STOP PRESS
WOLSZTYN READIES FOR WINTER
Steam services at Wolsztyn are to cross a further hurdle in September, with the arrival of coaches with heating ready for the winter. Trains have used carriages hired in from tour promoter Turkol since the resumption of regular working in May - but these are not fitted with heating, which becomes compulsory from mid-October. A pair of blue and cream ‘regional’ vehicles are expected to take their place. From September 3, a new timetable will feature trains departing Wolsztyn at 6.18am and 10.48am MondaysFridays, with the corresponding return workings leaving Leszno at 7.51am and 1.45pm. Services are also expected to return to the Poznan route once bridge work is completed; these previously ran on Saturdays.
SELKETAL ‘BUSTITUTION’ ENDS
The last remaining ‘bustitution’ on Germany’s Selketal lines was to end in early September - but there will still be only one daily engine in steam. Previous summers have featured two steam diagrams, three days a week, on the Gernrode section of the Harz metre gauge network - but the Thursday-Saturday ‘extra’ diagram remains railcar-worked until further notice. The summer timetable runs until November 5. Buses took over some services in the Selketal from the start of this year’s summer timetable in April, though the level of ‘bustitution’ was subsequently reduced (SR470).
AUSSIE GARRATT UP FOR AUCTION
A British-built Garratt has been put up for sale in Australia. New South Wales Government Railway ‘AD60’ 4-8-4+4-8-4 No. 6029 is being offered by Slattery Auctions Australia, with a deadline of September 15 for expressions of interest. It is owned by Canberra Railway Museum, which closed in November last year after its operator, the ACT division of the Australian Railway Historical Society, went into liquidation with debts of around $700,000 AUD following a slump in its freight haulage business.
4270 FOR EAST LANCS
GWR ‘42XX’ 2-8-0T No. 4270 has been announced as the second guest engine for the East Lancashire Railway’s Autumn Steam Gala on October 14/15, joining LNER ‘A4’ No. 60009 Union of South Africa.
DATE FOR GCR BRIDGE
A 1,000-tonne crane was due to install the deck of the Great Central Railway’s bridge across the Midland Main Line at Loughborough during an overnight engineering possession on September 2/3, marking the first major step towards reuniting the line with the GCR (Nottingham).