Those magnificent merchants

1M86, the 09.35 Glasgow Central-St Pancras, was the famous Up Thames Clyde Express and ran via the Glasgow Sou’ Western route, then the Settle and Carlisle line to Leeds, and then took the Midland Mai

Last issue was a bit of a mare for me. I had heard the whisper that Pathfinder Railtours was going to announce it would end running trains, so I had this column written accordingly, and then… the anno

For 52 years, it ran more than 1000 trains had had in excess of 1600 different locomotives hauling its trains. The places it hasn’t visited on the UK rail network can probably be counted on the finger

The growth in the ‘fleet’ of preserved ex-main line loco seems to have slowed down in recent years due to a number of factors: fewer locos becoming available, a possible saturation of the fleet, and d

PART ONE

Being too young to go to Shildon in 1975, my railway hobby started with the Liverpool and Manchester Rocket 150 celebrations in May 1980. I have lasting memories of visiting Rainhill for the cavalcade