The Trust is very disappointed to report that our carriages – awaiting on, or undergoing, restoration have all been broken into recently. Due to the Heritage Centre’s very attractive special programme over the half-term ~ visits by both Tornado and the Flying Scotsman proving a massive draw for...

Welcome to News Letter No.5.  Here's a short synopsis of what we've been up to! We’ve been busy this year bringing our historic Barnum carriages back to life! Recent work has focused on restoring the buffers (with some Edwardian-era surprises like leather fittings 🤯) and making sure everything’s...

The World War I disaster of 22nd May 1917, which befell the 7th Battalion of the Royal Scots (still even today Britain’s worst railway accident), remains a vivid event in Scottish eyes. The complex and disturbing account continues to dominate in the history of the Royal Scots. The account below,...

5th & 6th June 2025 Much preparatory works – undertaken to support the National Commemoration of the first passenger carrying train which ran between SHILDON & DARLINGTON & STOCKTON on 27th September 1825 – resulted in busy and memorable celebrations, from Leicester North to...

Pic: BARNUM Saloons being worked on in G.C’s new Dukinfield Works – near Manchester Edwardian Barnum Buffers and Buffer Mounts ~ When first designed ~ by the Great Central Railway in their new works at Dukinfield, and fitted to the production run (AD1910/11), the actual buffers – as seen on G.C....

Quiet Work Behind the Scenes Since our last Newsletter (No. 3), painstaking, careful and detailed work - much not eventually seen by the travelling public, as is always the lot of preservation and restoration work, has been undertaken (and continues). Just like London taxis in the rain, nothing...