13th June 2008

20 110 & D7612 Have arrived at Bishops Lydyeard, along with 37 037, ready for the "West Somerset Railway's" Mixed Traffic Weekend on the 13th to 15th June.

3rd June 2008

20 110 & D7612 Left Buckfastleigh today, along with 37 037 and 31 108 on their Summer holiday trip to Keighley. As I write this, I'm told they are happily stabled at Crewe for the night and will carry on to Keighley tomorrow.

20 110 will be the vacuum translater between a naming ceremony train and the DRS 37 087 that is to be named "Keighley & Worth Valley Railway" on Thursday. Friday to Sunday all these locos will be operating at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway Gala and by the following weekend they should have made their way South West as far as Williton, where they will take part in the West Somerset Railway's Transport Gala. For more details, follow the links in the paragraph below.

These two Pictures courtesy & © Phil Seymour.

29th March 2008

We are off on our most major Summer Tour yet this June: 200110 and D7612 will be joined by The DDS's 37 and 31 108 for a rail convoy to the "Keighley & Worth Valley Railway" for their Diesel Gala on Friday 6th to Sunday 8th June and on the way home they will visit the "West Somerset Railway" for their Mixed Traffic Weekend on the 13th to 15th June. Of course this is subject to availability and the passing of fitness to travel on network rail tests. So June will be an exciting month!

Three more pics of 33 002's turbo & Exhaust Stack goin in, Courtesy and ©Neil Canon
Next the exhaust pipework goes back, yet another heavy job! This is planned for Sunday 30th March.

11th February 2008

33 002 has had it's turbo refitted today. It has been away to a firm in Rotherham to be reuilt into a new casing, purchased from the South East Loco Group at Tunbridge Wells.

Next on the list is to refit the exhaust system, pressure test the water system and test the engine! Then we have a plumbing nightmare with the brake system, finnish off the electrics and it's done! Sounds so simple put like that.......

More pics of W55000, this Sunday the weather was kind to us, unlike it's debut day which was appalling!

3rd February 2008

W55000, the very first Gloucester RCW class 122 "Bubblecar" DMU was built in 1958.

Sunday 3rd February was a big day in it's history as it was returned to passenger traffic after 13 years of major restoration. It had a succesfull debut day, Neil Canon took the controls for the maiden voyage. It completed all three trips quite happily, despite the foul weather with the minimum of teething problems emerging. This unit was bought from the big railway by our treasurer, David Aldridge, whom with many hours of work for him and a few dedicated followers with many trials and tribulations along the way has finally paid off. To my knowledge, it has had a lot of bodywork attention, 2 rebuilt engines, new(ish) wheelsets and a rebuilt interior. David, Pete Burrow, Neil Canon, Alan Rushworth, Dick Holland and more recently, Tony Mutimer and Ray Lee deserve bags of credit for the fine job they've done.

These four Pictures courtesy & © Peter Burrow.