Cliff Thomas
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Rare Peckett diesel arrives at the Gwili Railway
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THE only 0-6-0D built by Peckett – No. 5014 of 1959 – was delivered to the Gwili Railway on October 24. The Bristol company was well known for its large number of small steam locos supplied to industry in the UK, but completed just five diesel locos in the late 1950s. No. 5014 survived at its former…
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Kidbrooke and Rishra visit Statfold road and rail event
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BAGNALL 0-4-0ST Kidbrooke (2043/1917) from the Yaxham Light Railway and Leighton Buzzard Railway’s Baguley 0-4-0T Rishra (working on the ‘Garden’ line) appeared at Statfold Barn Railway’s September 7 event, which featured 15 locomotives in steam plus ex-Burton & Ashby 3ft-gauge tram and ‘Goose’ railcar. Read more in the October 2019 issue of The RM –…
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Zillertal makes its UK debut at W&LLR gala
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‘U’ CLASS 0-6-2T No. 2 Zillertal, from Austria’s Zillertalbahn line, made its debut in Mid-Wales as the star of the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway’s (WLLR) August 30-September 1 steam gala. Newly overhauled in Austria, Zillertal arrived at Llanfair on August 13. A detailed boiler examination to satisfy the WLLR’s boiler inspectors was required, necessitating a…
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Leighton Buzzard Railway: 100 not out
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Cliff Thomas reports on a rare heritage anniversary – a 2ft-gauge railway that has operated continuously for a century. THE Leighton Buzzard Railway (LBR) will celebrate the line’s 100th anniversary of continuous operation on November 17, the nearest Sunday to the original opening date. Numerous heritage railways have marked anniversaries of 100 years from the…
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Brecon Mountain passenger services for Santa Teresa
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Brecon Mountain Railway’s Baldwin 2-6-2 No. 1 Santa Teresa (15515/1897) hauled its first passenger service on June 18. It was initially built as a 2ft-gauge 2-6-0 for the Companhia Mogiana de Estrada de Ferro system (a coffee plantation) in Brazil, where it ran as No. 26, but was later sold to Usina Santa Teresa Sugar Mill and…
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Preservation history made at Welsh Highland gala
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Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railway’s (Ff&WHR) June 21-23 Welsh Highland Railway – Past, Present and Future gala title referenced the 21st anniversary of Ff&WHR trains running out of Caernarfon and the newly opened station building at the terminus. However, this gala carried much greater significance for the ‘future’ element. That relations between Ff&WHR and Welsh…
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Variety is spice of life at Talyllyn…
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TALYLLYN Railway’s (TR) June 15 Anything Goes gala lived up to its billing with a variety of operations encompassing steam-hauled freight trains, diesel-hauled passenger operations, and a car travelling up the line aboard a wagon! Highlights amid conventional service trains included works diesel Hunslet 0-4-0DM No. 9 Alf hauling a vintage train of three original TR…
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Three Welsh narrow gauge stations open in a week
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By Cliff Thomas and Chris Milner THE Vale of Rheidol Railway’s (VoR) new Aberystwyth station was the first of three narrow gauge stations to be formally opened in the province during June. On June 6, Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas AM, Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism, officially opened the first phase of the £2.2million Wales…
