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Contents Listing - Articles & Features in this issue
World News Special - 21st century steam for industry?
Waite’s World - Rails around Mont Blanc
Lost Lines - Hauling stone at Cliffe Hill
News Gallery - Latest from summer events
Seaside Lines - Southport’s Pier Railway
From the Archive - Forest trains in Romania
First Lines - Contrivances on charters
Headline News - New Snowdon hybrids withdrawn
UK News - Mountaineer on the way back
World News - Longest train record attempt
Lost Lines - Chasing the train that feeds the fish
NG Modelling - Finescale large scale on show
NG Modelling - Miniature - in the smallest scale...
On the Shelf - Small but delightful wagons
Viewpoint - Lots of railcar responses
NG Extra - Plans to blast Ffestiniog tunnel
Diary - When to find peak-season action
Encounters - Day out at Eaton Hall
Article Snippets
Welcome to NGW168 and take a look at the picture above, taken by our regular contributor Steve Sedgwick at Amberley Museum, a superb venue in Sussex and home to a wide-ranging industrial narrow gauge collection, in case you’ve never been...When I first saw this picture it reminded me immediately of that iconic film favourite The Titfield Thunderbolt - who doesn’t love that movie? Especially as it was inspired by the narrow gauge, specifically the rescue and reopening of the Talyllyn Railway as the world’s first preservation line. Okay the loco in our picture is narrow not standard gauge, it’s a tractor not a traction engine and sitting on it is not Sid James, but you get the idea...
Hurrah for Hollywood?
I then got to thinking about the photo some more - it was clearly taken at a photo charter, in this case at Threlkeld Quarry up in the Cumbrian mountains. Those involved are obviously acting out their roles, so this is a contrived picture - but is it too contrived, and if so should magazines such as NGWbe using it?
For several reasons I eventually concluded that, yes, we should indeed use pictures like this. Firstly the do add a little humour, and in today’s world that’s never a bad thing. Such incidents could easily have happened, in fact very likely did happen, in the working days of the narrow gauge, so perhaps more of a recreation than a contrivance. And you could argue that today’s entire heritage scene is acting, recreating yesteryear...
Most importantly, however, photo charters such as what produced this photo have become an important revenue generator for the railways concerned - and after the past couple of years they need every revenue boost they can get. Such charters are not, however, easy money for the lines. I’ve learnt from my colleagues at the Welshpool & Llanfair that charters tend to be very long days to crew while there’s also quite a lot of work to be done ensuring the photographers get what they want - such as giving the W&L’s original locos a more ‘industrial’ or ‘neglected’ look by deliberately dirtying them (probably to an extent somewhat beyond they ever were in their real working lives!). It’s a dirty job, but the lines do it!
So yes, there is a growing trend of adding elements of Hollywood to the menu on charters, but so long as things don’t get too silly, I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
Don’t shoot the innovator
Another packed issue of NGW this month, with a couple of surprises starting right over the page when we try and work out just what’s going on with the Snowdon Mountain Railway’s new hybrid locos. But possibly of most interest is to be found in the Netos Tocus on page 17, highlighting some very interesting ideas being explored on the other side of the world with a view to creating next-generation steam locomotives that could justify their place in today’s environmentally-conscious world.
Now when the first details of the ZeroLoco were posted on social media, I knew what would happen next, and I wasn’t wrong - scanning the comments below the post, they were almost all derogatory. I think it’s a great shame that when someone has the courage to seek alternatives to what we all know as the norm it appears to be the done thing to assume they are out of their mind and chastise them as a result. It’s an uncomfortable truth that the steam locomotives that we love have an uncertain place in today’s world. The fact that in the great scheme of things the UK’s entire heritage operations make a tiny difference to emissions levels doesn’t matter - in the outside world steam engines are seen as dirty, no matter what we do.
So don’t decry those who think outside the box - we should be supporting them. Okay, the technology might not be the answer for steam’s future - but equally it might be so we should at least give it a chance to prove itself. Rest assured NG Wwill be closely following the progress of the ZeroLoco. and hoping for its success.
Andrew Charman
Hurrah for Hollywood?
I then got to thinking about the photo some more - it was clearly taken at a photo charter, in this case at Threlkeld Quarry up in the Cumbrian mountains. Those involved are obviously acting out their roles, so this is a contrived picture - but is it too contrived, and if so should magazines such as NGWbe using it?
For several reasons I eventually concluded that, yes, we should indeed use pictures like this. Firstly the do add a little humour, and in today’s world that’s never a bad thing. Such incidents could easily have happened, in fact very likely did happen, in the working days of the narrow gauge, so perhaps more of a recreation than a contrivance. And you could argue that today’s entire heritage scene is acting, recreating yesteryear...
Most importantly, however, photo charters such as what produced this photo have become an important revenue generator for the railways concerned - and after the past couple of years they need every revenue boost they can get. Such charters are not, however, easy money for the lines. I’ve learnt from my colleagues at the Welshpool & Llanfair that charters tend to be very long days to crew while there’s also quite a lot of work to be done ensuring the photographers get what they want - such as giving the W&L’s original locos a more ‘industrial’ or ‘neglected’ look by deliberately dirtying them (probably to an extent somewhat beyond they ever were in their real working lives!). It’s a dirty job, but the lines do it!
So yes, there is a growing trend of adding elements of Hollywood to the menu on charters, but so long as things don’t get too silly, I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
Don’t shoot the innovator
Another packed issue of NGW this month, with a couple of surprises starting right over the page when we try and work out just what’s going on with the Snowdon Mountain Railway’s new hybrid locos. But possibly of most interest is to be found in the Netos Tocus on page 17, highlighting some very interesting ideas being explored on the other side of the world with a view to creating next-generation steam locomotives that could justify their place in today’s environmentally-conscious world.
Now when the first details of the ZeroLoco were posted on social media, I knew what would happen next, and I wasn’t wrong - scanning the comments below the post, they were almost all derogatory. I think it’s a great shame that when someone has the courage to seek alternatives to what we all know as the norm it appears to be the done thing to assume they are out of their mind and chastise them as a result. It’s an uncomfortable truth that the steam locomotives that we love have an uncertain place in today’s world. The fact that in the great scheme of things the UK’s entire heritage operations make a tiny difference to emissions levels doesn’t matter - in the outside world steam engines are seen as dirty, no matter what we do.
So don’t decry those who think outside the box - we should be supporting them. Okay, the technology might not be the answer for steam’s future - but equally it might be so we should at least give it a chance to prove itself. Rest assured NG Wwill be closely following the progress of the ZeroLoco. and hoping for its success.
Andrew Charman
