Features

  • With Full Regulator: LOCOMOTIVE PERFORMANCE THEN AND NOW

    With Full Regulator: LOCOMOTIVE PERFORMANCE THEN AND NOW

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    In his latest column, Don Benn describes the performance of Ian Riley’s ‘Black Five’ No. 44871 on two main line trips in December 2018 and May 2010 – plus some additional information about Bulleid Pacific No.35028 Clan Line’s on November 24’s ‘The Chilterns & Downs’ tour. It HAD been some years since I had a…

  • Designated charter network capacity

    Designated charter network capacity

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    In the latest in our series examining the issues of operating special trains on the main line with heritage rolling stock, Andy Castledine looks at what the future is likely to hold for pathing – and the processes and implications required in planning. He also shares the view of The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust’s Graeme…

  • Coming home to the Cotswold Line

    Coming home to the Cotswold Line

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    Running east to west through the heart of the country through rolling landscape is the Oxford to Hereford line. Stephen Roberts takes a trip over a route which operates with a mix of single- and double-track, manual and electric signalling, and now a mix of old and new trains. It was like coming home. My…

  • Industrial memories, enjoy the nostalgia

    Industrial memories, enjoy the nostalgia

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    When BR steam was in decline – and for some years afterwards – many enthusiasts turned their attention to industrial railways, where a number of collieries, steelworks and other complexes were worked by steam or diesel locomotives, including those sold by British Railway. Enjoy some nostalgia…  View more images in the March 2019 issue of…

  • Lazarus Lines: Maam Cross – Ireland’s ‘quiet’ railway revival

    Lazarus Lines: Maam Cross – Ireland’s ‘quiet’ railway revival

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    Gary Boyd-Hope talks to Jim Deegan, the man behind the Connemara Railway Project, to find out more about his ambitious plans to return 5ft 3in-gauge steam to the wilds of County Galway by 2020. THE sight of a Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR)-designed ‘K’ class 2-4-0 hauling a rake of restored MGWR six-wheelers through the…

  • All change on the Great Northern

    All change on the Great Northern

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    eter Brown takes a ride on the new Class 717 EMUs, which over the next few months will transform Great Northern services.

  • A Phoenix from the Ashes

    A Phoenix from the Ashes

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    If ever a place deserved to rise from the ashes, then it is Sierra Leone’s National Railway Museum (SLNRM). Nicola Fox tells the fascinating history of a museum, whose locomotives were less than a week from being scrapped, plus its on-going British connections. On the western coast of Africa lies a small country with a…

  • Practice & Performance: Thames-Valley transformation

    Practice & Performance: Thames-Valley transformation

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    In the third and final instalment, Keith Farr concludes his analysis of the steam-to-electric transformation the Great Western Main Line has undergone in the Thames Valley. Part two of this series ended with a brief eulogy of Class 387s, the electric trains that have transformed stopping services between Paddington and Didcot. The new EMUs are…

  • Unboxing of Hornby’s King George VI and Duchess of Hamilton

    Unboxing of Hornby’s King George VI and Duchess of Hamilton

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    Here’s the latest unboxing of Hornby’s LMS Princess Class Locomotives, the Duchess of Hamilton and King George VI.

  • New-build ‘Patriot’ will put right a huge wrong

    New-build ‘Patriot’ will put right a huge wrong

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    With fond memories of the unrebuilt parallel-boiler ‘Patriot’ 4-6-0s from 60 years ago, Pete Kelly looks forward to both the completion of The LMS-Patriot Project’s new-build main line locomotive No. 5551 The Unknown Warrior and the forthcoming Bachmann Branchline model of the same national memorial engine.  Dressed in LMS crimson lake livery, Bachmann Branchline’s forthcoming…

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