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Season?s greetings to all Forum members and visitors. We look forward to a new year of continuous railway development, new lines and new rolling stock, plenty to see, travel to and talk about, and of course it is worth leaving some time to reminisce!

PLA 79 is/was HE 2414 of 1941/1942. Not exactly an Austerity, but one of the type that led to the Austys, I think. These had smaller wheels. 4ft 0 1/2in rather than 4ft 3in. (Geoff Hill)

On Saturday 9th September Bob and I set off to St Pancras on the high speed. Because of engineering work we were then on what seems to be a ridiculously long trek to the Victoria line platform to pick up the Bakerloo for Paddington at Oxford Circus. We were booked on the 10.28 Swansea departure (spe...

Off by car as Castle Headingham is not well connected to the main lines! Ken had never been before, but Bob had been many times working on the ex ? Swanscombe No 1, which at that time was owned by the Gravesend Railway Society, and he even inveigled me into working on it a few times. However it was ...

From a quick scan, Eric Youlden reports: The only reference in the RO to the final period of 9083 and 9089 was in the February 1951 edition and is that they were taken from Swindon Stock Shed at the end of 1950 and went Gloucester. 9083 went on to Oswestry, but it is not certain that 9089 did. It wa...

East Kent Railway On Saturday 22nd July Bob and I met at Rochester Station and started the day out with a coffee and croissant sitting at a table as unlike the old station there is a refreshment facility. On the journey to Shepherds Well the disconnected track towards the dockyard at Gillingham was ...

The Shoulder of Lune (Saturday 18th March 2017) Bob and I started at Ebbsfleet, the only way to be reasonably sure of catching the railtour at 7.09 from Euston, joining the first train of the morning at 6.02, for which there was a surprising number waiting to get on. The tour topped and tailed by 67...

Yesterday (28th Feebruary) Geoff and I met at Abbey Wood Station. There are hoardings around the station building on the bridge, so nothing can now be seen of it from the platform. Stairs are being installed from the Crossrail platform, but the site of those from the North Kent island is hidden by h...

Fish & Chip Lunch on the Spa Valley Railway Yesterday (Thursday 16th February) caught, with Bob, the 10.04 from Strood to Tonbridge, with 66757 The West Somerset Railway coming up light engine from Paddock Wood while we were waiting for 375306. A rail grinder unit, including 79251 and named Martin E...

Midland Metro On Saturday, 31 December 2016, Bob and I caught the high speed to St Pancras, and were surprised to be held at Ebbsfleet to give way to an international train, something which we had not experienced before, arriving 10 minutes late at St Pancras. At Hoo Junction there appeared to be at...