Steam Classic Magazine, May 1996 Issue

ON TRACK - Another new owner for Flying Scotsman, and what happened to main line steam’s ‘new realism’ - and, oh, we owe you an explanation 4

OBSERVATIONS: WINTER COLLECTION - Some ‘frozen frames’ capturing the atmosphere of steam during the months of frost, fog, snow, sleet and slush I ven photographers suffer for their art! 5

TRAFFIC NOTICES - Steamtown offers main-line magic at ten pence a mile -steam boost for Bristol - clean sweep for Swindon at SVR gala - Trevithick comes to Ironbridge - Black Prince tor Peak Rail, Dumbloton Hall for Gloucestershire Warwickshire, Bellerophon for East Anglia, and Sir Berkeley goes Dutch 10

WRITE LINES - Why doesn’t Josiah Ivatt, get the credit he deserves, and gelting to grips with the jargon among your letter:, this month 11

RESTORATION UPDATE - Last exit from Brighton - Pontypool’s pannier - Green Arrow sot for lift-off - Caledonian target at Bo’ness West Somerset gets a “West Country" new tubeplate for a “Merchant Navy’’ 19

NARROW ANGLE - North Gloucestershire gets a German ‘engine of war’ - ‘Ratty’ marks Furness 150 with a gala to remember - Midland Railway Centre acquires Mansfield park line (but there’s no connection to Jane Austen) 18

INFORMATION LINES - What makes for bad steaming - Pacifies on the West Highland - “Castle” confusion - what happened to Blink Bonny and Book Law? You ask, our experts answer

ON CLOSER INSPECTION: FIVE TIMES TABLES - The spotlight turns on to a Standard as we bring you the data and the detail on the second most numerous of the Riddles BR designs, the Class 5MT 4-6-0 20

STEAM ABROAD: DARJEELING FOR TWO - Rodger Bradley takes a ride on one of the world’s most remarkable railway survivors, the narrow-gauge line that, via a series of loops, switchbacks and zig-zags, winds its way through the tea plantations of the foothills of the Himalayas 28

THE CLASSIC IMAGE - It has just set a preservation record, and is now set to resume an impeccable main-line career: this month’s locomotive portrait features what became the most unusual of birthday presents, ninety tons of Taw Valley*. 36

A DAY RETURNED: LINE TAMAR - Eric Sawford concludes his south-western steam pilgrimage with a trip over the Tamar and an exploration of some of Cornwall’s cathedrals of steam 36

TRAIN FAYRE - A tribute to the work of Peter Hands, whose unique 'What Happened to Steam?’ series marks a milestone this year, and a look at a new series of great value prints, with more than a few strikingly unusual subjects 43

FROM THE FOOTPLATE: A TESTING TIME - Harry Friend recalls the day he ‘passed the engine’, and how early experience showed that by no means all his footplate colleagues respected his hard-earned status 44

THE LOCOMOTIVE IN QUESTION: ROYAL INCLUSIVE - Not those royals you’ll be glad to hear, but the fascinating story of how one of Britain’s best-loved locomotives once became a ‘Duchess in disguise’ 64

WHERE THERE’ S STEAM - Your area-by-area, line-by-line to steam activity throughout England, Scotland and Wales during the coming weeks, and including details of Easter galas and special events

 

On The Cover - What better locomotive to illustrate our 'On Closer Inspection' study and survey of the BR Standard Class 5MT 4-6-0 than the MidHants' much-travelled and much-renumbered No73096, seen here emerging into the sunlight at Butts Junction on the climb out of Alton with a train for Alresford on October 29, last year? Since the completion of its restoration in October 1993, this only working example from among the surviving Class 5s has carried two liveries (lined black and, currently, the early BR experimental light green) and four numbers: its own, of course, plus No73080 Merlin and - in connection with Somerset & Dorset commemorations - No73054 (on the Mid-Hants) and No73052 (on the West Somerset Railway). Could it become the first steam locomotive to be treated for schizophrenia? {Peter Theed}.