After a successful autumn gala, based on the Great Western Railway, the North Yorkshire Railway planned to turn to the Western Region for inspiration once again for their Spring Steam Gala, held between the 17th and 26th April. Unfortunately, with 4936 ‘Kintlet Hall’ deemed out of gauge on the Esk Valley line between Battersby and…
One of the worst kept secrets of steam locomotive colour schemes was discovered a long time before Harry Potter’s Hogwarts Castle (click here for more). It is a secret that many of a western persuasion would probably keep to themselves… The secret being that Great Western Railway locomotives painted red look very good.
If you ask a railway enthusiast to name a great locomotive works, you could get many replies. Doncaster, Derby, Swindon, Crewe, Eastleigh, St Rollox, Darlington, Brighton… a list could on and on. But these days things are different, most of the former works have declined, disappeared or evolved into a new use. However, there are…
56xx 5643 was one of three locomotives in steam on the day I visited the Bluebell Line (click here to read more). The others being SECR H class 263 and SECR C class 592. The locomotive is on loan to the Bluebell Line from the Furness Rail Trust until December 2014.
The next locomotive in the series from Simon’s 35005 ‘Canadian Pacific’ is 35006 ‘Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co.’ (usually called P&O!) and is a rebuilt Merchant Navy Class. During its working life it had a very similar life to Canadian Pacific being rebuilt some time in the 50’s. 35005 was of course bought by Steamtown…
5542 is a very popular engine full of character, known to many as the “Sweet sixteen” (sum of its digits) or the PFP (Planet’s favourite prairie) it is a regular runner to the GWSR, as well as many other lines including the South Devon Railway and the West Somerset Railway. Somehow I managed to…
Although not especially fitting in with the theme of the gala, 4270 was definitely one of the stars of the weekend, hauling her first service trains for the first time in 50 years or so. After a 10 year long restoration she only had steam in her belly 4 days before the gala and…
A newly built 3050 Royal Sovereign Photo source: Wikipedia The Dean Single was a passenger steam locomotive built by the Great Western Railway between 1891 and 1899 under the direction of GWR’s chief mechanical engineer William Dean. The locomotive class was known by many different names such as 3031 Class or Achilles class, both named…
The model of the week blog posts are beginning to come to an end, as there are only so many models in the Locoyard Collection. Today’s model is the layout’s model that has been repainted in maroon and gold to be used at Christmas time, so it’s only right that we look at it now! …
260 of GWR class 2301, or “Dean Goods” were built between 1883 and 1889. They were the first GWR type to have inside frames only and were were well regarded machines.
Loco Yard 