Heritage Railway issue 225 preview

12 BEST SPOTS TO PHOTOGRAPH SETTLE & CARLISLE

ISSUE 225 February 10 – March 9, 2017

‘PACIFIC POWER II’ for Barrow Hill relaunch

ROYAL VISIT TO MOUNTSORREL RAILWAY BLUEBELL Q AT GCR WINTER GALA: PICTURE SPECIAL

GRANT BOOST ■ TV’s JAMES MAY MAKES ANOTHER P2 PART for Aln Valley

■ DOUGLAS HORSE TRAMS UTURN ■ TOP AWARD FOR GREAT CENTRAL RAILCAR

OPINION

LMS Jubilee 4-6-0 No. 45690 Leander passes Tulketh Mills at Fulwood north of Preston, shortly after sunrise on January 21. BEN COLLIER EDITORIAL

Editor Robin Jones 01507 529305 rjones@mortons.co.uk Deputy editor Brian Sharpe bsharpe@mortons.co.uk Senior contributing writers Geoff Courtney, Cedric Johns Contributors Fred Kerr, Roger Melton Designer Tim Pipes Reprographics Paul Fincham, Jonathan Schofield Production editors Sarah Palmer, 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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Magnificent Mountsorrel’s

magical moment T

HE royal seal of approval given by HRH The Prince of Wales on January 25, was no less than the 10 years of hard graft by the volunteers of the Mountsorrel Railway deserved.

Nearly 12 months after the Great Central Railway’s industrial branch was presented with the Heritage Railway Association’s Special Award in 2015, following its official opening in late October that year, the line was graced by an official visit from the Prince.

In the latest of his many adventures on heritage railways, the Prince rode on the footplate of‘Jinty’ No. 47406, and met hundreds of local schoolchildren and volunteers before unveiling a plaque to mark his visit to the recently-opened Mountsorrel and Rothley Community Heritage Centre.

The Mountsorrel Railway is small beer in terms of the overall UK portfolio of heritage lines, but it encapsulates the very essence of what has made it so successful. In effect, it has not only created an attraction out of literally nothing apart from a disused length of track but a superb facility for use by local people.

It has given the GCR the chance to authentically operate industrial locomotives and freight trains and to demonstrate how interchange sidings work, and as such has made a phenomenal contribution to the heritage sector. In advance of the building of the new museum at Leicester North in conjunction with the National Railway Museum, it adds a seemingly small yet potentially huge string to the GCR’s bow, in the drive to make it one of the leading attractions of any kind in Britain.

The project has again showed just what ordinary people can achieve, and how history and heritage

can be revived and celebrated.

This year’s HRA annual dinner at the Grand Central Station in Wolverhampton, formerly the GWR’s Wolverhampton Low Level station, takes place on February 11, after this issue has hit the shelves.

However, the 2016 awards, which will be presented by guest speaker Network Rail chairman Sir Peter Hendy, will be reported on in full on our www. facebook.com/heritagerailway page, the biggest enthusiast site of its kind in the world with more than 323,000 followers.

While the Mountsorrel grafters have worked miracles to create their polished gem, I find it incredible that there are others who seem determined to water down priceless history and heritage.

Yes, the Isle of Man Parliament has now decided that it will not cut the now-unique Douglas Bay Horse Tramway in half, but nonetheless will reduce part of it to single track, to make way for the “improvement”of the seafront promenade.

We fully support the Manx Electric Tramway Society’s campaign to keep this wonderful living piece of global transport history and heritage intact.

Yes, the tramway may make small losses, but does Tynwald not understand the concept of a“loss leader”in that an iconic yesteryear feature like this boosts tourism?

Now that the line has been saved throughout its length, planners are back to the drawing board. One question – why not make it the primary feature of the newly-restyled promenade, rather than cutting, reshaping and disfiguring it to fit? Countless future generations will thank you for it.

Robin Jones Editor Heritagerailway.co.uk 3

CONTENTS ISSUE 225

February 10 – March 9, 2017

News

6

Headline News

Flying Scotsman, Tornado and Rocket replica to star in Barrow Hill’s big relaunch; royal visit honours Mountsorrel Railway and heritage centre; Aln Valley to lengthen after grant aid boost and Douglas Bay Horse Tramway will not be halved after Tynwald U-turn, but protests continue.

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15 News

10

TV’s James May makes another component for new Gresley P2; passenger records broken on several heritage railways; NYMR’s 10-year plan aims for sustainable railway; national award for Great Central DMU; four Deltics in exclusive Bluebell gala; former Swanage BR Standard tank set for Easter return after major overhaul; end of ‘Black Five’ dream for Duke of Gloucester engineer; Foxcote Manor to star at Kent & East Sussex; Aviva fund boost for three lines; Llangollen to mark two 50th anniversaries and Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway rebuilds Hayles Abbey Halt.

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CONTENTS: LMS Jubilee 4-6-0 No. 45690 Leander heads through the Lune Gorge at Dillicar with the ‘Winter Cumbrian Mountain Express’ on January 21. DAVE HUNT COVER: LMS Jubilee 4-6-0 No. 45690 Leander accelerates away from Carnforth on January 21. ALAN WEAVER

Regulars Railwayana

42

Geoff Courtney’s regular column.

Centre

54

LSWR M7 0-4-4T No. 30053 at Corfe Castle by Andrew PM Wright.

Main Line News

56

Flying Scotsman to head Settle and Carlisle line reopening special on March 31, but Bluebell visit hangs on Network Rail plan; Vintage Trains celebrates half centenary and Diesel Traction Group appeal to keep Western Champion on the main line.

With Full Regulator

62

Don Benn reports on steam performances on the Great Central route out of Marylebone.

4 Heritagerailway.co.uk

Main Line Itinerary

65

Steam and heritage diesel railtours.

Platform

Features Maunsell Q in GCR debut

The Bluebell Railway-based Maunsell Q 0-6-0 No. 30541 was the star guest at the Great Central Railway’s January 27-29 winter steam gala, making its first-ever appearance on Britain’s only double track heritage main line, with nine other locomotives in steam, writes Robin Jones.

44

84

Where your views matter most.

Up & Running

94

Guide to railways running in February and the coming months.

The Month Ahead

106 Find us on www.facebook.com/heritagerailway

Photograph the Settle & Carlisle Line: 12 best locations

In a special feature to mark the imminent reopening of the much-loved Settle and Carlisle route to through trains following last February’s landslip and the completion of Network Rail’s £23 million repair programme, Brian Sharpe and Robin Jones look at a dozen of the best locations to capture the much-anticipated return of steam action from the lineside.

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Steam Miracle – Ecuador 76

68 Steamy Affairs at Bradford

“Towing a failed DMU” were words which appeared regularly in the railway press in the 1960s, but such workings were rarely photographed.

Robert Anderson, who was in a privileged position, remembers many such workings.

It is remarkable that the small South American country of Ecuador has seen a government-funded railway and steam locomotive rebuilding program on an unprecedented scale, including the setting up of a workshop for the manufacture of many new steam locomotive boilers.

Maurice Burns, who made this discovery by chance, explains more.

Winter Chinnor Pannier

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The Chinnor branch has seen a succession of visiting pannier tanks from South Devon. Martin Creese describes a photo charter in wintry conditions in Oxfordshire.

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Heritagerailway.co.uk 5

HEADLINE NEWS

Scotsman and Tornado set to reunite for £1.2 million relaunch of Barrow Hill EXCLUSIVE

By Robin Jones

FLYING Scotsman and Tornado are to head a four-day celebration to mark the grand reopening of Barrow Hill roundhouse following the £1.2 million Heritage Lottery Fund-backed restoration of the former Staveley Midland shed.

The showpiece celebration between Thursday, September 21 and Sunday, September 24 will also feature the National Railway Museum’s working replica of Stephenson’s Rocket and will build on last September’s phenomenally successful Pacific Power event on the Severn Valley Railway.

More than 45,000 people turned out to see the world’s most famous locomotive of the 20th century run with that of the 21st, making it one of the most successful events of its kind in UK preservation history.

It will be Flying Scotsman’s first visit to

the roundhouse since a BR Open Day in 1973, while Rocket is returning 12 years after it took part in the celebration of George Stephenson’s connections with Chesterfield in 2005.

Although Flying Scotsman has been seen in Derbyshire since the completion of its long-running overhaul in 2016, this will be the first opportunity for many in the region to get up close to the locomotive alongside its sister East Coast Main Line racehorse Tornado, seen against the unique and authentic backdrop of the Grade 2-listed roundhouse.

Incredible survival

TheThursday will see the premiere of a specially commissioned play celebrating the incredible survival story of what is now Britain’s sole surviving rail-connected working roundhouse, with live steam providing the backdrop.

The play will continue on the Friday

and Saturday evenings. During daytime on the Saturday and Sunday the roundhouse will open its doors to the general public for a full-blown steam gala at which visitors will be able to see for the first time the comprehensive but sympathetic Lottery-funded restoration.

Barrow Hill founder and general manager Mervyn Allcock said:“This promises to be a fabulous celebration of all the hard work that is going on at the roundhouse at the moment and will mark the start of the next exciting chapter in the story of this amazing architectural survivor in the most appropriate way.”

Built in 1870, the roundhouse was threatened with demolition in 1991 when the site was closed by BR. However, it was saved by Mervyn and a group of dedicated volunteers under the banner of the Barrow Hill Engine Shed Society and who have

transformed it into a unique heritage railway venue.

The site is connected to the national railway network and this has encouraged several commercial rail companies to base their activities at Barrow Hill, generating over 40 jobs and making a valuable contribution to the local economy. Clients include Network Rail, Direct Rail Services, Freightliner, GBRF, Colas, BARS, West Coast Railways, VSOE (operator of the Orient Express), Harry Needle Railroad Company, NewRail (railway research facility affiliated to Newcastle University), Rampart, Vossloh, Hitachi, Intertrain, TCL and Pindari.

Sympathetic extension

In March 2016 the roundhouse was awarded £1.2 million by the lottery for its Moving Forward project, which aims to broaden the roundhouse audience to include families, a range of learners, the

Green light for Flying Scotsman mural to stay A MURAL of A3 Pacific No. 60103 Flying Scotsman commissioned to celebrate the opening of the Borders Railway has been given planning permission to stay in place.

Local Scottish Borders community organisation Energise Galashiels commissioned artist Chris Rutterford to produce the mural, which also includes around 500 portraits of local people, to fill wall space at the town’s Douglas Bridge, and it was duly unveiled by Lord David Steel of Aikwood – one of the major protesters against the

closure of the Waverley Route in 1969 – on October 1 during the Creative Coathanger arts festival.

However, it was erected without planning permission – and a fortnight after it was unveiled, a retrospective application was submitted to Scottish Borders Council.

In January, councillors agreed that the mural could stay. Planning officer Carlos Clarke said:“The mural sits neatly between piers, flush with the wall, with the edging reflecting the colouring of the wall and tying through at its bottom

end with the café frontage’s stall riser.

“The image appears to be very high quality and worthy of both distant and close public exposure.”

A third section of the mural is due to be unveiled in the spring.

Chris said:“In late 2015 I had a meeting with Energise Galashiels. Once dominated by a thriving textile industry and the subject of two Robert Burns poems, the group was concerned that Galashiels town centre was becoming bedraggled, and they were resolved to rectify this.

“The opportunity to work with a motivated local group in order to help change the destiny of a town seemed like another exciting artistic adventure.

“We resolved to launch a new Galashiels crowd mural using the impending visit of the iconic Flying Scotsman train both as subject matter and as a launch event.

“I brought my train to town on 12 bespoke 5ft squared canvas boards, and locals were invited to put their friends and family into the picture for a modest donation.”

The Galashiels Flying Scotsman mural. Famous faces added to it include those of TV presenter Lorraine Kelly, rugby players Jim Aitken, Chris Paterson and Gregor Townsend, football player John Collins, painter Anne Redpath and Sir Walter Scott, whose Waverley novels gave the original route its name. SHEILA MASSON/CHRIS RUTTERFORD STUDIO

6 Heritagerailway.co.uk

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Having left Barry scrapyard in October 1986, No. 73156 is now in the final stages of its restoration inside Loughborough shed where it is pictured on January 18.

ROBERT FALCONER

GC veteran Standard 5‘on last straight’ Bound for the big Barrow Hill relaunch event: The new-build £3 million Peppercorn A1 Pacific No. 60163 Tornado storms past Didcot North Junction on February 14, 2016. KEN BRUNT/A1 STEAM LOCOMOTIVE TRUST local community and corporate use.

These aims are being achieved through essential conservation repairs, a sympathetic extension that will create a new visible and accessible entrance, upgrading facilities for educational visits and corporate use, the recruitment of a learning and access officer and development of a

new learning programme.The project will also improve access to the site and the collections, bringing it to life with new interpretation, appoint a volunteer coordinator, provide heritage skills, training and apprenticeships and develop events and activities.

The roundhouse, which attracts around 23,000 visitors annually, is

currently closed to the general public whilst the conservation and building works take place.

The commercial activities on the roundhouse site are unaffected by the temporary closure.

Further details of forthcoming events can be found at www.barrowhill.org

Aln Valley to‘break out’of Lionheart with grant aid

By Robin Jones A £37,000 grant from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs Coast and Lowlands LEADER fund will enable the AlnValley Railway to‘break out’of its Lionheart Industrial Estate home and head towards Alnmouth station on the East Coast Main Line.

The grant has been given for the purchase of track and materials to enable the running line to be extended by 900 yards to Bridge 6, the first underbridge, giving passengers an extended train as early as this summer.

Ballast has already been laid on

the long embankment constructed

by AVR volunteers to link Lionheart station to the original NER formation of the Alnmouth to Alnwick line.

Sleepers are currently being laid in position and the AVR was, as we closed for press, awaiting the delivery of rail from Network Rail.

Stuart and Mary Manley, proprietors of Barter Books, based in the original Alnwick station building, have agreed to match the grant pound-for-pound up to £30,000 and with the AVR’s own financial input, track materials worth £80,000 will be purchased.

Stuart said:“As occupiers of Alnwick’s original station, we are

thrilled by the progress of the Aln Valley Railway project, and we are delighted to sponsor it in this way.

“We are long-time supporters of the AVR, and are fully convinced of its future benefits to the town.”

AVR chairman Martin Robinson said: “This LEADER award, combined with Barter Books’generous sponsorship, means we can at last start properly rebuilding the AVR to Alnmouth station.This summer, we will run our newly-refurbished steam locomotive and two wonderful carriages, so visitors can enjoy a 1950s-style short railway journey with the appropriate sights, sounds and smells!”

THE next former Barry scrapyard locomotive to return to running order looks set to be Doncaster-built BR Standard 5MT 4-6-0 No. 73156, which, working out of Neasden shed, is a veteran of‘Master Cutler’ workings over Great Central metals from Marylebone to Sheffield.

Later based at Leicester and Woodford Halse prior to its withdrawn in November 1967, the Bolton Steam Locomotive Company Ltd reached agreement with the Loughborough Standard Locomotives Group Ltd for its restoration at Loughborough, in return for a 10-year running agreement on the modern-day GCR. The boiler was replaced in the frames to allow the small and large bore copper pipework to be completed.

All the motion is in place, and the all-new tender has had its frames assembled and is awaiting the fitment of its new wheelsets.

The tank is also ready for fitting, as is all the brake gear, which has been made at Loughborough.

A spokesman from the GCR said: “It is currently awaiting space over a pit.The boiler has been reinstalled and it should happen fairly quickly.”

Stockbroker takes place on Severn Valley Railway trust board WEST Midlands stockbroker Ron Treverton-Jones has joined the board of the SevernValley Railway CharitableTrust.

Ron is the chairman of Birmingham-based stockbrokers EFG Harris Allday, having joined the company in 1972, after gaining a civil engineering degree and two years’experience in banking.

Already a member of the SVR Charitable Trust’s investment committee, Ron is familiar with theTrust’s work, and oversees the management of its endowment future fund, which is intended to play an increasingly

important part in strengthening the line’s future financial stability.

Ron’s company EFG is a member of the charitable trust’s Corporate Partnership Club and sponsored its charity race day at Ludlow in 2014.

He said:“With my background in investment, I am of course particularly interested in helping the financial well-being of the SVR. I am impressed with the way in which its Heritage SkillsTraining Academy is training a new generation of apprentices so that essential, traditional skills will be kept alive at the railway.”

Welcoming Ron to the Board, the Charitable Trust’s Director of Development, Shelagh Paterson, said: “Ron joins as we enter a new chapter in our story. Having spent the past four years building up our supporter base, we’re delighted to be in a position to make significant financial contributions to the railway, both now and in the future. Ron’s expertise will prove invaluable in helping us achieve our charitable aims.”

Right: Ron Treverton-Jones. SVR

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HEADLINE NEWS

Prince’s visit is the ‘jewel in the crown’ for Mountsorrel Railway

By Robin Jones EIGHT years ago Prince Charles officially named new Peppercorn A1 Pacific No. 60163 Tornado atYork station before taking a cab ride as it hauled the Royal Train.

He later gave his permission for Tornado’s builderThe A1 Steam LocomotiveTrust to name new Gresley P2 2-8-2 No. 2007 Prince of Wales.

However, on Wednesday, January 25, Prince Charles downsized – riding in what may well have been the shortest royal train of them all, one pulled by gleaming black LMS‘Jinty’3F 0-6-0T, which displayed the royal headcode.

Indeed, the question was being asked – was No. 47406 the first of its class to carry that headcode.

The prince was welcomed by more than 800 schoolchildren from primary schools in Rothley, Mountsorrel, Quorn and Swithland, and volunteers, officials and civic dignitaries as he visited the Mountsorrel Railway to mark the opening of the Mountsorrel and Rothley Community Heritage Centre, which has been built in the former Nunckley Hill quarry.

Accompanied by Mountsorrel Railway director Steve Cramp, and greeted by a piper, he boarded the train at Mountsorrel station around 1.25pm and, dressed in overalls, was taken on the footplate the mile to Nunckley Hill.

There, he was given a tour of the new heritage centre and nature trail before unveiling a plaque to mark the work of volunteers who have restored the former mineral branch which joins the Great Central Railway at Swithland sidings.

Prince Charles in overhauls on the footplate of LMS ‘Jinty’ 3F 0-6-0T No. 47406. MATT SHORT

Ecological team

The prince met members of the ecological team that had built a dry stone wall as part of the Nunckley NatureTrail, which has an outdoor classroom, sensory area and wildflower meadow.

Inside the centre, he toured the heritage rooms, which showcase the history of the railway – built to serve the giant Mountsorrel granite ballast quarry, and that of surrounding villages – including artefacts such as a Roman tub that was unearthed at the site.

The prince met some of the 120 volunteers who had helped build the railway, centre and the coffee shop over a 10-year period, after raising money for the project.

One of the volunteers, former Leeds train driver KevinWilliams, 58, who works for the French government, had flown from Paris every three months to help lay the track.

Others present included local MPs Nicky Morgan, the former Education Secretary, and Edward Argar,

8 Heritagerailway.co.uk

Watched by railway director Steve Cramp, the prince boards the ‘Jinty’. CLARENCE HOUSE Leicestershire County Council’s leader Nick Rushton and its chairman Bill Liquorish.

Steve said the visit was a“marvellous advert for the volunteers’efforts”.

He said:“It has been marvellous, absolutely fantastic. I am lost for words - and I think His Royal Highness really enjoyed it too.

Royal seal

“Without the hard work of all the volunteers then none of this would have been possible.”

He hopes the royal seal of approval will encourage even more visitors to the heritage centre.“Within the first three months of the coffee shop opening we have had 70,000 visitors.

Plans are in hand to create an

Steve Cramp leads the prince up the stairs from the platform to Mountsorrel and Rothley Heritage Centre.

BARRY PRICE/MR

historic quarry demonstration area, Mountsorrel Railway Museum, followed by a second nature trail and a garden railway.

The prince’s Mountsorrel visit was the icing on the cake of a day-long visit to Leicester.

Earlier, he met youngsters taking part in his Prince’s Trust programmes, teachers who are part of Teach First, a programme which trains and supports teachers, and of which he has been a patron since 2008, and other young people taking part in personal development programmes at the City of Leicester College.

The prince, who is also Field Marshal of the British Army, visited St Philip’s Church, in Evington Road, Leicester, where he learned about the ongoing

work between the Army and ethnic minority communities, both in Leicester and across the UK GCR general manager Richard Patching said:“For obvious reasons of security, very little could be said in advance, but it was a memorable occasion for GCR and especially for our friends of the Mountsorrel and Rothley Heritage Centre – congratulations to Steve Cramp and the whole team there for everything they’ve achieved over 10 years.

“This was something of a triumphant return for the‘Jinty’after its major axle box work in recent weeks, a test run having been possible only last Friday.”

Meanwhile, two exhibits from the now-closed and demolished Snibston Discovery Centre at Coalville have now

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Manx horse trams: fight continues despite ‘U turn’

By Robin Jones

Prince Charles unveils the plaque to mark the opening of the Mountsorrel and Rothley Heritage Centre in Nunckley Hill Quarry. GRAHAM WIGNALL

Local children clamoured for vantage points to see the Mountsorrel Railway’s royal train arrive at Nunckley Hill. GRAHAM WIGNALL

CONSERVATIONISTS have vowed to fight on despite the Manx ParliamentTynwald making a U-turn on controversial plans to close part of Douglas Bay HorseTramway.

On January 17,Tynwald voted to keep the double tracks in place between Summerhill and Broadway.The previous scheme unveiled last year involved the closure of the iconic tramway between Broadway and the SeaTerminal.

So after the scheme to reconstruct Douglas promenade, which starts later this year is completed, the historic horse trams will continue to operate over the full length.

However, an amendment from Douglas East MHK Chris Robertshaw to have the 3ft-gauge tramway reduced to a single track between theWar Memorial and SeaTerminal was also supported, with 17 votes for and 14 against.

Following the vote, the island’s Department of Infrastructure will now draw up revised regeneration plans for the Douglas promenades, including the tramway, and return toTynwald to seek overall budget approval.

The Manx Electric Railway Society has launched a petition at www.ipetitions.com basically asking for the tramway, a world-renowned symbol of the Isle of Man, to be left intact as it is.

It has attracted signatures from as far afield as Germany, Spain, Sweden and Australia.

The society has also set up a crowdfunding page at www.justgiving. com/crowdfunding/manxelectricrailwaysociety to fund its campaign.

Society secretary Julian Nutter said that despite the reversal over the plans to cut the 1.6-mile tramway in half, a battle to stop the singling of the track over the section concerned will now be waged.

He said that while the island’s Department of Infrastructure (which last year took over the tramway from Douglas Borough Council after it announced that it would close it after nearly 140 years) wanted to replace the historic grooved rails, such a move was

Douglas Bay Horse Tramway’s roofed toastrack coach No. 35 on Loch Promenade. S P SMILER unnecessary. However, a stockpile of rails obtained from Liverpool’s abortive light rail tramway scheme and currently in store at the department depot on South Quay in Douglas would be sufficient to do the job.

The department has been looking at renewing the twin tracks between Broadway and Summerhill, with the possibility of MER electric trams running over them in the future.

Other track materials from the Liverpool scheme went to Crich TramwayVillage.

The society has also been fighting the borough council’s decision to sell the Summerhill tramway stables used by the port’s world-famous horse tramway.

Offered for sale as part of the package were the three cottages that front the original 1877 stables building, which was developed by tramway founder and proprietorThomas Lightfoot.

Last year, it was claimed that halving the line would save £750,000 and create more street parking.The line was voted BritishTramway of theYear 2016 in the BritishTrams Online annual awards, Speaking about theTynwald U-turn, lawyer Julian said:“This is no victory.

With the new plan with the recent amendment there will be nothing left of the present horse tramway.The depot will go.The stables will go and all of the track will be brand new.

“The promenade is a conservation area and we will challenge any bid to single a section of the line on planning grounds.

We are now waiting for a planning application to be lodged, and we are hopeful of getting this stopped.”

NYMR abandons blue and grey The ‘Jinty’ carrying the royal headcode at Nunckley Hill station. BARRY PRICE/MR been loaned to the Mountsorrel and Rothley Heritage Centre. A 1956-built Ruston & Hornsby 48DS diesel which worked at Bardon Hill Quarries until 1982 and was bought by Leicestershire County Council Museums Service in 2000, and a yellow wooden-bodied mineral wagon painted in the colours of local merchants Ellis and Everard.

The two items arrived safely in Mountsorrel on December 16 and are now likely to be used in trains on the railway.

Coun Richard Blunt, the country council’s cabinet member for museums, said:“I’m delighted that they will soon be used in an apt setting – a museum based in a former quarry.”

THE NorthYorkshire Moors Railway is set to repaint its remaining blue and grey Mk 1 coaches in either maroon or carmine and cream.

Ironically, this has come at a time when a full brake has been outshopped in BR(S) green, a livery not seen on the NYMR for many years, but this has come about as a result of using surplus stocks of paint to tidy up a departmental stores vehicle.

A small number of blue and grey-liveried coaches have been retained on the NYMR for occasional

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film contracts and at the request of owners, but as this is now an obsolete livery, filming requests have died away.The decision has thus been taken to provide consistency between sets of coaches.

For the coming season it is also intended to make up standard sets of coaches with, as far as possible, standardised seating capacity and layouts, which will work with the new EPOS ticketing system to monitor and try to distribute more evenly passenger loads.

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NEWS

Celebrity 31 owner looks for ‘serious offers’ The owner of celebrity Brush Class 31 No. 31106 says its transfer to the Midland Railway-Butterley for safekeeping does not mean that its main line career is over.

“It is simply a secure location while its future is mapped out,” said Howard Johnston, who is interested in“serious offers”from a buyer for a locomotive he resurrected in 1997.“Preservation is now an option.

No. 31106 (the former The Blackcountryman and Spalding Town), has been the subject of significant on-line gossip about its future since the contract with Network Rail ran its natural course and ended three years ago.

Mr Johnston added:“Any speculation in print or otherwise that it is not in full working order should be dismissed.

No. 31106 is simply in protected store.

“I’m aware of the engine’s historic significance, and would like to see it used again. Until now, I have turned down many approaches for gala appearances because of the fear of any accidental damage.”

No. 31106 has been mothballed at the East MidlandsTrains depot alongside the Midland Main Line at Derby Etches Park since November 2015. Although there were tentative plans to move it to Butterley under its own power just before the end of last December, the decision was taken instead to haul it with Michael Owen’s Class 20s Nos. 20142 and 20189.

No. 31106, which started life as D5524 in 1959, is notable for having run over the remaining fragments of the M&GN system which closed a month before its delivery to Norwich in March 1959. It was unusually turned out in BR blue livery in 1991 as the last Class 31 to be overhauled at Doncaster Works, and was named The Blackcountryman at the August 1992 Bescot depot open day.

After withdrawal, it was hand-picked from the dozens parked in Bescot yard and overhauled by Fragonset Railways in 2002 for a return to the main line. It was named Spalding Town with due ceremony at the South Lincolnshire station that May after arriving with a charter special from Carnforth. ➜ In a news story on page 19 of Heritage Railway issue 224, it was reported that main line registered Class 31/1 No.31106 was moved to Swanwick Junction“following confirmation that its tyres were too thin for network activity”.

However, Heritage Railway has been asked by the owner to stress that this was not the reason for the move, and that the Class 31 has moved to the Midland Railway-Butterley purely for safe-keeping.We would like to apologise to the owner for the error and any distress caused.

10 Heritagerailway.co.uk

NYMR’s 10-year plan aims for a sustainable railway

By Roger Melton NORTHYorkshire Moors Railway general manager Chris Price is in the throes of writing a 10-year plan for the railway, which will have the intention of improving its sustainability.

The NYMR is thought to be wearing out its locomotives and rolling stock faster than it can repair them, leading to shortages of engines and carriages at times, with consequent overcrowding.

Moreover, it is not generating sufficient operating profit to make provision for forthcoming infrastructure work, such as the £4 million-worth of bridge repairs and replacements at Goathland.

Ticket machines

Although ticket sales have increased greatly over recent years, so have associated costs, hence there is a need to decouple these two factors and increase the overall profit made by the railway.

The new plan coincides with the introduction of EPOS (electronic point of sale) ticketing machines that will enable passenger loadings to be measured as tickets are sold, and for the booking office staff to offer discounts for later trains as loadings approach being full, in order to discourage overcrowding.

With the standard coach set being seven coaches, and with scope only to add one extra becuase of lengths of

passing loops and locomotive haulage capability, ticket price is about the only means of controlling demand, and so the railway is to focus its efforts more on improving its yields. The LNERCA teak train will be marketed as a premium ride with supplementary fares wherever possible.

With greater sophistication in ticketing, smaller and lighter trains formed of vintage coaches can be run in off-peak slots, allowing them to be worked by smaller engines such as NELPG’s J27 and the two Lambton, Hetton & Joicey Colliery 0-6-2Ts. All in all, therefore, the overall thrust of the plan is to run the railway in a“smart” manner, attempting to avoid both overcrowding and also light loadings, matching the locomotives in use to the loadings needed and to reduce the number of trains run wherever possible.

However, managing passenger numbers at peak times is only part of the story. Although the NYMR’s capacity is more or less saturated at peak times there is plenty of underused capacity in the off-peak period. Consequently the railway will make more effective and imaginative use of its vintage rolling stock in ways that will make them more marketable than now.

The final key part of the plan is to improve maintenance facilities at both Pickering and Grosmont. A large new

carriage storage shed at Pickering will reduce the maintenance burden, particularly on the vintage coaches, and will release much-needed storage space elsewhere on the railway; a second carriage shed will ultimately be required at Grosmont for sets stabled there, but is not currently planned.

Increase throughput

The carriage shed development will also include a larger carriage workshop to be shared by the permanent staff and volunteer groups, notably the LNERCA, which it is hoped will enable throughput of Mk 1s to be increased to five each year.

Construction of these facilities will release the carriage works and associated Atkins Building for alternatives, or potentially even demolition for redevelopment of the station yard.

At Grosmont, new volunteer accommodation is planned for the MPD site as well as an additional building for storage and restoration, while a site off the railway may also be sought to provide extra workshop facilities.

With eight to 10 locomotives required in traffic throughout any given year a throughput of one engine overhaul every year is required to maintain the fleet size.

The NYMR has an ambition to be in a position to hire locomotives out each year, rather than hiring them in.

The giant Royal Scot mural displayed in York city centre. NYMR

Royal Scot at Grosmont dazzles the crowds at York THE North Yorkshire Moors Railway has turned to the world of art to publicise its high-profile spring visit of Royal Scot.

An artistic vinyl masterpiece measuring 4m x 3m and depicting LMS 4-6-0 No. 46100 arriving at Grosmont station has been created

by London-based firm Graffiti Life and displayed in the heart of York.

Passers-by have been admiring the giant mural outside York Art

Gallery in Exhibition Square, which remained on display until January 31.

Sir Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, said:“This amazing 3D artwork really has the wow factor, just like the spectacular Yorkshire countryside the Royal Scot will be travelling through during its stay in the county.

“There are few better ways to enjoy the beauty of the North York Moors

than by travelling on this world leading heritage railway line, with its beautifully restored carriages, and this iconic steam engine.”

This year, Britain’s most popular heritage railway celebrates 50 years since the formation of the NYMR Preservation Society, forerunner of the current charitable trust.

Royal Scot will be running at the NYMR on March 25, 26, 28, 29, 30 and April 1 and 2.

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