ISSUE 238
February 9 – March 8, 2018

News

Headline News 6
Swanage Railway suspends Wareham
services until DMUs are ready; RAIB
issues maintenance warnings after
toddler falls through hole in a coach
toilet floor; Didcot’s blue King may
not run on the main line, and the
day classic cars rode up the Lynton &
Lynmouth Cliff Railway.

News 10
Broadway extension progressing in
leaps and bounds towards March 30
opening; first components for new
Gresley V4 arrive; VIP opening as
historic signalbox gets new lease of
life at Amberley; plans for a fourth
tourist line in South Devon by 2020;
National Railway Museum upgrade
moves towards final blueprint; thieves
steal irreplaceable Australian loco
parts and return for more; Severn
Valley raises £10K in a week for
vandalised coaches; Oswestry revival
£120K boost; St Austell footbridge
may go to Bala Lake; and after 135
years, a railway spans the Great Glen.

Main Line News 56
Vintage Trains season on hold;
Government orders regular trains to
Okehampton; Mayflower nearly ready;
Clan Line Cornwall first and Flying
Scotsman summer programme.

Subscribe Today 30

Railwayana 68
Geoff Courtney’s regular column.

Centre 54
The crimson ‘Crab’ on the Great
Central by Brian Sharpe.
Main Line Itinerary 61
Steam and heritage diesel
railtours.

Platform 88
Where your views matter most.

Up & Running 94
Guide to railways running in early
2018.

The Month Ahead 106

Steam across the High Peak
Brian Sharpe recounts the story of steam’s return to one of Britain’s most
popular tourist areas 50 years after BR retired its last six steam engines
in the region.


With Full Regulator 62
Don Benn reports on steam over
Shap and in Kent.

‘Big Four’ liveries steal
show at GCR gala

The Great Central Railway’s January
26-28 winter steam gala proved a
resounding success, thanks to the
appearance of two guests in ‘Big
Four’ colours – B12 No. 8572 in LNER
apple green and LMS‘Crab’
No. 13065 in crimson lake, writes
Robin Jones.

Make tracks for Bellingham
Many villages have heritage centres,
often sited at their long-closed
railway stations. Hugh Dougherty
visits a village heritage centre that
demonstrates how it should be
done.

Steaming back to strength
Threatened with closure almost
10 years ago, Gareth Evans finds
that the Sittingbourne & Kemsley
Light Railway is bouncing
back, enhancing its offering
with additional attractions and
locomotive projects, as well as
planning its next 50 years

Winter activities
Expectations have always been high
that major infrastructure work and
other repairs and improvements will
take place on heritage railways and
centres during the winter months.
But the popularity of such events
as Santa Specials has given less
time for the work to take place, as
Peter Brown found when beginning
this exclusive survey just before
Christmas 2017.