“OVERWHELMED” and “speechless” were just two of the words used by Battlefield Line director Adrian Lock to describe the success of the Leicestershire line’s 50th anniversary gala on October 18-20. The Shackerstone Railway Society had wanted to mark its five decades of operations at Shackerstone with something special, and this

THE feature by Fraser Pithie on the Morpeth Curve (RM Sept) was a fascinating read, which allowed me to re-live my involvement in the 1984 crash. We lived at 45 Low Stobhill at the time of the 1984 crash. I loved the fact there were trains at the bottom of my

A working replica of Stockton & Darlington Railway Locomotion No. 1, which hauled the world’s first public train on September 27,1825. Andrew Jeffrey. In less than 30 years at the beginning of the 19th century, steam engine technology went from stationary mining machines to powering the world’s first inter-city railway. In

TWO days of negotiations at the arbitration service ACAS have failed to avert multiple RMT strikes on South Western Railway in December.The walkouts, in the continuing dispute over on-train staffing and the role of guards, are set to begin on 2 December and continue without a break until 11 December

Mayor says HS2 needs a new name and new lookWEST Midlands Mayor Andy Street says HS2 should be rebranded, and provide a direct rail connection between Birmingham and Paris. In an article in The Times, the Mayor said ‘when intercity fast trains shift to HS2, we can open up Birmingham

Photo: PA With the end of the Virgin Trains franchise taking place at 01:59am on December 8 after 22 years of running trains between London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh, they’re going out with a bang! To celebrate all that Virgin has achieved since it launched in 1997, the company

Photo: PA With the end of the Virgin Trains franchise taking place at 01:59am on December 8 after 22 years of running trains between London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh, they’re going out with a bang! To celebrate all that Virgin has achieved since it launched in 1997, the company

THE pattern of Sunday rail timetables in Wales is set to change radically next month. Transport for Wales said the number of services would increase by almost half, with an extra 186, or 40 per cent, being introduced on 15 December for the winter timetable.Among the many changes, Maesteg will

Mark Smithers considers several important examples of narrow gauge and industrial steam locomotives which are not currently in the forefront of public attention. One of the more sobering aspects of the current domestic heritage railway scene is the large number of historic steam locomotives that can for one or more

FirstGroup directors branded ‘immature’ as shares fallTHERE is new turmoil at rail franchise operator FirstGroup, with a major investor branding its directors ‘immature’. Robert Tchenguiz has allied himself with 10 per cent shareholder Coast Capital to demand that First sells off its US businesses. First has already been challenged by