Heritage Railway magazine Issue 258

STEPHENSON’S ROCKET IN SEPTEMBER YORK MUSEUM DEBUT

ISSUE 258

August 30 – September 26, 2019

SOARAWAY SUCCESS FOR WEST SOMERSET TAUNTON SHUTTLES

KYLIE MINOGUE DOES THE LOCOMOTION

AT SCARBOROUGH NORTH BAY!

FIVE RAILWAYS TO LIGHT UP CHRISTMAS

FOCUS ON SEVERN VALLEY CARRIAGE FLEET

BRITAIN’S HOTTEST DAY EVER:

WHERE THE TRACK BUCKLED

■ MARGATE’S HORNBY TRACTION HAVEN ■ HERITAGE OPEN DAYS FREE EVENTS ■ GRESLEY V4: FIRST NEW PARTS DELIVERED

No. 258 UK Off-sale date: 27/09/2019 £4.40

PRINTED IN THE UK

OPINION

What with the ground-breaking new series of trial main line DMU shuttles from Taunton to Bishops Lydeard, as highlighted in Headline News and on News, pages 26-27, the West Somerset Railway certainly seems to be the ‘in’ place to visit this summer! Princess Coronation Pacific No. 6233 Duchess of Sutherland passes Cogload Junction with the Railway Touring Company’s 1Z29 ‘The West Somerset Steam Express’ which left Paddington at 8am on August 17. Somerset & Dorset 7F No. 53808 took the train on from Bishops Lydeard to Minehead. The junction, named after Cogload Farm, lies five miles east of the station alongside the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal. It is where the 1906-opened GWR London to Penzance line via Castle Cary joins the original Bristol & Exeter line that runs via Bristol Temple Meads. A flyover was constructed in 1931, turning it into a flying junction. JOHN WHITEHOUSE 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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ISSN No 1466-3560

Published Every four weeks on a Friday.

Advertising deadline September 12, 2019 Next issue on sale September 27, 2019

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Shining brighter lights in the heart of Santa special season M UCH of the phenomenal success of our heritage railway sector is down to inspiration and innovation way beyond the call of normal duty. Marvels have been worked by volunteers with the restoration and reopening of lines big and small on which steam and classic diesel-hauled trains can be run, but the movement has long since moved on streets ahead of that commendable goal.

Offering a‘simple’steam trip from A to B is for many visitors no longer the novelty that it may have been half a century ago, and while they in most cases will never please the diehard puritan enthusiast market, the core reason why heritage railways exist, it is the rich variety of add-on attractions with wider family appeal that provide much of the funds to keep them running.

Santa specials have for decades been a staple part of the annual timetable for most lines, many of which run Thomas the Tank Engine events, wartime weekends and vintage car, bus and road steam rallies also with great success.

However, it takes a rare moment of brilliance to devise a new species of popular event with similar impact. Those 60 seconds occurred at the Dartmouth Steam Railway last year, when officials worked out the means of importing the concept of illuminated Christmas trains from North America to one of the most scenic seaside railways in Europe, the spectacular sell-out end product giving 18,000 passengers a reason to visit Torbay well out of the traditional holiday season.

While the Dartmouth line aims to build on last year’s

soaraway success to make its Train of Lights even brighter and better, the idea has now been taken up by four other‘Premier League’heritage lines for the coming festive period, as highlighted on pages 32.

The idea is not to replace the tried-and-tested Santa specials, but to supplement them, appealing to an audience that wants to enter into the Yuletide spirit at a literally sparkling event, but do not necessarily want to meet Father Christmas or travel to the North Pole, splendid as those offerings can be. The illuminated trains will offer a totally new dimension to the celebrations, and I suspect that more than a few lineside photographers will turn up eager to capture them in all their neon radiance as they steam through the darkest evenings of the year.

Yes, the GWR or LNER were never like this, but this is a modern innovation for the 21st century. I await with excitement to see how the concept manifests itself on the North Yorkshire Moors, North Norfolk, Severn Valley and Great Central railways with their unique landscapes. More importantly, the‘trains with lights’ will no doubt boost their local economies through the added anticipated mass influx of visitors, and yet again underline the huge present-day importance of heritage lines to the prosperity of their localities.

If the huge amount of work that is inputted into lighting up these locomotives, carriages, stations and lineside tableaux again reaps rich dividends, and there is no reason to think that it won’t, there will be many who will owe a debt of gratitude to the innovators at Paignton, hopefullly for many Yuletides to come.

Robin Jones Editor Heritagerailway.co.uk 3

CONTENTS ISSUE 258

August 30, 2019 – September 26, 2019

News

8

Headline News

6

■ Instant success for new Taunton

main line-WSR shuttles

■ A fifth original Lynton & Barnstaple

Railway carriage is restored

■ Euro grant to keep Isle of Wight

Steam Railway events under cover

■ Cambrian Heritage Railways

advances its next quarter mile ■ Leadership changes underway at the Mid-Hants Railway

11

News

■ A museum in the making at

10

Hornby’s historic Margate home

■ Plan in place to reverse record

Llangollen Railway losses ■ From the footplate: Princess Risborough track buckled in heat ■ Bill Parker realises a lifelong ambition: seeing a Big Boy in steam!

■ Mid-Hants 4MT 2-6-0 No. 76017 to make Severn Valley debut at gala ■ Betton Grange steaming is on the horizon but help needed for tender ■ Five heritage lines to run ‘train of lights’ during 2019 festive season ■ Gresley V4 new-build: first new parts delivered to Darlington

56

Main Line News

56

■ A1 No. 60163 Tornado to kick-off

RTC’s ‘Great Britain 2020’ tour ■ Swanage U class No. 31806 set to work two main line excursions ■ Steam underlines triumphant return of wrecked Conwy Valley Line

With Full Regulator

Don Benn describes the performances by locomotives Nos. 35028, 35018 and 6233

4 Heritagerailway.co.uk

64

CONTENTS: Jubilee Class No. 45699 Galatea works a well loaded ‘Scarborough Spa Express’ on Yorkshire Day across the recently refurbished Scarborough Rail & Pedestrian Bridge in York on August 1, 2019. MICHAEL ANDERSON COVER: BR 8P No. 70000 Britannia is seen with the ‘Emperor of the North’ train at St Bees, Cumbria on August 14. The headboard belonged to the late Tony Kay, who was close friends with that day’s driver of No. 70000. DAVID MART

Regulars

Features

Subscribe Today Railwayana

30 68

Geoff Courtney’s regular column

Centre

Jubilee No. 45699 Galatea is seen on ‘The Scarborough Spa Express’ near Howsham level crossing

54 Main Line Itinerary

62

Platform

80

Off the Shelf

92

Up & Running

94

Steam and heritage diesel railtours Where your views matter most Latest book and DVD releases

Guide to railways running in the autumn

The Month Ahead

106

Carriages in the Valley!

Gareth Evans learns how the Severn Valley Railway maintains its 60-strong fleet of carriages and gets the rundown on current projects at Kidderminster, Bewdley and Bridgnorth.

48

72

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A 1967 Camping Coach Holiday: Part 2

In part two of his 1967 camping coach holiday at Grange-over-Sands, Trevor Gregg recalls his journeys behind steam and the visits to Warrington Dallam, Carnforth and Bolton sheds.

Great steam engineers of the pre-Grouping period: Part Ten 1910-1918

The first decade of the 20th century saw steam locomotive design progressing rapidly but, as Brian Sharpe outlines, the outbreak of war in 1914 brought different priorities for Britain’s locomotive designers.

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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NEWS

Swithland Reservoir will be momentarily transformed every time a ‘Winter Wonderlights’ train passes over the Great Central Railway viaduct. GCR

Now FIVE light up this Christmas!

By Roger Melton, Robin Jones and Paul Appleton FOLLOWING the Dartmouth Steam Railway’s phenomenally-successful introduction of its American-style seasonalTrain of Lights, four other heritage lines are to introduce their own version to boost revenue in the run-up to Christmas and supplement traditional Santa special services.

Although the concept of decorating trains with illuminations originated across the Atlantic, operations such as the Canadian Pacific Christmas Train provided inspiration to staff at the Torbay line when they held an‘ideas think-tank’last year to devise an extra attraction for the lead-up to the festive season.

More than 18,000 passengers were carried by the sell-out afterdark steam trains festooned with lights – and elves, grottos and the like were set up at points along the seven-mile scenic route to enhance the ambience.

Andrew Pooley, who was managing director of the Dartmouth Steam Railway & Riverboat Company when last year’s Train of Lights notched up a sensational‘first’for the UK heritage sector, left his position at the same time after 11 years in the job. This year, he has set up a consultancy offering to help other major lines run similar trains this Christmas.

The North Yorkshire Moors Railway has announced its own brand, the ‘Northern Lights Express’; the North Norfolk Railway is to run the‘Norfolk Lights Express’; and the Severn Valley Railway an as yet unnamed offering to be publicly unveiled on August 30.

All three have drawn on Andrew’s experience at Dartmouth, but a fourth heritage line to light up in the same style, the Great Central Railway with its‘Winter Wonderlights’has used a separate video company, SLX. The introduction of these trains represents something of a gamble by the lines involved – feedback from Dartmouth’s initial season indicated

32 Heritagerailway.co.uk

that more lineside tableaux were really needed to maintain interest and to provide power for these generators would be required. Accordingly, the line is spending around £50,000 on additional lighting this season, on top of the start-up costs from last year.

While such trains ideally will expand the running season for these lines and enhance the local tourist economies, there is, of course, a risk too that the services, which run from late November through until either side of Christmas, depending on individual lines, may be disrupted by poor weather, or by the fact that by and large these services are largely aimed at the same target market as Santa specials. Some families may be unwilling or unable to choose to travel on both: typically, costs for a family of four are around £100+ for either type of service. Finally, the light shows out in the countryside will require the use of generators in remote locations that may be difficult to service.

Hopefully, however, these events will become a permanent and lucrative addition to special events programmes around the country.

The NYMR’s journey (pictured on preceding page) starts at Pickering station, from where the train, decorated by thousands of lights, runs through an enchanted forest,

transformed by a multitude of lights and surprises, to Levisham where there will be a‘dazzling’light show.

General manager Chris Price said: “The new event is going to be a light spectacular event, which will not only illuminate the North York Moors, but also engage a new audience.”

At Loughborough station on the GCR, passengers will be greeted by friendly volunteers and guided onto the platform, before the lights are switched on and the train will come to life.

During the evening trip, passengers will see the historic stations and countryside transformed with snow, lights and all things festive. GCR chief executive Michael Gough said:“It promises to be truly magical.”

On the Poppy Line, passengers will be treated to a light show from the comfort of vintage carriages, with illuminated festive scenes nestled along the line, as well as at Sheringham, Weybourne and Holt station.

NNR managing director Hugh Harkett, who witnessed a secret late evening trial operation on the train in June, said: “The train’s external lights provide amazing technicolour effects for passengers as the train passes through the cuttings along the route.”

He added that his line chose a

East coast meets south west: a Dartmouth Steam Railway-style illuminated festive season scenario will be replicated at Sheringham from November 20. NNR

different title for the illuminated trains because it was considered the Train of Lights is the intellectual property of the Dartmouth line.

On the Severn Valley, the‘train of light’will be top-and-tailed with steam between Bridgnorth and Highley on Tuesdays (two departures) and Wednesday to Saturday (one departure), from the last week in November and all through December.

Trains will run after dark and arrive back in Bridgnorth by 8.30pm.

These will supplement the separate all-new Santa trains from both ends of the line, with Santa on-board, trains terminating at Highley and also running in top-and-tail mode for a quicker turn-round. Trains from Kidderminster will be top-and-tailed by a steam and diesel locomotive, with those from Bridgnorth having two steam engines.

Christmas carol trains will still run on Saturday evenings from Kidderminster to Highley; and the Severn Valley Limited will still run a range of dining trains during December too, along with the education department’s midweek Christmas Cracker trains aimed at young children’s groups and schools.

All the other lines running illuminated trains will still operate their traditional Santa services in the daytime. ➜To bookTrain of Lights tickets for the Dartmouth Steam Railway, tickets are now on sale, telephone 01803 555872, visit www.dsrrbchristmas.co.uk or call in person at the booking office at Queen’s Park station, Paignton. ➜ For the NYMR’s‘Northern Lights Express’, call 01751 472508 or visit www. nymr.co.uk/northern-lights-express ➜To travel on the GCR‘Winter Wonderlights,’ call 01509 632323 or visit www.gcrailway.co.uk ➜Tickets for the NNR’s‘Norfolk Lights Express’can be bought on 01263 820800 or online at www.nnrailway.co.uk ➜ SevernValley tickets can be bought at 01562 757900 (option 1) or at www.svr. co.uk/TicketOffice.aspx

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CARRIAGE FLEET FOCUS

The SVR is home to a wonderful collection of carriages. This delightful composition shows off part of the LMS-designed set hauled by GWR 2-8-0 No. 2857 at Bewdley curve on December 9, 2018. ALAN WEAVER

CARRIAGES IN THE

VALLEY! Gareth Evans learns how the Severn Valley Railway maintains its 60-strong fleet of carriages and gets the rundown on current projects at Kidderminster, Bewdley and Bridgnorth.

GREAT STEAM ENGINEERS: 1910s

GREAT STEAM ENGINEERS OF THE PREGROUPING PERIOD PART TEN: 1910-1918

The first decade of the 20th century saw steam locomotive design progressing rapidly but, as Brian Sharpe outlines, the outbreak of war in 1914 brought different priorities for Britain’s locomotive designers.

Designed by John Robinson and built in 1912, Great Central Railway 8K 2-8-0 No. 102 is seen at work at Quorn & Woodhouse on the present-day GCR. BRIAN SHARPE

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