The Railway Magazine

The Railway Magazine has been published since 1897 and is now the UK's best-selling general interest rail title. Every month, The RM provides enthusiasts and professionals with authoritative and informed news coverage of the following: - Network Rail and the train operating companies - Locomotives, multiple units, carriages and wagons - Steam, heritage and the preservation world, inc narrow gauge- Metro and underground systems - In addition, the magazine carries frequent items of overseas interest.

The Railway Magazine is also renowned for its wide-ranging and innovative feature coverage, encompassing up-to-the-minute developments as well as historical, nostalgic and foreign subjects. The magazine is also renowned for its award-winning photographic content.

The Railway Magazine

75 years of preservation

Railways Bill changes to reflect needs of independent operators • Amendments will safeguard capacity for freight, charter and open access services.

Plan to boost East Coast capacity • Solutions sought to allow more passenger and freight traffic.

Cumbrian Coast line still severed • ‘Permanent’ repairs to Bransty Tunnel in Whitehaven have not yet even started.

HS2 engineers close to completing new cycleway bridge in Warwickshire • The structure will accommodate the Offchurch Greenway, which uses a part of the former London & North Western Railway route between Leamington Spa and Rugby.

Railways in Parliament

Northumberland Line project completed – but the work does not stop there • Capacity assessments for the proposed extension of the route are about to get under way and more four-car trains for the Newcastle to Ashington services are expected later this year.

From little acorns… • The late Gordon Pettitt was one of British Rail’s most respected senior managers, but his railway career had humble beginnings, as revealed in Part 1 of his personal recollections.

Eastern intruders • Three recent tours featured LNER-designed locos tackling the climb to Shap and allowed comparisons with last November’s run by the unique ‘8P’ No. 71000 Duke of Gloucester, as John Heaton FCILT reports.

Ebb and flow • To mark the reopening of a second platform at Newquay, and thus at least a doubling of capacity on the Cornish ‘Atlantic Coast Line’, we look back at the fall and rise of the seaside town’s railway terminus.

The railway with a heart of gold • The Talyllyn Railway led the way in railway preservation, and this year the line celebrates 75 years as a volunteer-led railway, as Ian Drummond describes.

Readers’ Platform • Send your letters to: The Railway Magazine, Media Centre, Morton Way, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6JR. Email: railway@mortons.co.uk

MEETINGS

From the archive • Subscribe and read previous issues at www.railwaymagazine.co.uk/archive

The RCTS: then and now

PANORAMA • A showcase for the best in railway photography

RVR officially opens new station at Robertsbridge • Building at main line interchange is next step on joining up the Rother Valley and Kent & East Sussex Railway.

Llantarnum Abbey steams for the first time in almost 46 years • It follows a restoration project which began almost a quarter of a century ago.

Southern Railway 12-ton ventilated van returns to action in Dorset • A sister vehicle is due to follow No. S49445 into traffic on the Swanage Railway after overhaul.

Narrow gauge steam season starts in style at Statfold • Fourteen locomotives take part in ‘Spring Spectacle of Steam’ weekend.

Easter guests in steam for the season launch at Foxfield Miniature Railway • Visiting and resident locomotives were in action over the bank holiday weekend.

National Tramway Museum hosts training for Heaton...