OPINION
EDITORIAL
Editor Robin Jones rjones@mortons.co.uk Deputy editor Gareth Evans gevans@mortons.co.uk Senior contributing writers Geoff Courtney, Cedric Johns, Brian Sharpe Contributors Fred Kerr, Roger Melton Designer Tim Pipes Reprographics Paul Fincham, Jonathan Schofield Production editor Sarah Wilkinson Publisher Tim Hartley Editorial address Heritage Railway magazine, Mortons Media Ltd, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6LZ Website www.heritagerailway.co.uk
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Published Every four weeks on a Friday. Advertising deadline December 5, 2019 Next issue on sale December 20, 2019
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Maunsell S15 4-6-0 No. 825 heads through the majestic North Yorkshire Moors Railway autumn scenery as it passes Darnholme with the 9.55am service from Grosmont on Sunday, October 27. Four days earlier, as reported in News, page 36, No. 825 passed its main line test run to allow it to run on the Esk Valley line to Whitby and Battersby. ANDREW BELL
An autumn of achievement
A
MIDST the avalanche of stunningly-beautiful autumnal landscape lineside scenes we have been receiving by the day, there have been regular updates on the incredible progress being made in the heritage sector. In this issue, Gareth Evans updates us on The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust’s projects to build a new P2 – the tender wheelsets have been delivered within the past few weeks – and a V4, reinforcing this group’s position as the world market leader. Elsewhere in Darlington, North Bay Engineering, which earlier this year delivered Bagnall Sipat 0-4-0ST Otter to the Groudle Glen Railway, and is making heady progress on the construction of a full-size replica Southwold Railway engine, has just started physical work on re-creating the world’s first 1ft 11 ½in gauge locomotive and the first steam engine to run on the Ffestiniog Railway – the long-sincescrapped Mountaineer of 1863, thereby plugging a major heritage gap of indeed global significance. There’s more – much, much more. While this issue was being compiled, the Llangollen Railway connected its main running into the track laid between the platforms at the new permanent Corwen terminus. I well recall the Eighties when we often drove from our home in Warwickshire to North Wales for summer days out, and each time I took the A5 to the coast I could not help but notice how rapidly the Llangollen Railway seemed to be advancing, station by station, westwards. Carrog was then reached, however, and suddenly it seemed that it all came to a stop. It was in 2011 that work on an extension to Corwen, giving the line a town-to-town journey, began. The completion of that extension is a towering monument to the hard graft by the
line’s workforce since then, from the all-important fundraising and completing the necessary paperwork to planning the engineering tasks and hard slog in the often-unforgiving upland weather. Not to mention to finicky infilling of gaps on the final approach to Corwen, for which a substantial temporary station had to be built to the east of the town. Yes, more work needs to be done to finish the new station, but the golden fishplate event pencilled in for December 10, marks the completion of a purposeful destination at the end of one of Europe’s most attractive standard gauge lines. Nearly seven decades after volunteer-led operational railway preservation began in the principality, here is another major landmark not just for this line and its local tourist economy for which benefits are guaranteed, but for the movement as a whole. On another tack, I remain eternally grateful to those photographers who helped me launch Heritage Railway two decades ago, and who are still supplying first-class images to us today. I have been proud to work with them all. Now, however, the time is right for the next generation to be brought into the limelight, and in this issue, we give our full backing to the Rail Camera Club’s Young Railway Photographer of the Year, details of which can be found on News, page 20. Thanks to the likes of the ground-breaking 21stcentury steam builders and the grafters who have returned the rails to this most scenic section of the Dee Valley after a 51-year absence, the heritage railway sector indeed has a glowing and pro-active future which we will rely on these young camera kings to place on record. Robin Jones Editor Heritagerailway.co.uk 3
CONTENTS ISSUE 261
November 22 – December 19, 2019
News
7
Headline News
6
■ Corwen station physically
connected to Llangollen Railway ■ Boiler back in frames of A4 Pacific No. 6007 Sir Nigel Gresley at York ■ Museum pride of place for first production HST power car ■ Royal Scot undertakes running in on Severn Valley Railway ■ Didcot Railway Centre plans railcar rendezvous at Easter
32
News
10
■ Building of replica 1863 Festiniog
pioneer locomotive gets under way ■ Hydraulic test passed on boiler for Bluebell’s new Brighton Atlantic ■ Battlefield Line celebrates its 50th anniversary in style with gala ■ Bodmin General station back under cover 50 years on ■ Nationwide appeal for East Kent Railway after arson attack ■ Middleton’s LNER Y1 Sentinel steaming again after 22 years ■ Flood damage closes Churnet Valley and wrecks triple S160s gala ■ Dennis Howells’ Hawksworth coach bought by Severn Valley group
CONTENTS: An atmospheric scene at Didcot Railway Centre: No. 2999 Lady of Legend is seen during a Timeline Event photo charter on November 2. Pannier tank No. 3730 and No. 4079 Pendennis Castle can be seen at the rear of the shed. JACK BOSKETT COVER: Visiting GWR 4-6-0 No. 6023 Edward II powers through the Esk Valley with the 1.30pm from Grosmont on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway on a sunny Sunday, October 27. ANDREW BELL
Regulars Subscribe today Centre
■ Steam Dreams plans to double
56
passenger numbers on Windsor trips ■ After another successful year, ‘The Jacobite’ is all set for 2020 ■ Double-headed ‘Black Fives’ work RTC’s ‘The South Yorkshireman’
With Full Regulator
64
Don Benn describes first-hand the performance of No. 70000 (running as No. 70014) on Saphos’ ill-fated October 26 ‘Golden Arrow’
4 Heritagerailway.co.uk
30
‘Black Five’ No. 45407 The Lancashire Fusilier is seen hauling ‘The Jacobite’ on October 21.
54
56
Main Line News
Features
Main Line Itinerary
62
Railwayana
68
Platform
82
Off the Shelf
87
Up & Running
94
Steam and heritage diesel railtours.
Geoff Courtney’s regular column.
Where your views matter most. Latest book and DVD releases.
Guide to railways running in the festive season.
The Month Ahead
106
Building on a successful year
Gareth Evans talks to A1 Steam Locomotive Trust trustee Mark Allatt about the latest developments at the operator of popular A1 class Pacific No. 60163 Tornado, its current new-build £5 million class P2 2-8-2 No. 2007 Prince of Wales and the next project – the yet-to-be-named LNER class V4. He also learns about plans for the trust’s own carriage fleet, how it raises funds and the development of its new premises at Darlington.
48
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See page 30 The ‘Wansbeck Piper’ – a 1960s Steam Tour
Trevor Gregg looks at the history of the Wansbeck Valley Railway in rural Northumberland and recollects his journey, 53 years ago, on the ‘Wansbeck Piper’, the final train to travel over the route.
Homefleet variety
The Mid-Hants Railway’s (MHR) October 18-20 autumn gala provided a varied line-up from the line’s resident fleet of locomotives – and also acted as something of a farewell event for a popular performer, writes Gareth Evans.
Driving a Deltic!
Chris Newton recalls his recent driver experience course at the Nene Valley Railway on Deltic diesel locomotive No. 55019 Royal Highland Fusilier, which he enjoyed with his brother after seeing it advertised in Heritage Railway.
Find the latest news, images and discussion online only at: Like us facebook.com/ heritagerailway Follow us @HeritageRailMag Heritagerailway.co.uk 5
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It is 1930 all over again! The latest landmark occasion for the present-day Welsh Highland Railway came on Sunday, November 3, when original Welsh Highland Railway flagship Hunslet 2-6-2T Russell met up with newly-restored First World War Baldwin 10-12-D 4-6-0T No. 608, a sister to long-scrapped No. 590 which ran on the line from 1923 until it closed in 1937. The pair took part in the first of a series of photographic charters that week and are seen at Beddgelert station. Russell is based on the adjacent Welsh Highland Heritage Railway at Gelert’s Farm, while No. 608 is privately-owned by Graham Fairhurst and will be based on the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways for the foreseeable future. CHRIS PARRY/Ff&WHR
Hauling West Coast Railways’ ‘The Jacobite’ on October 21, LMS ‘Black Five’ No. 45407 The Lancashire Fusilier is seen at Borrowdale, near Beasdale station. In the words of the photographer: “This location is rarely photographed as the sun is normally on the wrong side for the light. On this occasion however, there was no sun and the autumn colours and the RoisBheinn mountain range backdrop illustrate the remoteness of the location. After a 25-minute hike across the moorland and up a hill, a good view was afforded.” DAVE COLLIER
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