Happy New Year!

Happy new year everyone! New year, new start. And more engines to write about! Since I last wrote, quite a few things have happened. The Bluebell railway has turned 50, and the Petrol locomotive has gone into service (finally). Stamford has been moved on site at the Rutland Railway museum, it's moving closer and closer to a restoration, but probably not for a few years. But the big news is the Kings! King Edward II has run, and it's just getting the final touches, and King Edward I has been SOLD! (Dum-dum-DUUUUMMM!) Jeremy Hosking, the guy who owns more locos than BR did (well, maybe a bit of an exaggeration) has bought it, so we know it's in good hands. On the Mid Hants Railway, 80150 has arrived, as an exchange for a turntable. It will steam! Woohoo! I would put more, but I've not completely finished the latest edition of one of my favourite railway mags, so I'll get to work on that! Bye for now!

Long time no see!

Sorry it's been so long, folks, I just haven't found the time recently. A lot of stuff has happened since March though! Bluebell 50th, 45379's first steaming, the fire at the Watercress Line, Caley 828, the list goes on and on! Too much for a blog post, at any rate! But let's just look at the highlights, shall we? Well, there was the Bluebell 50th, which saw a LOT happen. Baxter, the petrol shunter and Stepney were all right as rain when the celebrations went on. I wasn't there to see it, but from what I saw on the website it seemed pretty awesome! Also in the big news was the fact that Tornado got withdrawn! Big news, eh? There are engines WAAAAYY older than Tornado that run faultlessly, so that just added to the drama! From what I've read it's something to do with the stays or something, so that's a bit serious. There's a lot more news, as previously mentioned, but these posts can only take so much railway news, can't they? Well, see ya!

In the works at the Bluebell

Well, well ,well! 178's back as Pioneer II, and boy does it look great! Plus, Baxter's boiler is back in the frames, and now he's waiting for various things such as cladding ,tanks etc. 323 is in the works now, stripped down to her frames, Stepney's frames have been washed and the boiler is under overhaul, 847 has had it's cab and smokebox replaced on the rolling chassis, 263 is having it's wheels painted and 73082 is, well, I don't quite know what's goin' on there. Still, 2010 is shaping up to be one heck of a year, what with Cromwell opening the NNR's rail connection to the national network! See ya soon, and hopefully even more will have happened by then! Byee!

Happy New Year!

Happy (belated) New Year! 2010 looks set to be a brilliant year for steam, and it has already given us B473 and 47406! With 178 set to return this weekend, others set to return in time for Bluebell 50 and many main line and heritage railway returns like Britannia and 80097 due this year, 2010 is almost certainly going to be a brilliant year for steam! And as a New Year's resolution I'll try to post more!

Merry Christmas!

This is my last post of '09, just to say Merry Christmas and wish you a Happy New Year. 2009 has been a great year for steam, with 6229 being re-streamlined, 6100 returning to service, 70013 and 60163 both having great main line years and the return of 34059 Sir Archibald Sinclair, the only rebuilt BoB to steam in preservation. See you in 2010!

Small Yankies

Hi, sorry for the long wait. Just another point about Yankies, this time the Yankie Tanks. Four are preserved and although they have all worked in preservation only one is currently operational, one is on display at the KWVR museum in a nice condition whilst the other ones are on display in a not-so-nice condition. They're very useful machines and there's no reason why we shouldn't have more than one in service. I like these engines and I hope to see all of the static ones work once more.

Hurry up!

The Bluebell Railway has only one petrol locomotive, as you may already know, and it is virtually complete, apart from a few pieces. WHY DON'T THEY HURRY UP AND GET IT WORKING?! It's as complete as B473, and she returns in December, so they could focus a bit more effort on 957 (the petrol loco) and run in TWO engines at Christmas. Then the team working on 957 could be amalgamated with the Villa Team and they could work on Baxter. Exciting stuff, eh?