I was rather pleased to be on duty today, as it meant that I was around for the first public testing of 35006 P&O. Yesterday it was being tested as far as Gotherington, but today with service trains running it chuffed up and down the Laverton-Toddington section to keep out of the way of service…
Fantastic news has come out of the Small Loco Group at the Nene Valley Railway, with the announcement of a new locomotive to join their growing fleet of locomotives. A sister locomotive to Jacks Green, and the North Norfolk Railway’s Ring Haw, a Hunslet 16 inch saddle tank called ‘Newstead’, thought to have disappeared off the…
Positive news has come out of Leiston Works Railway (LWR), who want to reinstate the rail line from Buller Road and Main Street to then connect with the award-winning Leiston Long Shop Museum, which is the once the home to the foundries of Richard Garrett & Sons Limited. This line was abandoned in the late 1960s…
This video from the Heritage Lottery Fund looks at how the National Lottery-funded Mind the Gap scheme has led to eight apprentices working on heritage steam engines for the Watercress Line. This scheme was nominated last year as a finalist in the Best Heritage Project category of the National Lottery Awards. It is reassuring to see…
Tonight we have an update from the Watercress Line’s carriage shop, the first to include Bulleid Coach 4367 that recently been brought to Ropley from Alresford. This is the second carriage in the Canadian Pacific project, that will be followed very closely. Please click on the following link to read more: http://preservation.watercressline.co.uk/blog/entry/chocks-away Please help support the Canadian…
Good evening, Following on from my post looking at the latest news from the 35011 team and Daves post yesterday looking at 35005, tonight I thought I’d turn my attention to the Merchant Navy closest to a return to steam – 35006 Peninsular & Oriental S. N. Co. The first place to start is…
With the withdrawal of 850 Lord Nelson and 34007 Wadebridge due to the expiration of their ten year boiler certificates, the return to service of BR Standard class 4MT 2-6-0 76017 on the Watercress Line is a high priority. Happily, progress is being made, with the boiler (having passed its steam test) being mounted onto the frames…
An update on progress of the Heritage Lottery Funded Canadian Pacific Project has been published. Work continues in cleaning the driving wheels (that reveals something of interest), the frame extensions are straightened and the bufferbeam support welding repair is completed. Please click on the following link to read the report in full: http://preservation.watercressline.co.uk/blog/entry/wheely-interesting Please help support the Canadian…
Today Bachmann announced their plans for 2016/17. To coincide with its’ thirtieth anniversary, the main theme of their new range is Network South East (NSE.) The only new tooling for 00 scale follows this theme – a Class 414 (2 HAP) Electric Multiple Unit to fit in with the growing number of EMU’s available. For N gauge…
The latest update from the Mid-Hants Railway’s carriage shop has been posted, that includes progress on Bulleid Open Third 1456 (part of the Heritage Lottery Funded Canadian Pacific project) – go to – http://preservation.watercressline.co.uk/blog/entry/carriage-shop-update-february-2016 to read more.
Loco Yard 