■ THE extensive overhaul of Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway’s Fairbourne-built 2-6-2 No. 24, which went to John Fowler Engineering in Bouth, Cumbria, in January 2022, continues to progress. Work recently completed includes a boiler hydraulic test, fitting a new ashpan, shotblasting of the tender bogie frames, fitting new tender bogie wheelsets and bearings, and work on the cab and frame mountings.
■ THE Vale of Rheidol Railway is restoring carriage No. 16, which has never run in the preservation era. The underframe has been rebuilt and the body will replicate a 1920s VoR wooden-bodied compartment coach.
■ LEIGHTON Buzzard Railway has constructed a new welfare van for its permanent way team, which includes a partitioned Portaloo base unit. Based on an older vehicle which utilises a Motor Rail Simplex chassis, the van has been designated as ‘Motel’, i.e. Mobile Toilet Ex-Locomotive!