SIDELINES

Horden enters traffic at Tanfield…

NEWLY restored Andrew Barclay 0-6-0ST Horden (1015/1904) formally entered Tanfield Railway traffic on June 13, working its first ever revenue-earning passenger trains in the process. The 117-year-old veteran was also rostered to work on June 19/20 and 26/27, and again on July 4.

…as ‘Cochrane’ facelift begins at Marley Hill

TANFIELD Railway volunteers have begun work on a refurbishment of its stalwart RSH 0-4-0ST Sir Cecil A Cochrane (7409/1948). The former Redheugh Gas Works, Gateshead, loco is to have a new tank fitted and undergo a full repaint into the attractive RSH lined works livery. By June 6, the old tank had been removed, coupling and connecting rods taken off, and the paint work rubbed down.

Keighley No. 2 returns to Yorkshire

ANOTHER Tanfield Railway locomotive, ex-Keighley Gas Department Hawthorn Leslie 0-4-0ST No. 2 (2859/1911), spent much of June away at the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Railway. The visit marked the loco’s first return to Yorkshire in over 80 years, having left Keighley in around 1940 for a new career in Scotland serving the munitions industry.

Austin No. 1 to spend summer in Somerset

THE Llangollen Railway Trust’s Kitson 0-6-0ST Austin No. 1 (5459/1932) is to go on hire to the Somerset & Dorset Railway Heritage Trust at Midsomer Norton. The ex-Longbridge loco was expected to star alongside the now-unique ex-Croydon Gas Works Sentinel 4wVBT No. 7 Joyce (7109/1927) at the railway’s Mixed Traffic Gala on July 2-4 and will remain in Somerset until September.

Mid-Hants Railway to overhaul Kilmersdon

THE Somerset & Dorset Railway Trust has reached an agreement with the Mid-Hants Railway (MHR) to overhaul Peckett ‘R3’ 0-4-0ST Kilmersdon (1788/1929) at Ropley. The loco, which arrived at the MHR in March, has already been stripped and will require firebox work and new tyres before it can return to steam. The overhaul is due to be completed by next spring.