Heritage News from Railways Illustrated

CHC Class 37 day

The Crewe Heritage Centre is organising a two-day gala event celebrating the 50 years of the Class 37s on November 27/28. The gates open at 1000 and close at 1600 both days. Admission is Adult £5 Child/oap £3 Family £10 Concessions £2.
There will be a display of Class 37s, including DRS’s 37683 and recently arrived 37108, as well as models, photo displays, photographic opportunities, memorabilia, refreshments, various steam locos, all other exhibits on site and other exhibits to come.
For further information please ring 07939 131490 or write to/visit Crewe Heritage centre, Vernon Way Crewe CW1 2DB.

Wensleydale’s Winter warmers

The Wensleydale Railway is running a series of interesting diesel-hauled trains on Sundays throughout November.
November 7 sees three return trips behind 47715 with over 100 miles of haulage for £12.50. A week later it’s the turn of 20020 and 20166 to work the duty including some trains double headed and others top-and-tailed.
November 21 offers the rare change for 03 haulage all the way from Leeming Bar to Redmire as 03144 visits the end of the line for the first time ever.
The final weekend, November 28, is the ‘Swale Bridge Explorer’ with 03144 and the two 20s working to Swale Bridge and beyond, back to Leyburn then return. The first three Sundays are £12.50 while the final weekend is priced at £15 for the day. There is a ‘season ticket’ price of £30 for all four Sundays.

GCR moves to February

The Great Central Railway has opted to move its January diesel day to February 12/13 to limit the chance of bad weather causing havoc at the event and also affecting turnout.
Locos are to be drawn from the home fleet and it is expected Class 20 D8098 and Class 45 D123 Leicestershire and Derbyshire Yeomanry will certainly star along with probably another two resident locos.
The GCR’s fleet has shrunk in recent weeks with long term visitors 26007, 37314 Dalzell and D9009 Alycidon all heading back to their home railways. In addition, Class 27 D5401 was due to be stopped for some much needed maintenance that could see it out of action for up to a year.
The GCR is looking at getting another Summer season guest loco in to bolster the fleet.

Bo’ness plans to celebrate the 37s

The Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway is looking at getting at least five Class 37s running for a 50th anniversary event on January 2.
As well as 37025 Inverness TMD, it is hoped fellow resident 37175 will be resurrected in time to star and give a pair of Scottish 37/0s working together. West Coast Railways and DRS are both expected to support the event with 37685 and 37409 Lord Hinton both requested. Finally first-built D6700 has been requested from the National Railway Museum at York.
It will be 37175’s first runs since January 2009 and also its first runs in BR blue since it was preserved. An hourly timetable from 0930 to 1830 will run offering over 100 miles of Class 37 haulage and 37175 is to be named at the event. There will the chance to drive a 37 in the confines of the station at Bo'ness for a fee.
An evening photo charter, with a maximum of 30 people, will be offered (two groups of 15) and will cost £20, or £10 if purchased with a day rover. Those interested in this should e-mail grahamscott@srpsdiesel.com with the subject line Golden Jubilee Photography.
The line up for the charter will include at least one loco outside the water column, one on a goods train, one on coaches and one near the signalbox.

Class 110 moves to Churnet

Unique Class 110 centre trailer 59701 has been moved from the Wensleydale Railway to the Churnet Valley to provide additional capacity during the line's extension celebrations.
The coach will be used as hauled stock during the first six days of events in November, which will see it work over a newly-opened eight-mile section of steeply-graded line. It will be used as a centre car in the line's resident class 104 set for the diesel galas on subsequent weekends and is set to stay at Cheddleton until the end of the year.
Preserved in 1993 as hauled stock at the Battlefield line 59701 moved on to the East Lancashire Railway in 1994 where it was fully restored to its original condition and where it was reunited with two driving vehicles to make a complete 110 set. It moved on to the Wensleydale Railway in 2003 and has been extensively used there, both as a DMU coach and as a loco-hauled vehicle. EGH

Railcar makes progress

Great Western railcar W20W is making steady progress at the Kent and East Sussex Railway following many years out of use.
The 1940-built unit's bogies have now been overhauled and only await brake blocks while the chassis itself has been painted. The engine injector pumps have been returned from overhaul and the engines have been run up while above the solebar the floor levels have been packed out and any repairs which were required to the frame have been completed. The vehicle is currently devoid of external body cladding but a start on this cannot be made until all mechanical components are in place due to flexing of the chassis. EGH

Will LEV2 be repatriated?

A unique British-built railbus which is languishing in an American Museum may be brought back to the UK if sufficient funds can be raised.
LEV2, which was built by D Wickham of Ware in Hertfordshire using a bus body supplied by Leyland Motors, is currently stored at the Connecticut Trolley Museum in East Windsor, Connecticut, where it is not seen as appropriate to its collection and has therefore been put up for sale.
The Railbus was ordered by the USA’s Federal Railroad Administration as part of an energy efficiency programme instigated by President Jimmy Carter following the oil crisis of the 1970s. At 15.6 metres long it was over three metres longer than the LEV1, the original prototype which worked both in the States and in the UK, and is now preserved at the North Norfolk Railway.
The Group behind the project has agreed a purchase price and has estimates for the shipping of the vehicle as well as interest from UK-based preservationists and railways which may provide a potential home. However it is now asking anyone who might like to be involved in the scheme, either practically or financially, to make contact on

lev2project@btinternet.com EGH