A SPECIAL preview Azuma is running from Harrogate to Leeds today, as a curtain-raiser for the launch of Intercity Express services between the North Yorkshire spa town and London.Following the timetable change on 15 December, Harrogate will gain five new London trains each weekday, in addition to the existing daily

JONATHAN Jones-Pratt’s ‘94XX’ 0-6-0PT No. 9466 has entered service at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway at the start of an extended hire to the Cotswold line.  The Hawksworth pannier was trialled on a round trip on October 19, double-heading with another Hawksworth type – ‘Modified Hall’ No.  7903 Foremarke Hall – during

HUDSWELL, Clarke 0-6-0ST Sir Robert McAlpine & Sons No. 31 made its first preservation-era visit to another heritage railway in late October when it joined ‘Swindonised’ Hudswell, Clarke 0-6-0ST No. 813 at Didcot Railway Centre.  No. 31 can usually be found on the late Sir William McAlpine’s private railway at Fawley Hill (now

THE A1 Steam Locomotive Trust (A1SLT) has announced it has received pledges for more than two-thirds of the £5million required to complete its new-build Gresley ‘P2’ 2-8-2 No. 2007 Prince of Wales.  Since its launch in late-September 2013 around 930 supporters have signed up to the ‘P2 for the price of

A LONG series of strikes has begun on South Western Railway today, after talks between the company and the RMT broke up without agreement before the weekend.The union has alleged that the failure to come to terms over the future pattern of on-train staffing and the role of guards was

Photo: Victoria Jones/PA Wire Commuters are being warned to expect delays as workers on South Western Railway begin a 27-day strike. Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union will walk out for 27 days between today and New Year’s Day, threatening travel chaos for commuters and Christmas shoppers. Passengers

THE Labour Party says it would cut regulated rail fares by 33 per cent if it gains power after the general election, and claims that the ‘average’ commuter would save £1,097 a year.Season tickets would also be updated to allow part-time travel, and the basis for rail tariffs nationally would

RAIL fares will rise by an average of 2.7 per cent in January, and train operators pointed out that this increase would be below last July’s RPI figure of 2.8 per cent.The Rail Delivery Group also pledged that its member operators ‘want to work with any future government to make

Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0 No. 46441 spent several years operating on the ELR following its appearance at the August 1993 Steam Railway Festival. Photo: Mike Taylor The East Lancashire Railway has become well known for its wide variety of steam locomotives that have operated along the line and while it would

Sunday, August 4, 1968 – the day named by British Rail for the end of ‘normal’ steam – saw just two engines with a full head of steam at Rose Grove.  Immaculately turned-out No. 48773 was all set for the Blackburn-Hellifield- Carnforth leg of the Locomotive Club of Great