ISSUE 212
February 11 – March 9, 2016

News

HEADLINE NEWS 6
Flying Scotsman first passenger
run date confirmed; Scotsman and
Tornado to run together on Severn
Valley; top national awards for Isle of
Wight; Severn Valley, Ecclesbourne
Valley and Mountsorrel railways and
Merchant Navy No. 35006; Bluebell
plans biggest-ever diesel gala; North
British reimports locomotive from
South Africa; and TV presenter Dan
Snow launches project to open Post
Office Railway as a tourist attraction.

NEWS 10
Royal Scot to haul ‘Torbay Express’;
doubts over Flying Scotsman original
nameplate sale; all set for the West
Somerset Railway’s big Somerset &
Dorset 50th anniversary of closure
gala – while a ‘Jinty’ visits Midsomer
Norton; fresh hopes following outrage
over Douglas Corporation decision
to axe horse tramway; Great Central
goes Southern; Flying Scotsman draws
crowds on East Lancashire; Lynton
& Barnstaple lodges plans for £16m
extension; passenger numbers set new
records; Weymouth harbour branch to
be lifted; latest new build locomotive
steams at Beamish; and at last Leadhills
can reconnect by rail to Wanlockhead.

MAIN LINE NEWS 56
Steam Dreams adds to
Flying Scotsman itinerary;
Scarborough ‘firsts’ for Tornado and
bookings on hold at Vintage Trains.

WITH FULL REGULATOR 60
Don Benn reports on recent
performances by LMS ‘Black Fives’.

Regulars

Centre 54
Flying Scotsman meets the
‘Golden Arrow’ in Lancashire
by Robert Falconer.

Main Line Tours 63
Steam and heritage diesel
railtours.

Railwayana 64
Geoff Courtney’s regular column.

Platform 80
Where your views matter most.

Off The Shelf 88
Latest book and DVD releases

Up & Running 92
Guide to railways running up to
mid-March.

The Month Ahead 106

Features

Darlington locomotive works reborn
Darlington North Road locomotive works served the railways for
103 years but closed due to the demise of steam on April 1, 1966. To
commemorate the 50th anniversary of the closure and the successful
transformation of the nearby Hopetown workshops into the new
Darlington Locomotive Works, Maurice Burns reflects on the changing
fortunes of this famous railway town.

66 East Coast Pacifics to the rescue!
Flying Scotsman’s last run for BR was
in the ‘Big Freeze’ in January 1963.
Robert Anderson recalls that at the
time many of Scotsman’s sister A3
Pacifics had a last spell of frontline
express service as a result of the new
diesels on the East Coast Main Line
not taking kindly to the freezing
temperatures of that winter.

71 Remembering the Somme!
The Potteries will be the setting
for a major railway gala – to mark
the centenary of the Battle of the
Somme in May – sponsored by
Heritage Railway, writes Robin Jones.

74 Famous British Locomotive Engineers
Oliver Vaughan Snell  Bulleid Southern Railway
In another of an occasional series
of historical reviews of ‘Big Four’
locomotive engineers, Cedric Johns
highlights the career of OVS Bulleid
who succeeded REL Maunsell in
1937…

82 Success for Essex ‘Railroad Man’
In a constantly changing and
uncertain world, the farmer who
set up the Mangapps Railway
Museum in rural Essex has revealed
exclusively to Peter Brown that the
site which he has transformed into a
working environment with standard
gauge stock is to continue, although
there will be no track expansion
beyond the boundaries of his fields.