Latest news
Celebrity presenter John Sergeant does his “piece to camera” on Platform 1 of Page’s Park station, Leighton Buzzard, during the filming day last May.
SEE US ON JOHN SERGEANT TV SHOW
The Leighton Buzzard Railway will be one of the attractions featured in the 3-part TV series “John Sergeant on the Tourist Trail”, to be broadcast on ITV1 in November. The episode in which we appear is scheduled for Tuesday 24th November, starting at 8.00pm (UK time), and will also be available worldwide online.
Filming at Leighton Buzzard took place during the Spring Bank Holiday in May, when we featured the role played by narrow-gauge railways in supplying the First World War battlefields, with military locomotives built in Britain, France, Germany and the USA.
Keen to get a foreign visitors’ view of British tourist attractions, John Sergeant interviewed the crew of the locomotive from our French twin railway in the Somme, as well as an expert on German locomotives from the Frankfurt Narrow-Gauge Museum. He also spoke to some LBR volunteers, and to some very surprised train passengers.
16th November 2009
WHERE HAS THE TRACK GONE?
Sharp-eyed users of Meadway and Apennine Way will have noticed a hole in our track, from the level crossing to Swing-Swang bridge. This was taken up by the “Monday Gang” immediately after the end of the passenger season, in preparation for relaying on a solid base of stone. The line in this area was rebuilt during the construction of the Planets Estate in the 1970s, but with inadequate foundations. Similar work was done on the opposite side of Apennine Way crossing a few years ago, for the same reason.
The relaying will be completed by Christmas, and we apologise for any noise or inconvenience in the meantime.
16th November 2009
NEW PICNIC TABLES AT PAGE’S PARK
A set of four picnic tables, on the boundary of Page’s Park next to the station building, has for many years provided a welcome resting place for railway customers and park users alike.
In recent times, they have attracted the unwanted attention of vandals, and on 4th November they were replaced by new ones, built and installed by Leighton Buzzard Vocational Skills Training.
16th November 2009
TRACKSIDE CLEARANCE AT VANDYKE CURVE
A gang of volunteers turned out in the brilliant sunshine, on 12th October, to clear the large area bounded by Vandyke Curve of weeds and brambles. This is part of a project, lasting several years, to transform the land into a wildlife meadow, which will be an asset to the local community as a whole. Three trainloads of “arisings” were carried away during the day.
15th October 2009
NARROW-GAUGE HERO HONOURED
During the September Steam-Up weekend, the Leighton Buzzard Railway was delighted to receive a visit from one of railway preservation’s unsung heros, Max Sinclair.
In the 1950s, apart from a few pioneering lines in Wales, British narrow-gauge steam was in terminal decline. Max Sinclair, realising what was about to disappear for ever, saved over a dozen industrial narrow-gauge steam engines from scrap, and found good homes for them in preservation.
Two of these, “Doll” and “Gertrude”, had worked together at Bilston steelworks, Wolverhampton, until 1959, and were then separated, to be reunited 50 years later at the Leighton Buzzard Railway’s 90th anniversary celebrations.
Max travelled over the LBR behind the Bilston duo, and was met at Stonehenge Works by “Peter Pan”, an engine he had acquired from a Devon County Council quarry line, and its current owner, Graham Morris. Tony Tomkins, LBR Vice-President, presented Max with a framed print of several of “his” locomotives, prepared specially by artist Jonathan Clay.
23rd September 2009
MILITARY DIESEL ARRIVES
The latest additions to the working museum fleet are a 60hp diesel locomotive built by Baguley-Drewry Ltd in 1974 for the Ministry of Defence, and some modern bogie wagons by Robert Hudson Ltd. All were used on the extensive system at the Chilmark weapons storage depot in Wiltshire, and are on loan from one of our members. The locomotive is based at Page’s Park during the winter, as shed pilot.
16th November 2009
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www.buzzrail.co.uk
