSH PONY STEAMS AGAIN AFTER 80 YEARS
THE RAILWAY CHILDREN AT 50
KOLHAPUR
Back for 2022 Commonwealth Games plan
■ SUMMER LUXURY SETTLE & CARLISLE CHARTER TO RUN THREE TIMES DAILY! ■ HRA REPORT BACKS WEST SOMERSET PLC
Now help save “their” line a second d tim time
CONTENTS ISSUE 269
July 10, 2020 – August 6, 2020
News
7
Headline News
6
■ Dartmouth leads the way out of
lockdown as steam back for summer
■ Tributes paid to popular main line
traction inspector Jim Smith
■ Sir Rod Stewart becomes patron of
B17 Spirit of Sandringham builder ■ Steam action at Minehead for two weekends this summer ■ Heritage lines make new Restoring Your Railway Fund shortlist
27
News
10
■ Infrastructure schemes set to halt
Severn Valley Railway slippages ■ Tyseley to return its Jubilee Kolhapur to main line for 2022 ■ Closed Middleton operates its 60th anniversary train on June 20 ■ Mid-Norfolk buys 18 carriages in historic deal with Porterbrook ■ Coronavirus fails to halt progress of LMS Patriot locomotive project ■ Peterborough signalbox reborn as a bird hide and rail viewing point ■ “Collaboration is key” to West Somerset survival – chairman ■ Mangapps ‘ready for the off’ says owner after £1 million expansion
Regulars
Features
Subscribe Today Railwayana
30 58
Geoff Courtney’s regular column.
46
52
Main Line News
52
operate with steam from July 15 ■ New luxury trains operator for Settle and Carlisle this summer ■ David Buck to temporarily rename and renumber his LNER B1 Mayflower
With Full Regulator
54
In his latest column, Don Benn reports on the consistently fine performances by LMS 8F No. 48151
4 Heritagerailway.co.uk
In the 50th anniversary year of the big-screen dramatisation of The Railway Children, which was filmed on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, the line is fighting a survival battle, and desperately needs donations from well-wishers to help it meet day-to-day overheads, writes Robin Jones.
42 Centre
■ ‘Jacobite’ and Saphos Trains plan to
The Line You Have All Loved For 50 Years
Life after The Railway Children. Half-a-century on from the making of a family film favourite, we showcase the steam locomotive ‘stars’ in operation on the delightful Keighley & Worth Valley Railway in more recent times.
Off the Shelf
85
Platform
86
Next Stop
90
Latest book and DVD releases.
Where your views matter most.
A lighter, quirkier look at events
CONTENTS: The quintessential GWR country branch: a canoeist waves to GWR 0-6-0PT No. 5786 as it heads a South Devon Railway service train alongside the River Dart near Woodville. Such timeless scenes can, however, be guaranteed only for future generations if heritage lines manage to raise sufficient money to cover overheads and lost income during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. To contribute to this magnificent line’s emergency appeal, make a donation today at www.southdevonrailway.co.uk/ fundraising/ SARAH ANNE HARVEY COVER: The pioneering line that became world famous through the 1970 film The Railway Children – BR Standard 2MT 2-6-0 No. 78022 heads past Oakworth with a Keighley & Worth Valley Railway service on January 18. BRIAN DOBBS/KWVR
50
Revealed: the real Railway Children station
It is possible that nothing else related to railway heritage has ever reached such a wide international audience as Edith A Nesbit’s The Railway Children novel. David Staines unveils the idyllic English setting where it all took place.
Beeching: a man of his 70 time – or ahead of it?
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See page 30 West Riding miniature delight
74
Yorkshire’s great little steam trains reside at Clayton West, on the 15in gauge Kirklees Light Railway. Oliver Edwards looks at what the railway offers, as well as discussing recent developments with general manager Erin Towey.
At the beating heart of Valley steam
STEAM: 20 years of a 82 modern Swindon success
The late Philip Williams recorded and wrote the memoirs of 23 surviving Pontypool Road shed staff spanning the years 1914 to 1967, researching hundreds of photographs along the way. Robin Jones reports.
FROM JUST £21* *THAT’S JUST
To coincide with the publication of his new book, Britain’s Railway Closures and their Legacy – The Definitive Guide, Robin Jones asks whether Dr Beeching was a man rooted in his day, a scapegoat, or a visionary who saved the network.
80
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Models
Swindon’s Steam – Museum of the Great Western Railway had its 20th birthday in June, but celebrations were postponed as the venue, in part of the great works, remained shut due to Covid-19, writes Robin Jones.
News
63
Sought-after models to aid Welshpool & Llanfair; 4mm Class 89 proposed; and sleeping cars and ‘Pacers’ from Dapol in N gauge.
Find the latest news, images and discussion online only at:
The mighty 64 Peppercorn A1 Pacifics Pete Kelly retells the story of the LNER’s majestic but short-lived 49 Peppercorn A1 Pacific locomotives and the construction of the 50th, No. 60163 Tornado.
Like us facebook.com/ heritagerailway Follow us @HeritageRailMag Connect with us heritage-railwaymagazine Heritagerailway.co.uk 5
LIFE AFTER THE RAILWAY CHILDREN Steam ‘stars’ on the K&WVR – 50 years on from the making of a family film favourite
On-loan GWR pannier tank No. 5775 was repainted into its fictitious Great Northern & Southern Railway caramel livery that it carried in the 1970 film The Railway Children when it starred in the York Theatre Royal’s 2015 Olivier Award-winning stage production in a temporary auditorium, the Signal Box Theatre, at the National Railway Museum in York. NRM
46 Heritagerailway.co.uk
Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway 1887-built Class 25 ‘Ironclad’ 0-6-0 No. 957 double heads with visiting LMS Jubilee 4-6-0 No. 5690 Leander at Oakworth on October 13, 2006. No. 957 became ‘Green Dragon’ to haul the Old Gentleman’s Train in the 1970 film The Railway Children and also featured in BBC TV’s Born and Bred and the remake of The Hound of the Baskervilles. BRIAN SHARPE
GWR 0-6-0PT No. 5775 heading out of Keighley on April 1, 2008, in the maroon livery it carried as No. L89 in the London Transport fleet from January 1963 until bought by the KWVR in January 1970. COLIN SMITH
GNR N2 0-6-2T No. 1744, one of the first residents of the nascent KWVR, returned for a guest visit on February 20, 2010 from its then Great Central Railway home, and is seen storming out of Keighley. It is now based on the North Norfolk Railway. BRIAN SHARPE
In its original GWR Brunswick green livery, 0-6-0PT No. 5775 takes a service train past top field in August 1997. COLIN SMITH
‘The Green Dragon’ in BR black as No. 52044 passes the Mound on August 1, 2002. COLIN SMITH
Heritagerailway.co.uk 47
SHED STAFF TALES
AT THE BEATING HEART OF
VALLEY STEAM By Robin Jones
T
he late Philip Williams spent more than four years recording and writing the memoirs of 23 surviving Pontypool Road locomotive depot staff spanning the years 1914 to 1967, researching hundreds of photographs along the way. Phil’s interest in railways was derived from his father John Williams and a near neighbour, also by coincidence named Phil Williams, a Pontypool Road driver who started his railway career in 1923 and retired in 1968. It was the stories of life on the rails that driver Phil imparted to the young Phil growing up in the 1970s which sparked his interest and would eventually lead him to write up the life and times of the steam age railwaymen of the Welsh valley shed, 82G Pontypool Road. The result is a two-volume work, the first of which has been published by the Silver Link imprint of Mortons Books. Railwaymen Of The Welsh Valleys 19141967: Memories of steam working from (86G) Pontypool Road shed, is a remarkable work which records in detail a period of Britain’s railways that, although long since passed into history, is still fondly remembered by many who lived through part or all of it. For those born since the steam age years, this volume provides an insight into the detailed workings of a steam age locomotive shed and the services for which it provided the motive power. Told by the men who lived it, the story is one of hard, often physical work, of grit and determination, and of unsociable
An aerial view of Pontypool Road locomotive depot and yards, looking east to west, on April 14, 1959. TERENCE SOAMES CARDIFF LTD/PHIL WILLIAMS COLLECTION
shift working, in an often tough and dirty environment. However, the author has also captured the lighter moments, recalling many humorous tales and events that were also part of a railwayman’s life.
Reproduced here is a small selection of the more than 300 illustrations contained in this first volume, available from www.mortonsbooks.co.uk or telephone 01507 529529 to order your copy.
Pontypool Road loco shed basks in the autumn sunlight as viewed from Coedygric Road viaduct on October 14, 1962. In the foreground on the left are Coedygric Sidings, with New Sidings on the right. W POTTER/RC RILEY COLLECTION
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