49th Commemoration of the End of Southern Steam

Today the 49th anniversary of the end of steam in the south was marked by a special rail tour hauled by Stanier Jubilee class 45699 Galatea.  It was great to see steam on the mainline for this commemoration, especially considering mainline operations not too long ago looked in doubt.  Although this wasn’t a Southern steam engine,…

Memories of Kent and East Sussex

After a visit to my family home, I’ve now got my entire photo collection at hand and after a massive scanning session, tonight we have a slideshow of a number of pictures taken on the Kent and East Sussex Railway in the 1990’s.  Look out for (amongst other things) pictures of rural Kent (the garden of…

Maunsell’s W Class

Three years ago we published an article about Maunsell’s ill-fated K (or River) class.  The K class were a 2-6-4T design that were later converted into 2-6-0 U class tender locomotives as a result of a safety review after a number of derailments.  Very little goes to waste on railways and so this was not the…

Revealing CanPac’s Colours!

Today’s Canadian Pacific project video looks at the layers of colour to be found in a cab panel from Merchant Navy class 35005 Canadian Pacific.  Ollie Collin’s, the Watercress Line’s painter takes us through what is effectively modern archaeology in this fascinating film created by Sue Dixon. With HLF funding, this project to complete the overhaul of 35005 Canadian Pacific and…

Watercress Line Carriage Shop June 2016 Update

The Watercress Line’s carriage shop has just posted their June 2016 update, that includes an update of the two Bulleid carriages being restored – 1456 and 4367.  The restoration of these two carriages is being undertaken as part of the Heritage Lottery Funded Canadian Pacific Project.  Please click on the following link to read the article: preservation.watercressline.co.uk/blog/entry/the-long-and-winding-railroad With…

Moving a rather large boiler!

There’s another new video from the Canadian Pacific project!  This short video shows the boiler of Merchant Navy class 35005 Canadian Pacific being moved from Eastleigh to Ropley, shot at the end of last year.  The video was put together by David Snow. With HLF funding, this project to complete the overhaul of 35005 Canadian…

35011 June Update

Good evening, Tonight we have a quick post featuring the June update from the 35011 General Steam Navigation project. June 2016 Update Our next working weekend on the locomotive at the Sellindge site has been arranged for the 16th and 17th July.  We held our first working weekend on the 23rd and 24th April and…

Urie Locomotive Society Open Day

Last Saturday was the Urie Group’s Open Day at Ropley on the Watercress Line and as I was involved with running workshop tours all weekend, we gave the tours a Urie flavour to fit in with the day.  To do this I took myself on a crash course on the society’s two locomotives, both of which…

Dementia Awareness

On a few occasions in the past, I have been contacted through this blog for information or images to be used to help organisations working with people with dementia.  Heritage Railways are potentially an ideal place to visit for those with this condition, as it not only recreates a relevant period of time but also provides an enjoyable sensory experience of…