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The "Midland" 4F 0-6-0s were barred due to the height issues with some of the early machines fouled the height issues so the whole class had the yellow stride painted on the cab. Ironically a couple of Gresley types acquire the stripes too. At least 1 A3 and pair of A4s, they were by this stage...

And the irony of the Guardinaista/metropolitan tree huggers, is that they are the same people who complain most bitterly when their train the 10:42 from Bognor Regis is delayed by fallen trees on the line........at Clapham Junction.

One contributory problem the rail network has, be it the national intercity or local like the T & W Metro. Is that much of it has become a linear woodland. Speaking of the Metro, the management were hoping to run a skeleton service of sorts from 9am +/- yesterday, but no on account of the...

Perhaps the most dubious closure of all was that of the Waverley route in 1969. Many anti campaigners at the time pointed the finger saying it was a "political" closure. As it turned out they were proven right in 1999 [when the 30 year secret rule expired. This is an ongoing rule and every...

Indeed Calthrop quite true. I wonder if Beeching had also been responsible for the closure of Consett Steel Works as the also have [IIRC] a "Home made/built" Diesel shunter at the Nort Tyneside Railway too!

I was at the North Tyneside Railway's 30th anniversary Gala back in July. The have one of the former Harton Colliery electric locomotives there. Which is round 100+ years old [the Harton system being electrified before the First World War!]. I jokingly remarked to another couple that the sooner...

Quite agree and so did my local BBC Radio station, as I mentioned. Hence their light hearted ribbing of the then outfit. Like a lot of the late BR sector names i.e. Regional Railways....... InterCity, Freightliner etc at least Northern Rail made sense. Edit: Made it sound like some sort of new...

And of course there was the period when Northern [Rail] was rebranded Northern Spirit o_O. My local BBC radio station [Radio Newcastle] had no end of fun on their breakfast show . Where they had a somewhat informal competition [there were no prises] to see who of the listeners could come up with...

Well ok, to be brutal.What stopped you throwing your hard earned money at 45015? IMO there is space for both new build and the restoration of this or that "Barry style" wreck.The scrapping is a sad and to be expected development in the circumstances, as buying a locomotive or any other item of...

About 30 years ago the Swiss/Austrians built a batch of rack railway tanks with a pre heat element in their boilers. Which meant they could be plugged into the electric mains over night and at a set time powered up warming/pre-heating the boilers. They were fitted with all the usual safety...

In short there were many over the years. Equally there were many reasons, for instance low boiler pressure [with the related low steam brake power], misjudgement of the length of the siding by the driver. To name but two possibilities.....

Whilst I'm no great fan of McDonalds'. I see in their latest advertising campaign, they are making great play on their recycling and in this particular case their use of "used" cooking oil to create bio diesel. So it IMO would not be to great a problem to do some more research into using it to...

Indeed there's a legend that whilst Mr Stephenson was at the parliamentary inquiry into the Liverpool & Manchester Railway Act. A member asked.- ".....And if a cow should happen upon the line Mr Stephenson?" Mr Stephenson pondered for a moment or two and replied.-"........Would be rather...

The NYMR has with help from Network Rail designed [plus a cash grant] and fitted retention tanks and toilets to around a dozen [12] of their mainline approved Mk1s.

Yes the NYMR make a contribution to the BTP as an open access TOC. Any other heritage line will no doubtdo the same if/when they create their own TOC as well, i.e. the likes of Swanage and the North Norfolk too....

Indeed it was the A4s that the General Manager of Scottish Region got his hands on, as they steadily moved North being displaced by the Deltics and such like diesels. It was their swansong, with their careers coming full circle, so to speak, ending up on the 3 hour Aberdeen service. A similar...

A 9F and V2 operated the service trains on the Alnwick Branch from Alnmouth on the ECML. The 9 being one of those allocated to Tyne Dock for the Consett Iron Ore trains and had a pair of Westinghouse air pumps fitted to operate the hopper doors. Both a case of overkill for a 2 coach service, the...

As something of a counter. I could say did/has the steam powered railway ended? Ok there has been a period of diesel power over the last 50 years or so here in the UK, with the National system steadily converting to electric power. So thinking laterally most electricity is generated at steam...

The North Yorkshire Moors is in the process of adapting their MK1s toilets with retention loos/tanks. Network Rail are also involved both financially with a grant and designing the fixtures and fitting. Some of those being adapted are the "Fuss Free" disabled access vehicle they're in the...

whilst not based in the UK [it's in the U.S.]there's a YouTube site called 11'8". It has some webcamstrained on a railbridge over in the States and is quite homourous watchign these assorted tall vehicles striking the bridge. It has allthe warning signs, flashing lights, wasp stripped girder in...