Today we have received some fantastic news. 35006 Peninsular & Oriental S.N. Co. moved for the first time under its own steam in 51 years. 35006 becomes the fourth Merchant Navy class to be returned to working order in preservation and is currently the only one in serviceable condition. Other Sister locomotives that have run in preservation (35005 Canadian…
As the day that I will be working on the CanPac project for the Watercress Line approaches, it has given me a little time to reflect on the last steam locomotive to emerge from Eastleigh’s locomotive works after an overhaul. After spending many (if not all) of its’ preserved life on static display, the National Railway Museum’s…
A picture I took the first time I visited the GWSR at Winchcombe during the 175 Gala Right, so Simon of Brookes Castle contacted me suggesting I could write a bit about how someone as young as me gets involved in volunteering at a railway. I’ll be writing a bit more about what I do…
Whilst on the way to work on 35005 I noticed something rather special sitting in the Arlington Works in the form of 4CEP power car 61229 (7105) and driving motor brake second open S61230. I have always liked the 4CEP as they were the trains that I saw the most during my childhood and used…
Nigel Kendall http://www.steamweb.net Following the bad weather the South of England is having at the moment I thought this photo of Canadian Pacific in the snow was well-suited. In the horrendous winter of 62/63 35005 thunders up through New Milton with a Bournemouth to Waterloo 2-hour express. The steam effect is enhanced by another fast-disappearing…
Happy New Year to my loyal followers of my volunteer diaries! I would like to start this diary entry with a great big thank you to everyone who has been reading my diary entries over the last couple of months as they have proved to be far more popular than I ever imagined. A big…
Following up from the blog post looking at 34051 Sir Winston Churchill in Ropley, today we take a slightly different perspective – a moving perspective on the Watercress Line!
Apart from being a village in Hampshire, Ropley has a station at the top of it’s hill that has become renown throughout the preservation movement as being a hub for steam; it being both a home to a large fleet of large steam engines but also a place where steam engines are re-born. These delights…
The Bluebell Railway has an incredible fleet of rolling stock. Most are based at Horsted Keynes; but a trip to Sheffield Park still provides an ample opportunity to view some of these. Today we have closer look at
The next locomotive (after the previous article on U class 1638) to feature on locoyard following last Sunday’s visit to the Bluebell Railway is a unique survivor of the LBSCR’s E4 class. Purchased straight from British Railways in 1962, B473 is the last remaining member of Billinton’s 0-6-2 radial tank . Built in 1898 for…
Loco Yard 