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NARROW GAUGE STEAM LOCOMOTIVES
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OF GREAT BRITAIN & IRELAND
2nd edition
A fully revised and updated edition of the complete guide to all narrow gauge steam locomotives known to exist in Great Britain and Ireland of track gauges 1f t 6in to 4f t 6in. Details are provided for every locomotive of builder’s number, year of construction, type of locomotive, gauge, location and running number/name. Footnotes provide further information about many locomotives as appropriate. The book has been divided into six main sections to reflect the category of builder. Within each section, locomotives are listed in alphabetical order of builder, then in numerical order so that it can be easily seen how many of each type or builder exist in Great Britain and Ireland today. This volume incorporates the huge number of changes that have taken place since the first edition was published in 2014. A5 size. 80 pages.
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50 Years of the Western Locomotive Association 50 Years of the Western Locomot
The story of how a small group of enthusiasts came together to save a ‘Western’ locomotive for preservation in the 1970s. From the early escapades, ‘A Journey in Preservation’ tells how the WLA overcame a multitude of challenges and today manages the herculean task of maintaining a ‘Western’. 288 pages. A4 size. Hardback.
£44.95 plus P&P. Save £5 by visiting www.platform5.com and using the promotion code WLA50 at the basket, or order by post/telephone from Platform 5 Mail Order. Of fer ends 30/04/2025.
THE RAILWAYS OF KENT in the 21st Century
Highly accomplished railway photographer and author David Staines explores Kent ’s railways across the f irst 25 years of the 21st century using more than 180 superb images that feature a surprisingly varied selection of traction. The photographs are complemented by extensive captions which are packed full of historical, social and railway-related information. 128 pages. A4 size.
£23.95 plus P&P. Save £2 by visiting www.platform5.com and using the promotion code RK21 at the basket, or order by post/telephone from Platform 5 Mail Order. Of fer ends 30/04/2025.
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Season of goodwill? Season of goodwill?
FIRST LINES FIRST LINES
Photos: T’is the season – the Bure Valley Railway’s Noel Night Train, with loco ‘Mark Timothy’ in charge, awaits departure from Aylsham with the station all lit up on 13th December. This year’s Santa season has proven challenging for many a railway... The inset, taken in October on the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway, we publish simply because it has an end-of-season feel about it. Time to look forward to the new one...
Photos: James
Kindred and Stuart Avery
Welcome to NGW190– the date on the front of this issue says January-February, denoting the start of a new year and hopefully some optimism for the future, but it’s the way of things that these words are being written in the depths of a December winter just 10 days before the 25th, and around me the festive chaos is in overdrive.
The Christmas season is more vital to many a heritage railway than perhaps many NGW readers realise. Santa Special trains, hated by many a purist, bring in more revenue in a few days than much of the rest of the season, and help make possible all those enthusiast-themed happenings that we all enjoy.
As a heritage line Trustee I fully appreciate the importance of Santa trains, and the effort that goes into organising them, so it was particularly upsetting to hear about the damage caused to many of our railways in early November as the country was buffeted by two major storms – something that I have to admit does seem to be becoming a more regular occurrence...
Having to cancel trains is not good news for any railway, particularly the Christmas services – as well as bringing in much vital funding, sending children home happy after a day of winter magic on the railway does much for the line concerned’s reputation and can possibly spark an interest in our railways among some of those young impressionable souls.
On this occasion, however, the effect will go much deeper, as the storms caused expensive and long-lasting damage – none more so than on the Brecon Mountain Railway, which suffered a major landslip, and its sister line the Vale of Rheidol Railway. Clearing around 100 fallen trees from a line that runs high along a ledge in remote countryside will potentially keep the VoR’s maintenance team occupied until the start of the 2025 operating season – never mind all the work they already had planned for the winter months... Two hundred reasons To better things; as I mentioned the start of a new year brings reasons for optimism and 2025 is a special one – the 200th anniversary of the opening of the world’s first public railway between Stockton and Darlington. The narrow gauge is playing a full part in the planned celebrations, and in one aspect it seems to be leading them.
Previous anniversaries have seen major cavalcades of standard gauge locos – the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway’s ‘The Earl’ even took part in the ‘Rocket 150’ event in 1980, carried on a well wagon. But it seems no big cavalcade was planned this year...
Step forward the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railway and its forward-thinking manager Paul Lewin. The railway marks its own anniversary this year, 70 years since
No 190 – Subscribe at www.narrow-gauge-world.co.uk it was preserved, and the celebration weekend will now feature its own cavalcade, on 22nd June.
Paul’s intention, as detailed over the page, is to have 200 powered wheels running over The Cob into Porthmadog, bringing together for the first time the entire FF&WHR steam loco fleet. It promises to be epic – we will be there, will you? Green shoots I was shocked to be told by the Bure Valley Railway’s Andrew Barnes, when getting the information for our piece on page 39 describing the line’s new battery-electric loco, that there has been quite a lot of criticism of this “green box on wheels”.
The new BVR no 2 is a bangup-to-date example of narrow gauge engineering, and just as importantly it sends a message of sustainability – it produces no emissions, and even generates its own electricity.
The loco has been commissioned for a purpose – not to replace the steam services, but to work specific trains, especially those at times of fire risk when steam can’t be used. This loco will keep the railway running when in other circumstances it would have to stop, thus protecting the steam services...
The Bure Valley should be congratulated in again showing great initiative, just as it did with researching alternative sources of fuel for its steam locomotives... Enjoy your NGW...
Andrew Charman
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