Restoration diary

RRRG was at the Nene Valley Railway diesel gala at Wansford over the weekend of 11-12 April with our sales stand.  We always enjoy trading at Wansford and it was evident the NVR had gone to great lengths to put on a good show with a large number of visiting locomotives.  Pleasingly the gala was very well attended and we enjoyed a good sales performance.  Many thanks to all the people who dropped by to say hello and to those who bought something from us; we hope you enjoy your purchases and thanks for supporting us!  Thanks also to the NVR for the invitation to attend.

If you missed us at the gala, we are pleased to advise that our web shop has recently been restocked.  We have a fresh selection of brand new Hornby models as well as branded t-shirts, polo shirts, fleeces and mugs.  Restoring 50029 and 50030 is neither easy nor cheap.  If the enthusiast community wants them to run again, we shall need to draw further on your support to achieve that goal!

Article image: 50008 Thunderer double heading with 50015 Valiant at Peterborough Nene Valley station, during the Nene Valley diesel gala on 11th April 2015, courtesy Andy Rowlands.

The latest issue of the RRRG members' newsletter is now available to view on the website!  However you have to be a current, paid up member of RRRG in order to view it.  If you would like to join and catch up on all the latest news regarding the project, please read about our range of membership benefits and options.  All users of our website are welcome to view the previous issue of the newsletter and all back issues.

We've also been doing a bit of website housekeeping.  Once you are a registered user of the site and logged in, you will now find a special Subs Renewals menu under the User Area menu.  With this you can easily join RRRG for the first time or renew your membership if it has expired.  As 50030 approaches the completion of its restoration, we appreciate your membership and support of RRRG.

The Fifty Fund and Renown Repulse Restoration Group are producing a 2014 calendar to help raise funds for our respective ongoing projects. This will be published in the next few months. To complete the set of images we are looking for a good shot of 50050 in preservation and a number of pictures of certain Class 50 locomotives in BR service.

BR service shots required of:

50017, 50030, 50031, 50049, 50050.

Can you help? If we use your photo you will receive a free copy of the calendar and your will be credited. You will retain copyright of course, so they must be your photos.

Ideally the images will be well lit and at least 2000x1500 pixels, preferably more.

Tim Snowball (RRRG Chairman) and Joe Burr (Fifty Fund Chairman) will be judging the images submitted and look forward to seeing what you can provide. Please send your images to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 14.00hrs UTC (15:00 BST) 21st May 2013.  Thank you in anticipation of your help.

The finished calendar will shortly be available to purchase from both organisations’ online stores. 

After much hard work and development we are proud to announce the launch of the brand new RRRG website at http://www.renownrepulse.com.

We are now able to launch a proper new on-line presence and wanted to launch now so that our online shop is made available to you in time for the Christmas market!  You can get as much as an additional 10% discount if you are a member of RRRG.

The site contains lots of information and photographs of the project.  It will be constantly updated and grown as a site so please do check back regularly for updates, new pictures and more online shopping opportunities!

We will be happy to receive your feedback and comments on the new site and we will gladly incorporate the best suggestions into the design of the site. We look forward to your visit!  Thank you to all RRRG fans for your support.

No, RRRG has not dissolved and ceased to exist!  Yes, things have been a bit quiet regarding posts here.  The main reason is that we are working frantically behind the scenes on a brand new website which will eventually supplant this Wordpress site as our window to the world.  Much effort is being devoted to this; in fact so much that we haven't had much time to update things here.  A number of RRRG Committee members attended a meeting at Peak Rail on October 14th where we decided on various strategies for the future of the project and the way ahead.  The fruits of this will become apparent in due course.  I can also report a successful sales operation during the recent diesel gala season where thanks to a number of railways kindly inviting us we made some good money.  I can also confirm that RRRG members will receive the next issue of the Group newsletter in early December.

So, yes, from the outside it looks very quiet in RRRG land.  But there's a lot going on behind the scenes and in the words of Shaw Taylor: "Keep 'em peeled!" - there will be some exciting announcements in the near future.