Nine Locomotives From Across Britain Set to Star in Festival on Rails

 

The North Norfolk Railway is set to host a nine-day celebration of heritage trains as it stages A Festival on Rails from Saturday 24 August to Sunday 1 September. The 5½ mile steam railway has five locomotives visiting this summer to assist with its popular holiday services and the event will feature all of those plus the line’s resident working engines.

 

Britain’s newest steam locomotive No. 6880 “Betton Grange” will be a must-see for many visitors. The locomotive was completed earlier this year – the culmination of 30 years’ work by a dedicated band of enthusiasts. The Great Western Railway originally built 80 “Grange” Class engines between 1936 and 1939 but despite efforts to save one they were all scrapped in the 1960s.

 

The creation of 6880 allows passengers to once again travel behind this type of locomotive that most believed was lost for ever. The realisation of that dream was made possible by the GWR’s standardisation policy which enabled the group to recreate the engine using standard parts, including a Swindon No. 1 boiler, wheels and bogie from other locomotives, while the frames, cylinders, cab and fittings are all completely new.

 

The Festival will kick off with a three day Gala weekend across the August Bank Holiday which see six locomotives in action working an intensive service which will include the NNR’s unique train of teak-bodied articulated carriages which celebrate their centenary this year. Also in use will be a set of 1950s commuter carriages, many with individual compartments that were commonplace at the time but which have died out on modern trains. From Tuesday 27 August until Sunday 1 September, four locomotives will be working each day with selected trains “double-headed” by two engines.

 

The exact line-up changing each day so that all available locomotives will work at some time during the event. Two of the visiting engines originally worked in Wales – No 4277 “Hercules” is a powerful Great Western Railway tank engine built in 1920 to haul heavy coal trains in the Welsh valleys while No 22 dates from 1956 and when new worked for the National Coal Board at Graig Merthyr Colliery near Swansea. Sister engine No 18 was built to the same design in 1953 but was shipped to Scotland and spent most of her working life on the East Fife Colliery network.

 

The final visiting engine, diesel D7659, continues the Great British theme.  The Class 25 was the final locomotive built by Beyer Peacock at the historic Gorton Works in Manchester. During a 20-year working life with British Railways D7659 worked mainly in the Midlands and North West, but also saw service in Wales and Scotland as well as hauling some summer holiday specials to Norwich in the 1970s.

 

The North Norfolk’s resident engines will also feature in the nine-day extravaganza. These include the line’s smallest locomotive “Wissington” which dates from 1938 and spent her working life at the British Sugar Corporation plant at Wissington.  It is hoped that repairs to mammoth War Department locomotive No 90775, which once saw service in Egypt and Greece, will be complete in time to allow her to take part in the event while 99-year old No. 53809 – originally built for the famous Somerset & Dorset Railway – and Class 37 D6732 – a type that once was a common sight on services from London to Kings Lynn and Norwich – will complete the line-up.

 

General Manager Graham Hukins said “With such a fantastic variety of engines representing railway history from the length and breadth of Great Britain here this summer, we felt we really ought to show them off and this week long event allows us to create a different spectacle each day.”

 

Early Bird tickets for the event are on sale until 9 August after which prices will increase. Fares provide unlimited travel all day allowing visitors to ride behind several different locomotives and explore the line’s three restored stations. For those wanting to see as many of the locomotives as possible, special two- and three-day tickets are also available.

 

The Railway’s standard services will run on most days between April and October. Trains run through 5½ miles of wonderful scenery between the Victorian resort of Sheringham and the Georgian town of Holt. Full details and timetables can be found at www.nnrailway.co.uk and passengers booking online in advance receive a generous discount.

 

ENDS