Heritage Railway - Issue 272

EXTRASPECIAL CHRISTMAS SPECIALS

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ISSUE 272

October 2 – October 29, 2020

SPECIAL FEATURE

P2 IN THREE YEARS:

OUR GREATEST TRIUMPH?

GREAT CENTRAL’S S MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE E FOR TOM CRUISE E ■ DIANA RIGG’S ‘STEAMY’ STAPLEFORD ESCAPE ■ WEARDALE’S COUNCIL£2.1M TRANSFORMATION BOOST ■ LLANGOLLEN'S NEW CORWEN TERMINUS S STEAMING AHEAD

■ DEVON’S SEATON TRAMWAY CELEBRATES 50TH ANNIVERSARY ■ YOUNG KEIGHLEY & WORTH VALLEY VOLUNTEERS IN FOCUS

CONTENTS ISSUE 272

October 2, 2020 – October 29, 2020

News

8

Headline News

■ Weardale gets £2.1 million boost

6

from county council

■ Welsh Government asked to fund

‘job creating’ Bala extension

■ Mystery ‘loco’ tested on Great

Central for Mission: Impossible 7 film ■ Darlington seeks 200 railway ‘firsts’ from around the world ■ Freight traffic returns to the North Cornwall Railway

17

News

10

■ Steam coal mine plan refused – but

HRA vows battle will go on ■ Diana Rigg’s ‘risque’TV scene remembered at Stapleford ■ December’s dark nights will once gain be lit up by illuminated trains ■ ORR praises heritage lines for safe post-lockdown restart ■ Three Minehead chairmen against “hostile takeover” ■ Collectors’ fears grow that live salesroom auctions may never return ■ Laser scanning helps Hengist builders improve on BR 1950 design ■ Leighton Buzzard trains sell out on reopening weekend

Regulars Subscribe Today Railwayana

52

■ ‘Jacobite’ operation extended after

successful season ■ Britannia withdrawn and Sir Nigel Gresley return delayed ■ UK Railtours ‘optimistic’ about 2021 programme ■ Friends group buys England’s highest main line station ■ Railway Touring Company all set for Christmas excursion programme

4 Heritagerailway.co.uk

30 46

Geoff Courtney’s regular column.

Centre

The Ffestiniog Railway’s Welsh Pony makes its first-ever trip over the spiral loop at Dduallt.

55

Main Line News

Features

50 Main Line Itinerary

58

Off the Shelf

87

Platform

88

Up & Running

92

Next Stop

98

Steam railtours.

The latest book releases.

Where your views matter most.

Guide to railways running in the autumn.

A lighter, quirkier look at events.

Will this be the heritage era’s greatest achievement?

When the Talyllyn revivalists began the operational heritage railway movement in May 1951, did they even dream that one day the sector would be building from scratch a new example of Britain’s most powerful express passenger steam locomotive? Marking its proud 30th anniversary, The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust’s Mark Allatt and David Elliott deliver their update on the ground-breaking scheme to produce a locomotive to inspire the 21st century like never before – the second Gresley P2 2-8-2 No. 2007 Prince of Wales, within the next three years.

60

ABOVE: Rapid progress on the Llangollen Railway’s new permanent Corwen western terminus (feature, pages 78-79) saw block laying on the eastern end platforms completed after tremendous effort in September by the Wrexham Paving Company. GEORGE JONES/LR LEFT: Temporarily back home until late October from the West Somerset Railway, where it is based on a care-and-maintenance arrangement until 2022, Llangollen Railway flagship No. 7820 Foxcote Manor, answering a brief steam shortage, heads a service train into Carrog on September 12. The superbly-restored GWR country station will be the destination for the forthcoming Santa specials (see News, page 32) and a socially-distanced grotto.

COVER: Magnificent in its new livery of BR locomotive green, A1 Pacific No. 60163 Tornado stands at Newcastle Central station with The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust’s ‘Queen of Scots’ trip from York to Edinburgh on September 12. SAM YEELES/A1SLT

Travelling on the Talyllyn!

72

Worth getting involved 76

Gareth Evans shares his experience of a post-lockdown trip on the Talyllyn Railway – and also talks to the line’s general manager Stuart Williams about how the railway has performed this year so far in the wake of Covid-19.

Sally Clifford meets just a small selection of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway’s army of volunteers, many of them teenagers, who share their experiences and thoughts about getting their hands dirty on the popular West Yorkshire heritage line, which is known for its welcome.

New Corwen taking shape

Farewell to the Old 80 Master Painter of Woody Bay

78

Robin Jones visited the Llangollen Railway early in September, to view the rapid progress which has resumed on the building of its new Corwen terminus in readiness for a potential 2021 opening, and could not fail to have been impressed.

The heritage sector is in mourning for watercolour artist Eric Leslie, who did more than anyone to immortalise the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway on canvas, and who passed away on August 30, shortly after his 83rd birthday, reports Robin Jones.

The train that became a tram

The Craft of the Fireman 90

82

August 28 marked the 50th anniversary of the first public services on the Seaton Tramway.

Robin Jones reports on this heritage line which gave a second life to a seaside branch axed in the Sixties.

In the latest release from Silver Link Books, former Severn Valley Railway Holdings plc board member Trevor Matthews highlights the importance of the efficient burning of coal in steam locomotives, at a time when vital supplies are under threat.

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Models

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£3.50 AN ISSUE Model News

66

First SECR D class model samples unveiled; Banwy Models scales up its Welshpool & Llanfair range; and Heljan reveals the latest on its new 7mm scale ‘Clayton’ diesel.

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See page 30

Find the latest news, images and discussion online only at:

Loco weathering 68 clues from classic films Do you prefer your models to be pristine or to reflect real life? Pete Kelly recalls what Britain’s railways were once really like.

Like us facebook.com/ heritagerailway Follow us @HeritageRailMag Connect with us heritage-railwaymagazine Heritagerailway.co.uk 5

Yet more history was made on the Ffestiniog Railway on September 5, when newly-restored Large England 0-4-0STT No. 5 Welsh Pony not only hauled the first passenger train beyond Tan-y-Bwlch since lockdown, but made its first-ever journey over the spiral loop at Dduallt. The loop is part of the Llyn Ystradau deviation which was built between 1965-78, long after Welsh Pony previously last steamed in 1940. It is seen heading a members’ special around the spiral to Tanygrisiau. CHRIS PARRY

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