The Occasional Express

A sad month for fans of streamliners and the locomotives of the LNER, as Union of South Africa is officially retired from mainline excursion running. Union of South Africa, No. 60009 (nicknamed the 9) is a member of the LNER A4 Pacific class of streamliners built in the 1930's, according to the LNER Enclyopedia. The most famous member of the class, Mallard, holds the official world speed record for steam. Union of South Africa was built in 1937, according to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, who saw her visit in 2019. After 29 years of service under the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) and later the nationalized British Railways, she was retired in favor of diesels, according to the engine's official Facebook page. Union of South Africa running under BR ownership in 1951. Source: Ben Brooksbank, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13983677 With the end of her revenue career began her excursion career. She has been owned her entire ...

Welcome back to Branch Line News, your source of summarized news for train related topics. Pull out your ticket, and join us for the Branch Line New for the Week of April 20, 2020. Florida East Coast 148 Restored Our first story takes us to Florida and the US Sugar Railroad, who recently revealed the completion of their steam locomotive's restoration. Florida East Coast 148, a 4-6-2 Pacific built in 1920, has a unique history with the line. FEC 148 worked for the Florida East Coast until 1952, according to the 148's Facebook page, and was sold to US Sugar, who operated the engine in freight service. After being retired by US Sugar, 148 traveled around to different private owners, in "New Jersey, Connecticut, Michigan and Colorado, until it went out of service in the 1970s," according to the 148's Facebook Page. In 1971, 148 was relettered for the Blackwater & Western, where she ran excursions for a short time. You can see a video of her running by clicki...

Welcome back to Shunting Ideas Around, the editorial series of The Occasional Express. I apologize for the long delay since the last post. Unfortunately since The Occasional Express is a 1 person operation ("big" surprise I'm sure) real life has gotten in the way of researching and writing articles, especially with complications regarding COVID-19. I'm not sure when I will be able to write regularly again, as the foreseeable future looks to have a very depressing mood with preservation groups and heritage railways struggling to make ends meet during the global pandemic. (If you can, please consider donating to your local museum or heritage railway) I'll try to keep things positive here, and want to encourage everyone to follow the professional news sources if I'm not able to post here. And remember we will get through this. All right, onto the topic of this post. Usually with The Occasional Express, if a story's already been covered by the profession...