Heritage Railway magazine - Issue 273 preview

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN: TALYLLYN 70TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL

ISSUE 273

October 30 – November 26, 2020

THANKS A £10.6 MILLION!

■ GOVERNMENT

THROWS LIFELINE FOR LINES AND MUSEUMS 1954 FFESTINIOG VOLUNTEERS RENAME

WELSH PONY

‘JACOBITE’ EXTENDED SEASON LENGTHENED  AGAIN!

■ SEVERN VALLEY GIVEN MILE OF TRACK ■ VALE OF RHEIDOL COMPLETES £531K CARRIAGE SHED ■ NEW LLANGOLLEN RAILWAY BOARD APPOINTED ■ ARMY HELPS REBUILD WENSLEYDALE RAILWAY ■ KERR’S MINIATURE RAILWAY GRAND FINALE

OPINION Beneath a deep blue sky, Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway 7F 2-8-0 No. 53808 heads through Chawton Woods with the ‘Pines Express’ on October 16, during the Mid-Hants Railway’s three-day autumn steam gala. The event, which had the legendary transMendip named train as its theme, also featured SR S15 4-6-0 No. 30506, BR Standard 4MT 2-6-0 No. 76017 and Ivatt 2MT 2-6-2T No. 41312 alongside visiting LMS Jubilee 4-6-0 No. 45595 Bahamas.

The Watercress Line was also celebrating the awarding of a £600,000 Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage grant, as outlined in Headline News, page 8.

ALAN TURNER

EDITORIAL

Editor Robin Jones rjones@mortons.co.uk Deputy editor Gareth Evans gevans@mortons.co.uk Senior contributing writers Geoff Courtney, Cedric Johns, Pete Kelly, Brian Sharpe Contributors Fred Kerr, Roger Melton Designer Tim Pipes 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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Mortons Media Group Ltd cannot be held responsible for loss or damage, however caused. All postal submissions must include an appropriate SAE for the return of all material. Opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the editor or his staff. © Mortons Media Group Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage retrieval system without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

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Published Every four weeks on a Friday.

Advertising deadline November 12, 2020 Next issue on sale November 27, 2020

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Far from out of the woods

T

HE first round of Government grants through the Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage announced on October 9, has been magnificent in throwing lifelines to members of our Covid-19 beleaguered sector. However, the payments, no matter how big or small, must be viewed as welcome but temporary breathing space rather than windfalls.

The UK public loves heritage railways, and that is reflected by this magnanimous acknowledgment that they are now an essential part of the nation’s tourist economy.

Over the past seven years, since the operational heritage railway movement was kick-started by Tom Rolt’s band of enthusiast volunteers at the Talyllyn, as outlined in our 70th anniversary feature on pages 64-69, there are many visitors making their annual visit to their nearest line that it ‘runs itself’ and is safe in perpetuity.

Nothing is further from the truth.

While our volunteer army plays a vital role in making loss-making lines, many of which were closed

by BR, self-sufficient, most of the medium to large concerns also rely on essential paid staff. From the permanent way staff to the administrative offices, there are posts which cannot, if ever, be adequately replaced by part-timers giving their services for free.

None of us know when the pandemic will end, or when a proven vaccine will be announced although every morning when we wake up, we desperately long to see that new dawn breaking on the horizon in all its technicolour finery.

Over the last 70 years, miracles have been worked to bring our movement to its high stature of today, and the same is happening in our efforts throughout 2020 to ensure that our railways and museums can be made safe in these unprecedented times to welcome

passengers again. However, as long as Covid-19 remains a part of everyday life, our heritage lines will face a double uphill struggle: already many of them have decided not to hold vital revenue-generating Christmas trains this year, not to mention a host of other general public-enticing special events which have already been lost.

At this time of year, Dickens’ Christmas Carol is regularly invoked: however, this time round, the central character of his Oliver Twist is, for us, far more appropriate. If staffing costs and overheads covered by these latest grants for the new few months need to be sourced again in time for the main 2021 season, we will all be asking “please sir, can I have some more?”

Therefore, never for a minute take for granted your chosen heritage line has been ‘saved’ by these grants. Many of them are still running emergency public appeals alongside, and with much foresight and justification.

Again, I implore readers – if you can donate only a fiver to such appeals, or far better still join as a member and maybe offer your spare time to help out – approach your heritage railway today. The clock is ticking.

Here at Heritage Railway, we have always endeavoured to provide the widest coverage of the sector: it may come as a surprise to ‘outsiders’, but in terms of the latest news of the sector, we have been far busier than ever before. To keep up to date with essential developments as they impact on the venues that we have come to cherish, refer to pages 30-31 and see how to take out a subscription to Heritage Railway.

Sit back and let us keep you in essential touch with the complete picture as events unfold, hopefully for the best, fingers crossed.

Robin Jones Editor

“...as long as coronavirus remains a part of everyday life, our heritage lines will face a double uphill struggle...”

Heritagerailway.co.uk 3

CONTENTS ISSUE 273

October 30, 2020 – November 26, 2020

News

7

Headline News

6

■ Government grants help keep

43 heritage railway venues afloat ■ Hollycombe Steam Museum gets £1 million in double grant aid ■ Funding helps West Somerset March 2021 full line reopening target ■ Grants boost for neighbouring south east heritage lines ■ Army trackwork saves Wensleydale Railway over £220k

28

News

■ FR pioneers name Welsh Pony

12

during Bygones Weekend gala ■ Steam to debut on Britain’s oldest public railway – again!

■ Bulleid Pacific’s boiler lifted for the first time in 61 years ■ ‘Grange’ smokebox fitted and tender chassis acquired ■ New driver Dan Wigg blazes a trail for young G/WR volunteers ■ Is this Britain’s first ‘Pacer’ driver experience course?

■ Vale of Rheidol completes £531k new carriage shed project ■ Last whistle sounded at Kerr’s Miniature Railway in Arbroath

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Features 30

48

52 Star picture

No. 45562 Alberta (aka No. 45699 Galatea) heads the ‘Cumbrian Mountain Express’ on October 10.

Railwayana

50

Main Line Itinerary

58

Platform

86

Off the Shelf

90

Up & Running

92

Next Stop

98

Geoff Courtney’s regular column.

Main Line News

■ Tornado launches Stockton &

52

Darlington 2025 celebration ■ Duchess of Sutherland signed by LSL to operate Saphos Tours ■ West Coast extends ‘Jacobite’ season again – until November 13

With Full Regulator

Where your views matter most.

Latest book and DVD releases.

60

Don Benn reports on performances

by No. 46115 Scots Guardsman and No. 60163 Tornado.

4 Heritagerailway.co.uk

Steam and heritage diesel railtours.

Guide to railways running in the autumn.

A lighter, quirkier look at events.

From tiny acorns…

Seven decades ago, could the band of enthusiasts who planned to pull off a world first by taking over a dying narrow gauge railway ever have envisaged in their wildest dreams that in a future national emergency, the Government would see fit to spend more than £10 million on keeping 43 similar ventures alive? As the Talyllyn Railway prepares to celebrate its 70th anniversary, Robin Jones looks back at the little line that started it all…

64

ABOVE: Michael Davies, who took part in the first Ffestiniog Railway revival working party on October 23, 1954 unveils the nameplate of Welsh Pony at Ddualt on October 10. See News, pages 14 and 15. CHRIS PARRY/FF&WHR LEFT: Resplendent in its new lined purple-brown livery, rededicated large England 0-4-0STT Welsh Pony heads a Welsh Highland Railway service at Beddgelert on October 10.

CHRIS PARRY/FF&WHR COVER: Making its first heritage era visit to the Sunny South, LMS Jubilee 4-6-0 No. 45596 Bahamas storms over Wanders Curve with the 9.15am from Alresford on October 16, during the Mid-Hants Railway’s autumn steam gala. NICK GILLIAM

76

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See page 30

Half a century ago, flamboyant local MP Sir Gerald Nabarro played a pivotal public role in furthering the aims of the still-embryonic Severn Valley Railway.

However, the revivalists soon turned against him, after they discovered he was planning to get rid of its northern section, writes Robin Jones.

Take the Trans-Siberian Express to York and Kensington!

Complete with objects borrowed from Russia, the National Railway Museum is to stage a major new exhibition highlighting the impact of the Trans-Siberian – with a smaller display staged at the Science Museum, reports Robin Jones.

84

Sons of thunder: 72 HG Ivatt’s pioneering main line diesels Recalling the LMS/English Electric diesel-electric locomotives Nos. 10000 and 10001, Pete Kelly examines scale models of Ivatt’s ‘twins’ in early BR black guise.

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