Railways Illustrated September 2025

I do love the weather as hot as it’s been throughout most of July, but it does have one major drawback; I end up sleeping with the window open, which means I have the blind up a fraction, which in turn means the daylight starts to seep in at 5am, and it wakes me up… Then, come the afternoon, because I’m no longer a teenager, I fight with every fibre of my being to not take a cheeky little nap. Sometimes I give in – and can often feel worse when I wake up! But the hot weather and longer days do make it more appealing for an early drive to an event, be it a gala or a charter train. That said, I did forsake the East Lancs gala…

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AFTER NEARLY 40 years in preservation, the Class 40 Appeal has agreed to sell 40012 Aureol to Andania Engineering (AE), which intends to return it to the main line with Locomotive Services. As this issue closed for press, the deal has not been finally rubber-stamped but was expected to be concluded without any issues. AE already owns D213 (40013) Andania, which has also been on long-term hire to LSL for several years now. It had enquired about buying 40135 from the Class 40 Preservation Society last year, but the offer was dismissed immediately. However, it has now secured the second Class 40 it wanted by tying up a deal with Paul Hill, the principle shareholder of 40012, which the C40A bought from BR in 1988. After asbestos removal, the loco arrived…

MULTIMODAL FREIGHT company AV Dawson has unveiled a specially-liveried Class 08 shunter as its contribution towards marking this year’s 200th anniversary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR). Based in Middlesbrough, Dawson owns the town’s extensive port facilities, which were first established along with a connecting railway by the S&DR in 1830. Dawson also operates several railfreight terminals around the port, owning five ex-BR Class 08s and three industrial locos, although not all are operational. The brainchild of managing director Charlie Nettle, who sits on the S&DR 200 board, the project saw 08600 withdrawn from traffic and its power unit, radiator and all other internals removed. The loco subsequently received a repaint in all-over dark blue before specially commissioned vinyls were applied to mark the 200th anniversary. These were designed…

GREAT WESTERN Railway has published a White Paper outlining the success of its fast-charge battery trial and how it could help to transform the UK’s railway. The year-long trial explored whether battery trains could provide a realistic and cost-effective alternative to diesel trains as GWR prepares plans to renew its regional fleet, much of which is expected to go out of serviceable use in the next seven to 10 years. Test results on the Greenford branch line on a Class 230 VivaRail unit have demonstrated how discontinuous fast-charging could help to remove the reliance on more costly overhead line equipment (OLE). GWR managing director Mark Hopwood said: “We are proud to share the findings of this trial, which aims to build understanding and support across government, industry and regional stakeholders.…

DB CARGO has created a new WQNC pool which is used for locomotives that are pending repairs and merely in a ‘strategic store’ state prior to being repaired and returned to traffic. Initially, 66040/075/076/083/089/095 and 66119/121/140 were all allocated to the new pool, and all of these had been in the WQAA stored pool but soon some moved back into active pools, with 66083 moving back to the WBAT pool and 66119/121 to the WBAI fleet. However, during mid-July, 66014/024/069/080/115/165/197 all moved to WQNC, of which 66009/024 had a brief spell in the WQAA pool. DBC has placed a second Class 66, 66070, into the WBET pool for locos fitted with ETCS, and it joins initial testbed loco 66039 in this sector. However, 66039 has yet to return into traffic…