Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2025 i Railways Illustrated

THE CHAIRMAN of Locomotive Services Group, Jeremy Hosking, enjoyed a four-day tour of the country using his private train hauled by a mix of steam, diesel, and electric traction from the group’s fleet, the highlight being Class 20s running in single, pair, and triple formations. The train started at Euston on October 10 behind recently revived 90026, outshopped in the LNWR-inspired blackberry black livery seen previously on 57002/311 and now on 57302. The 90 worked to Crewe, where it handed over to steam locomotive 71000 Duke of Gloucester, also only just returned to traffic, which was booked to work to Blackburn. However, it failed at Carnforth with a stuck tappet – part of the valve gear – so the train was terminated. The loco was allowed access to WCR’s depot…

GB RAILFREIGHT is making steady progress with testing its two Class 99s and on September 23, the first use of one on a revenue-earning freight train happened when 99001 piloted 69005 Eastleigh on 6Q86, the 11.56 Peterborough Yard-Doncaster Down Decoy sand train. Since then, the class has broken new ground including visits to Wales and Scotland. On September 30, the first working to South Wales was made with 99001/002 both visiting Cardiff. The two locos ran light from Leicester to Wellingborough to work 4Q45, the 20.08 Wellingborough Yard-Pengam Reception Sidings, with 66302 inside for insurance, via Reading and Newport with 20 bogie wagons. On October 9, 99001 repeated 6Q86, this was the first move in a convoluted plan to get the loco to Polmadie where it was on display next…

Open days have provided the opportunity for further naming ceremonies, particularly those organised as part of the Railway 200 celebrations. The Heaton event thus saw 125 Preservation’s main line-registered HST power car 43060 named after the Newcastle depot to celebrate its 150th anniversary, while the same achievement saw Caledonian Sleeper 92023 twinned with Polmadie a month later. The latter ceremony was carried out at Glasgow Central before the AC electric ran to Polmadie for display at the depot’s own relatively small-scale public display. A staff and families-only event at Kingmoor saw Direct Rail Services mark its 30th anniversary, with newly re-liveried 68007 gaining a suitable name to accompany its celebratory vinyls. Meanwhile, 93001 has become the first of the Rail Operations Group hybrids to be named, the unusual plaque-like…

CLASS 153 22/9 – Network Rail RHTT conversion 153317 was delivered to the West Somerset Railway by road from Worksop for continued testing of its railhead cleaning equipment. It was subsequently transferred to Derby RTC, again by road, on October 10. CLASS 158 27/9 – 158783 5V81 09.14 Derby Etches Park-Bristol Barton Hill, for refurbishment. CLASS 175 9/10 – 93002 + 175111 + 175115 + 93006 7Q70 08.35 Ely Papworth-Wolverton via Oakham, Leicester, Nuneaton. CLASS 197 20/9 – 197026 into passenger service, working 1D13 13.23 Chester-Holyhead. 2/10 – 197037 also into traffic, debuting on 2F46 06.21 Wrexham General-Bidston. CLASS 320 24/9 – 320413 5Q06 09.14 Wolverton-Yoker. 26/9 – 320414 5Q70 05.32 Yoker-Wolverton. CLASS 321 10/10 – 37800 + 321338 + 321342 5Q76 08.31 Willesden Railnet-Unimetals, Newport. CLASS 378 20/9 –…

THE SCOTTISH Railway Preservation Society secured another first by taking a train to Oban powered by a Class 40, with D213 Andania working from Carlisle to the west coast port on September 27. The ‘Oban Bucket’ train of nine coaches was operated by Locomotive Services. The SRPS’s 37403 Isle of Mull was on the rear for insurance, assistance, shunt releasing, and to provide train supply to the two air-con coaches in the train. Although 40145 went to Fort William in 2007, no Class 40 had ever turned left at Crianlarich and covered the 41 miles to Oban. Indeed, until recently, Oban had been banned for all manner of heavier locos, but by getting the line cleared for 66s in 2019, it has opened the way for occasional, and limited, visits…

MORE THAN 4000 ticket were sold for the Seven Valley Railway’s October 2-5 Class 37 65th anniversary diesel gala, which had 10 of the class hauling trains. As well as 37263, which has been on a long-term stay at the SVR since May 2023, there were examples from main line operators and heritage lines alike. Visiting were D6948 from the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, 37250 from the Wensleydale Railway, and 37264 and 37688 Great Rocks from the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. They were joined by 37423 and 37901 Mirrlees Pioneer form Europhoenix, 37501 Teesside Steelmaster from Rail Operations Group, 37508 from Loram, and 37518 Fort William from West Coast Railways. It meant there were 10 different liveries on display. All ten 37s worked trains, although not all on each day, and…

D4107 – Williton: Although out-stationed at Bishops Lydeard in support of WSR operations, the Class 09 will move to Williton at the end of the operating season so bodywork repairs started last winter can be continued. Class 14 D9526 will move to Bishops Lydeard to cover for the 09. D9518 – Williton: Work on the Class 14’s electrical system rewire has resumed, and plenty of progress has also been made on the rebuild of the Paxman ‘Ventura’ 6YJXL engine that last served in sister loco D9526. D9526 – Willton: The Class 14 is now indoors on No. 2 road at Williton and undergoing an underframe clean-up and repaint. This loco will move to Bishops Lydeard in November to cover for Class 09 shunter D4107. D9537 – Wirksworth: On October 10,…

For 52 years, it ran more than 1000 trains had had in excess of 1600 different locomotives hauling its trains. The places it hasn’t visited on the UK rail network can probably be counted on the fingers of one hand, maybe two. And that will mostly be because of restrictions both physically and logistically. The story of Pathfinder has been documented well. It started at F&W Railtours in 1973 by Peter Watts and Tony Fielding and it ran a couple of trains a year until the late 1970s when Pete left his job at Walls in Gloucester and, with Tony having left the business, he started to run charter trains as his day job. Picking up on a new-found interest in the post-steam railway following the end of the Class…

Accurascale has returned to the world of AC traction for its latest locomotive model with the release of the Class 89, this joining the previous Class 92 in the manufacturer’s catalogue and continuing an affinity for the products of Brush Traction. The appearance of the 1986-built prototype is particularly welcome as it has never before been produced in ready-to-run form and was previously only available in OO gauge as a kit. The most recent of the kit options went for the resin bodyshell approach, which was fine for the time, but with the continuing increase in standards and expectations, a RTR offering can deliver far more in terms of detail and overall specification. With all of BR’s later generation of AC electrics now ticked off, surely it is only a…

AS WELL as 68019-032 moving to Chiltern Railways on a direct lease from Beacon Rail, CR has confirmed that 68018 Vigilant will also be taken on, again, leased directly from Beacon to act as a thunderbird loco. The loco, which will be fully reliveried in CR livery and should lose its nameplates, won’t be able to work in push-pull mode with the Mk. 5 coaches that CR is also taking on. CR launched the new stock to stakeholders on October 14 when 68020 worked a special 11.29 Marylebone-Birmingham Moor Street run. The 15 Class 68s are slowly being transferred to CR, with 68020/022/032 all now sporting the new two-tone blue colours. 68019/023/026/028-031 have also been handed over and are being used for crew training and will also progressively be re-vinyled.…

HAVING CREATED a successful business acquiring HST vehicles for export to Nigeria and Mexico, Romic is now eyeing up the UK market with an HST set for spot hire and charter work. Ex-GWR power cars 43094/122 were duly unveiled on October 7 in new red livery at Dereham. In partnership with Rail Adventure, which will be the train operator, Romic plans to offer an HST with up to nine trailers with First and Standard Class, and catering, to any charter promoters wishing to hire it. Maintenance will be undertaken by Nemesis Rail at Burton. The set was launched with just three trailers, 42290, 42369 and 45001, all three being ex-CrossCountry Trains vehicles. The full list of trailer vehicles available to Romic are 40807, 42038/051/234/290, 42342/369/379, 44021 and 45001. After repairs…

THE NEXT Class 60 to be revived for use by Cappagh’s DC Rail is 60022, which is being worked on by Boden Rail Engineering at its Colwick base. In preparation for the loco’s overhaul starting, a third potential spares donor loco has arrived in the form of 60060, which was moved from Leicester by Europhoenix Rail’s 37218 and 37901 Mirrlees Pioneer on October 17. It does not necessarily mean the end of 60060, which itself may be incorporated in the programme if the business case allows additional locos to be resurrected. 60022 will be the third Class 60 being overhauled for DCR after 60099 Ben More Assynt and 60013, both worked on by UKRL at its Loughborough site. The transfer of 60060 was also the first working by 37218 for…

WEST COAST Railways has finally decided to dispose of 37712 which has been dumped at Carnforth for 17 years now. The loco was cut in half in early October and will be removed for final scrapping. The former 37102 was bought from EWS by WCR in December 2017 and returned to traffic in June 2008 but only lasted a few months before catching fire in December 2008 and was deemed to be too costly to repair, so it had been used as a source of spares ever since. It disposal leaves just 37517 – which has never worked for WCR – at Carnforth for spare parts. The operational WCR Class 37 fleet comprises 37516/518, 37668/669/676/685 and 37706.…

IN A long-awaited move, 89001 Avocet, the sole Class 89 AC electric locomotive, returned to the main line for the first time in more than two decades when it undertook two test runs overnight on September 29/30. The tests were the next stage in the programme to return the loco to full main line registration for it to join the company’s fleet of 25kV electric locos: 86101 Sir William A Stanier FRS, 87002 Royal Sovereign, 90001 Royal Scot, 90002 Wolf of Bade noch and 90026. For the first runs, it was hauled by 90001 as 0Z81, the 23.13 Crewe HS-Stafford, and returned as 0Z82, the 00.18 Stafford-Crewe. That done, it made a second trip as 0Z83, the 01.18 Crewe HS-Stafford Down Sidings, and then returned as 0Z84, the 02.30 Stafford…

Removals man is distraught at clearing out Pathfinder office The drivers for the removals firm hired to clear out the Pathfinder office of thousands of old brochures, headboards and timing sheets were annoyed when the job spec came through. The demands were that they be there at 04.50 and take all the material for store in Peter Watts’ house three miles away. However, they had to go via Swindon ring road (covering it in both directions), then take a dead end in Kemble (reverse), Bath (up and down laybys), Bristol, then Westbury, and to the remote village of Keevil (reverse, photo stop). Here they had to change lorries and head back to Stroud via Chippenham, Reading, Goole (M1 requested), Whitby (45-minute break for fish and chips by the sea), and…

The new two-tone blue Chiltern Railways livery for the Class 68s and Mk. 5 sets is spreading relatively rapidly, with 68022 and 68032 joining 68020 in the colours by mid-October, while four sets of coaches, CH05/10/12/13, were also completed at Eastleigh by the same date. Another Class 68 with a new look is 68007, which gained a ‘30 years of DRS’ vinyl wrap at Kingmoor during September, this being similar in style and colours to that already applied to 68006. At Eastleigh Works, 57302 has joined classmates 57002 and 57311 in carrying the LNWR-inspired Locomotive Services black livery, while 66790 has also been returned to standard GBRf colours by Arlington following the end of its hire to Colas and removal of the various yellow diamond logos. Transport for London has…

DB CARGO has sold the last four Class 58s in Spain for scrap, including 58050, the last locomotive built at Doncaster Works. The sale comes despite 58050 have previously been designated for preservation. It seems the Railway Heritage Designation Advisory Board (RHDAB), the successor to the Railway Heritage Committee, has decided to dispense with that requirement, paving the way for 58050 to be sold, but only after it had been advised that it had already been sold for scrap. The loco, along with 58015/027/041, was duly sold without being offered for sale by tender, which DB Cargo has been required to do when disposing of locos. Indeed, it offered six Class 37s in Spain for tender in February 2012, all of which returned to the UK. DBC was made aware…

HAVING BEEN stopped for engine repairs, the Class 24 based at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, 24081, has returned to traffic. The 66-year-old loco, a production series machine from the 1955 Modernisation Plan, was the last of its type to run with BR. When it was discovered that the transition bushes which sit between the head and the engine block were worn and passing water, the loco was withdrawn from service in August 2024. The repairs were completed in 12 months, with new transition bushes machined to fit. Other work included fitting new liner seals, piston rings, and exhaust gaskets. The work was a joint effort by the volunteer diesel group members (the owners of the loco) and the Brush Type 4 Fund led by Tim Leverton and Paul Good. The…

Railway photography for me is about two things: a record for capturing a point in time to preserve a memory and an art form to create a great-looking image. Sometimes for me that is to recreate an essence of how things used to be. I’m always looking out for a composition that takes me back to when I was young, particularly the early 1980s. I like the challenge of capturing an image that looks almost like it could have been taken in the past. This is hard because modern details creep into the scene. It requires a suitable subject, an appropriate backdrop, often some tight composition to exclude modernity, and some compromises. It’s rarely going to be a perfect recreation of the past, but it is great fun trying to…

Plus all the latest news from around the UK and the best in railway photography. Pre-order your copy of the next issue of Railways Illustrated or take out a subscription at classicmagazines.co.uk NOW!…

MORE THAN two years after the first of the fleet arrived, Rail Operations Group has been able to start using its Class 93s on revenue-earning trains. On October 7, 93002/006 ran light from Worksop to Derby RTC and collected two barrier coaches, 6344 and 6346, and moved them to Ely Papworth. Two days later they hauled 175111/115 from Ely to Wolverton Works before returning the barrier coaches to Derby. The entry into traffic of 93s means ROG is expected to make a start on returning Class 37s to Europhoenix, with 37608/611 likely to be the first two to return to their owner. Haulage fans also got their first taste of Class 93 power, albeit on a very limited basis, when 93002 worked four pre-arranged shuttle trains at Barrow Hill, on…

THE CMA CGM Group, a global player in sea, land, air, and logistics solutions, is to acquire the intermodal container transport business of Freightliner. The deal includes all of FLI’s rail and road operations, inland terminals, and the Freightliner brand. The Heavy Haul trainload business, Rotterdam Rail Feeding, and Freightliner Poland/Germany are not included and will remain with its current owner but is likely to be rebranded. The deal is expected to be completed in early 2026, subject to the required regulatory approvals. The announcement explains why the Freightliner fleet was recently split into Intermodal and Heavy Haul assets. Although things could change, the locos likely making the move to the new ownership will be 90003-016/018/021/039-049 (of which 90046 is being repaired and has duly been reinstated), 08530/531/585, 08624/691, 08785,…

GOVIA THAMESLINK Rail has completed the upgrades of its Class 377 Electrostar fleet at Selhurst depot, with 1222 Southern, Gatwick Express, Great Northern and Southeastern carriages having been refreshed during five years. Passengers will now benefit from plug and USB sockets, LED lighting, improved WiFi, information screens, and a new digital ‘backbone’ bringing reliability improvements Named Project Aurora, 387305 is the 304th and final unit to be upgraded, with the work financed by the owner of the trains, Porterbrook. At the project’s peak, two trains were fully upgraded and returned to passenger service each week. The 304 trains together required 280km of wiring, 39,000 LED lighting tubes, 36,000 power sockets (each with two USB sockets) and 2.8 million fixings and fastenings. The GTR Electrostar fleet comprises 377301-328 (three-cars), 377101-164, 377201-215,…

Chiltern Railways receives further Mk. 5 sets By mid-October, just one Mk. 5 set remained in store at Long Marston in addition to spare driving coach 12802, this being set TP09 (11509, 12725-727, 12809). Of those latterly at the former MoD site, what can now be regarded as CH07 (11507, 12719-721, 12807) was hauled to Eastleigh Works by 37510 on September 22, this also including 68031 on the rear. The same journey from Long Marston to Eastleigh was then undertaken on September 30 by 68026 with CH04 (11504, 12710-712, 12804), while 68031 returned on October 17 to collect CH06 (11506, 12716-718, 12806), again bound for the south coast. With its hand-back work not yet completed, 68019 hauled TP03 (11503, 12707-709, 12803) from Long Marston to Longsight on September 29/30, this…

More steel DB Cargo has procured an additional batch of eight new-build BAA steel carriers from its Stoke wagon works, the order for 900460-467 following on from the 60 previous wagons delivered earlier this year. As before, these utilise recovered bogies and brake gear on a new frame but count as refurbished wagons for acceptance purposes rather than a new build. On September 16, 66005 Maritime Intermodal One took six of the new order, 900460-463/466/467, from Warrington Arpley to Toton, before they were moved on to Doncaster Belmont behind 66001 the next day. These will initially be employed on flows out of Tinsley, with the last two examples, 900464/465, still at Stoke in mid-October. New boxes A further batch of newly constructed MWA-C box wagons for Freightliner was released from…

VISITING CLASS 35 Hymek D7018 will be in action at the Great Central Railway’s November 15/16 Last Hurrah gala alongside a number of steam locos. The following weekend, the loco has an all-day running event where it is booked to work six return trips between Loughborough and Leicester. It is also expected that D7018 will be in use on the line’s New Year’s Eve special trains. The GCR has also announced a diesel event for April 24-26, 2026, with home fleet locos and D7018 due to take part. The Class 35 is then due to leave the railway and head to the Severn Valley Railway. Another guest loco could be added to the roster. September 3-6 will be the line’s main diesel event, with home fleet locos and guest locos…

THE TWO Class 26s that have been stored the Hydrus Group’s a non-rail connected yard in the outskirts of Brechin have been collected by road. D5302 (26002) was seen heading north on October 14 and D5325 (26025) followed a week later. They are understood to be heading to a private site in Inverurie where they will join D9500. Neither loco has worked for many years having been based at the Strathspey Railway for several years before being sold to an individual with connections to the Caledonian Railway at Brechin.…

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PRODUCT OF THE MONTH 2026 aerial images railway calendar AUTHOR: Tom McAtee PRICE: £14.99 (includes postage) WEBSITE: tom.mcatee@aol.co.uk THIS IS a superb calendar showcasing some of the best aerial images from around the country taken by respected photographer Tom McAtee. It covers a wide range of modern traction subjects, both heritage and main line, and features Classes 20, 37, 40, 47, 50, 52, 55, 60 and 68 and AC electrics, with each image correlating to the month the images have been taken. The photographs are an even balance, taken with a drone and pole. It has been produced on 34cm x 24cm heavyweight silk 250gsm paper/card and includes a wall hanging hook inside the coil, ready to hang, with plenty room in each of the calendar tabs to write birthdays/events.…