A Moody Morning

On the final day of the Watercress Line’s Open Weekend, I arrived early at Ropley and took a few photographs in the thick fog that make for a short but moody slideshow that I hope you enjoy!

Scotsman 2016

The National Railway Museum have published details of plans for the world’s most famous steam locomotive’s first year of operation after completion of its major overhaul. According to the latest official Flying Scotsman overhaul blog entry* to-date (as this article is published,) Riley and Sons still plan to complete the Flying Scotsman’s overhaul later this…

A Weekend Touring Ropley

The 19th and 20th September 2015 the Watercress Line are holding their open weekend. As well as running an intensive service of four trains (consisting of two steam hauled passenger, one steam hauled demonstration freight and one heritage diesel DEMU) the railway have opened up most of the works in Ropley. My task for the day…

46100 Royal Scot – Loaded Test Run

The above video has been published by Marsh Steam Videos, showing 46100 Royal Scot on her loaded test run on the Severn Valley Railway. This locomotive’s return to service has been highly anticipated and is sure to be a hit at the railway’s Autumn Steam Gala that commences tomorrow. The gala will also be featuring…

Spartan Appeal

The Swindon and Cricklade Railway have launched an appeal to secure the future of Spartan. Spartan is a Polish Tkh 0-6-0 tank engine built in 1953 by the Fablok Company in the town of Chzanov. Remarkably, 3135 Spartan is the first steam locomotive owned by the preserved railway, despite it being established in 1978. It moved to the…

Kent and East Sussex Railway Saturday Gang May-August 2015 Report

A few days ago the Kent and East Sussex Railway Saturday Gang recently published a new update. The group work in the railway’s locomotive workshops in Rolvenden, overhauling and repairing the light railway’s fleet of locomotives. Details of work on six steam locomotives and Ransomes and Rapier 30-ton Steam Crane DS81 are provided in the latest…

Icons of Steam Update September 2015

Icons of Steam have a collection of remarkable steam locomotives. Where possible the locomotives are kept in working order and where possible on the mainline. The locomotive in the collection that is in the news currently is world famous 46100 Royal Scot. Today Royal Scot was delivered to the Severn Valley Railway, where it will run a…

70000 on The Royal Duchy Sunday 6th September 2015

I set out with a little trepidation on Sunday after the previous failures out on the mainline had left me wondering how much worse it could get for mainline steam. I needn’t have worried. Brittania stormed through the whole day showing everyone just what steam on the mainline should be like for passengers and linesiders…

Hastings DEMU – Early Days of Preservation

Tonight we have yet another picture from the Kent and East Sussex Railway in the 1990’s. For a short period of time, the light railway was home to a 3 car ‘Hastings’ Diesel-Electric Multiple Units (DEMU.) The Hastings DEMU was a class built specifically to run through from London to Hastings, a feat made difficult for…

Thomas was once Linda…

Many of my older collection of photographs have featured on this website before, but visits to my childhood home often unveil new finds, some good, some not so! The picture featured in this blog post fits into the latter category, but is the only one I’ve found of a particular former locomotive of the Kent…