July 2000

32 RAILWAY ADVENTURE 2000 - Four decades of mountains of red tape bigger than Snowdon itself prevented the original Welsh Highland Railway from being Rebuilt. With the reopening of the first section from Dinas to Waunfawr pencilled in for July 14, the new WHR is set to bring a railway revolution to the national park it will serve, and with its giant Beyer Garratt articulated locomotives will hold a unique place in the British heritage railway sector. Half a cdentury after preserved railways began with Tom Rolt and the Talyllyn, Robin Jones looks at the panorama of prospects for this magnificent line second time around.

40 BETWEEN TODAY AND YESTERDAY: FURNESS FANTASTIC! - There's no doubt that Furness Railway A class 0-4-0 No. 20, restored to its as-built glory from an otherwise forgettable industrial saddle tank, will steal the show wherever it goes. In conjunction with The Nostalgia Collection, Robin Jones looks at its first outing away from Lakeland, to the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, and takes a trip down memory lane to place the locomotive and its original company in its Cumberland context.

56 CARRIAGE & WAGON DEPARTMENT: A SHANTY TOWN IN 'SUNNY SOUTH' - Crewe, Doncaster, Darlington, Derby all always claim to being great railway towns, yet they are surely beaten to the title by Pagham Beach, a resort on the Sussex coast which, unlike its bigger rivals, never had a railway, yet is all but completely built from carriages, as Ken Rimell discovered.

64 RAILWAY HERITAGE CROSSES THE GREATEST DIVIDE OF ALL - Londonderry may be the last place on earth one would associate with peace, harmony and co-operation, but that is exactly what has been happening since 1969 on the Foyle Valley Railway, where, undeterred by the great schism around them, Protestants and Catholics have worked side by side to recreate part of Ireland's glorious 3ft gauge past, and now steam has returned too!

70 ENDLESS SUMMER, ENDLESS CHOICE, ENDLESS.. AND DIESELS TOO! Advertising feature - A special four-page section of ideas of places and events big and small to suit all tastes and pockets during the summer months.

76 TAKING THE WATERS IN TUNBRIDGE WELLS - Using a pair of tank engines built for use in heavily industrialised areas of a communist state, Britain's first Polish steam festival will be taking place next month in the true-blue Tory Garden of England - at the Spa Valley Railway in Tunbridge Wells. Phil Barnes looks at this vastly-improving heritage line which had the audacity to start up on the doorstep of the Bluebell and Kent and East Sussex railways.

88 A HERITAGE UNBORN RAILWAY - There's always something different in Heritage Railway, and this month Robin Jones visits National Trust land in southermost Devon to trace the preserved route of the GWR branch that never was - plus a special video offer!