Kent and East Sussex Railway Saturday Gang 2014 Report

Last May, Simon reported on the Kent and East Sussex Railway Saturday Gang and I thought it time for an update.  The gang have their own blog (saturdaygang.blogspot.co.uk) that is well worth watching.  The group work in the locomotive workshops, overhauling and repairing the light railway’s fleet of locomotives. The gang provides video updates of…

Flying Scotsman Update

Yesterday the National Railway Museum published an update of progress of the overhaul of the worlds most famous steam engine.  The overhaul has caused much controversy with costs spiraling massively.  The good news is that the National Railway Museum are reporting that the overhaul shall finish this year.  An update of work being completed by…

DJ Models 00 Scale Hunslet Austerity J94 in Action

Recently, model railway retailer and commissioner of unique models that include versions of the DJ Models Hunslet Austerity; Hattons (www.ehattons.com) have released a video of a pre-production sample of that particular model in action.  It looks pretty impressive, handling a big load with ease and sounding very quiet.  It looks to be quite an upgrade…

British Pathé

Good evening Today I am doing a quick post on one of my favorite websites for old footage of railway locomotives when doing research. British Pathé was a pioneering company when it came to recording history on newsreels. The newsreels were shown in the cinema and were silent until 1928. At first they ran for about four…

Tender 3116

Good evening, today I am writing about something rather different. Instead of focusing on a steam locomotive I will be looking at a tender, in particular tender 3116. Tender 3116 Tender 3116 was one of the first series of 5,000 gallon Bulleid tenders built at Ashford works. It entered service in December 1942 behind 21C6,…

Adams 0415 Class Radial Tank

Several days ago we looked at the forthcoming 00 scale Adams 0415 class radial tank models.  The type has been receiving a lot of interest, so much so that two manufacturers are to produce a model, with a further two having considered to also create their own version.  Therefore, it is a good opportunity to…

A Relaxing Spa Day

As you may gather, my idea of a spa day is perhaps not the same as most people’s!  It involves visiting the Spa Valley Railway; a heritage line based in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.  In 2013 I briefly visited the line (click here) and a few days after Christmas in 2014 I managed a proper visit…