Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2017 i The Railway Magazine

Keeping a lid on costs IN THE July 2016 issue, I made reference to the escalating cost of railway projects nationwide and that the crazy prices are becoming an obstacle to reopening stations and lines. During April, several railway journalists enjoyed an informative and informal lunch with Network Rail CEO Mark Carne, in which he said the organisation is working hard to get costs under control. Let me take that further. £20million is being spent building a 1,800 space multi-storey car park at Didcot, which almost doubles its capacity. While I will let readers make their own judgment on its design and impact on the landscape, it does seem an incredible amount of money to spend on a car park. At the other end of the scale, I am reliably…

AN EXPLOSION by a suicide bomber on April 3 onboard a southbound train on Line 2 of the St Petersburg metro killed 15 passengers and left more than 50 injured. The explosion took place in a tunnel between Sennaya Ploshchad and Tekhnologichesky Institut stations. A bomb was also left at Ploshchad Vosstaniya station on Line 1; this was found and defused by the security services. The St Petersburg metro has five lines and carries around two million people every day. Russian officials praised the decision of the driver on the train that was attacked to carry on to Tekhnologichesky Institut station rather than stop the train in the tunnel. This action helped to save the lives of seriously injured passengers who were treated by emergency medical teams quickly in the…

£10k survey for Honeybourne reopening RAIL campaigners, local councils and rail user groups have come together to fund a £10,000 economic impact survey into the reopening of the Stratford-upon-Avon to Honeybourne route. The aim of the survey is to assess whether there is a case for rebuilding the route, which would allow a 60-minute journey between Evesham and Birmingham and create another alternative through route between the West Midlands, Oxford and London. The line between Long Marston and Stratford was lifted in the late-1970s. Hitachi recruiting at Doncaster HITACHI Rail Europe (HRE) is recruiting 250 staff to work at its new Doncaster maintenance depot. The job creation comes after HRW won the contract to build and maintain 500 new carriages to replace the HST. The Doncaster facility has cost £80million…

• The DMU was calling at Salford Central not Salford Crescent (p8). • In the Guitars and Garratts feature (p14), the author apologises for a minor memory lapse in respect of catching a Liverpool tram in 1963. The last one ran in 1957. • A Class 40 was working from Glasgow to Aberdeen, not vice-versa (p49). • The ‘Peak’ (p25) was No. 45015, not 45045. • Our apologies for not spotting the incorrect spelling of Lichfield (p111). SUBSCRIBE TODAY! FROM ONLY £20…

BY CHANCE I was allocated a berth on a refurbished carriage of the GWR Riviera Sleeper. The inside has been completely revamped with the berths wider at the top and middle, perhaps to reflect the shape of customers like me; the head end is at the window end and the basin, small hanging cupboard and controls are modernised and look good. Only two complaints, which I am sure will be rectified: the bunks are lined with slippery material which encourages the sheet and duvet to slide off, hopefully without the body they are meant to cover. Secondly, there was a continuous high-pitch noise against which ear plugs would have been helpful. Anyway, I am sure that these new coaches will be even more popular than the present ones, and will…

Rail and road upgrades needed I AGREE with Lord Berkeley that there is a good case for upgrading the rail route from Felixstowe docks. However, he is completely wrong to imply that the planned £1.4billion upgrade to the A14 road is in any sense an alternative to this (RM March). The two projects, and the problems they address, are entirely separate. The section of A14 slated for upgrade is the section between Cambridge and Huntingdon, which is more than 20 miles from the Felixstowe rail route at Ely and can in no way be described as ‘parallel’ to the rail line. The A14 trunk road between Cambridge and Huntingdon is a daily scene of congestion and delays, frequent grid-lock and horrific accidents. Almost 85,000 vehicles use this 12-mile stretch of…

THIS second volume in Adrian S Garner’s exhaustive study of monorails continues the story from 1900 to the mid-20th century, and reveals some remarkable railways in the UK and further afield, particularly in the USA. From exotic proposals using gyroscopes to maintain the balance of the vehicles, to suspended ‘railplanes’, exhibition lines and makeshift industrial lines in California’s ‘Death Valley’, this is railway history at its most esoteric and exotic. Even the most knowledgeable railway historians and enthusiasts will learn much from this deeply researched volume. While many will be aware ofthe Bennie Railplane, which ran on a test track at Milngavie, near Glasgow, in 1930, many of the other lines, proposals and methods of operating monorails will be less familiar. The author has spent almost 50 years researching this…

Defiant appeal tops £85,000 TYSELEY’S campaign to return its single-chimney Collett 4-6-0 No. 5080 Defiant to working order has now attracted 85 expressions of interest, with each individual pledging £1,001 to the appeal. As previously reported in these pages, returning the‘Castle’to steam as part of Vintage Trains’ three-‘Castle’vision is expected to cost in the region of £1million, with the Defiant Castle Club launched in early November as a means to helping meet that figure. Tyseley is looking for 1,000 people (or groups of up to 10 individuals) to join the club by donating £1,001 towards the 4-6-0’s overhaul, allowing it to become‘the people’s’ main line engine’. The loco, which has not run for two decades, is due to return to Tyseley imminently from the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, where its place…

Class 88 order complete as last locos arrive ALL 10 of the DRS Class 88 locos are in the UK. The final four – Nos. 88006/7/9/10 – arrived at Workington Docks on March 30, along with two more Class 68s – Nos. 68026/7. Three days earlier No. 88002 had begun solo test runs on the West Coast Main Line from Carlisle to Crewe, returning via St Helens and Edge Hill, where diesel power was used and a reversal took place. Since then No. 88002 has been working with a Class 68 on loaded test runs from Carlisle to Crewe with a rake of loaded box wagons that have provided a load of nearly 1,600 tonnes. (see p87 ). DRS has given no indication when the class will begin freight…

Former DRS Type 3 powers into preservation FORMER DRS Class 37 No. 37688 ran south from Scotland to the Mid-Norfolk Railway (MNR) in late March, de-branded and devoid of its Kingmoor TMD nameplates. It remains mainline registered and certified, so undertook the final leg of its journey running under its own power, light engine, from Norwich to Wymondham around lunch time on March 27. It is owned by DO5 Preservation (RM April, p88 ). No. 37688 was set to be one of the star attractions at the MNR’s April 28–May 1 diesel gala. A Saturday diesel-hauled service started on April 8 and it was expected to see use on these trains. Great Central’s visiting ‘Crompton’ works a freight SPECIAL guest Class 33 No. 33063 R. J. Mitchell was used…

ABBEY PUMPING STATION May 30, June 3, 24-25, July 1 Corporation Road, Leicester LE4 5PX (0116 299 51110). www.abbeypumpingstation.org/events.asp Museum open Feb-Oct (13.00-16.30). Events: June 3Teddy Bears’Picnic Railway Day, 24-25 Leicester’sVintage Festival, July 1 Print and Ride Railway Day. ALN VALLEY RAILWAY See website for running dates Lionheart Station, Alnwick, Northumberland NE66 2EZ.www.alnvalleyrailway.co.uk Information line 0300 030 3311. Events: May 28 Music Festival, June 17-18 Classic andVintageVehiclesWeekend. AMBERLEY MUSEUM & HERITAGE CENTRE May 7, 14, 20-21, 27-29, June 4, 10-11, 18, 24-25 Houghton Bridge, Arundel,West Sussex BN18 9LT (01798 831370). Museum open 10.00-17.30 (Wed-Sun). www.amberleynarrowgauge.co.uk Events: May 7 Motorcycle Show, 14 CommercialVehicles, 20-21 Military and Home FrontWeekend, 27-29Traditional Crafts, June 4 Classic Car Show, 10 Cub Scout Day, 18 Dads Can Do, 24-25 Emergency ServicesWeekend, July 8-9 Railway GalaWeekend. AMERTON…

ALARMING new figures from Network Rail and British Transport Police reveal that more people than ever are risking their lives on the rail network by trespassing on the tracks. The data looks at trends over the last 10 years and shows that trespass incidents are at an all-time high, and that at least one person trespasses and dices with death every hour. Last year there were more than 8,000 incidents where people risked their lives across the rail network, an 11% increase on the previous year. Young people are also the most likely to take a risk, with 50% of those killed under the age of 25. Spring and summer see more than double the number of young trespassers, compared to the winter months. Allan Spence, head of public and…

TWO of the world’s biggest rolling stock manufacturers are in talks that could see their rail businesses merged. Siemens and Bombardier believe a single unit could fight off growing opposition from China. The proposals that have been put forward could lead to each company’s train manufacturing and signalling merging. Discussions began earlier this year, but the potential duplication of jobs could lead to plant closures and redundancies, which could face fierce opposition from unions. Siemens manufactures a range of trains from commuter to high speed, while Bombardier’s orders have tended to be for metro, commuter and regional trains. Both have collaborated on the development of the German ICE.…

FRENCH national operator SNCF has teamed up with Virgin and Stagecoach to bid for the next West Coast franchise, which will also include the launch of High Speed 2 services. SNCF has a 30% stake in the joint venture, with Stagecoach taking 50% and Virgin Group the remaining 20%. As with the current East Coast franchise, in which Stagecoach holds a 90% stake, the trains will carry Virgin branding if the bid is successful. Patrick McCall, Virgin Trains co-chairman, said:“I’m delighted that SNCF has come on board. Together we will put forward what we hope is the winning bid for the next West Coast, and first HS2, franchise. “We’ve just celebrated 20 years of Virgin Trains and this news puts us in the best possible position to make it 30.”…

WRITING on the day that the General Election was called, what does this mean for the railways? Do we assume that the Tories will romp home, and then seek to privatise everything that moves on track? Will they, free from European rules, prevent ‘foreign’ operators owned by incumbents in other countries to bid for passenger franchises? Will they try to integrate track and train into vertically integrated companies which can obfuscate the costs and benefits of passenger operators while suddenly becoming experts in whole-life infrastructure costs, and of maintaining track quality without needing to close any line for maintenance? Or will a new left wing alliance renationalise the railway back to the days of 1947? There are already rumours of CrossCountry being broken up so that everyone has to change…

Non-tilting advantages LORD Berkeley asked Her Majesty’s Government what are the minor line speed improvements on the West Coast Main Line, mainly north of Preston, that will enable non-tilt trains to go faster, but will not enable tilting trains to go faster. Transport Minister Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon replied:“The current West Coast Main Line has been optimised for tilting trains, which operate up to a maximum speed of 125mph, whilst non-tilting trains are limited to operating at up to 110 mph. “However, north of the future Golborne Junction, track geometry on some sections of line may allow non-tilting passenger trains to operate up to 125mph within the existing operational rules and without track changes. “Further, minor infrastructure alterations could be made on the transitions between straight and curved sections of…

THE PRIVATE OR PUBLIC DEBATE: Your views on yes or no NICK Pigott’s feaure was excellent, but the answer is no! Nationalisation had too much political interference from both the main two parties in the past. Privatisation left the railways too fragmented each with their own interests and is too expensive. We should look back to what was done in 1923 and should have grouped the BR organisations in 1993 into a British Railways plc, with employees on the management board, as was proposed in the 1922 Geddes Act. Here, it was decided to group 120 companies in to the ‘Big Four’, only they left employees off the company boards; it was probably ahead of its time. BR made a £40million profit in 1952, yet many reorganisations by the political…

100 YEARS AGO MAY 1917 CANCELLED is the order that passengers in British railway carriages which are provided with blinds must keep them lowered at night so as to cover the windows. The lights in a carriage will now be extinguished in case of a threatened attack by hostile aircraft and thereafter no lights may be exhibited by passengers. AS announced in the April Railway Magazine the new line to Mansfield with stations at Kirkby-in-Ashfield and Sutton-in-Ashfield were opened for passenger traffic on April 2 nd  . The line commences at Kirkby by a junction with the Great Central main line to London, and terminates at Clipstone on that company’s Chesterfield and Lincoln branch. The new railway shortens the distance between London and Grimsby by about 5 miles, and…

William welcomed back as Elsecar replays 1957 naming SIR William Stanier formally recommissioned Sentinel 4wVBT William (9959/1956) back into Elsecar Heritage Railway traffic on March 26 as a highlight of the line’s Sentinel Gala. The re-enactment replayed events of 60 years ago when the real Sir William, then a board member for the Courtaulds empire, formally named William at the Courtaulds Fibre factory at Great Coates, near Grimsby. At Elsecar the role of Sir William was played by Mick Langan, the well-known former LMS chief mechanical engineer having passed away in 1965. Boiler rebuilt William is now owned by Mike Hart and has recently been the subject of an extensive overhaul that has seen the boiler rebuilt and the body styling modified to lose the classic angular look of the…

LORAM UK, formerly RVEL, has supplied two new C44-CRG corrective rail grinding sets to Network Rail. Built in Hamel, Minnesota by Loram Maintenance of Way, the four-car units are made up ofcontrol cars Nos. DR 79301/401;16 stone grinding cars, Nos. DR 79302/303/402/403; and trailer support cars, Nos. DR 79304/404. Alternative RIV/ ERA identities are Nos. 99 70 9427 038-041/042-045. Later in the year a larger PLG-01 seven-car, plain line grinding train will be delivered, comprising Nos. DR 79321-327. This machine will be able to re-profile railhead in a single pass, whereas smaller sets may require several passes to achieve the same result. The new sets will supplement five rail grinding trains built by Loram – SPML set No. DR 79200, SPML set No. DR 79201 and Loram C21 trains Nos.…

BLS confirms ‘66’ and ‘68’ for North West rare track tour JUNE 16 will see the Branch Line Society (BLS) visit the north-west of England for the latest of its popular charity railtours seeking out rare freight lines, loops and sidings. Direct Rail Services will provide a Vossloh/Stadler Class 68 (subject to availability), working top-and-tail with a Class 66. The organisers have requested one of the small number of DRS‘66/3s’or‘66/4s’ that have yet to haul a passenger train, as an added incentive to loco-haulage fans. Starting from Stafford at 07.30, the itinerary includes a visit to the Norton Bridge East Chord, Cliffe Vale Down Goods, the Crewe Independent Lines, Sandbach-Northwich, Hartford CLC-Hartford LNW connection, Preston RES platform, Ormskirk and Preston Dock, before running via St Helens Central to terminate at…

Keef No. 100 heads to revamped Wellington Country Park Railway THE 7¼in-gauge line in Wellington Country Park, Riseley, North Hampshire, has proved such a popular attraction since opening in 1980 that it has been increased in capacity through regauging to 12¼in, along with incorporating new stock. Alan Keef Ltd has relayed the track and provided a new steam-outline 0-6-0DH – Arthur – which is notable as it is the 100th loco built by the company and is plated Keef 100 of 2017. Three new carriages have also been supplied. The track utilises the original 9lb/yd rail, relaid on new sleepers. The 7¼in-gauge stock was taken in part-exchange, the locos since sold to private operators, with a couple of carriages going to the East Somerset Miniature Railway, Cranmore. The first day…

Highland rail loses oil traffic TWO of Scotland’s last remaining fuel oil trains ended in early-April, with the traffic switching to road tankers. The loss of the well-known trains from Grangemouth to the Scottish Fuels depots in Fort William and Lairg, on the Far North Line, will result in more than 400 extra lorry movements each year over the A82 and A9 trunk roads, respectively. Certas Energy, which owns Scottish Fuels, said that the switch had been made to save costs and‘improve stockholding efficiency’. However, the decision was criticised by local politicians already concerned about the suitability of Highland roads for heavy goods traffic. Fort William and Ardnamurchan councillor Brian Murphy, also a member of the Lochaber Transport Forum, said:“This is a backward step. The infrastructure is there to transport…

THE process to procure up to 60 state-of-the-art trains to be operated on the planned HS2 high-speed line has begun. It is envisaged between three and five companies will be shortlisted for the tendering process. The contract for the trains is worth £2.75billion and as part of a single package, the successful bidder will be required to design, manufacture, commission and maintain this new fleet, which will run up to 250mph. The successful bidder will maintain the fleet from the dedicated rolling stock depot planned for Washwood Heath in Birmingham. The site will also be home to the HS2 Network Control Centre, with the depot and centre creating hundreds of skilled jobs. Invitations to tender are expected to be issued to shortlisted bidders in spring 2018 with the contract award…

DAVID Woodhouse, one of the heritage railway movement’s pioneers, died in Aberystwyth Hospital on April 11 after a short illness. He was 84. It was back in 1953 that David became involved with the Talyllyn Railway and was the guard on the original Coronation specials in June 1953 for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth. He became involved in the operational side of the railway and was appointed traffic manager in 1966, where he remained for 26 years. David also represented the Heritage Railway Association, often manning a stand at travel trade events, explaining the wonders of Britain’s heritage railways to tour promoters. Mr Woodhouse was a member of the Railway Industry Advisory Committee Working Groups, and a Member of the Institute of Railway Operators. He also helped forge links between…

Eight Bulleids in the spotlight at Mid Hants’ Summer Steam Gala THE Mid Hants Railway is seeking to top the Swanage Railway’s (SR) recent record gathering of seven Bulleid Pacifics (see p70 ) by showcasing no fewer than eight at its Summer Steam Gala. Just as at the SR’s Strictly Bulleid event the Mid-Hants will have four operational Pacifics in service over the July 1-2 and 7-9 weekends: Light Pacifics Nos. 34081 92 Squadron, 34053 Sir Keith Park and 34052 Lord Dowding (34046 Braunton) being joined by‘Merchant Navy’ No. 35006 Peninsular & Oriental S.N. Co. However, visitors will also be able to inspect‘West Country’ No. 34105 Swanage in the works at Ropley while classmate No. 34007 Wadebridge will also be on display, possibly with an identity change to represent…

THERE is a renewed threat to railway land now that ministers have instructed Network Rail to sell off unnecessary land. We have seen this before, but now this instruction appears to include operational land as well. So aggregate terminals, supplying building materials for the construction industry in an environmentally friendly way to London and other cities, are under threat. One can see what might happen. The land is sold to a private sector company; it puts up the rent or ‘encourages’ the local authority to restrict operating hours to the extent that aggregate movement by rail is no longer viable. They develop the sites for ‘foreign’ investors with materials coming by road and make a lot of money. They will say that this will not affect air pollution, as that…

REMINISCING about the Highland Railway in 1957, historian C Hamilton Ellis observed that, by the time the weary traveller reached Caithness, “Inverness seemed...remote, somewhere in the south”... for Inverness to Wick was a 161½-mile trek, almost double the distance as the eagle flies. The firths of Beauly, Cromarty and Dornoch, and the rocky Ord of Caithness, forced the promoters of the line to make long detours inland. And, until the purge of June 1960, when many of the smaller stations were closed to passengers, the six-hour journey prompted the soubriquet ‘line of the 39 stops’. Yet the locomotive work was far from lethargic, for this was not some straggling Great Western byway with pedestrian schedules and bucolic station work: it was a main line, essential in peace and invaluable in…

More of your views on the big renationalisation debate RENATIONALISE? No, NO, NO! All the arguments against it listed in Nick Pigott’s excellent article are valid. However, the most conclusive is that investment in a nationalised railway would have to compete for Treasury funding with the NHS and social care for an ageing population, defence against increasingly militant terrorists, and programmes of new school and prison building, let alone the road and air transport lobbies. Lance Pierson London SW6 NICK Pigott’s article puts the pros and cons in full but there are two overriding factors: 1) A business person, if running a rail service, watches ahead for a developing trend – more off-peak travel, changed passenger habits or needs. The key is ‘ahead’ – he or she sees a growth…

Blue Diesels in View By Gavin Morrison, GAVIN Morrison is one of the UK’s most prolific and best-known railway photographers over the last six decades, and he has compiled another selection of superb images from the BR blue era. The portrait format album is organised region-by-region and features a wide range of blue diesels and DMUs, captured right across the BR network. There’s something for almost everyone, from Eastfield Class 37/0s on the Mallaig line, to scruffy Class 33s, ‘Westerns’ at Dawlish, ‘Peaks’ on the Midland Main Line, and freight trains at many locations – most of which are now long-closed. However, my favourites include a Gloucester Class 128 diesel parcels unit towing two ballast hoppers at Tywyn on the Cambrian Coast Line, during the period when locos were banned…

HOW many of us, while reading, writing or discussing the history of the London & North Eastern Railway, have said: “I’ll just check that in the ‘green books’”? This set of superbly researched volumes entitled Locomotives of the LNER took a remarkable 31 years to complete and covers every detail of the company’s motive power fleet. The series was published by the Railway Correspondence & Travel Society (RCTS) between 1963 and 1994. It set an extremely high standard for accuracy and enjoys a well-deserved reputation as the ‘bible’ of the subject. Most members of its expert writing team have long since passed away, but the man who had overall control of the project as editor-in-chief is still going strong and is as enthusiastic about railways as ever. Career Living in…

THE RCTS has an unrivalled reputation for organising rail tours, which reached its peak in the late 1950s and early 1960s. As the regions dieselised the emphasis changed to using classes that were nearing extinction and lines that were scheduled for closure. Many of the specials were the work of the RCTS regional branches that used their contacts with regional managers to good effect. A classic tour that was meticulously recorded by the Railway Observer (RO) was the ‘Yorkshire Coast’ of Sunday, June 23, 1957 and organised by the West Riding and Sheffield branches. Leaving Leeds City the train ran to York, traversed the Easingwold Light Railway, ran over the Kirkby Moorside branch, before heading for Bridlington via Wharram. At Bridlington the coast was followed to Scarborough, Ravenscar, Whitby West…

RPSI to break new ground with Class 071s working in multiple RAILWAY history will be made on October 14 when the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland runs its next diesel-hauled railtour. Agreement has been reached with Iarnród Éireann-Irish Rail for the ‘Munster Double’ to feature two Class 071 locomotives working in multiple throughout, something never before seen on the network. Multiple working was once common with the Class 121s and the Class 141/181s, but the larger Class 071s have never yet worked in this manner, in spite of having the equipment required to do so. The last time two Class 071s were seen on a railtour was back in July 2013 when Nos. 071 and 073 worked an Irish Railway Record Society train from Dublin to Cork, and on that…

LOCOMOTIVES Allocations 08428 WQ/WQDA-BH/HNRL 08623 WQBA-WQDA 08782 WQBA-WQDA 08804 WQBA-WQDA 08904 WQ/WQDA-BH/HNRL 37601 KM/XHSS-LR/GROG 37603 XHNC-XHSS 37688 XHNC-XHSS 47771 HQ/DHLT re-registered 47813 KM/XHSS-LR/GROG 60019 TO/WCAT-WQ/WQAA 60074 WQ/WQAA-TO/WCAT 66057 WBLT-WBLE 66058 TO/WBLE-WQ/WQAA 66060 TO/WBAT-WQ/WQAA 66086 TO/WBAT-WQ/WQAA-TO/ WBAT 66101 WBBT-WBBE 66114 WQ/WQAA-TO/WBBE 66148 WBAT-WBAE 66155 WBAT-WBAE 66172 TO/WBAT-WQ/WQAA 66182 WBAT-WBAE 66415 DFHJ-DFHG 66597 DFHJ-DFHG 67010 WAAC-WAWC 67014 WAWC-WAAC 67015 WAWC-WAAC 67020 WQ/WQAA-CE/WAWC 67028 CE/WAAC-WQ/WQAA 68026 newly delivered KM/ XHVE 68027 newly delivered KM/ XHVE 70018 DFGI-DHLT 70020 DHLT-DFGI 70803 COLS-COLO 70811 newly delivered RU/ COLS-COLO 70813 newly delivered RU/ COLS-COLO 88006 newly delivered KM/ XHVE 88007 newly delivered KM/ XHVE 88009 newly delivered KM/ XHVE 88010 newly delivered KM/ XHVE 90020 WQ/WQAA-CE/ WEAC 98513 (45212) registered HH/ MBSL Liveries DBC red: 66044 DRS blue: 37688 DRS revised: 66304 Europhoenix: 37611 Great Western…

UK tour for Welshpool’s former Sierra Leone loco WELSHPOOL & Llanfair Light Railway’s (W&LLR) out-of-ticket Hunslet 2-6-2T 3815/1954 No. 14 (Sierra Leone Railway No. 85) is undertaking a UK tour promoting African heritage and W&LLR’s African Train project. The tour is being made possible thanks to a £22,800 Heritage Lottery Fund grant. SLR No. 85 last ran in April 2010, but needing a new boiler has been displayed at Locomotion since 2011. A homecoming grand tour will see No. 85 being used to tell the story of slavery and freedom, the links between Britain and Sierra Leone, and raising funds for construction of new workshops at W&LLR’s Llanfair Caereinion base. The journey starts on April 22 at Armley Industrial Museum, Leeds, the city where No. 85 was built. Next is…

Gauge: 7¼in Location: Woody Bay Station, Lynton & Barnstaple Railway, Martinhoe Cross, Parracombe, Devon EX31 4RA OS ref. SS 682464 Operator: Martyn Budd Running days: L&BR gala days (May 13-14; September 30-October 1) and selected days in the summer. Website: www.lynton-rail. co.uk Contact: Tel. 01598 763487 THE L&BMR runs through the grounds of Woody Bay station for about 200 yards and is operated by L&BR volunteers. All locos at present are visitors for running days only, but the railway does have its own carriages. It is run on a not-for-profit basis with money raised through donations put back into the railway for maintenance, improvements and towards buying its own steam loco.…

Stadler Eurodual for German operator GERMAN freight operator Havelländische Eisenbahn (HVLE) has ordered 10 of the new Stadler Eurodual bi-mode locomotives. The new six-axle design, revealed at Innotrans in 2016, is a development of the smaller four-axle UK Class 88 Eurodual design (which has also been ordered by PRASA in South Africa). Stadler is currently testing its prototype six-axle Eurodual bi-mode loco, which was built in Valencia during 2016, and which uses the same Caterpillar C175-16 as used in the UK Class 68 as the‘last-mile’ diesel engine for use away from electrified lines. The new HVLE Eurodual locos are dual voltage (15/25kV AC) and are designed for use in Germany. They are dual voltage (as well as diesel equipped) as HVLE operate freight services on the only isolated 25kV AC…

Confusion led to fatality in Nottingham THE Rail Accident Investigation Branch has published its report into a fatal accident near Nottingham Express Transit’s David Lane stop on August 15, 2016. A man had been spotted on the tramway in the north of the city, where it runs alongside Network Rail’s line, which is a section not normally accessible to the public. Tram drivers were advised to pass with caution and at low speed, but normal operations were resumed after it was mistakenly believed the man had left the area. However, he was later struck and fatally injured by a passing tram. Supervisors in the NET control room stopped warning trams to slow down after misinterpreting a reporting call and not following basic principles of safety critical communication. RAIB also said…

CLASS 67 No. 67003 was observed hauling HST power car No. 43274, heading south up Spittal Bank, Tweedmouth on March 1 en route from Craigentinny to Neville Hill. EMT power cars Nos. 43082+ 43089 were noted at Doncaster on March 7 on loan to VTEC, working a King’s Cross to Leeds and return. The same pair were still on-loan on March 21. EAST Midlands power car No. 43082 was noted on the rear of an HST e.c.s. move from Doncaster to Neville Hill on the morning of March 13. ON TUESDAY, March 21 there was major disruption to all rail traffic passing through Leuchars from about 11.28 when VTEC’s 1S03 07.10 Leeds-Aberdeen service suffered a fire in the rear power car. The train was terminated at Leuchars station and was…