HPMRS Raildate Roundabout

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RAILDATE ROUNDABOUT

More things culled from RAILDATE up to 31/12/00, plus anything else that's come my way.

Interesting statistics

In 1830 Stephenson's Rocket went from Liverpool to Manchester in 1 hour. First North Western last week promised that the same journey can be made in 1 hour, 14 minutes.

In 1895 the Flying Scotsman arrived in Edinburgh 6 hours and 19 minutes after leaving London. If you want to do the same journey now, it will take you 8 hours and 12 minutes.

West Country Class

Wadebridge locomotive restoration project:

http://www.wadebridge34007.co.uk

Princess Royal Class

The Princess Elizabeth Locomotive Society:

http://www.6201locosociety.co.uk

Princess Royal Class Locomotive Trust homepage:

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~prclt/

A1 Class

Pictures of the new-build A1 Pacific no. 60163 "Tornado" along with other late-breaking news can now be found at Heritage Railways Magazine's website:

http://www.heritagerailway.co.uk

Class 33

A new site devoted to Cromptons. It contains History, News, and an attempt to get picture of each of the 98 Class 33 locomotives:

http://www.biglowe.freeserve.co.uk/Crompton

Class 37

Class 37 renumbering pages, making them easier to read, also updated with the latest number changes. The original preformatted layout has been replaced by proper tables:

http://greywall.demon.co.uk/Text10.html

A Class 37 website which has been updated with new photos:

http://members.netscapeonline.co.uk/browns762/

Website updated to include class 37s on the Wirral:

http://www.merseyjcn.freeuk.com

The Class 37/4 Preservation Project website is now open to the public. There is much work still to be done to the website, not least to the locomotive logs, the photo gallery will be uploaded soon and any help or contributions in terms of recorded workings, photos, etc. are most welcome.

For those who don't know, the Class 37/4 Preservation Project has been set up with the sole aim of preserving one of the remaining 37/4's when they bow out of traffic over the next few months and years. It is hoped that an inagural meeting will be held soon for the project to establish a committee and start working towards our goals.

http://www.class37project.org.uk

Class 45

Views of all 50 ETH 'Peaks' are at:

http://members.nbci.com/_XMCM/mgo148/45100.html

Class 47

Class 47 renumbering pages, making them easier to read, also updated with the latest number changes. The original preformatted layout has been replaced by proper tables:

http://greywall.demon.co.uk/Text9.html

Class 50

The Fifty Fund Website ( http://www.fiftyfund.org.uk) has been updated again.

http://www.fiftyfund.org.uk

Class 50 Photo Gallery: http://www.class50.co.uk

Class 56

The new web site dedicated to the class 56 diesel has opened:

http://www.class56.co.uk

Information on the Class 56 Group and the class in general can be found at:

http://www.gridiron.org/

Class 66

Class 66 Archive: http://www.acumenia.co.uk/66archive.htm

Class 67

Class 67 Archive: http://www.acumenia.co.uk/67archive.htm

Class 73

To join The Class 73 gen list, mail a blank message:

mailto:73-gen-subscribe@smartgroups.com

Website updated to include class 73s on the Wirral:

http://www.merseyjcn.freeuk.com

Railcars

The Railcar Association web site now contains a gallery of works pictures of the articulated railcar built by the LMS in 1937.

http://www.railcar.co.uk/Gallery/LMS.htm

General Diesels

Sulzers galore at:

http://members.xoom.com/MGO148/gen.html

Swindon Diesel Preservation Society:

http://www.seventwenty.demon.co.uk

A couple of BR diesel locomotive information websites, offering comprehensive information:

http://www.ralph9000.freeserve.co.uk/railways/locolist.htm

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/nigelemery

BR Diesel Web updated to include additional photos of additions to Class 40, 45 and 57 and Soundfile additions for Class 24, 37, 40, 52 and 57.

Problems with webhosting have been playing havoc with the BR Diesel Web site recently although things seem to be a little better now. The last update was a recording of class 40s D335 and D345 together on the ELR in November:

http://listen.to/br-diesel

A new railway enthusiast's "Classic Traction" website:

http://www.iabg01952.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk

A very interesting, albeit brief history about many of the early British diesel locomotive building comapnies and their subsequent mergers is on the Marconi plc (as GEC became known is November 1999) website:

http://www.marconi.com/about_marconi/heritage/ah5.html

A fascinating time-line family tree is also available: http://www.marconi.com/about_marconi/heritage/images/roots.gif

with individual compny histories thus:

English Electric: http://www.marconi.com/about_marconi/heritage/ee_hist.html

Associated Electrical Industries (AEI): http://www.marconi.com/about_marconi/heritage/aei_hist.html

Metropolitan-Vickers: http://www.marconi.com/about_marconi/heritage/mv_hist.html

British Thomson-Houston (BTH): http://www.marconi.com/about_marconi/heritage/bth_hist.html

GEC Alsthom: http://www.alstom.com

A copy of the GEC booklet 'Everything Electrical: a Brief History of GEC' is also available in Adobe PDF format to download. (0.9Mb)

http://www.marconi.com/about_marconi/heritage/everything.pdf

An updated website with 7 NEW AVIs of UK locomotives:

http://www.moggy180.freeserve.co.uk

Trams

A website dedicated to Blackpool trams in 1962:

http://www.xngc.freeserve.co.uk/blackpool.htm

Underground

A new web site 'Underground Archaelogy' has been launched where you will find it a photo gallery of underground sites divided into five categories: Mines & Quarries, Transport (Railways, Canals etc), Military, Cold War, Miscellaneous:

http://www.swanley1.freeserve.co.uk

The light-hearted guide to the London Underground:

http://www.lewstube.co.uk

and Thameslink:-

http://www.lewstube.co.uk/link

Ashby and Nuneaton Joint Railway

The following link claims to be "A Short History of the Ashby & Nuneaton Joint Railway":

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ChrisSimmons/ashorthi.HTM

Freightliner

Freightliner now have a website:

http://www.freightliner.co.uk

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway

A fascinating article on the L&YR's move to cross Bradford with Midland references (how they were opposed to the scheme):

http://www.marriott.u-net.com/cross_bradford.htm

Lynton and Barnstaple Railway

The twenty-ninth and final page of photos for the Lynton & Barnstaple Fotofest 2000, partially funded by the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway Association, have now been put up online. I hope they provide a useful resource to railway historians, modellers and enthusiasts throughout the world. Please may I request that people who wish to look at the pictures read the statement on the contents page of the Fotofest.

All photographs have been put in the public domain so that everyone may benefit from them. The copyright to these photos is owned by the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway Trust, although we are indefinitely allowing people to download the pictures and use them however they desire.

To gain access to the 243 photographs from on and around the old railway trackbed, just go to:

http://www.lynton-barnstaple-railway.org

Midland Railway

These are all Midland Railway, but you can dig around on this site and find others, no doubt:

Some 4F photos from a trawl of recent-ish alt.binaries.pictures.rail:

http://www.railfan.net/railpix/ABPR/november00/11-25-00/44274.jpg http://www.railfan.net/railpix/ABPR/december00/12-09-00/44290.jpg http://www.railfan.net/railpix/ABPR/december00/12-02-00/44102.jpg

A couple more photos from Ron Healey on abpr. The first is of an M&GN loco with what looks like a reboilered Johnson in the background.

http://www.railfan.net/railpix/ABPR/december00/12-16-00/mXgn_33.jpg

And another 4F photo, this time piloting a 9F (somehow I expect a 4F to look a lot smaller than this when set next to a 9F -- it almost makes the 9F look small.)

http://www.railfan.net/railpix/ABPR/december00/12-16-00/44419X92018.jpg

The web page of photos from the Midland Railway Society collection has now gone on the public web site at:

http://irwell.mimas.ac.uk/~zzaascs/mrsoc/gallery/coll/

If anyone has further notes to add to the captions please email them to our Secretary, Giles Brown at giles.brown@tnt.co.uk.

This web page as some photos of Derby works in MR days and number 10000:

http://www.derbyviews.fsnet.co.uk/railway.html

An extract from 'Keene's Derby' by Maxwell Craven is now on the web.

Please note that this extract is in a temporary location and is very much abridged to briefly detail his life and his involvement with the Midland Railway Company only.

http://www.wheaty.co.uk/keene/keene.html

Midland Record:

http://www.midlandrecord.com/

Barrow Hill Engine Shed Association

http://www.shu.ac.uk/city/community/bhess

Bournemouth

According to RAIL No. 390 page 16 picture caption...

"The refurbished Bournemouth station was formally reopened on Friday August 4th by Queen Victoria who arrived on the 1136 Wareham-Waterloo service."

Is this a ghost service?!!

Box Hill Tunnel

An Anorak's Paradise or a Passage to Narnia (a site full of intrigue):

http://www.angelfire.com/mn2/Oubliette/Boxhill.html

An index of similarly superb railway articles including the fabled 'strategic reserve':

http://www.angelfire.com/mn2/Oubliette/Contents.html

Carnforth

Peter E Davies is responsible for The Carnforth Chronicle, which can be seen on the web at:

http://home.clara.net/gw0hqd/friends/chronicle/june2000/june2000.htm

If anyone has an interest in Carnforth, contributions to the Chronicle are apparently ALWAYS welcome!

East Anglia

Railway pics and sounds from East Anglia:

http://members.tripod.co.uk/avocet89

Euston

Take a look at the Euston webcam:

http://www.webviews.co.uk/affiliates/railtrack/cam.htm

Hatfield

Updated website (Photo archive) with pictures from the Hatfield disaster:

http://www.rail-net.co.uk

Lawrence Hill

Rod Blakeman received this from a friend of his, which sheds some light on the recent crash outside Bristol:

"My fellow colleague on the 72010 Hengist group is Paul Burns who drives for EWS as well as a passed steam driver. In conversation with him it appears that the 67xxx driver had a complete brake failure and ran through a yellow followed by a red light. When about 50 yards from the rear of the coal train he dived out of the cab while the train was still travelling at 40mph.

"When the police arrived they could find no sign of the driver and some time later found a battered and bloody driver wandering in a state of complete shock on the track otherwise well apart from a smashed shoulder.

"This has still furthered the distrust of the 67s as no one like them and would sooner have a good old 47 or 37"

Liverpool

Photos of some of the drags from Liverpool Lime Street including some at St Helens Jcn and Earlestown. Also some more photos around the Ditton area added:

http://www.merseyjcn.freeuk.com

London

Transport Plans for the London Area:

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7069/tpftla.html

Manchester

See Class 101s on the Manchester south suburban lines to New Mills Central, Marple and Rose Hill, including views at many intermediate stations:

http://www.bevanp.in2home.co.uk/Manchester.htm

Midsomer Norton

There has been progress made at Midsomer Norton SDJR station. Track laying is not far off, and the flowers are back:

http://www.sdjr.co.uk

Old Oak Common

Photos from Old Oak Common Open Day:

http://www.merseyjcn.freeuk.com

http://www.moggy180.freeserve.co.uk

http://www.saturn-mig.co.uk/deltic

Oxford to Cambridge

Consortium website:

http://www.eastwestrail.org

Preston

Re-live the last years of scheduled B.R. steam workings in and around Preston:

http://www.bevanp.in2home.co.uk/Preston.htm

Settle-Carlisle

The Settle - Carlisle Railway Line website has been completely redesigned:

http://settlecarlisle.virtualave.net

Stirling-Dunfermline

Good railway news for a change! It has been reported on the Scottish news on the TV tonight that �6.5M is to be spent on reopening the Stirling - Dunfermline via Alloa line, with passenger services to be reintroduced to Alloa after a lapse of 30 years. The Alloa - Dunfermline section will be used for freight only. Timescale is reported to be within 18 months.

Swindon

STEAM, The Museum of the GWR at Swindon is open to the public for free during the weekend of 16-17th September as part of National Heritage Open Days - includes guided tours of GWR historic area - for those of you who haven't visited yet, its worth a visit. 130 Shops in nearby Great Western Designer village for wife/girlfriend.

Pete Piszczek has posted an excellent selection of black and white shots on news:alt.binaries.pictures.rail taken at Swindon Works in 1977. The 222 UK shots he has scanned so far (including these recent ones) are archived:

http://www.piszczek.co.uk

An updated my web site with a number of views of the scrap yard at Swindon in the 1970's featuring the untimely demise of Westerns, Warships and Hymeks. The pictures can be found in the 1970's Gallery at:

http://www.rail-uk.com (don't log on without a box of tissues nearby)

Wye ---

Pictures of Wye signalbox between Ashford and Canterbury West, mainly concerned with the Sykes lock and block:

http://users.breathemail.net/kinggoode

Heritage Railways

English tourist board has announced the "10 most popular steam railways" for 1999

1) North York Moors 277,870 2) Severn Valley 227,922 3) Ravenglass and Eskdale 207,354 4) Ffestiniog 186,144 5) Lakeside and Haverthwaite 170,000 6) Paignton & Dartmouth, Kent (!) 170,000 7) Bluebell 168,341 8) Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch 154,936 9) West Somerset 153,832 10) Swanage 152,276

I cant believe that Ratty is the countries 3rd most popular railway, outstripping Ffestiniog and Bluebell!

Frustrated by hunting around dozens of websites for the latest heritage railway news? Fed up with clicking through several pages only to find nothing has changed since your late visit?

Let NewsExpress do all the hard work for you. NewsExpress gathers news articles from all contributing websites and presents them to you as a single webpage with the most recent articles at the top. NewsExpress generates a fresh page with every visit so you can always be sure of seeing all the latest news articles the second they become available.

NewsExpress is hosted on the UK Heritage Railways website:

http://ukhrail.uel.ac.uk/cgi-bin/newsexpress

Bluebell Railway

Some new items of news from the Bluebell (with photos) are available on the web site:

http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/bluenews.html

The Bluebell Railway became, today, the first UK heritage railway to announce its WAP site. Point your wap-enabled mobile phone at:

http://wap.bluebellrailway.co.uk

The Bluebell Railway has completed the purchase of the last two pieces of land between Kingscote and East Grinstead in private ownership. There are two remaining tracts of land not in private ownership for which negotiations are at an advanced stage. This means that Bluebell owns the Trackbed immediately north of Kingscote to the land north of the viaduct.

Extensions Director Jim Turtle will begin planning the works and infrastructure required immediately. Line clearance and fencing operations have already begun and can progress northwards in earnest.

Churnet Valley Railway

Latest information can be found on its web site under the new URL:

http://www.churnet-valley-railway.co.uk

and not the one that has been published since the beginning of the year.

A member of the CVR Motive Power Dept has purchased Derek Foster's (Llangollen-based) ex USA Transport Corps S160 2-8-0. The locomotive is, I understand, in full running order and will become a CVR based loco. Within six months of arriving at Cheddleton it will be repainted into all black livery. Certainly an interesting loco for the Stations At War weekend!

East Lancashire Railway

http://www.burydiesel.freeserve.co.uk/

Ecclesbourne Valley Railway

There is a new e-group for the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway Society (aka Derby-Wirksworth). It is not closed to members - anyone with an interest in the reopening of the Wirksworth branch is welcome to join. You'll find it at:

http://www.egroups.com/mygroups

And if you would like to learn more about the wirksworths_railway group, please visit

http://www.egroups.com/group/wirksworths_railway

I believe that to join, you can send a message to:

wirksworths_railway-subscribe@egroups.com

but I must admit, I haven't tried this myself.

Some further information about the society...

"The Ecclesbourne Valley Railway Society (EVRA) supports WyvernRail's efforts to reopen the picturesque 10-mile Duffield to Wirksworth branch line in Derbyshire, England. WyvernRail has obtained a Light Railway Order for the Duffield to Wirksworth branch and has gained Railtrack's agreement in principle to lease the line and, eventually, permit WyvernRail's trains to run into Derby using the Midland Main Line.

"The company believes that a rare opportunity exists to develop the line by finding new markets. Wirksworth is located on the edge of the Peak District National Park, yet close to the major centres of population in the East Midlands. An attractive and independently minded town, Wirksworth has received awards for regeneration and the sensitive development of tourism. The town is renowned for a sense of community spirit and presents an opportunity for the complementary development of a means of transport that will relieve the local road system."

Gloucester and Warwickshire Railway

Cheltenham extension works and flash buck welding:

http://www.manley.ezesurf.co.uk/page1.htm

Some pictures of the recent Gloucestershire & Warwickshire diesel gala are contained at:

http://www.cheltenhamextension.fsnet.co.uk

and:

http://members.aol.com/gwrnews/latest.htm#Gala

The website for the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway is now has a new webmaster and has been updated and relaunched:

http://www.gwsr.plc.uk

At long last the railway is very close to getting the rail laid to Cheltenham Racecourse. The website is regularly updated after each day's work. There is also a screen saver slide show of the work so far:

http://www.cheltenhamextension.fsnet.co.uk

Great Central Railway

Steam Locomotive 'Taw Valley' painted red and named 'Hogwarts Express' for the launch of the popular Harry Potter books, is running passenger trains at the Great Central Railway each Saturday and Sunday until 18 November on Britain's double track main line steam railway:

http://www.gcrailway.co.uk

Keighley and Worth Valley Railway

Aficionados of the cult BBC comedy series "The League of Gentlemen" may be interested to know that the Christmas Special is being filmed at Oakworth Station on the K&WVR and one scene is a parady of the famous Railway Children scene where the children wave to the old gentleman.

There is however some Midland interest as a picture of one of the actor/writers will show:

http://www.kwvr.co.uk/local/local_media/dullmonty.JPG

For a full webpage of pictures of the filming at Royston Vasey aka Oakworth station, visit:

http://www.kwvr.co.uk/local

The Keighley & Worth Valley Railway's web site has had a major update for next year with a major re-design to fit in with the new house image. The style retains the traditional maroon & cream colours and Gill Sans typeface but uses ink drawings of the Line's award-winning stations as a major part of its theme.

There are also full details of events for next year including: Details of the Diesel Weekend (with a review of the last one); Diesel loco worked bank holiday services; A Free February for locals; A week of midweek running in February (with the DMU); Guided tours of the Line in February & June

Join the mailing list from the site for information updates or mailto:kwvr-subscribe@listbot.com

http://www.kwvr.co.uk

Llangollen Railway

http://www.llangollen-railway.co.uk/

Severn Valley Railway

Severn Valley Railway Diesel Gala photos:

http://www.rncb.ac.uk/md/svr

Welsh Highland Railway

This weekend, the Dinas-Waunfawr extension of the Welsh Highland Railway (Caernarfon) has been officially opened. To celebrate the event, the original 1906 Hunslet "Russell" visited from the WHR in Porthmadog, and in exchange the vintage "Palmerston" went to Gelert's Farm. A selection of pictures is available for viewing on the web:

http://www.whr.co.uk/WHR/new/gala2000

Cyprus

"In those days the English had a train that went from Magosa to Lefkosa, which stopped at all the villages in between. The train was a giant made of iron and wood. It had a loud scream when it moved and a roar when it ran that was heard from the other side of the island."

Nostalgic Memories and History of the Cyprus Railways :

http://www.turcoman.btinternet.co.uk/cyprus-trains-reminice.htm

Ireland

The IRRS (Irish Railways) have just updated their website:

http://www.irrs.ie

An interesting new preservation development in the RoI:

Belturbet Station, Railway Road, Belturbet, Co. Cavan, Ireland

http://www.belturbet-station.com

A few pictures of the Irish Hill of Howth tramway:

http://www.trolleybus.net/hoh.htm

A new NIR photo website where you will find a comprehensive range of photos and fleet summaries:

http://communities.msn.co.uk/NIRPhotos

CIE/Irish Rail photo album is up and running:

http://cieirishrail.homestead.com./index.html

Portugal

Portuguese Railway Photos (including some English Electric built locos):

http://www.PictureTrail.com/ericsfotos

Scotland

The Website for the Scottish Rover bashing simulator has a new address:

http://www.railrover.co.uk

South Africa

South African RailScene site update including new photos on Steam, Electric & Diesel Locomotives:

http://members.nbci.com/steamfan

USA

---

The National Corridors Initiative, Inc. is a non-profit dedicated to the establishment of high speed rail travel in the United States. The weekly web newsletter, "Destination:Freedom" includes articles and stories associated with rail travel, rail initiatives, and many of the latest goings-on toward that end.

We have the most recent and up-to-date images and news of the expansion of the "Northeast Corridor" and the new "Acela Regional" service and the "Acela Express" high-speed tilt-train which recently went into revenue service. You can also find a host of information on other rail services and news-of-interest as well. A membership option in NCI will soon be available at the web site. Watch for it sometime after the Christmas holiday:

http://www.nationalcorridors.org/

Wales

The Welsh Railways Research Circle meets every month and always welcomes new members. All aspects of Welsh railway history are covered including every company throughout the whole of Wales and the Marches. During the summer meetings take the form of outdoor walks and during the winter months indoor meetings are held in Cardiff. To find out more about the Circle visit their web site:

http://members.tripod.co.uk/wrrc/

Zimbabwe

For those interested in Zimbabwean Railways, the Bulawayo Railway Museum launched its own website page in July:

http://www.museum.com/jb/museum?id=24280

Cambridge University Railway Club

http://www.cam.ac.uk/societies/curc

Stephenson Locomotive Society

The new SLS site is now about 99% complete is therefore being officially launched. There are a few minor tweaks still to be added but please bear with those for now.

Society e-mails should go to stephensonloco@btinternet.com

http://www.stephensonloco.fsbusiness.co.uk

General Railway Sites

GB Rail is back up and running again:

http://www.gbrail.org.uk

Excel And MS Word lists of locos, wagons, etc:

http://www.gbrail.org.uk/downloads.html

Rail Elite is updated and refurbished with lots of news photos:

http://www.railelite.n3.net

Link Rail UK, lists over 1500 sites:

http://www.link-rail.com/uk

A Link Rail UK WAP site:

http://www.wapdrive.com/linkrailuk

The national rail website seems to be easy to use, up 2 date, and has a modern format:

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk

Compuserve's free TrainNet forum:

http://go.compuserve.com/TrainNet?loc=us&access=public

Graeme Wall's Transport Miscellany pages:

http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail.html

The UK's new resource for all rail enthusiasts - Latest Industry News, Searchable web directory, Free Classifieds, Bulletin Board (fairs, exhibition, etc):

http://www.therailwaystation.co.uk

More additions have been made to the Railway Technology website:

http://www.railway-technology.com

The Advanced Railway Research Centre of the University of Sheffield has revamped its webpages. Updated with project press releases and details:

http://www.arrc.shef.ac.uk

A couple of good 'bashing' websites (for those of you who enjoyed Channel 4's recent documentary):

http://www.timewarp.abelgratis.com

http://www.dreadful.org.uk

The Railway Heritage Committee web-site:

http://www.rhc.gov.uk

Photographs

Rail-Photo has been updated:

http://www.rail-photo.co.uk

Website updated with locomotive diagrams, photos, signalling, sound files, etc.:

http://members.xoom.com/steamfan

Adam's Railway Pages - a new site with picture galleries featuring traction from the 1980s to today and a page dedicated to N Gauge modelling.

http://freespace.virgin.net/adam.warr

Over 150Mb of UK Rail Photos Online: http://www.railpics.co.uk

There is a new Phantasrail Gallery - entitled Phantasrail Digital - featuring shots taken with a Nikon D1 camera:

http://www.byteseye.demon.co.uk/index.htm

The Phantasrail Digital (2) Gallery has been updated with shots including A3 Pacific "Flying Scotsman" on an excursion from London to Inverness on October 17, 2000. Other photos show the UK in the last 2 weeks:

http://members.nbci.com/phantasrail/D3

Updated website to include new pictures of class 56/60/66 from Barnetby station plus extra pics:

http://www.moggy180.freeserve.co.uk

Kevin Poynor's Railway Gallery updated:

http://freespace.virgin.net/kevin.poynor

'The Junction' photo-website has been updated:

http://www.thejunction.org.uk

John Robinson joins the Rail-Photo Web Site. John is renowned for his fantastic night photography:

http://www.rail-photo.co.uk

Rail Elite:

http://www.railelite.n3.net

A new web site is now complete featuring photographs taken by the webmaster from the 1970s to the present day and is divided into separate galleries featuring each decade, mainly from the south and south west:

http://www.rail-uk.com

A website has been updated to include new photographs. For example, visit Entwistle, Kearsley, Tyldesley and Darcy Lever viaduct on the Wigan & Bolton web page, see a green Class 71 at Folkestone, a 76 at Sheffield Victoria, visit Shippea Hill, Broad Street & other locations on the UKRail page. Go on a day trip to Boulogne in 1967 to see the some of the last remnants of SNCF steam on the European page.

http://www.bevanp.in2home.co.uk

An updated webpage with the addition of some more photos:

http://www.moggy180.freeserve.co.uk

Old Maps

Anyone who likes old maps might find this site very useful:

http://www.old-maps.co.uk

Note the hyphen. There's also a http://www.oldmaps.co.uk which is different.

The site gives on-line access to 1890-ish (I think) OS maps. You need something like Paint Shop Pro or equivalent to print them. But there's a Help button which explains what you have to do.

Useful tip when viewing a map: Right click on the mouse, which will bring up a floating menu. Select View Frame in another Window. You then get to see the map in much more of your screen.

Railway Atlas

The 'New Adlestrop Railway Atlas', a map of the passenger railways of the Midlands now includes coverage of Birmingham, Stoke-on-Trent, Nottingham, and surrounding areas. Both present-day and closed lines are shown:

http://www.systemeD.net

Apparently there are a couple of errors in the Nottingham area. The line running north from Kimberley to Eastwood & Langley Mill should be from the former Great Northern line (Kimberley East) and not from the Midland at Kimberley as shown. This branch continued to Pinxton.

The link between the GC and GN at Bagthorpe Junction is partially incorrect. The north-east connection was a simple curve between the lines, while the west-south connection left the GN on its north side, passed below both the GN and GC to join the GC on its east side. As drawn you have got a connection from the GC on its east side passing across/below the GC to join the GN on its south side - a sort of simplification of the two independent links

The "New Addlestrop Railway Atlas" user interface has been refined and many corrections have been recently implemented. This combines a survey of the modern railway scene (freight and passenger lines & stations still open) whilst showing closed lines and stations. The cartography is very clean and crisp.

http://www.systemeD.net/atlas/

It still only covers the Midlands, Home Counties and South West not Devon & Cornwall) at the moment.

Railwayana

http://www.railwayana.net

opens for business on Tuesday 28th Nov 2000. The site concentrates on Railwayana hardware with Nameplates, Totems, enamels, etc plus Posters and Carriage prints.

We have ads for sale, exchange and wanted, a monthly auction, a valuation service and much more. Please pop in and have a look. Any comments would be appreciated.

Collecting British Railwayana website with on-line shop for Railway books, Videos and OO gauge locos:

http://www.d444.freeserve.co.uk

Joyce's World of Transport Ephemera:

http://www.joyce.whitchurch.btinternet.co.uk

Collector's Corner has moved to George Hudson Street in York.

There's a new email list for collectors to discuss railwayana related topics. To subscribe send a blank email to:

discuss_railwayana-subscribe@egroups.com

A collector of steam whistles in the UK:

http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/gary.peach/whistle.htm

And in the USA:

http://www.steamwhistles.com

Railtours

The UK Railtours Online website has been updated several times recently. There is now a list of diesel and electric hauled railtours stretching from now until March 2001, a lot of photos, a chatroom, tour timings and more links than ever before:

http://www.ukrailtours.co.uk

Railway Books and Magazines

For those of you who wish to plug the holes in your magazine and railway society journal collections...

http://www.fotec.co.uk/mehs/tee/magland.htm

Magtrak - A service provided by TEE Publishing to obtain rare and out of print magazines.

Whether it be magazines or out of print books, their stock is "vast" and constantly being added to. At any one time they will have over 25,000 magazines available, either as individual issues or complete years/volumes.

You can either e-mail a form to them and they will advise you as to the availability and you would then purchase them in the usual way. Or preferably, fill in your credit card number and as issues appear they will be charged to your account and posted on to you.

A word of warning, however - if, by not keeping them properly advised of any change of requirement, you receive an issue no longer required it cannot be returned for credit. Administration costs preclude this.

The cost of back issues at present varies according to title, age and quantity involved. They will endeavour to send magazines in groups whenever possible to save expense for all concerned.

The Times has a collection of letters regarding early railways at:

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/section/0,,265,00.html

It includes a letter from Charles Dickens to the Editor. There's some very interesting stuff in there.

A massive catalogue of rare and antiquaran books:

http://www.stanleyfish.com

To the query regarding suggesting a good on-line railway bookshop, preferably with stock lists and 2nd hand stuff, the following were suggested...

http://www.aerolite.co.uk/ http://www.thebookhouse.co.uk/ http://www.wiz.to/railwaybooks/ http://www.eagle.co.uk/steam/ http://www.zyworld.com/FullSteamAhead2/home.htm http://www.ltbooks.cjb.net/ http://www.railbooks.co.uk/ http://www.mdsbooks.co.uk/ http://www.abebooks.com/home/RAINGER http://www.motorbooks.co.uk/ http://motorail.e-webshopping.co.uk/ http://www.nenevalley-railwaybooks.co.uk/ http://www.net-rail.co.uk/ http://website.lineone.net/~tony.hillman/nevis.html http://www.nick-tozer.com/ http://freespace.virgin.net/nigelbird.books/ http://www.nostalgiacollection.com/ http://www.pattersonliddle.mcmail.com/ http://www.forsythe.demon.co.uk/ http://www.saxonct.co.uk/ http://www.stanleyfish.com/ http://website.lineone.net/~tony.hillman/carriage_shop.html http://www.pastimes.co.uk/transport/emporium/ http://www.rodneyw.freeserve.co.uk/ http://www.yesrail.clara.net/

Tourrett Publishing

http://www.tourret-publishing.co.uk/

Book orders appear to be sent free of postage - must be more profit on direct sales whilst accepting payment of postage than the loss when selling via booksellers.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel

The Design Museum in London is hosting an exhibition on the work of Isambard Kingdom Brunel in the Temporary Gallery until 25th February 2001. A copy of the press release in adobe acrobat is at the following location:

http://www.designmuseum.org/pdf/brunel.pdf

The webpage tells us... "In the first major exhibition to examine the engineering design of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, leading comtemporary architects and engineers assess the merits of Brunel's designs, giving both an historical and current view of the works. The six key projects featured include the Royal Albert Bridge, Saltash, Paddington Station, SS Great Eastern, the prefabricated hospital at Renkioi, Crimea, the Battle of the Gauges and the Thames Tunnel."

The Design Museum Shad Thames London SE1 2YD

District & Circle Line to Tower Hill and a pleasant 10 minute walk over Tower Bridge.

http://www.designmuseum.org

Adults: �5.50, Students: �4.50, Concessions: �4.00, Family: �15.00

Victor Meldrew R.I.P.

It was, I suppose, inevitable. Floral tributes are being left outside Shawford station, where a hit-and-run accident resulted in both of Victor Meldrew's feet being firmly in the grave, where previously there had apparently been only one. One reads "Keep on moaning" and another, in a clear reference to a well-known quiz programme that by coincidence produced its first top-prize winner at the same time as Victor's demise was being screened on BBC1 on Monday, reads "I don't want to be a millionaire". Members might like to go and take a look...

Having seen the programme (and having heard before that Shawford station had been used) there was little to suggest that he was standing outside *any* station when the grim reaper decided to call. There must have been some reason why they chose Shawford, but it wasn't obvious.

Professor Jack Simmons R.I.P.

It was reported in Wednesday's 'Times' newspaper that the author and historian Professor Jack Simmons passed away on September 3rd, aged 85. His obituary was headed by a photograph of the Midland Grand Hotel at St.Pancras station and want on to comment that Professor Simmons' book on the subject published in 1968 'played a considerable part in influencing opinion and saving the station'. There is mention of the importance of his other written works although one of his more interesting, 'The Railway in Town and Country' did not warrant a mention.

Railway Film and Video

Very short AVIs now included on a website. All clips are around 5 seconds long using a digital camera (hence the length!)

http://www.moggy180.freeserve.co.uk

A series of compilation videos available, taken over the last two years working on the railways and featuring various railway and bus events. Unfortunately mostly hand-held shots but the subject matter often interesting. Fuller descriptions at:

http://members.netscapeonline.co.uk/johnsbuses3

http://www.busweb.co.uk (select johnsbuses)

The Ladykillers

Now added to The Ladykillers 'then & now' website - views of tunnel mouth, Vale Royal and NLL taken from the *eastern* side of the line, view of the NLL taken from the tunnel mouth, the view from King's Cross station looking towards Pentonville Road:

http://freespace.virgin.net/martin.underwood/ladykillers/ladykillers.htm

Sir Alec Guinness

The Ladykillers being one of the all time great British movies, and we ought to be thankful that, for whatever reason (I remember not) the original actor chosen for the role of Professor Marcus, Alastair Sim, turned it down, thus opening the way for Sir Alec to excel!

(Interesting. A lot of people, when asked, think that Alastair Sim was in the film. Apparently Guinness shamelessly played the part in the style of his contemporary. To great effect, it would seem! ...Ed)

Beulah

An interesting picture archive:

http://homepages.enterprise.net/beulah/library/bus.html

British Transport Films - and other films made by railway companies in Britain:

http://homepages.enterprise.net/beulah/video/btf1.html

Bus Videos - a list of all bus video currently available in the UK:

http://homepages.enterprise.net/beulah/video/busvid.html

Trolleybusus videos - a list of all trolleybus video currently available in the UK:

http://homepages.enterprise.net/beulah/video/trolleyvid.html

Tram videos - a list of all tram video currently available in the UK:

http://homepages.enterprise.net/beulah/video/tramvid.html

Railway Art

For anyone interested in superb examples of steam railway art, there is a new site called Black Five. My father has been painting for 50 years and his spare time (now full time - he's retired!) passion is steam locos. The site features a collection of over 75 paintings:

http://www.BlackFive.com

Steam Engines and landscape watercolours - have just added new works to this site.

http://www.WareHouseArt.co.uk

Railway Games

If there are any gamers keen on playing 'Mornington Crescent':

http://morningtoncrescent.org

If anyone is interested, Microsoft have just released the first in game video clips for Train Simulator. Features our very own Settle & Carlisle. Have to say looks fantastic, apart from the lack of fences along the line.

Link is...

http://www.microsoft.com/games/trainsim/profile_settle_carlisle.asp

There is a short 30 sec clip which is a 3Mb download, the larger clip lasts nearly 2 mins, but is 13Mb :-(

There is also a gallery of screen shots which feature Ribblehead viaduct and an S&C station. There look to be too many trees around Ribblehead to me and the station building porch isn't right, but they have tried with the decorative barge boards.

If anyone is running the Train Driver 3 programme, there is now a Blue Pullman unit for it. A Class 42 Warship was used as the basis for the sound. You can download it from:

http://www.vernsrailpages.org.uk/download.html

A new rail simulation will soon be available from Maprail Research. The programme is not quite ready yet, but meanwhile have a look at the help page. This should give you a good idea what it's about:

http://www.maprail.com

Source of the best (allegedly), most realistic train driving simulator currently available. And it's free!

http://www.cornish-steam.co.uk/mechanik/index.html

A new simulation was launched this year for the PC, called "Signalling Centre Kings Cross". Its for Microsoft Windows version 3.xx, 95 and 98 - if you would like to download the trial version, view screen shots and obtain further information, visit:

http://www.sigcent.demon.co.uk