Marcus' Model Railway Journey

David Lloyd George and Merddin Emrys


In the running shed were Merddin Emrys and David Lloyd George, the former recently being unveiled in a striking green livery in time for the 70th Anniversary year.

Prince, K1 and Sybil


In the small engine shed were Sybil, Lilla and Mary Ann alongside K1 and Prince, the former also being unveiled in a heritage green livery, complete with wooden nameplates.

Outside the works, and it was like a gala.

Velinheli and Hugh Napier were in steam giving footplate rides, and Chaloner, a visiting vertical boiler loco from the Leighton Buzzard Railway, was also in steam running up and down the various lines.

Britomart was also in steam, posed outside the Top Shed with a slate waggon.

Taliesin and James Spooner at Boston Lodge Works

Stamp Issue

Valour and Victory: Stories of the Second World War​

May 1 2025
Commemorative

George Arthur Roberts, 1st

Mary Morris, 1st

Tommy Macpherson, 1st

Violette Szabó, 1st

John Harrison, 1st

Bhanbhagta Gurung, 1st

Thomas Peirson Frank, 1st

Mahinder Singh Pujji, 1st

William Tutte, 1st

Lilian Bader, 1st

Dame Vera Lynn, 1st

Dame Vera Lynn, 1st

Dame Vera Lynn, 1st

Dame Vera Lynn, 1st

Presentation Pack

Presentation Pack

First Day Cover

First Day Cover

Philatelic Numismatic Cover

3rd May, 2025

Additional Trains for attendees of the Big Day Out​

Big Day Out Train


To aid rugby fans in their travels to and from Cardiff for the Big Day Out on Saturday, 10th of May, GWR is running extra trains.

Around 10,000 extra seats are being provided through additional trains across Great Western Railway routes.

An additional 8 trains will be departing from Bristol Temple Meads to Cardiff Central for the Bears fans.

Whereas Bath Supporters will have 5 extra trains from Bath and Chippenham towards Cardiff.

Cardiff’s Principality Stadium


Due to the amended services, reservations are mandatory on trains running after 8 am towards Cardiff, regardless of the reason for travel, and trains will not stop at Bristol Parkway.

For Direct services to and from Cardiff, customers will need to travel to Bristol Temple Meads and not Bristol Parkway.

Bristol Temple Meads


For the return journey, over 20 trains are running back to their respective locations, however, a queuing system will be in place, running on a first-come, first-served basis.

It is advised, where possible, to delay returning from Cardiff for ease of travel.

Booking as soon as possible is advised, as trains are filling up fast.

Passengers should also allow extra time due to crowds pre- and post-game.

Bookings can be made on the GWR website.


“To support both Bristol Bears and Bath Rugby, as well as our other customers, there will be some significant changes to our usual train service on Saturday 10 May to be aware of.

“Extra trains are being provided from Bristol Temple Meads for Bristol fans and from Chippenham and Bath for Bath supporters for their Big Day Out. These trains will be reservation only.

“GWR services that would usually call at Bristol Parkway will not do so, and those seeking to travel from north Bristol to south Wales should travel to Temple Meads for direct services towards Cardiff.

“Services are however still expected to be really busy, and we advise people to travel early and to check before you travel. A queueing system will also be in place at Cardiff station after the game, ensuring people can board their train safely.”

GWR Director of Operations Richard Rowland

4th May, 2025

1940s Celebrations at Mid Suffolk Light Railway​

Sir Berkeley


The Mid Suffolk Light Railway 1940s event will run across Sunday, 25th May and Monday, 26th May.

The Middy in the 1940s celebrations include memorabilia displays, re-enactors, and vintage vehicles.

There will be live music from Sarah Mai and the Gislingham Variety Club.

Additionally, there will be train rides in the Great Eastern Railway 4-wheel coaches.

On the 26th, there will be a flypast by a Hawker Hurricane and a Spitfire.

The USAAF 34th Bomb Group will have two displays of the ‘Friendly Invasion’ and its effect on Suffolk Railway.

The fun begins at 10:30 am and ends at 4:30 pm

Tickets are available through their website.

Stonehenge by Tim O'Brien

I've visited Stonehenge and flown in and worked on the aircraft type that has been painted - C130 Hercules or 'Fat Alberts' as we used to call them.

British Rail Class 26​

The British Rail Class 26 diesel locomotives, also known as the BRCW Type 2, were built by the Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company (BRCW) at Smethwick in 1958–59.

Forty seven examples were built and the last were withdrawn from service in 1994.

Like their higher-powered sisters, the BRCW Classes 27 and 33, they had all-steel bodies and cab ends with fibreglass cab roofs.

They were numbered D5300-D5346.


Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Co. Diesel at Harringay West on 4 April 1959
A mixture of anticipation and dread accompanied the abrupt introduction of these unfamiliar main-line Diesels onto the empty stock workings into King's Cross. Here the first Birmingham RC&W/Sulzer 1,160 hp Type 2 Bo-Bo, No. D5300, is on an Up van train at Harringay - where hitherto steam locomotives had and for another four years would still operate. This Type 2 1,160 hp Bo-Bo (later class 26) began work here, but the class were soon sent up to the Scottish Region and worked there for 20 years or so, but were not a great success.

The British Rail Modernisation Plan contained a large requirement for small diesel locomotives in the 800 hp (600 kW) - 1,250 hp (930 kW) range and under BR's 'Pilot Scheme', small batches of locomotives were ordered from numerous different manufacturers for evaluation.

BRCW obtained an order for 20 mixed traffic diesel-electric locomotives powered by 1,160 hp (870 kW) Sulzer 6LDA28 engines.

The Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company (BRCW) was a rolling stock manufacturer, although they were building diesel multiple units for British Railways (BR).

The first standalone locomotives made by the company were produced in 1956-57, 12 diesel locomotives for the Irish railways Córas Iompair Éireann (CIE 101 Class); the order went to BRCW due to capacity problems at CIÉ's own Inchicore Works.

A partnership was established between BRCW and the Swiss diesel engine manufacturers Sulzer Brothers at that time.

The Sulzer LDA28 range was found to be particularly suited to BR's needs.

In addition to BRCW's Class 26, the 1,160 hp 6LDA28 variant was also used in BR's own Class 24 design, while the 1,250 hp 6LDA28-B was fitted in the later BRCW Class 27 and BR Class 25.


BRCW Type 2 diesel-electric D5320, later 26028, at Doncaster works in 1959.

The Pilot Scheme batch of twenty locomotives (D5300-5319, Class 26/0) were delivered to Hornsey TMD (Traction Maintenance Depot) on the Eastern Region of British Railways between July 1958 and March 1959.

They were used on a variety of duties, notably including London commuter services into King's Cross station and were evaluated against designs from the North British Locomotive Company, English Electric, Brush Traction and British Railways' own works.

Their allocation was switched to the new Finsbury Park TMD when it opened in 1960.

By the middle of 1960, evaluation of the various Type 2 designs was complete and it was decided to concentrate all of the Class 26s in Scotland.

As a result, the Class 26/0s were transferred to Haymarket, displacing the Class 26/1s to Inverness.

Upon elimination of BR standard-gauge steam traction in 1968, the 'D' number prefix was removed and locomotives D5300-5346 became 5300–5346.

In 1974, the TOPS numbering system was implemented and Class 26/0s 5300-5319 were renumbered 26007/1-6/20/08-19, while Class 26/1s 5320-7/9-46 became 26028/1-7/9-46. Number 5328 had been withdrawn in 1972 with accident damage.

The availability of surplus Classes 37 and 47 locomotives in the late 1970s and early 1980s displaced the Class 26s from passenger workings and from most goods traffic north of Inverness.

However, the type continued to operate goods trains throughout the whole of Scotland, taking over duties previously carried out by Class 25 and 27 locomotives.

Most of the class were refurbished in the 1980s to extend their lives, being chosen in preference to the newer Class 25 and 27 due to the better reliability of the Class 26s' lower powered engines.

In May 1987, all of the surviving Class 26s were transferred to Eastfield TMD, except the seven MGR examples which remained at Haymarket until transfer in May 1988.

In August 1992, the remaining engines were reallocated to Inverness, although this was essentially a paper exercise as locomotives only returned to their home depot for major maintenance.

By this time, the service life of the Class 26 locomotives was coming to an end.


Class 26 no.D5338 arriving at Bonar Bridge station (renamed Ardgay in 1977) on 16 August 1968

The first withdrawal, 5328, occurred as a result of accident damage in 1972.

Although the Class 26s were a useful and reliable type, there was a surplus of small diesel locomotives, so any locomotive suffering significant damage was in danger of withdrawal.

A further six locomotives were claimed by minor accidents or engine fires between 1975 and 1984.

Apart from these, routine withdrawals commenced with three Class 26/0s in 1977, followed by two 26/0s and two 26/1s in 1985.

The surviving 33 locomotives were all refurbished examples, and it had originally been intended to keep them in service until around 2000.

However, three were lost to minor accidents/fire damage in 1988–89 and the closure of Ravenscraig steelworks in 1991 resulted in a surplus of locomotives.

Routine withdrawal of the refurbished locomotives began in 1990 and the last examples were taken out of service in October 1993.


On the afternoon of 1st September 1970, a class 26 No 5341 (latterly 26041) waits at Kyle of Lochalsh with an Inverness train.

Nine main livery variants were carried by the class whilst in BR service:

• British Railways green, with grey roofs, white cab window surrounds and a thin white stripe midway up the bodysides. All locomotives were delivered in this livery;
• Within a few years, all locomotives received small yellow warning panels on the lower cabfronts;
• From the late 1960s, some locomotives received full yellow ends as an interim measure pending repainting into Rail Blue;
• From 1967, repainted locomotives received all-over Rail Blue with full yellow ends;
• This was soon modified to include yellow cabside window surrounds. All locomotives had received this livery by the mid-'70s;
• Railfreight grey with yellow cabs, black cab window surrounds and red solebars. Nineteen locomotives repainted in 1985-87 received this livery (26001-8/10/25/6/31/2/4/5/7/8/40/1);
• Railfreight three-tone grey with black cab window surrounds, yellow lower cabsides and yellow/black 'Coal sub-sector' markings. This livery was applied to eight locomotives repainted in 1988-89 (26001-8);
• Civil Link (or Dutch) grey with yellow upper bodysides and lower cabfronts, and black cab window surrounds was applied to fourteen locomotives (26001-5/7/11/25/6/35/6/8/40/3) in 1990–92;
• To mark the impending withdrawal of the class, the first two locomotives (26007 and 26001) were repainted into 1960s style BR green with small yellow warning panels in 1992. 26001 became the first and only member of the class to be named (Eastfield, to commemorate the closure of that depot).

Restored Class 26, number 26007, on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, September 2021

Preservation​

Thirteen locomotives have been preserved: eight in Scotland, four in England and one in Wales.

The VE Day commemorations have started today and to mark this I shall share my Grandfather's contribution to WWII.

He was already a serving member of the army when war broke out.

He was sent to the continent with the BEF and had to be rescued from Dunkirk.

After a short spell recuperating he was then sent to Africa and the Middle East.

He then went on to Italy, but saw no action there.

39-45 Star, Africa Star, Defence Medal and War Medal