PRESERVATION

‘Goyle' re-enters preservation; LSL hires CFPS ‘40'; Diesel running days on the increase; Work restarts on WLA ‘Westerns'; IDRS donor ‘58' arrives at Wirksworth.

THE future of No. 31255 at the MidNorfolk Railway has been assured following its purchase from Harry Needle Railroad Company by a group of members of the railway. The Class 31 had been stored on the line since May 2018.

No. 31255 had previously had a 15 year spell in preservation at the Colne Valley Railway (Essex).

Purchased from EWS by the Colne Valley Diesel Group in late 1999, it moved to the line in February the following year. It had previously been used for paint trials at Toton, gaining EWS livery, a colour scheme it carried throughout its time at the CVR.

The loco saw regular use on the short line until 2015, when it was sold to HNRC for possible commercial work. At the time, HNRC was in the process of acquiring a number of ‘31s' and, although they were used at private sites such as Long Marston and the Weardale Railway, none ever saw use on Network Rail tracks.

No. 31255 remained at the

Colne Valley Railway until 2018, when it moved to the MNR for continued storage.

EWS DUO

While many will remember No. 31255 as part of the Civil Engineers fleet in the North West in its final years of service, it was actually an Eastern Region loco for most of its time in BR service.

Between 1971 and 1987, it was based at Stratford, March and Finsbury Park depots and may well have operated over what is now the Mid-Norfolk

Railway before the line's closure.

Work to return No. 31255 to working order has already begun, and it is hoped to have the loco back in traffic for the 2021 running season (the line has yet to reopen following the Covid-19 pandemic). Full restoration, including bodywork repairs, is likely to take longer.

The only other Class 31 to ever carry EWS livery, No. 31466, has recently received a fresh coat of paint in the same colours at the Dean Forest Railway.

E

EM2 ON DUTCH DISPLAY

MARKING 50 years since the export of the first ‘EM2' to Holland for use by Nederlandse Spoorwegen, No. E27003 Diana (NS No. 1501) has been placed on display at Utrecht Railway Museum.

‘26' ENGINE PROGRESS

REPAIR work on the heads, pistons and liners of the power unit from No. D5343 (26043), which was stripped earlier this year, is progressing at the Gloucestershire-Warwickshire Railway.

BO'NESS LANDSLIDE

THE Bo'ness & Kinneil Railway has launched an ‘Emergency Landslide Appeal' after the line suffered significant damage, with a number of landslides occurring following the storms on August 11/12. Repairs are expected to cost around £100,000.

CLASS 11 REPAIRS

THE overhaul of long-term Severn Valley Railway resident shunter

No. 12099 at Kidderminster is continuing, with the power unit being stripped down and the main generator receiving attention.