features

32 FIRST SOMERSET AND DORSET - NOW THE WORLD!
The Somerset and Dorset main line closed on 6 March 1966 - although its spirit never died. As the heritage railway movement has gone from strength to strength, so great is the affection for the trans-Mendip route that many events have been staged around the country to celebrate it. Don Bishop, planner of the forthcoming West Somerset Railway S&D gala spectacular, looks at some of the best so far.

38 WHAT’S LEFT OF... THE METROPOLITAN RAILWAY
London was served by numerous railway companies, main line or suburban, or both, but what makes the Metropolitan unique is that its outer suburban services were considered sufficiently ‘main line’ with freight traffic and substantial engines that part of the railway came to be operated by the LNER. The railway itself though passed to London Transport and not British Railways. Brian Sharpe looks at the fascinating history and surviving artifacts of the capital’s best-known railway.

46 STEAM REIGNS SUPREME AGAIN AT BURY!
One of the best steam events in the history of the East Lancashire Railway took place over the gala weekend of 28-29 January. Six engines were in steam - and the sunshine which otherwise deserted us for much of January and early February was out in abundance. Brian Sharpe joined other top lineside photographers to bring you the best of the action from this stunning event.

60 THE COLOUR OF THE JUBILEES
When No 45699 Galatea returns to steam at Carnforth, possibly before the end of the year, it will be the fourth and last of the preserved Jubilees to be steamed. But will it be red or green, or even black? David Hopper tries to answer the question as to which liveries are truly authentic on members of a popular and once-numerous class.

70 INDUSTRIAL SCENE: CHALKING UP SUCCESS!
The thought of classic narrow gauge lines serving quarries and mineral extraction immediately brings to mind North Wales. However, Geoff Courtney found an amazing box of delights in deepest Sussex, at the Amberley Working Museum.

74 THE GHOST TRAIN OF NORTHERN NEVADA
He’s fired a pannier tank at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, and decided he would like a turn at a prairie. Not the Great Western variety, but the US geographical type! Simon Randall spent a summer as trainee fireman on the Nevada Northern Railway - and experienced first-hand how British heritage lines match up to their counterparts ‘across the pond’.

80 THE CHANGEOVER YEARS: SWINDON: BEATING HEART OF THE PADDINGTON EMPIRE!
Railway engineering in Swindon has finally died, 165 years after Isambard Kingdom Brunel established his GWR workshops in the once-insignificant Wiltshire canalside town, and in the year that Britain is celebrating the bicentenary of his birth. Local resident John Stretton looks back at steam’s final heydays in the town it made its own.

regulars

5 HEADLINE NEWS
David Smith of West Coast buys Scots Guardsman for fast-track overhaul; Hunslet’s first new steam engine for 35 years now up and running - with three more to follow; ‘Black Five’ buffer beam bent in Loughborough collision; Port Talbot saddle tank damaged in road accident; race against time to save heritage stock trapped in doomed Brighton museum shed, and new council ‘dream scheme’ for West Somerset Minehead terminus welcomed.

10 NEWS: THE WIDEST COVERAGE OF THE UK PRESERVATION SCENE
Weardale Railway revival plan agreed; Welshpool & Llanfair engineer leaves six-figure legacy to line; Lord Nelson and Bittern reboilered, while Flying Scotsman dismantled for overhaul; signal passed at danger at Great Central gala; new Potteries narrow gauge line planned 2007; classic Polish steam in the big freeze that missed Britain; Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch death crash drive to be charged; Victorian turntable rediscovered at London’s Roundhouse; Overhead Railway revival in £65-million Liverpool museum scheme; Hugh Harkett takes over on Poppy Line; Witherslack Hall given to GCR trust; GWR 100 A1 numberplates for sale, fifth Garratt arrives on Welsh Highland, British group takes over Polish main line locomotive and could the Hayling Island branch be revived thanks to new council initiative?

45 RAILWAYANA with Geoff Courtney
Steam plate prices plummet at Kidlington auctions.

52 MAIN LINE NEWS compiled by Cedric Johns
West Coast spearheads new National Railway Museum push with main line trips; FM Rail and Riveria Trains buy Pathfinder Tours; Somerset & Dorset remembered with Tangmere at Bournemouth and GWR duo for Chiltern Railways centenary celebrations.

59 MAIN LINE TOUR ITINERARY
Brian Sharpe's guide to steam and heritage modern traction tours.

66 PLATFORM
Three pages packed with your views on our news!

78 OFF THE SHELF
A splendid new album from artist Philip D Hawkins and other new releases.

88 SCALE HERITAGE RAILWAY
Hornby’s splendid new Stanier coaches, and two panniers and a prairie in N gauge from Bachmann.

86 DAVID MORGAN MBE - the man you can't ignore
The days of big grant aid windfalls for preservation schemes may be drawing to a close, and great self-sufficiency will now be needed, writes the chairman of the Heritage Railway Association.

87 VIDEO VIEW
The 2006 season promises a wealth of steam action, both on heritage railways and the national network. Alan Price from Heritage Railway’s sister company Heritage Media Digital Productions has been busy planning his schedule to capture it all on DVD.

92 UP AND RUNNING
Brian Sharpe's listing of operational standard, narrow and minimum gauge lines with dates of special events, details of driver training courses and locomotives in operation.