71565 LCGB Bulletin 76 01

BULLETIN VOLUME 76 NO.01 DECEMBER 2023 THE LOCOMOTIVE CLUB OF GREAT BRITAIN LCGB Remembrance Sunday A Holiday in Holland • Club Tour to Japan and much more ... www.lcgb.org.uk

MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE Club President: Charles Firminger. Past President: Bob Breakwell. Vice-Presidents: John Cramp, Brian Garvin, Robin Patrick. Chairman: Cedric Spiller, 9 Hurst Avenue, Worthing, Sussex BN11 5NY. Tel: 078 5020 5020. Email: [email protected] Club Secretary: Tony Stratford, 15 Booths Close, Welham Green, North Mymms, Herts. AL9 7NW. Email: [email protected] Treasurer: Chris Lewis, 15 Nursery Close, Widnes, Cheshire WA8 3HB. Tel: 07720-755829. Email: [email protected] Editor: M. J. Eckett, Flat 22, Gadebury Heights, Bury Road, Hemel Hempstead, Herts. HP1 1HG. Tel. 01442-247083. Email: [email protected] Sub-Committee Chairmen: Overseas Tours: Adrian Palmer, 46 Heathside, Weybridge, Surrey KT13 9YL. Tel: 07774 859871. E-mail: [email protected] Branch Liaison: Bert Etherington, Pine View, Moor End Lane, Stibbard, Fakenham, Norfolk NR21 0EJ. Tel: 01328 829185. E-mail: [email protected] Member Services: R. D. Stonehouse, 47 Christchurch Gardens, Kenton, Harrow, Middlesex HA3 8NP. E-mail: [email protected] BULLETIN Editor: M. J. Eckett, as above. Sub-Editors (to whom relevant notes should be sent): General News: M. J. Eckett, as above. Branch Reports: M. J. Eckett, as above. Overseas News: Brian Garvin, Flat 5, 91 Albemarle Road, Beckenham, Kent BR3 5JZ. Answerphone/Fax: 020 8658 2340. E-mail: [email protected] Preservation News: N. D. Mundy, 6 Wysall Lane, Rempstone, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE12 6RW. E-mail: [email protected] Distribution Officer: R. T. Rolland, 4a Northbrook Road, Ilford, Essex IG1 3BS. E-mail: [email protected] OTHER CLUB OFFICIALS Librarian: Robert Barker, 45 Pettsgrove Avenue, Wembley, Middx. HA0 3AF. Membership Secretary: R. T. Rolland, as above. Photographic Secretary: Vacant. Press Officer: Vacant. Renewals Officer: R. T. Rolland, as above. Independent Accounts Examiner: Malcolm Wright. Webmaster: J.Harrison, 10 Wavell Court, Elgin Road, Croydon CR0 6XB. E-mail: [email protected] IT Officer: J. Harrison, as above. Internet: http://www.lcgb.org.uk E-mail: [email protected] Hon.Archivist: P. Crossman, 58 Osprey Road, Biggleswade, Bedfordshire SG18 8HE. BRANCH OFFICIALS AND MEETING PLACES BEDFORD Meetings at: St. John’s Church Hall, St. John’s Street, Bedford, at 19.30. Secretary: Chris Jones. Tel. 01234-211759. Email: [email protected] BRIGHTON Meetings at: Brighton Model Railway Club Room, BR London Road Station, Shaftesbury Place, at 19.30. Secretary: N. Kelly, 4 Kingston Close, Kingston Buci, Shoreham-by-Sea BN43 6LP. DORKING Meetings at: The Friends Meeting House, Butter Hill, South Street, Dorking RH4 2LE, at 19.30. Secretary: M. Kempsell, 18 Carlton Green, Redhill, Surrey RH1 2DA. Email: [email protected] CENTRAL LONDON Meetings at: Keen House, Calshot Street, London N1, at 18.30.* (Ring lower doorbell to gain admission.) Fixtures Officer: R. C. Mearman, 46 Anlaby Road, Teddington, Middlesex TW11 0PP. NORTH LONDON Meetings at: The Parish Room, St Michael’s Church, Bounds Green Road, London N22 8HE, at 14.00. Contact Details: Tony Stratford, 15 Booths Close, Welham Green, North Mymms, Herts. AL9 7NW. Email: [email protected] NORTH WEST Meetings at: The Red Lion Hotel, 9 Ash Brow, Newburgh, Wigan WN8 7NF, at 19.30. Secretary: N. Bond, 3 Sheri Drive, Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside WA12 8PT. E-mail: [email protected] ST. ALBANS Meetings at: St Bartholomew’s Church, 47 Vesta Avenue, St Albans, Herts. AL1 2PE, at 19.30. Contact: [email protected] (* Library facility available.)

1 THE BULLETIN OF THE LOCOMOTIVE CLUB OF GREAT BRITAIN VOLUME 76 No.01 20th December 2023 CLUB NOTICEBOARD Murray Eckett, Flat 22, Gadebury Heights, Bury Road, Hemel Hempstead, Herts. HP1 1HG. Tel. 01442-247083. Email: [email protected] Club Annual Reunion: The Club Annual Reunion will take place on 20/1/24. As in 2023, it will be located in St Cyprian’s Church, Baker Street, London from 11.00 am to 5.00 pm. The doors will open at 9.30 am to allow set up, mingling, and the morning cup of tea, etc. The day will be split into two sessions; in the morning UK and, in the afternoon, Overseas. Club Annual General Meeting: The Club Annual General Meeting will take place at the Dorking Christian Centre on 11/05/24, the doors will open at 11.00 am. It is planned that the Branch Officers’ meeting will commence at 12.00 noon and will be chaired by Branch Liaison Officer Albert Etherington. The main AGM will commence at 2.00 pm and will be chaired by Cedric Spiller. Lunch will be provided for the Branch Officers and MC. Following the recent retirement on health grounds of Mike Turner, there is now a vacancy on the Member Services Committee for a Press and Publicity Officer. The aim of the post is to publicise The Club and its activities, especially the overseas study tours, to maximum effect to all the printed hard-copy railway journals, such as Railway Magazine and Steam Railway, as well as on-line journals such as Railway Herald and any other newspapers and websites, as appropriate. The successful candidate will also deal with enquiries from the news media, as the need arises. Therefore, familiarity with the local and national news media would be a distinct advantage. The Officer will be a member of (and will report to) the Member Services Committee which meets every two to three months at Keen House. Applications (either by post or email) with a brief CV should be sent to the MSC Chairman, Bob Stonehouse, contact details in the Bulletin. The LCGB is seeking to recruit a Social Media Officer to provide a platform for the LCGB on the net. Are you familiar with Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter – all three or just one? Do you have lots of friends or contacts on these platforms especially groups which are railway based? The main purpose of the role is to place the LCGB firmly on the social media map. We are very interested in reaching the family audience which means daughters, sons, and grandchildren. We don’t mind if you get help from somebody in your family “who is always on the computer/mobile phone messaging people!” Your reporting line will be to the Management Services Committee Chair. You will be invited to regular meetings at Keen House, but your attendance is discretionary. Applications with a brief relevant CV should be sent via email to the Member Services Committee Chairman, Bob Stonehouse, [email protected] as soon as possible please. Press Day: Press Day for Bulletin 2/24 will be Tuesday 26/12/23 and distribution day for the same edition will be Wednesday 17/1/24. Press Day for Bulletin 3/24 is 23/1/24. Front Cover: On 23/9 at GWS Didcot, the visiting engine was 4953 Pitchford Hall from the Epping Ongar Railway, double heading with resident engine 4079 Pendennis Castle, on the demonstration line. (Photograph by Chris George)

2 A Railway Touring Company group trip to Germany that ran from 14-24/8/23 included the Hartz Railway. As the tour was based in Wernigerode, there was not time to travel the whole of the complex routes but journeys to Brocken and from Quedlinburg gave a very good impression of the line for the first-time visitors. Unfortunately there was no ‘ spotters ‘ booklet available to give details of locos, etc but those viewed close up showed build dates in the 1950s. Here is a general view of Wernigerode Hauptbahnhof station layout taken on 22/8 with a Brocken-bound train waiting to depart and two locomotives waiting for later duties. A Brocken-bound train departs Wernigerode Westerntor on 23/8. (Both photographs by John Morgan)

3 BRANCH MEETINGS Central London: 19/1/24: The GCR Reunification Project. Speaker: Tom Ingall North West: 9/1/24: The LCGB at the Red Lion. St Albans: 11/1/24: That was the year that was: 1971. Speaker: Geoff Plumb BRANCH REPORTS Murray Eckett Central London Branch held its Annual General Meeting on 20/10. The overall picture was of a Branch that has held all its advertised meetings without disruption (unlike in 2022) and has even made a small surplus, thanks to the generosity of the audiences. Unfortunately, Derek Beaumont has stood down from the Committee, leaving only Bob Stonehouse and Rob Mearman as remaining members who were both re-elected nem con. Thanks must go to Brian Place as our independent examiner for checking our accounts and to Albert Etherington, the Club’s Branch Liaison Officer, for his support. Albert brought the meeting up to date with the Club’s present situation. After the formalities there was another enjoyable Members Images session. We were treated to some very colourful pictures of modern freight and passenger operations in countries including Austria, Slovenia and Slovakia. Locomotives were noted in liveries varying from yellow-and-green to red-and-white, black, blue, greyand-orange. Nearer to home, a look at the Mid Hants Railway revealed visiting Crab 2-6-0 13085, A4 Pacific 4464 Bittern in LNER garter blue, resident MHR fleet locomotives Black Five 45379, T9 30120, 9F 92212 and Bulleid Pacific 34007 Wadebridge all in BR livery and 850 Lord Nelson and 925 Cheltenham in Southern bright green. This was followed by a look at some pictures from the Ken Nunn collection, almost all dating from before World War I and, by chance, showing locations mainly around the Brentwood, Essex area but also on the lines around Tilbury and Upminster. Thanks are due to John Curry, Murray Lewis and the Branch Chairman for bringing the AGM to an enjoyable conclusion. Dorking: As a change from the more usual subjects of railway companies, lines or rolling stock, in Posters through the Years on 13/9, local member Andrew Foster treated the Branch to illustrations of railway company posters dating from the middle of the 19th century to the end of the British Rail era. The earliest examples shown by Andrew, including a Great Northern poster for the Great Exhibition in 1851, were in black and white, closely written and without illustration, and giving details of train times, fares, etc, often for special excursion trains or events. The earliest colour posters Andrew could find dated from around 1897/8 and were frequently quite ornate, incorporating a number of pictures in their design. They were issued by companies of all sizes ranging from the GWR and LNWR to smaller concerns such as the North London Railway. The majority were designed to encourage leisure travel and featured scenes of attractive locations served by the company concerned, although some promoted ancillary services including shipping and hotels or more commercial activities such as docks, sites available for building or improvements to the railway itself such as new stations or rolling stock. Following WW1 and the Grouping, the landscape painting style of poster was joined by those of more modernist design, particularly apparent in those promoting new services such as the LNER’s ‘Silver Jubilee’ streamliners or the SR’s expanding electric services. Individual artists also began to be acknowledged such as Frank Newbould, Norman Wilkinson and, later, Terence Cuneo. In British Railways days, more posters incorporated photos although artwork remained the predominant form. Holidays and leisure travel remained key subjects but were joined by those publicising modernisation of the railways, whilst special events such as the 1953 Coronation continued to feature. Andrew’s talk was accompanied by a wealth of illustrations, some of which, such as the ‘Jolly Fisherman’ of Skegness and the

4 small boy with his suitcase at Waterloo where ‘Summer comes soonest in the South’, deserve the sometimes overworked term ‘iconic’, all of them contributing to a most enjoyable and nostalgic evening. North West: The Branch meeting of 7/11/23 took its usual format of being a joint photographic meeting with the Red Lion Railway Circle although it also had the benefit of a visit by the Club’s Branch Liaison Officer, Bert Etherington, who had travelled from his home near Fakenham via a non-linear route! Bert had intended to give a presentation on his local preserved line, the Mid Norfolk Railway, but unfortunately the projector proved incapable of showing PowerPoint presentations and no laptop was immediately available to solve the problem. However, undeterred, Bert was able to give a verbal account of the line, which is one of the very few which haven’t featured in our meetings, and this was much appreciated. The rest of the evening was devoted to images presented by James Sutcliffe, Peter Malone, Ian Pilkington, Geoff Monks and the Branch Chairman, John Sloane. As usual the subject matter was highly varied and widespread, stretching from Dundee to the Isle of Wight. Places visited in between included the S&C, the North-West, the North Wales Coast, Shrewsbury, the Severn Valley, the East Midlands, Didcot, Swindon, London, Basingstoke, Southampton and Eastleigh. Along the way we were treated to scenes at several very rarely accessible working depots, a wide variety of unusual workings with modern (and not so modern) motive power together with Ian’s usual superlative camera work on main line steam specials. Somewhat unusually for these meetings no overseas pictures crossed the screen, but nevertheless the variety was quite remarkable with many different steam classes, over twenty different classes of diesels and electrics seen including the new Class 93 trimode 110mph Bo-Bo and a number of oddities. Overall this was yet another enjoyable session of high quality photography and the contributors are to be thanked for all their contributions, and we look forward to Bert being able to show us his presentation on his visit next year. St Albans: Richard Crane gave a most comprehensive talk to the Branch on 12/10, entitled Blue is the Colour. Mr Crane’s talk gave a pictorial review of a miscellany of many locomotives, steam, diesel and electric, all of which were (or are) coloured blue. It was fascinating to see just how many different machines fitted into this category. Although a fair proportion of the talk covered BR’s ‘Corporate Era’ of the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, the procession began by highlighting the Caledonian Railway’s blue paint scheme, one of the most distinctive of the pre-1923 era. The three CR machines still in situ (4-2-2 No. 123, 0-6-0 No. 828 and 0-4-4T No. 419) were noted, all sporting different variations of blue, this being followed by the LNER garter blue of the 1930s and the early BR Nationalisation era blue, illustrated by ‘King’ and ‘Merchant Navy’ machines, as well as Tornado in more recent times. Mr Crane also looked at post-1994 schemes, such as First Great Western, where plain blue schemes have been supplemented by blue liveries with various cheat lines and other endorsements. To the present day, blue appears still to be a popular colour with the various railway operators. The St Albans Branch would like to thank Mr Crane for a most fascinating presentation. Obituary: David Steinle: Former Club member David Steinle (member number 6748) recently passed away at the age of eighty. No further details are known. PRESERVATION NEWS Nigel Mundy Bradford Industrial Museum occupies Moorside Mill, a former worsted cloth manufacturing mill. Its principal exhibits are machinery once used for manufacturing yarn from wool and subsequent weaving into worsted cloths. The City was once the

5 world centre for manufacturing worsted cloth and as such exported its products all over the world. From the 1950s onwards output from its mills began to decline and today all have closed. Apart from textile machinery, the museum contains a collection of Jowett cars and vans, formerly made in Bradford for 50 years. Other items related to transport include Bradford’s last trolleybus, an earlier tram and a small exhibition of railway artefacts, consisting mainly of enamel station signs and cast plates. Amongst the latter are headboard plates from named trains of the area e.g. ‘The South Yorkshireman’ and ‘The White Rose’ and a nameplate off 46236 City of Bradford. This railwayana hangs on walls surrounding a single 0-4-0ST locomotive, HC 1435/32. All these are displayed without description of their origins or explanation of how Bradford was once a major railway hub, especially for freight! (MS) Dean Forest Railway: The Railway held a “Steam in South Wales” weekend on 14-15/10/23. I visited on the Saturday as a day trip from London, out via Gloucester and returning via Newport. As Cross-Country appears to have abandoned its Nottingham-Cardiff service, only the approximately hourly Cheltenham-Maesteg trains, mostly formed of 2-car Cl. 150 sets and often overcrowded, serve Lydney. The Day Rover ticket for the event cost £28.00 which appears rather high for a line of this length, although probably justified by the advertised motive power. On my arrival at Lydney Junction, I found 0-4-0ST Rosyth No 1 (AB 1385/14) at the head of two Mk 1s forming the 11.25 to Norchard; having worked from Parkend, this loco performed well on several runs between Lydney and Norchard during the day. 0-6-0ST Steel Co of Wales 401 (WB 2994/50) was also present with a freight and later worked some passenger trains. 9681 and 5541 arrived with a passenger train, but 5541 suffered a failure and the return was worked by 9681 on its own. The failure was obviously of a minor nature as the loco reappeared during the late afternoon. The other visiting locomotive was GWR 1340 Trojan, but it was attached to a saloon at Parkend, only working down to Norchard in the late afternoon – too late for any visitors coming from any distance by public transport. There was a limited number of sales stands promoting the railway and the restoration of 0-6-0PT 9682, and the Vale of Berkeley Railway also had a publicity display. There was an Aveling-Porter steam roller in steam at Norchard and a few Morris Minor LCVs at Parkend. Timekeeping was poor with most trains noted between 20 and 30 minutes late; particularly on my arrival at Lydney I got the impression of a lack of supervision and nobody seemed to know what was happening next! In my opinion the two industrial saddle tanks were the stars of the show, but it was a pity that Trojan was not better utilised. (CF) Keighley and Worth Valley Railway held its popular and well established beer festival over four days, 12 – 16/10/23. Large beer tents are set up serving numerous craft beers, in particular at Oxenhope and Ingrow. Participants ride on the trains, with unlimited travel allowed between locations. On Saturday 14/10 a two train service was running operated by 37075 and 75078. There were ten departures from Keighley to Oxenhope, and returns between 10.20 and 17.30. A shuttle service ran between Oxenhope and Haworth during the evening with the last departure from Oxenhope at 23.10. The 12.00 and 12.55 departures left Keighley both well filled with passengers, most of whom were already enjoying their drinks – an indication this event is a very important revenue generator for the K&WVR. (MS) North Norfolk Railway: The North Norfolk Railway held its ‘Autumn Showcase’ gala on the weekend of 7 - 8/10/23. Unlike previous years there were no visiting engines so the railway relied on its own varied collection of steam and diesel power to operate an intensive service. On Saturday 7/10 three steam engines were in use: 53809, GER 564, and 76084, which was this engine’s last weekend in service before withdrawal for overhaul. Also operating were D5631 and DMU set M51188 and M56182, the latter vehicle only recently restored after being out of service since 1987.

6 127mm gauge WD 2-10-0 73798 North British outside Little Ruddington West Signal Box – 21/10/23. (Photograph by Nigel Mundy) D9002 and the Stirling Single in York Museum – 16/10/23. (Photograph by Michael Smyth)

7 Finally, there was a most unusual pairing of two shunters owned by the M&GN Society, D3935 and D3940. These worked an afternoon round trip with the Quad-Art set. By midday trains were fairly full and passengers thronged the platforms at all three stations. At Holt the former Reedham Junction signal box, dating from 1904, is now reerected. It was removed from its original location on the line from Norwich to Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft on 22/11/22 as part of a re-signalling project. In an operation lasting 36 hours it was dismantled, transported and re-erected at Holt, along with all its apparatus and fittings. It is intended to restore it as a simulated working box. This signal box is but the first step as part of a far more ambitious plan. The aim being to create a Victorian street scene and station, analogous to that found at Beamish Museum, albeit on a smaller site. By its nature this is a long term project and will require very large grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund and other sources for its fulfilment. Included in this plan is restoration of the turntable from Hull Botanic Gardens shed, stored on site for many years. Apart from turning engines, it will allow coaching stock to be turned. Currently all carriages deteriorate faster externally on the side exposed to weather off the North Sea. (MS) NRM York: The museum is currently partially closed due to building work, which in itself forms part of a wholesale re-development plan for the surrounding area. Currently only the former roundhouse is open to the public. The main entrance and goods shed are closed, as is the underground passage to the roundhouse. Leeman Road, which currently bisects the site, is to be closed. This will allow construction of an enclosed ground level link between the main buildings. It will have as a centrepiece a new building described as a ‘Roundhouse’ (presumably an exhibition and entrance area). A visit on 16/10/23 found D9002 on the turntable facing Stirling Single No. 1 and the Rocket replica on adjacent stalls. Other locomotives present included 4468 Mallard, 46229, 92220, 4003, 43002, D8000, and 1,067mm gauge 4-8-0 390 (SS 4150/1896). This latter locomotive was a gift, in 1975, from President Kaunda of Zambia to David Shepherd as a thank you for David’s earlier donation of a helicopter, to help fight elephant poachers. The former two-road locomotive overhaul bay has gone, the area now containing interactive displays aimed at promoting engineering to children, for which an admission fee is charged. The adjacent gallery with its signalling panel, overlooking the main line, was closed. Alterations to the museum form part of a scheme known as ‘yorkcentral’, artists’ impressions of which are on the internet. All the former railway land bounded by York station to the east, the main line to the North and the freight by-pass line is to be cleared. Planned developments include offices lining the station side, as a continuation from Network Rail’s national training centre. Beyond the museum, to the North, new housing will fill the site. It is not clear if the siding from the goods shed area which connects into the former engineer’s sidings is to be retained. Seemingly little or no public car parking will be provided and the large car park, on the goods yard sidings area, has already lost half its space! (MS) Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway: Some time ago the railway decided to find a new home for Bear, the Peckett 0-4-0ST (614/1896), thought to be the oldest surviving locomotive from this builder. This was originally donated to the LCGB in the 1960s and moved to Kemsley Down after the Club commenced operations there. Ownership of the loco formally passed to the SKLR in the 1990s. As it had no real connection with the paper industry, an article was published in Heritage Railway magazine seeking offers from a registered charity, accredited museum or other recognised organisation, and an offer was accepted from the Quainton Railway Society. It is hoped that the locomotive will be moved in early 2024, subject to conclusion of the necessary agreements. The aim is for Bear to be placed under cover and subsequently restored to working order. (CF) (Charles Firminger, Michael Smyth)

8 MINIATURE RAILWAY NEWS Leicester SoME, Abbey Park: On Sunday 22/10/23 there was no steam operating on the public trains although, on the steaming bay, stood a magnificent, brand new, 184mm gauge New York Central 4-6-4 5405 Hiawatha. A green Maid of Kent, Southern 1784 Princess Diana, was performing on the 127mm gauge raised track. (NM) Midlands Model Engineering Exhibition: This ran for four days from Thursday 12 – Sunday 15/10/23. I visited on the first day when two 260mm gauge locomotives were noted – LNER P2 2-8-2 2001 Cock o’ the North (Wilks D/2022) and LNER J11 0-6-0 64354 (Floyd D/2023) along with some eight locomotives of 184mm gauge. Noteworthy among these were newly completed 0-6-0 HC 972/12 Fiji (Foote A/2022), based on the 610mm gauge original now at Statfold Barn, LMS Jinty 0-6-0T 47407 (in S&DJt blue livery) and LNER N2 0-6-2T 69580 on the 7 ¼” Society stand, L&BR 2-6-2T E188 Lew on the Oxford Society stand and apparently new BR Standard 4MT 2-6-4T 80075 on the competition stand. This last shared space with 127mm gauge Pannier 7713, MR Spinner 2602 and Britannia 70052 Firth of Tay. Also of note in this gauge were double-chimney 7019 Fowey Castle on the Bromsgrove stand and LNER J37 64618 on the Coventry stand. A worthwhile visit, although much reduced in scope from pre-Covid days. (NM) Milton Keynes MES, Caldecotte Lake: On Sunday 22/10/23 there was no steam operating on the public trains but, noted in the yard were 184mm gauge Romulus 0-4-0 Pollyanna, an anonymous 127mm gauge blue Rio Grande 4-6-0, along with an 89mm gauge Black Five 4-6-0. (NM) NSM&EE, Ruddington: The Standard Gauge Rally was held on Saturday 21/10/23 when sixteen visiting locomotives were noted, all steam and evenly divided between 184 and 127mm gauges. This was fewer than planned but, when the dire weather on the Friday had produced widespread flooding and chaos on the railways, this said a lot for the enthusiasm of so many miniature locomotive owners! On the ground level (184mm gauge) track were 0-6-0PT 1504 and 71000 Duke of Gloucester from Hemsby, LMS Black Five 5026 and Jubilee 5689 Ajax from Echills Wood, LNER A3 Prince Palatine and Britannias 70007 Coeur-de-Lion from Harrow & Wembley, 70008 Black Prince from Wakefield and 70025 Western Star from the West Country. On the 127mm gauge raised track were WD 2-10- 0 73798 North British, LMS Black Five 44845 and Jubilee 5682 Trafalgar, LNER A4 60019 Bittern and A3 4472 Flying Scotsman, Britannia 70029 Shooting Star and 9Fs 92167 and 92169. These hailed variously from Butterley, Lancashire, Wrexham and Nantwich. Those who came enjoyed a dry morning with only a little light rain after lunch – a very enjoyable event which was even graced, unexpectedly, by a wedding party whose participants all seemed to enjoy their rides! (NM) Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Light Railway held an “unusual trains” weekend on 4-5/11/23. The idea was to run trains using various combinations of chimneyfirst and tender-first running with up to three locomotives on a train. I visited on the Saturday which was a wet and windy day. It appears that the water had affected the signalling system at New Romney which was in chaos at about 13.00 with the 12.15 exHythe still there; the train was sent forward shortly after, leaving the visiting 2-4-2 Sian (from Kirklees) on a seven-coach train scheduled to depart at 13.30 for a short propelling move to Greatstone, thence forward non-stop through New Romney to Warren Halt, returning wrong line to New Romney. This move eventually took place, returning in time for me to travel to Dungeness by the 13.30 from Hythe with Nos. 1 and 11 on the front and No. 3 tender-first on the rear. By reversing at Dungeness instead of continuing round the loop, No. 3 headed the 14.50 return to Hythe, detaching the two locos on the rear at New Romney. There was a further short delay at Dymchurch waiting for the previous train, hauled by Sian, to reach Hythe. Passenger numbers were low, probably largely due to the poor weather forecast: I do not know how many came on the Sunday when the forecast was better but, with the benefit of hindsight, I wonder if this was one special event too many! I have not seen any report regarding Hythe station recently,

9 but the ticket office and shop, etc are currently closed, these facilities having been transferred to the front portion of the cafe next door. (CF) (Charles Firminger, Nigel Mundy) ALTERATIONS TO SURVIVING STEAM IN THE BRITISH ISLES – 2017 EDITION Movements: 5164 to E0700, 5619 to E0604, AB 2139 add *S6000, AP 6158 to E3302, HE 287 to E7700, VF5309 to E1505. ALTERATIONS TO MINIATURE STEAM RAILWAYS IN THE BRITISH ISLES – 2017 EDITION New Loco: Floyd D/2023 64354 0-6-0 LNER J11. SCOTLAND’S RAILS AND ISLES Neil Berry In September 2023, my wife Wendy and myself completed a ten-day trip to Scotland. The trip was originally based around A1 Tornado’s trips up there but when cancelled, we decided to proceed with an amended itinerary. Despite the eye-watering cost of the tickets, we went from Pershore to Glasgow via Worcestershire Parkway and Birmingham New Street, the last section with one of Avanti’s Pendolinos without the need to change at Preston. The first day in Glasgow was spent exploring museums and pubs using the excellent public transport system. The next day we travelled on our first ‘spoke of the wheel’ routes that radiate from the city to the coast and lochs. A rather basic 318 256 took us to Balloch from where we walked the old line to the pier to view the Maid of the Loch paddle steamer under repair. The order of each of the day trips from Glasgow was flexible and we woke on the Monday to find that all the HSTs that were scheduled to run from Queen Street were unusually allocated as booked. 43152 plus 43183 took us to Stirling from where, after a tour of the town and impressive castle, we continued our journey courtesy of 43179 plus 43177 to Arbroath. A lunch interlude of Arbroath smokies beside the delightful harbour preceded a return to Stirling, this time with 43149 plus 43021 in charge. The pub which we had intended to visit for refreshment delayed its opening for an hour so, rather than wait, we caught the next HST back to Glasgow Queen Street, the same set as we had had earlier to Arbroath. An evening foray to a pub saw us at Paisley Gilmour Street, a stunning station. As the weather on the Tuesday was still hot and sunny, we headed for the Isle of Arran, which began with a 55-minute journey from Glasgow Central on 380 007. The only issue I had with these was the way the equipment duct, adjacent to the window seating, forced one to sit somewhat skewed; not good for my back. Ardrossan Station is about as minimalist as it gets but it was only a few yards to the ferry for a glorious one-hour trip on the upper deck. Wednesday was another island day, namely Bute, but the real gem was Wemyss Bay station where the ample connection time gave us the opportunity to take a good look round. The weather was, sadly, now starting to take a turn for the worse but we had left the least important trip to the end of our Glasgow sojourn which was to the peninsula towns of Kilcreggan and Dunoon, both requiring ferries from Gourock. Rail transport from Glasgow Central was aboard a fairly basic 318 257 but the home run was courtesy of the more comfortable 385 036. Friday was a change of base day, namely to Edinburgh where we sampled the new tram extension to Leith and Newhaven in the afternoon and on Sunday. Saturday was a fingers crossed day in that we still required Black Five 45025 on the Strathspey Railway for haulage and, being a gala, I was assured it would be running. However, an early disappointment

10 was the apparent failure of the booked HST from Waverley to Inverness, so for our journey to Aviemore departing at 08.37 we had 170 408. This setback was soon put into perspective when, across the other side of Aviemore Station, the required loco steamed in and we proceeded to enjoy forty miles of haulage along the beautiful line, doing our best to ignore the hordes at Boat-of-Garten, there to see 60103 Flying Scotsman. It did mean the trains were very, very quiet. The day was rounded off in style with a three-hour journey in the comfort of an HST with power cars 43015 and 43127 doing the honours to Edinburgh. Speaking of icons, I was due to get up early the next day to see the last Cross Country HST depart but a check from the comfort of my hotel advised me it was a Cl.221 and I should stay put, until such time that we should depart for Glasgow and an Avanti train southwards. Having changed at Birmingham New Street to the Cardiff bound 170, we were aware that the one minute ‘connection’ at Worcestershire Parkway was unlikely to be realised, especially as the 170 was running five minutes late. However, the Paddington train was around 20 minutes late so the connection was made for Pershore. I understand this was the last Up service until 23.00 due to a track defect, the following one being terminated at Parkway, and even the one we did catch was ‘turned round’ at Evesham and sent via Cheltenham to Reading. Incidentally our tickets were not checked on the outward and only once (Avanti) on the return. On Scotrail services our tickets were checked on every train which within, a few minutes, all ran to time. We bought all our tickets at ticket offices, except once when there was a queue behind a passenger seeking advice. I did have to shout at the machine asking how ‘the heck does it work’ when the lady next to me said, that when I found out, could I let her know! During Neil and Wendy Berry’s Scottish holiday, 43015 and 43127 are seen about to return from Inverness, back to Edinburgh. To the left is 800 104 on a London King’s Cross to Inverness service. (Photograph by Neil Berry)

11 REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY Bill Davies As I get older, the sadder I feel when I watch this spectacle of organisation, regimentation, coordination, and genuine feeling toward colleagues no longer with us. So much respect and dignity united as one as they march by in support of their feelings. A very sobering sight for me, one of those who has enjoyed the fought for freedom that I have enjoyed all my life. I was lucky enough to work with so many who had worked on the railway through the two world wars, including those who were conscripted into uniform to serve our country. Some of those recognised for their unselfish dedication are included in my picture attached, not from the front line but on a station, where they did more than their bit, offering food to those who served. To me it is important that those whose unstinting efforts gave succour and comfort are remembered too. Next time you are on a station with time to spare, just have a look around on the walls just to see if there are plaques like these commemorating the massive contribution made at home.

12 LETTER TO THE EDITOR Dear Murray I’ve been reading Ray Schofield’s excellent article on Byeways of the North-East Part 1 in Bulletin 75/09, October 2023. He was obviously disappointed at not seeing the standard gauge loco working at the Mahogany Drift Mine. I was lucky to see the loco working on 22/05/23, which I hadn’t expected as it was a very quiet Monday. The lack of 21st century persons enabled me to capture the black and white cameo shot. The wires are clothes lines, not electric cables. I have attached the two photos to complete the ‘picture’ for Ray. The loco is 0-4-0ST AB 1219 of 1910 and named Caledonia Works after its birthplace I guess. According to Nigel’s Surviving Steam in B I 2017 it was/is based at the Pontypool & Blaenavon Railway. Kind regards Neil Berry

13 BOOK REVIEW Lightmoor Press – Unit 144B, Harbour Road Trading Estate, Lydney, Gloucestershire GL15 4EJ. 01594 840641 RAILWAYS AND INDUSTRIES OF THE BIDDULPH VALLEY Volume One: The North Staffordshire Railway Era. Allan C. Baker. Hardback 280mm x 220mm, 264pp, 275 images. ISBN 9781 915069 28 3. £35.00 (2023). What shines throughout this book is the author’s professionalism as a railway engineer and his intimate knowledge of North Staffordshire and its industrial past. He was born in the heart of the Potteries in the mother town of Burslem and has spent a vast amount of time studying in great detail the history of the former North Staffordshire Railway, known as The Knotty. This book is devoted to that part of The Knotty which ran through the Biddulph Valley from Congleton to Stoke with its branch from Milton Junction to Leek. The Longton, Adderley Green & Bucknall Railway is also covered from its junction with the Biddulph Valley line at Botteslow to its junction with the Stoke to Derby line at Normacot. This railway was initially an independent concern but was always operated by the NSR and was absorbed by that company in 1895. The book is the first volume of a trilogy. Volume Two will cover the history of the lines after the 1923 Grouping and into the British Railways era; Volume Three will cover the industries the lines served. The book is dedicated to the late Roland Machin MBE, Chair of the Biddulph and District Genealogical Society, who wrote the Foreword. Unfortunately, Roland passed away shortly before the book was published. The well designed book, which is profusely illustrated with maps, plans, signalling diagrams, timetable extracts and photographs, has eight chapters. Chapter I covers early canal and railway schemes that proved abortive while Chapter II concerns the NSR’s early involvement. Working the line and the introduction of passenger traffic is dealt with in Chapter III, with Chapter IV covering developments in the 19th Century. The branch to Leek takes up Chapter V. The remaining chapters cover the Biddulph and Leek lines under NSR ownership in the 20th Century and the last chapter covers the Longton, Adderley Green & Bucknall Railway. With regard to the latter, the author considered it appropriate to complete the line’s history until its closure in 1963/4. Photographs of locomotives on the lines covered in NSR days are extremely rare but Allan has supplemented those he has managed to discover with examples of the various other types that are known to have been used. Contractors and industrial locomotives also feature. Tables of distances, significant dates and gradient profiles are covered in three Appendices. There is a bibliography and an index. The author’s copious sources of information are listed at the end of each chapter by way of endnotes. This book is an absolute must for anyone interested in the North Staffordshire Railway and the area’s industrial past. It will also appeal to all those who wish to know more about one of the smaller and more successful companies that became a constituent part of the LMS. There is an absolute wealth of fascinating information. Mike G. Fell OBE Elloughton East Yorkshire

14 A HOLIDAY IN HOLLAND 2023 PART 2 Charles Firminger (Continued from Bulletin 10/23) Having arrived safely at the station, the hourly IC service was taken to Utrecht. On arrival I found that an hourly service operated to Maliebaan Station for the Museum. This appeared to be popular and I heard the guard counting the passengers, making the total more than one hundred and making the service worth running. In common with many places these days, admission to the Museum cost 17.50 euros, a high charge for one visit but valid for any number of visits within one year. I had not been for many years and was impressed by the display. I found the guide book useful and noticed that there is plenty to attract children, with an area dedicated to them which includes a miniature railway. There are also regular performances in the museum theatre based on the Orient Express amongst other things; I saw one of them and was impressed by the hard work of the performer. I returned by the shuttle train to Utrecht CS, just missing the hourly IC train to Apeldoorn. With an hour to the next IC, I decided to take a tram ride to the Science Park and back. The ticket machine offered me a one-hour ticket for, I think, 3 euros, but it was not clear whereabouts this ticket was valid. However, I purchased one such ticket, went out and back, no ticket checks taking place! I then caught the next IC to Apeldoorn, arriving in sufficient time to meet my room-mate to get him into the hotel! Saturday 2/9 was spent on the VSM. The main events were taking place at the depot at Beekbergen and on the station at Loenen. The timetable was complicated with the service running in three sections: Apeldoorn-Beekbergen, Beekbergen- Loenen, and Loenen-Dieren and vice-versa with an assortment of freights over the various sections. In my opinion the timetable was too ambitious, with resultant late running. There were many exhibits, sales stands, etc at Beekbergen and Loenen, including model railways and traction engines, etc and plenty of food and drink available. About a dozen locomotives of classes 01, 23, 41, 44, 52, 64 and 65 were noted, mostly in steam and working trains. Despite the late running, the railway is to be congratulated for the fine display, which was well worth the price charged. Having had a good day on the VSM on Saturday, we decided to have an easy day on Sunday 3/9, merely travelling from Apeldoorn to Hoorn with changes at Amersfoort and Amsterdam. Whilst at Amsterdam, I took the opportunity to visit the ticket office to buy tickets that I knew that I would need for the following Monday and Wednesday. We arrived at Hoorn mid-afternoon and soon found our way to the Hotel Keizerskroon, where we were to stay for three nights. The hotel was adequate although the room I shared was rather small with an extremely small shower room. Breakfast service was good, but the lift up to our room was slow and noisy – you could almost visualise someone turning a handle to operate it. The lady in charge was very pleasant and a good piano player. Monday 4/9 was the day that I had decided to revisit Hoek van Holland (HVH), where I had spent most of 1954. I had already purchased a ticket to Rotterdam in the knowledge that HVH is now served by the Rotterdam Metro and covered by a Rotterdam day ticket. I made a point of travelling from Amsterdam to Rotterdam by the original route, noting that of the principal intermediate stations, only Haarden did not appear to have been substantially altered since the 1950s. The remainder had been completely rebuilt or, in the case of Delft, put completely underground. To get to HVH from the Amsterdam direction, the quickest way is to change at Schiedam to the Metro – a far cry from the 1950s when direct trains ran from HVH, formed of elderly NS electric stock connecting with both day and night ships from Harwich! I chose to go through to Rotterdam CS, buy a day ticket and use the Metro. The latter runs over the NS line from Schiedam, where the connection appears to be little used.

15 50 3654 pictured through the station nameboard at Beekbergen – VSM gala on 2/9/23. 23 071 departing Beekbergen with a train for Loenen – VSM gala. Depicted on 3/9/23. (Both photographs by Colin Miell)

16 The hourly NS train from Rotterdam is now replaced by the Metro, running roughly every twenty minutes to HVH Strand, with additional trains running as far as Vlaardingen. From memory, I believe that the terminus is beyond the old NS terminus at Strand, which used to be open only during the summer months. Part of the old station at HVH Havn is now a Japanese restaurant and whilst there is provision for foot passengers, the main traffic for the Stena ships is now the lorries; there appears to be no provision for rail traffic. Needless to say, the transit sheds, army camp, sidings, etc have all disappeared, although bungalows, etc have appeared alongside the line to Strand. Returning by Metro to Rotterdam, I alighted at Marconiplein, rode the No.21 tram to its terminus and then back to Rotterdam CS, noting that on all the public transport it is necessary to ‘touch in’ and ‘touch out’ at each end of the journey – this appears to apply throughout the country. I returned to Amsterdam by the 16.23 IC train – a ninecoach set with an electric locomotive at each end (apparently a standard arrangement which appears to me to be wasteful of motive power). These trains stop only at Schiphol and take less than fifty minutes for the journey. Things do not always run smoothly on NS as I found when my train from Amsterdam to Hoorn was changed over almost at starting time! (to be continued) CLUB TOUR TO JAPAN AUGUST 2023 Adrian Palmer This tour was the second LCGB exclusive tour to Japan. The previous tour was in August 2004 and it had the same objective to cover as many of the steam operations possible that were in operation and also to track down many of the plinthed locomotives. Travel around Japan used the Japanrail pass which was ahead of a published large hike in the price later in the year. 1st August. Most of the group were scheduled to arrive on this date. In the case of your scribe he arrived on time, but Lufthansa took another 3 days for his luggage to catch up courtesy of a ridiculously tight connection at Munich. Others fared worse as BA cancelled the London flight and for one participant his incoming connecting flight from Manchester as well. Most of the group, having checked in at the Mercure Hotel in central Tokyo, our base for the next few nights, assembled at a local Japanese restaurant close to plinthed 2-6-4T C11 292 at Shimbashi. A fine evening with generous helpings of local style food and beer. 2nd August. After a slightly frustrating time sorting out Japanrail passes and train reservations at Tokyo station for the whole tour, the rest of the day was spent in the greater Tokyo area. First call was to view plinthed 403 Nasmyth Wilson 2-4-2T at Shin Toyosu, C11 292 again at Shimbashi in daylight and 110 at Sakuragicho. Freight activity was noted at Negishi with oil tanker trains from the nearby refinery. The day concluded with a visit to the Yokohama Tram Museum in Negishi, with several former trams from the system on display. 3rd August. Our first steam run today on the relatively recently introduced SL Taiju on the route Tobu Nikko – Shimo Imachi – Kinugawa Onsen – Shimo Imachi. Curiously when the train arrived at Tobu Nikko we were told the first leg of the train was fully booked. However there were only a few passengers on board. The train was top and tailed with steam 2-6-4T C11 207 and diesel DE10 1099. The steam loco had been transferred from the now defunct SL Hakodate on Hokkaidō Island that the Club travelled on in 2004. En route one participant dropped off at Tobu World Square to see 0-6-2T No. 4 (BLW 15321/1897), once at home in Hawaii.

17 4th August. A run through the Tokyo suburbs to the excellent Omiya Railway Museum. Plenty to see here, both steam and modern traction. Continuing, we tracked down 2-8-2s D51 187 outside Omiya Works and D51 231 at the Science Museum. An additional visit to the much smaller Tobu Railway Museum at Higashi Mukojima followed , highlights being B1 4-4-0s No. 5 built by Beyer, Peacock in 1898 within and sister locomotive No. 6 nearby. An evening meal was shared at a local hard to find restaurant with Tokyo based members of the Japanese Railway Society. 5th August. We travelled out to Takasaki to travel on the SL Gunma Minakami for a return trip to Minakami behind 2-8-2 D51 498. We travelled partially on this operation on our 2004 tour but only managed a shorter section due to our late arrival. A leisurely layover enabled lunch to be taken; a small excellent family run local restaurant after having watched the locomotive use the turntable. Sister locomotive D51 745 was plinthed close to the turntable. 6th August. Our final full day in the Tokyo area saw us travel to Kumagaya for a ride on SL Paleo Express / Chichibu Tesudo to Mitsumineguchi and back. Locomotive was 2-6-2 C58 363. A viewing area at the terminus was available to watch the locomotive being turned for the return. 7th August. A fast Shinkansen run to Osaka where we stayed for two nights. Most of the group explored the Hankai Tram, which has older cars running on the system which has two routes serving 3 terminals. After the tram visit some members went out to Kishibe to view freight activity, seeing JR Freight electric loco types EF66, EF210. 8th August. Highlight today was a visit to the Kyoto Railway Museum which had 2-6- 0 8630 in steam running a short shuttle. Plenty of exhibits here, both steam and modern traction. Part of the display is a traditional roundhouse with locomotives in the shed in each of the roads off the turntable. After the museum visit some members went back to Kishibe for another freight interlude, seeing this time some EF65 and EF510 types. 9th August. Onward to Hiroshima with a short break at Tenjingawa where we watched hybrid locomotive HD300 20 shunting. We then travelled on the city tram to the main depot where we were guided around the running yard. Highlight was one of the earlier trams that survived the 6th August 1945 atomic bomb attack and is still in occasional service to this day. We were informed that some of the system was restored to use within a couple of weeks of the bomb despite extensive damage elsewhere. The rest of the day was free to explore the rest of the tram system and city, including the Peace Memorial. Others took advantage of a few of the craft beer pubs that are now prevalent in the larger cities. 10th August. Continuing onward to visit the Kyushu Railway Museum at Mojiko where steam locomotives 2-8-0 59634 and 4-6-2 C59 1 were found together with some other, more modern, exhibits. Our arrival here was delayed as the JR Kyushu railway had suspended services for a few hours after a severe overnight storm and the tracks and signalling needed to be checked. Overnight was at Fukuoka and we were now on the island of Kyushu. 11th August. We travelled to Hakata and then took the Shinkansen shuttle to Hakata Minami to view the Shinkansen depot. This was a bit of a photographic challenge as our train obstructed the view. Next railway journey was to Kumamoto by Shinkansen for an overnight stay. A visit to the city museum found 2-8-0 69665 in the grounds. Most of the group spent the rest of the day exploring the tram system with its 3 terminals and also the Kumamoto Dentetsu Railway in the northern suburbs of the city with a somewhat mixed collection of second hand rolling stock. 12th August. A day on the SL Hitoyoshi with a one-way run from Kumamoto to Tosu topped with 2-6-0 58654 leading and tailed with diesel DE10 1638 at the rear. This was a ‘must do’ as the boiler ticket of the steam locomotive was about to expire and there were no plans to repair it or substitute it with another one. The previous operation at Kumamoto, the SL Aso Boy, had been discontinued, and the station was completely unrecognisable as it has been rebuilt to accommodate the extension of the Shinkansen services to the city. A long run took us to Nagoya for our overnight stop.

18 13th August. Our journey started with a short Shinkansen run to Hamamatsu, local train to Kanaya and then on the Oigawa railway to Shin Kanaya. It was a Thomas day and the railway was swarming with families and their youngsters travelling behind Thomas, actually 2-6-4T C11 190, a much bigger locomotive than what masquerades as Thomas in the UK. We were more fortunate as our quieter train, the SL Oigawa, which was hauled by 2-6-4T C10 8, did not feature on our previous tour. Unfortunately due to unrepaired landslides we could only travel as far as Leyama. Again (during a long layover) we found another excellent family run restaurant. We photographed “Thomas” arrive and depart top/tailed with electric E101. Also of note was ex-Southern National Bristol Lodekka 230 19-55 posing as Bertie the bus. Travel back to Tokyo was where the tour ended for most. Some stayed on for an extra week, so hopefully a report of their findings can appear in a future Bulletin Overseas News. Footnote – The Japanese use the generic term SL (= steam locomotive) to describe their steam operations. Weather – The temperatures were extremely warm throughout the whole tour but fortuitously the group avoided the worst of the storms that were skirting around the region at the time. I would like to thank Stephen Turner, proprietor of TS Japan Rail, for his help in planning and running the tour, Lea Baldelli at Eighty Days for her help with the travel arrangements. Also Brian Garvin for his help in tracking down the various plinthed and preserved locomotives. JNR Class 7100 steam locomotive – No. 7101 Benkei at Omiya Railway Museum on 4/8/23. (Photograph by Adrian Palmer)

19 OVERSEAS NEWS Brian Garvin, Flat 5, 91 Albemarle Road, Beckenham, Kent BR3 5JZ. 020 8658 2340. E-mail: [email protected] AUSTRIA Traction Review. A recent edition of LOK-Report gave a review of ÖBB traction, the highlights feature here. 2043, 2143. These classes are now definitely finished with ÖBB but several have been sold to private operators and preservation groups. 2043 005 has gone to Verein Gailtalbahn whilst ÖGEG has picked up 2043 010/21/62. Of the 2143s, 2143 011 has gone to RTS for reclaiming spares; 2143 029/40 to Prolok; 2143 033/35/53 to Regiobahn; 2143 030/44/45 sales still to be confirmed. 2067. 14 locos are still in stock but are restricted to shed pilot duties. 1142. There are still 10 locos in use spread between Graz and Linz. 1144. Still in use on freight work and on some regional passenger services around the major centres, with some held spare on push-pull sets to cover EMU problems. A dump of locos was seen at Vöcklabruck, which included some 1144s. 1293. Vectrons 1293 086-095 are in course of being delivered with another 28 on order for 2024. 4746. Another 27 are on order for the Wien S-Bahn; no doubt these will see off the last 4020 units, a big batch of which has recently been sold to Romania. 4748. These replacements for Talent 3 EMUs are now being delivered. 001-21 are now in use at Bludenz covering all S-Bahn and Regio services in Vorarlberg. 022 – 041 are in course of delivery to Innsbrück whilst 042-044 are intended for Salzburg. 5047. These single car high floor DMUs are to be phased out as lines are electrified. Traction orders and plans. 20 six-car and 42 four-car double-deck EMUs are to come from Stadler with another 14 six-car sets for Railjet trains to replace the ‘slow’ RJs on the Wien – Salzburg route. It is envisaged that 120 battery-electric units will be needed with 16 BE Flirts to be used on the St. Pölten – Krems – Sigmundsherberg route, parts of which are not electrified. BELGIUM Preservation. Brian Garvin reporting. To celebrate its 50th Anniversary, the Chemin de Fer a Vapeur des Trois Vallées, based in Mariembourg, had an extended autumn festival 22-24 September 2023. On the Friday a two-train service operated, increasing to three trains on the Saturday and Sunday. Besides its own locomotives the following visiting locomotives were also used: HELENA, 0-6-0T (Tubize 2069/1927) from Baasrode; E3/3 8511, 0-6-0WT (SLM 2134/1911) from St. Sulpice (CH); 0-4-4-0T ABC 2 (Henschel 10416/1911) from the Train de la Doller (FR); 22 TOM, 0-6-0T (Krupp 2410/1949) from Hoogovens Stoomtrein, Ijmuiden (NL); 507 0-6-0T+T (Energie 481/1946) from Fond de Gras (LU); YVONNE 0-4-0WT (St. Leonard 947/1893) from Maldegem but this loco was restricted to the yard at Mariembourg. On all three days trains were well loaded. At Treignes, the museum site was heaving at times and the extended facilities are a credit to the organisation and the local communities that have put money into the site. In your reporter’s opinion the museum at Treignes is far superior to the one in Schaerbeek! SNCB locomotives in the museum are 1.002, 7.039, 16.042, 53.320 (as 5620), 101.012, 2005, 5120, 8319. The excellent repair shop contained ELNA 2-6-0WT 158 (Henschel 24917/ 1940) and SNCB diesel 8204. The dumped locomotives have been spread around with the south end of the site hiding 4608, 52.3314, SA02 and some carriages. Whilst the north end yard of the museum had five industrial diesels and one 0-4-0T awaiting attention. The main operating base is the small ‘roundhouse’ at Mariembourg, which is unusual in not having a turntable! The depot was in effect in a triangle which is no longer the case since the separation of SNCB lines from those of the preserved railway.

20 One side of the old triangle held 52 467 (52 8200) which is for sale as is CFL DMU 201/211. The large yard held many CFV3V items including three sets of coaching stock, and other preserved locos, DMUs, etc. One track is connected to the SNCB, which also has stabling sidings for DMUs and a freight train run round. CANADA Preservation. CP 2816 (4-6-4) has been overhauled and in August was running test trips in Alberta. It is to be used on a special from Calgary to Mexico City in April 2024 to celebrate the merger of CP with KCS. CP 1238 (4-6-2), repatriated from the USA some years back, may go to the Waterloo Central Railway in Ontario if the buyer can raise enough cash by the end of 2023. CZECHIA. Zamberk. The infant museum at Zamberk was visited by the LCGB some years ago. It has recently been officially incorporated as “The Museum of Old Machines and Technology”. So not only are there steam locomotives – in fact there are all sorts of steam things such as traction engines, stationary engines, steam lorries, etc. Then there are old motor bikes, old cars, etc. There was an open day on 23 September 2023 when the following steam locomotives were in action on a newly laid line: 600mm No. 1, 0-6-0WT, built at the museum and to Orenstein and Koppel plans; 600mm CKD 1858/1940, an 0-4-0T acquired from Germany (?) in May 2020; a Las 750mm 0-6-0T believed to be Chrz 4968/1956; Borsig 600mm 0-4-0WT 1149/1925 visiting from Maltanka Park in Poznan; 760mm Smoschewer 625/1918, 0-6-0WT visiting from Cierny Balog, Slovakia and finally 600mm BMAG 9124/1926, 0-6-0WT visiting from Solvay Museum but until recently at home in Kent, England. (This report compiled from photos on Facebook – Ed.) Visit Report. David Newton reporting. At the end of September my wife and I had a tourist focused trip to Czechia, but as usual travelled by train and some observations are noted below. Wednesday 27 September 2023. Prague Hln. As expected with the latest batch of Vectrons for CD in the 500 series running still in all over white with 193.570 noted. Thursday 28 September 2023. Plzen: New CD units 650.201-214 means less loco hauled here. The 242s now seem to be confined to the Plzen – Ceske B. – Brno workings. Another ‘white ghost’, 193.567, was noted. Friday 29 September 2023. Horazdovice Predmesti A private operation or museum (?) occupies the depot with T478.1146, T475.1501, T334.0722, 702.667, 720.528, 721.035, 770.412 plus 2 uid 70x shunters and a dismantled 0-6-0T were noted from the passing train. Saturday 30 September 2023. Tabor. 113.001/002 were doing the honours on the Bechyne branch, with CD Cargo 749.739/749 stabled north of the station. Bustitution confusion ‘1’: We travelled from Pisek on a train advertised as only going as far as Cervena nad Vitavou, so we were ready to bail, only to discover the train continued twice as far to Milevsko before the transfer to bus took place. Sunday 1 October 2023. Ceske Budejovice. A late Sunday afternoon shed visit put 94 locos in the notebook with two scrap 230s remaining unidentified and a few shed sections locked. Some 242s are now in the store line with 242.215/227/241/259/277/279 being noted. However, at the other end of the shed 242.212/234 were now newly sporting CD Cargo livery. 742.204 had significant accident damage. Steam 310.093 and diesel 720.058 were preserved locos in the roundhouse. 742.715/748/750 represented the newly rebuilt diesels. Tuesday 3 October 2023. Veseli nad Luznici: another shed occupied by preservationists with 701.485/631 703.610 plus 1 more 70x and a steam loco cab bearing the number 3829 noted from the passing train. Bustitution confusion ‘2’: The train was shown as going to Brno on the screens at Ceske B, but the website said it was going only as far as Batelov. The guard however told us to get the bus at Horni Cerekev, the station before. This all worked

21 out, but 20 minutes into the bus journey we passed a train heading west hauled by 242.253 a few miles beyond Batelov! Brno: All change on local services here with class 530 EMUs providing an S-Bahn style service on routes previously covered by 242s, etc. Wednesday 4 October 2023. Ceske Trebova: The once extensive dump here appears to have been more or less cleared of locos. 742.760 was noted with a plate marking it as the 50th such loco delivered to CD Cargo. As usual plenty stabled here with 724.705 and 709.601 noted outside the CZ Loko works. Pardubice. At what is/was(?) part of the depot site, several locos were undergoing overhaul with some uid in primer but 701.638, 730.008 and 751.144 being noted. Thursday 5 October 2023. Kolin: The ‘Nuneaton’ of the Czech network is a great place to spot. Local firm Juma had 210.044/061 and 721.113 stabled near the station and the local scrap yard is shunted by 703.591. Metrans has their depot here but few numbers were logged from passing trains due to the fences that surround the site. Currently some local trains are hauled by class 162 in push- pull formation but unit 640.210 was noted on test so this may be about to change. The surprise here was 749.162 hauling a brand new 1st class driving trailer marked ‘230 Vectrain’. Presumably for high speed push-pull similar to Railjet workings. The front end is made to look like a Vectron. Friday 6 October 2023. Hradec Kralove: 743.205 was on station pilot duty here. FRANCE Visit Report. Howard Forster reporting. Tuesday 25 July 2023. Avignon Centre. On a brief visit, DB Cargo 186.331 and 186.302, still in Euro Cargo Rail livery, passed through running light. They were followed by 26112 on a freight heading east and then 37528 and 27058 on freights heading across the Rhone. It looked as if the weed killing train had missed the main platforms judging by weeds growing there. The platforms are numbered using a strange system, from the main entrance, 2,A,B,C,D,E,1. Wednesday 26 July 2023. Arles. RDT 13 have two maintenance workshops, one at Marignane and the other at Arles. It is not in the former PLM works which is now part of the local authority leisure facilities. Situated to the east of the station, and not visible from the platforms, it is connected to the main line by a spur at the south end of the station. Private operators use the facilities for the maintenance of their locomotives. Three locos which had been receiving attention were pulled out by the works shunter, RDT13 301. Europorte 37509, Akiem 27119, operated by Regiorail, and Beaconrail 27308, also operated by Regiorail, completed the trio. Regiorail DE 18 2254 arrived to collect the two Regiorail locos. All was not well it seems; after the pantographs had been raised and static tests carried out in the station sidings, 27119 and 37509 were returned to the works by the shunter. The DE 18 departed south towing 27308. A good selection of locomotives passed on freights, including 27151 heading north, 75085 southbound, EWS liveried 66072 heading north on a timber train, G1206 1512 southbound, 26232 north, 26025 on passenger south, 26138 on passenger north and 37525 on a southbound freight. Local services were in the hands of TER Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur dual mode class 81500 train sets. Thursday 27 July 2023. Avignon Centre. During two hours in the middle of the afternoon there was plenty of activity. Altogether 26 workings were noted, comprising of 5x 222XX, 5x 27XXX, 37034, 2x 375XX, 75121, 3x Z275XX, Z54940, 4x Z815XX, 2x 845XX and 2x TGV. The light in Provence had been excellent for photography, it is not difficult to see why Van Gogh went there to paint. Saturday 29 July 2023. Tournon. The CFV, formerly based in Tournon, now operates from a site approximately 1.5 miles away at Tournon St Jean de Muzols. A two-road shed houses the loco in service. On site, as well as the station building which contains the obligatory shop, there is a museum which contains a restored coach and a locomotive boiler as the main exhibits. Around the site were various items of rolling stock and two diesel locomotives. Only one steam locomotive, 414, was available at the time of the visit, the other one, 403, was reported to be stopped at Lamastre with boiler problems.

22 Germany. 442.370 National Express NRW at Koln Hbf, 22/05/23. France. SNCF E36343/33 heading north through Lyon Part Dieu on a container train from Italy. Seen on 30/07/23. (Both photographs by Howard Forster)

23 Portugal. 0186 on Regua turntable, 29/08/23. (Photograph by Howard Forster) Czechia. 742.760 bearing a plate celebrating 50 locos delivered to CD Cargo of that type, of which 760 is the last. Depicted at Ceske Trebova on 4/10/23. (Photograph by David Newton)

24 Lamastre, which was not visited, houses the remainder of the rolling stock. 414 worked a well filled special charter to Colombier-Le-Vieux-St Barthelemy-Le-Plain, where it was turned prior to working back down the valley. Brilliant sunshine enhanced a pleasant journey though superb scenery. Vienne: 22404 was noted on the 16.20 Lyon Part Dieu – Avignon Centre. Sunday 30 July 2023. Lyon Perrache was fairly quiet, Z55615 and Z84629 were stabled. Lyon Part Dieu was quite busy with frequent appearances of classes 222XX, Z245XX, Z275XX, Z555XX, Z845XX and TGV. A solitary FS ETR400 appeared on a Paris –Milan working. SNCF E36343/33, working north on a container train from Italy, was the only freight seen passing through the station. The trams outside the station were having problems at several stops; when heavily loaded the doors were fouling the platforms, and as a result were refusing to close unless manually assisted. Preservation. In Hagondange 57300, 0-4-0 DM No. 35 (KHD 23003/1939) is plinthed within the works yard of Soc. Gen. D’Entretien Ferroviaire S.A. (Sogeefer), in Rue du Portier. It is clearly visible from the street but carries no number. GERMANY Vectrons: Some locos are now appearing with the front short number prefixed with a 6 such as 6193 117. This is because numbers have run out! It was often wondered why the 193.0 and 193.1 numbers had not been used. But they had! Many of the foreign locos that work into Germany are numbered as Polish, etc locos but have a 193.0 or 193.1 number for LZB (signalling) purposes! What a mess has been made of the numbering. DB electric locos are all prefixed by “6” in the EVN so after 999 Vectrons had been built why not then use the “7” prefix? Instead there are a variety of numbers, making it rather difficult for the fans. Preservation. 50 3616 has been overhauled at Meiningen works, the out-shopping date being 24/08/23. D 05 B diesel (Gmdr 5482/1971) has moved from Münsingen to UEF at Ettlingen. Eisenbahnfreunde Bielefeld has obtained 4w DH MV9 (OK 25630/1956) from local firm Salzgitter Mannesmann GmbH where it was No. 1 at the Brackwede plant. Visit Report. Howard Forster reporting. Monday 22 May 2023. Koln. An hour on Koln Hbf showed how the more colourful liveries are not confined to the freight sector, and are now seen on more passenger services due to the influx of private operators in the area. As well as the usual DB colour schemes, Trans Regio Mittelrheinbahn, National Express NRW and RRX liveries were seen. Tuesday 23 May 2023. Rhine Gorge. A good selection of freights were to be seen hauled by classes 185/6/93, as well as the occasional SBB class 482 and OBB class 1116. Passenger services on the right bank were in the hands of Vias 3 and 4 car Flirts. Of interest on the left bank was a class 425 working a Wiesbaden to Saarbrucken service. At Kaub, the last operational paddle steamer on the Rhine was passed returning to Koblenz from Rudesheim. GOETHE, built in 1913 as a steamship, is now propelled by two diesel engines. Wednesday 24 May 2023. Mannheim Power Station. Parked out of use was GKM 5, a fireless loco. Visit Report. John Miller reporting. (Continued from Bulletin 10/23) Monday 26 June 2023. Ludwigsburg. A morning peak observation was of course dominated by units, however, the exception was the appearance of 111 137 on ordinary stock. (This is one of several EMU replacement services whilst units are fitted with ETCS – Ed.) 1214 008/10 and 193 836 passed through on freights. Heilbronn. 145 020 and 159 206 were stabled at the station. The museum at the old depot has been closed to the public for some years and now it appears the whole site has been sold for redevelopment. Therefore all the locomotives and stock are in the process of having to find new homes; it is likely that some of the less fortunate examples will go for scrap. A few items could be seen from outside such as 163 008, Köf 6119 (324 044 which was previously at Oberhausen), Köf 4714 (322 602), whilst 23 105 and 01 1066 were visible through the windows nearest the public footpath.

25 Further along, VT11 5018 (601 018) is derelict and awaiting scrap. The straight repair shed contained largely wagons and coaches with a handful of industrial diesels and railbus 795 122, however, the presence of Voith Maxima 264 013 suggests private repairs are still lingering. Outside, and attempting to hide in the undergrowth, were 41 073 and 323 052, both with an uncertain future. Stuttgart area. The rest of the day was spent travelling around the area including some time at Plochingen where a couple of 185s passed on freights as did 187 159 and 193 854 whilst 4185 010 was shunting the local steelworks. S-Bahn. The new batch of class 430 units are still in the process of being delivered, hence only about 20 of these put in an appearance. Tuesday 27 June 2023. Reutlingen. A somewhat moribund preservation set up is based here. On view were 796 790, 797 502/3/5 together with 322 635. (But they have restored their cl. 97 0-10-0RT – Ed.) Lichtenstein. Plinthed in the former station is Köf 6753 (323 823). Münsingen (SAB). This is the HQ of the Schwäbische Alb Bahn. Stabled around the station were V50 001, V70 01, Köf 11 003 (322 801), MAN Railbuses VT 5/8/9, a handful of cl. 626 units, whilst parked out of use was 86 346 belonging to UEF. (But there should have been another two active steam locos –Ed.) Gammertingen. The former HzL depot now comes under the SWEG umbrella and generally houses class 622 units but also present was V 180, a former HzL loco. Immendingen. The small depot here deals with class 650 units, some of which were still in the red and cream livery of HzL. Stabled at the station was ex- DB 212 058 now with LoConnect. Seebrugg. The museumsbahnhof produced 323 804 and Köf 6586 (323 878). Freiburg. Units, units and more units, however, the occasional class 101 still appears on IC trains to Basel and on this occasion three freight trains were routed via the station between 17.00 and 19.00, producing 186 152/446/904. Wednesday 28 June 2023. Endingen. This small depot was always with SWEG and deals with the maintenance of class 650 units. Freiburg Depot. A large, new repair shop has appeared to deal with the increased allocation of EMUs and is adjacent to the old locomotive depot which still deals with the remaining class 146s used on the Singen route. Haltingen. The active part of the depot now only deals with the maintenance of its class 641/644 units. Stabling of locomotives now seems at an all- time low with some six locos present, however allowance should be made for a weekday. Singen. Up to six class 152/185 normally stable at the west end of the station, whilst the Rbf is shunted when necessary by a solitary 294. Thursday 29 June 2023. Kempten. Most of the class 218s have gone, ousted by the class 633 units. The remaining allocation consists of class 612s, of which 612 049 has been stored for some time. Some class 650s make up the rest. Unterthingau. An agricultural museum is based here and provides the unlikely home to Köf 4103 (323 906). Ulm. The now not so new maintenance facility at the west end of the station deals with the small allocation of class 245s and the remaining shunters, one of which, 365 143, is stored. The adjacent stabling point held classes 425, 426, 622 and 650. The much newer depot, which occupies much of the site opposite the old depot, accounts for the rest of the units seen in the area with the exception of class 633 and those operated by Go Ahead. At the Hbf there is a reasonable flow of freight depending on the time of day. The shuttle link to the recently opened high speed line was being worked by hired in 193 242/246/247/248 whilst 248 036 was stabled in the east end p-way yard. Friday 30 June 2023. Neuoffingen. Previously a mixed preservation/dealership site, it is now wholly commercial and trades as NFG Neuoffingen. Stabled outside were 212 133, 323 216/698/784, 332 065 (still in DB blue/beige livery and sold out of service in 1997 since when it has had several owners), 335 129, 345 901, 272 007 (HEG 831). Inside the workshop, 312 048 (now in industrial service) was undergoing a repaint whilst what appeared to be a former class 332 carrying Lok 2, Thyssen Dück Haidhof, was also present. Finally, it was a surprise to find Köf 4024 (310 124) plinthed, previously known to be stored in Blumberg.

26 München Nord. In addition to the usual class 152, 185, and 193 were 077 002/008/014/028, 159 240, 248 039 and ÖBB 1293 199 giving some variety. München Allach. A view of the sidings adjacent to the Siemens Factory where new 193 415/500/552/928, 1293 086, 6193 118/125/127 could be seen and still they keep coming! INDIA News. Railway Gazette reports as follows. Indian Railways has completed construction of the 1,337km Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor linking Ludhiana in the state of Punjab to Sonnagar in Bihar, enabling it to operate freight trains with heavier trailing loads at higher average speeds. Announcing that commercial services on the final section of the route would begin on November 1, Managing Director of Dedicated Freight Corridor Corp of India Ltd R. K. Jain said on October 13 that “the first section of EDFC was inaugurated in December 2020 and we have completed the entire corridor in three years”. The first electrically-hauled freight train on the 401km section from New Sahnewal in Ludhiana to New Khurja via New Khatauli in Uttar Pradesh ran on October 11, he reported. The design speed of the Eastern DFC is 100 km/h, and IR anticipates that the use of high-performance electric locomotives will enable trains of up to 1,000m to complete the 1,337km journey within 24 hours, at an average speed of 50 to 60km/h. This is more than twice the average speed of freight trains using IR’s existing network, which is currently around 25km/h. Freight trains from Sonnagar to Dadri near Delhi, using the congested Delhi – Kolkata main line via Deendayal (Mughalsarai), have typically been taking 35 to 50 hours; this journey is now expected to be completed in 18 to 20 hours. “The entire corridor becoming operational will specially benefit the thermal power plants in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and parts of Rajasthan as it will cater largely to coal traffic”, Jain explained. Senior DFCCIL executives told Railway Gazette International that around 140 trains per day are operating on the sections of the Eastern DFC that have already been commissioned, while the completed corridor will have capacity for 250 trains/day. Initial projections envisaged that the line would transport around 153 million tonnes of freight in 2021-22; the corridor is now expected to be carrying about 250 million tonnes per year by 2036-37. The insiders confirmed that there had been a cost and time over-run in building the line. The eastern section of the route now being completed represents an investment of Rs550bn, but was delayed by more than five years for a variety of reasons, mainly land acquisition and changes to the scope of work. A budget of Rs814·6bn was approved by the government in 2015 for construction of the two DFCs, but this has since been increased by 54% to Rs1·24tr. The latest revision includes Rs1·02tn for construction and other costs, and Rs 218·5bn for land acquisition. DFCCIL now anticipates that around 95% of the Western DFC linking Delhi with Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai will be operational by March 2024. MALAYSIA News. Ross Middleton reporting. Will a high speed line actually be built from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore this time? The deadline for potential bidders to submit proposals for undertaking the revived Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail project has been extended to 15 January 2024. On November 7 Malaysian project promoter MyHSR Corp said more than 60% of the companies which had indicated their intention to submit concept proposals by the original deadline of November 15 had requested an extension, because they required more time to form consortia with potential partners and explore financial options. An industry briefing event in July attracted more than 700 participants to hear about MyHSR’s plans for a public-private partnership to deliver the project on a design-finance-

27 build-operate-transfer model. Participants are required to demonstrate technical expertise and overall ability to develop and operate the proposed line, with the required resources and within budgeted cost, quality and time. They are also required to demonstrate a viable commercial model and governance framework. “We are very encouraged by the positive response from the industry players, with more than 30 copies of the request for information documents purchased by local and international firms to date”, said CEO Mohd Nur Ismal Bin Mohamed Kamal. “We understand the companies need more time to produce quality proposals for the KL-SG HSR project that will be a growth engine and a much-needed impetus in catalysing the economic trajectory of Malaysia”. NETHERLANDS Preservation. During 2023 Nederlands Smalspoorweg Stichting (NSS) at Valkenburg, otherwise also known as Stoomtrein Katwijk Leiden, acquired two 700mm gauge locos from Java, Indonesia. They arrived in May and in fact are Dutch built by Du Croo & Brauns, 0-4-2T 9 being 81/1925 whilst 0-4-4-0T 214 is 159/1928. No. 9 worked at Sumberhardjo sugar factory whilst 214 was based at Presantren Baru sugar factory near Kediri. NEW ZEALAND News. Ross Middleton reporting Kiwi Rail. The arrival of Interislander’s first new mega-ferry has been delayed by five months to avoid Cook Strait’s busy summer season. In mid-2021, KiwiRail signed a $551 million contract with a South Korean shipyard to build two new mega-ferries to replace its ageing and increasingly unreliable fleet. Belgium. CFV3V 2-6-2T ex-DB 64 250 passes the museum at Treignes with the 13.55 to Mariembourg, 24/09/2023. (Photograph by Brian Garvin)

28 The first was due to arrive in New Zealand in September 2025, but Interislander operations general manager Duncan Roy said this has been delayed until February 2026. “This will make the transition easier for Interislander staff and will ensure our team is able to provide the great service our customers expect during our busiest months,” Roy said. “During the December and January peak summer, Interislander numbers climb by around 300 per cent to over 200,000 when compared to our quieter times of year. The change will ensure that the Interislander team have [their] full focus on providing the great service customers expect during the busy summer peak.” The timetable for the Te Huia passenger service between Hamilton and Auckland is to have three additional return services added each week starting from February 2024. These are one each Thursday to Saturday inclusive, the busiest days of the week, and will mean that there will now be three return trips on Thursday and Friday. It is expected that the third round trip will be added Monday to Wednesday inclusive in the middle of 2024 as more drivers become available. The driving trailer cars are now being used to drive northbound so the one set now no longer requires 2 of the 3 locomotives modified for this service. Waikato Regional Authority is sufficiently pleased with the growth in passenger numbers that they are beginning to make longer term plans for this service which includes new bi-mode train sets and stabling one set in Auckland overnight to enable an early morning southbound train. PORTUGAL Visit Report. Howard Forster reporting. Thursday 24 August 2023. Lisboa Santa Apolonia. 5605/17/20 were on main line trains and 1432 was station pilot. Saturday 26 August 2023. 2-8-4T 0186, on the well filled CP Historical Train, was observed heading back to Regua after the Pinhao stop. For 2023 the train was scheduled to operate on Wed/Sat/Sun from 8 July to 29 October, leaving Regua at 15.22, then running directly to Tua for a 16.10 arrival. After turning the loco, it was scheduled to depart at 17.25 then make a 20 minute stop at Pinhao, to enable the passengers to see the superb blue tiles which decorated the station. Arrival back at Regua was scheduled for 18.30. There were several combinations of day trips on offer involving the train, river cruises and broad gauge trains from Porto. Sunday 27 August 2023. Barca d’Alva. This village was the most easterly in the Douro Valley next to the Spanish Frontier. Most of the site remains in the state, left after services were discontinued in 1988, including the line across the border into Spain. There are some suggestions that services could be extended from Tua to Barca d’Alva in the future. It seems that it would be difficult to justify, as Barca d’Alva is only a small village with a population of around 300 inhabitants and does not have any exceptional attractions. Tuesday 29 August 2023. An unidentified 1400 was on the 13.20 from Sao Bento to Pochinho. Regua. As well as the locos previously reported, E208/10 and E1, 1436 pulled 0186 onto the turntable for turning in preparation for its duty the following day. Thursday 31 August 2023. Porto Sao Bento: It is worth a visit to see the splendid tiled walls of the main concourse depicting scenes of Portuguese life. At the time of the visit, all of the local services were in the hands of class 34XX. Porto Campanha. Two departures for Valenca had 2602 on the 16.10, followed by 2612 on the 16.24. A PTG set of coaches arrived on a private charter hauled by 1424 in blue heritage livery. Saturday 2 September 2023. By travelling on Heritage Tramline 1, it is possible to visit the tram museum at Massarelos. The Infante terminus tramstop is on the riverside in the Ribeira District, from where a service every 20 minutes operates to Passeio Alegre at Foz. On the day of the visit, it contained 11 trams and 5 other tramway vehicles as well as a trolleybus. Adjacent to the museum are the works and depot. Inside the works and depot were other museum vehicles. Some listed museum trams were being used in normal service.

SWITZERLAND Visit Report. Howard Forster reporting Basle Saturday 27 May 2023. At Basle Kleinhungenhafen, EDG have a standage on which were: 446.015/6 ex-SBB 10101/2, EM837 (Mak DE502 type) ex-Panlog 805, Tm235 ex-BLS 089, and 142.103 ex-DR. At the far end of the yard was another, presumably 142.103. There was no EDG number visible on 142.042, which should have been either 412.001 or 412.002. USA Preservation. Good news from the north-west as the Mount Rainier Scenic RR was scheduled to resume steam operation in September/October 2023 using Polson Lumber 2-8-2 70. Reading 2100 (4-8-4) is being restored to working order in Cleveland (OH). 291 new tubes have been delivered. The loco will emerge as an oil burner. BNSF 1205, the company’s first hydrogen powered locomotive, has gone to the Oklahoma RR Museum. Built as CP GP9 8637 it became a ‘green goat’ battery/diesel-electric locomotive but was never used after commissioning by CP Ogden works in Calgary. BNSF bought the loco in 2007 to become hydrogen fuelled BNSF HH20B 1205 in 2009. Question, is hydrogen really the way forward? Essex Steam Train/Valley RR (CT) has bought Frisco 2-8-2 1352 (BLW 51820/1912 as a 2-8- 0 rebuilt 1943) from the ASR in Cleveland (OH). The ASR group is restoring Reading 4-8-4 2100, so the sale of 1352 will provide more funds for 2100. California State RR Museum, Sacramento (CA) is to restore to working order ATSF 2-6-2 1010 (BLW 19630/1901). This would be a good choice for its operating line. Norfolk & Western 4-8-4 611 has returned to Roanoak having been away since 2019 on tour, having been at the Strasburg RR and the North Carolina Transportation at Spencer. It is still in ticket and moved in time for autumn colour and Christmas specials. Western Pacific RR Museum, Portola (CA) has received a $1 million grant from the US Department of Agriculture (!) towards the construction of a new 100 x 200ft building to house 10-16 pieces of equipment but to be also used as an events centre. The Texas State RR has also received a grant but this is $10 million with money to be spent on track, new rails, etc. (LOK-Report, Facebook, David Newton, Drehscheibe, Howard Forster (3), John Miller, Ross Middleton (2), Trains Newswire) The opinions expressed in this Bulletin are those of the Editor and his contributors. Compiled and produced by M. J. Eckett (Hon. Editor) for and on behalf of the Locomotive Club of Great Britain, Flat 22, Gadebury Heights, Bury Road, Hemel Hempstead, Herts. HP1 1HG. © Copyright 2007-2023. Photographs – original photographer. Content – LCGB. All rights reserved. The Printed Word, Unit 2, Graylands Estate, Langhurstwood Road, Horsham, West Sussex RH12 4QD. Telephone 01403 255650.

During a visit to the Statfold Barn Railway on 9/10, the Tasmanian Garratt, No. 1 K 0-4- 0+0-4-0 BP 5292/09, is depicted leaving Statfold Junction Station with a passenger train. Also seen is No.19 (778) 0-4-0SWT SS 3518/88, the former Adrian Shooter owned Darjeeling locomotive, waiting to back onto the next incoming train at the SBR’s terminus. This was during the SBR’s steam, car, traction engine rally and beer festival, with nine steam engines working on the 2ft gauge system. No.19 (778) is seen once again, departing from Statfold Junction Station on 9/10. Alongside, 0-6-0T HC 1172/24 Alpha stands near the signal box to back onto the next arrival. (Both photographs by Robin Patrick)