Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2019 i The Railway Magazine

Will the new Westminster team deliver rail improvements sooner, later or not at all? It is too early to predict whether Boris Johnson as the new Prime Minister and Grant Shapps as Transpor t Secretar y will be good or bad news for Britain’s railways. Unfortunately, railways and politics have become very tangled – there’s no escaping that fact. Leaving aside the more pressing aspect of the withdrawal from the European Union by October 31, the in-tray of Mr Shapps has a number of items demanding his attention. With new ministers in vir tually all depar tments, there will be a spotlight on budgets as well as the promises made by the new Prime Minister in the leadership election. Mr Johnson and Mr Shapps have a number of key areas…

ON-GOING delays and cancellations to trains on the new ‘joined-up' route between London and Rugeley Trent Valley via Birmingham New Street has led to West Midlands Trains ( WMT ) admitting it may have to return these services to separate operations. Some improvements have been seen, but passengers at Rugeley Town and Rugeley Trent Valley repor t ser vices continue to be turned back short at Hednesford, with them facing long waits or journeys by replacement buses. WMT admits the situation is still difficult, with head of corporate affairs Francis Thomas telling local BBC News: “We are moving 150,000 extra people a week now we've got the new timetable. For the Chase Line, we are looking at every aspect of why that service isn't working. “The new interventions we've put…

HITACHI Rail Europe has won a £400 million deal to supply 165 bi-mode inter-city vehicles for the Midland Main Line. They will be formed into 33 five-car trains for Abellio’s new East Midlands Railway (EMR) franchise, which is committed to replacing the current fleet of InterCity 125s and Class 222 ‘Meridians’. Described by Hitachi as an‘evolution’of the IET/AT300 electro-diesel trains now in use with GWR and LNER, and soon to be introduced by TransPennine Express and Hull Trains, the EMR sets will be in service by 2022 on routes from London St Pancras to the East Midlands and South Yorkshire. In many cases, they will run as 10-car sets. The order is a boost for Hitachi’s Newton Aycliffe factory in County Durham, which is coming towards the end of major…

PETER John Rampton, who was primarily known for his extensive acquisition of locomotives threatened with scrapping, died on July 3 at the age of 85. Mr Rampton also founded Brecon Mountain Railway in partnership with the late Tony Hills and bought Vale of Rheidol Railway from British Rail, and set about returning the line to its former Great Western glory (again with Tony Hills). A skilled engineer, successful farmer and a man dedicated to steam, he not only saved around 40 locomotives from all over the world, leading to him founding The Phyllis Rampton Narrow Gauge Railway Trust, but had numerous other passions, including AC Cars and medieval building restoration. A man who shunned publicity, his significant contribution to preservation will be featured in the September issue of The Railway…

THE Rail Safety Standards Board (RSSB) annual health and safety report for 2018/19 confirms Britain’s place as the safest of the European Union’s 10 biggest railway networks. However, RSSB warns there is no room for complacency, citing a rise in the number of signal passed at danger (SPAD) incidents during the year, to 307. Issues such as fatigue and management of change also remain key risks to safety across the network. RSSB is calling for more action to combat verbal and physical assaults on rail staff, and for management teams and staff to take a more proactive approach to health and safety, especially given the structural changes that are likely to occur in the coming years as a result of Network Rail’s devolution programme and the Williams Review. Concern During…

EVERYONE, regardless of their views on Brexit, should be deeply concerned about the situation engulfing British Steel. If, as expected, Britain leaves the European Union on ‘Trick or Treat’ night, it might no longer be able to rely so confidently on the friendship of other nations or foreign companies. In such a scenario, one of the most important requirements will be self-reliance – and there are few more vital examples of self-reliance for a country than the ability to manufacture its own steel. Should the vast Scunthorpe steelworks be split into pieces, sold off or rationalised as a result of British Steel’s liquidation, the UK might be left with only one blast furnace complex – Port Talbot – and even that’s in the hands of India’s Tata Steel. All this…

Spotlight on freight CLEETHORPES MP Martin Vickers asked the Secretary of State for Transport in the House of Commons, what estimate the Department for Transport has made of the potential effect on the viability of rail freight of a 25% reduction in mode shift revenue suppor t. Transport Minister Andrew Jones replied: “The Government provides grants worth £15.6million per year to support rail and water freight services, which deliver environmental and economic benefits over road transport, but whose operating costs are higher. “This level is net of a significant efficiency saving implemented since 2015. “Rail flows of intermodal freight continue to be healthy and the grants deliver high value for money. “A research project is underway to inform decisions about future funding and operation of the grants and will consider…

Glasgow (Queen Street) high-level terminus is being transformed. Platforms are being extended to cope with more frequent and longer trains and the station front is moving forward to the fringe of George Square. One hopes the sign above the concourse, Failte d’on Gaidhealtachd, (‘Welcome to the Land of the Gael’), is being retained; for, as well as a host of services to Lowland destinations and the Central Highlands, a few penetrate some of the most outstanding scenery in the British Isles en route to the west coast, where Gaelic conversation can still be heard. It was 125 years ago, on August 11, 1894, that the inaugural train from Glasgow steamed under a triumphal arch as it entered Fort William station on the shore of Loch Linnhe. Motive power comprised two…

By Chris Booth and Alex Fisher SHEFFIELD is one of Britain’s largest and most industrialised cities. That it no longer possesses major freight facilities or a locomotive depot is little short of astonishing. This impressive book takes us back to the days when the South Yorkshire metropolis was one of the most important places on the British railway map, possessing a marshalling yard of vast proportions and arguably the nation’s most famous diesel depot. The steel city and its environs once boasted several major steam sheds but we don’t even have to go back as far as that for this story, for Tinsley was very much a product of the diesel era. It was built in the 1960s to replace what was described at the time as a “chaotic and…

CHRIS Vale’s excellent photo of HST No. 43198 under construction at Crewe in 1982 was a gem. However, the loco under construction is probably not 89001 but a ‘56’, as Crewe built the last batch, with Doncaster busy building ‘58s’. Matthew Towe By email THE feature on the ‘Metropolitan Special’ brought back childhood memories of the event, but also of standing on King’s Cross Metropolitan Line station in the late-1940s, when a strange noise heralded the emergence of a freight train from the tunnel, hauled by a GWR pannier tank. I recall a similar occurrence in the early- 50s. Does anybody have any records of freight movements on the London Underground lines? It would make a really interesting article at some time in the future. John Turner By email THANK…

100 YEARS AGO AUGUST 1919 ON TUESDAY July 15th, the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway resumed a day passenger service between London and Paris. The service was arranged to run tri-weekly to the 25th and daily commencing on July 28th. The trains leave Victoria 9.a.m. and arrive Paris (St Lazare) at 6.45p.m., the return train leaves Paris (St Lazare) at 10a.m. and arrives at Victoria 7.35p.m. WE understand that a number of the large 2-8-0 engines built for War Office use to the designs of Mr. J.G. Robinson, of the Great Central Railway, are now being taken over by the railways of this country. Preliminary arrangements have allocated 30 to the London and North Western Railway, to be employed mainly to the north of Stafford. The Great Western…

SATURDAY shuttle trains linking the West Somerset Railway’s (WSR) Bishops Lydeard station with Taunton began operation on July 27. The trains are being run as a joint venture between the WSR and Great Western Railway (GWR), primarily to attract people from the national network to visit the railway, but also as a service for local residents who are looking for a stress-free way of accessing Taunton’s shopping centre. The WSR hopes the service will also provide an alternative way for visitors to access its popular special events, including the Autumn Steam Gala on October 5. Through ticketing GWR already offers through tickets from its staffed stations to the WSR, and these are valid on the shuttle train or on the No. 28 bus between Taunton and Bishops Lydeard. Tickets can…

JONATHAN Jones-Pratt’s recently acquired Hawksworth 0-6-0PT No. 9466 was expected to make an appearance at the West Somerset Railway Association’s Steam & Vintage Rally at Norton Fitzwarren on August 3-4. The Red route loco is currently on hire to the South Devon Railway for the season as it is too heavy to run over the full length of the West Somerset Railway; the line has been temporarily downgraded from Red to Blue route status while essential track upgrades are carried out. However, the section of line between Norton Fitzwarren and Bishops Lydeard has retained its Red route code, and this was where the pannier was due to run during the weekend. Mr Jones-Pratt, who is chairman of West Somerset Railway plc, provided the loco free of charge for the event,…

THE Great Western Society’s project to re-create an example of G J Churchward’s lost ‘47XX’ 2-8-0s has reached another milestone at the Llangollen Railway. Recent work on No. 4709 has concentrated on the spring hanger brackets, which is now all but complete, as the project team look ahead at wheeling the locomotive. These have been modified from Churchward’s original compensating suspension, and instead are identical to those fitted to Collett’s later ‘Grange’ 4-6-0s. The alteration has been made in light of the changing requirements and regulations that have come into general use since the original ‘47XXs’ were built, and was deemed necessary if the big 2-8-0 is to work on the main line in the future. Once the brackets have been machined and test fitted, they will be aligned using…

Bridge work delays Mid-Hants reopening THROUGH running on the Mid-Hants Railway from Alresford to Alton will not restart until late-summer owing to over-running work on the new bridge at Butts Junction. The line is currently closed between Medstead & Four Marks and Alton while the bridge outside Alton is replaced as part of a major road improvement scheme. It had been planned for the line to reopen fully during August, but this has been delayed owing to necessary investigation work into the bridge’s foundations and ground conditions. ‘Coal Tank’ withdrawn with leaking tubes THE Bahamas Locomotive Society (BLS) has withdrawn Webb 0-6-2T No. 1054 for overhaul two years before the expiry of its boiler ticket. The decision to bring forward the overhaul was made after leaking tubes were discovered. The…

OVERHAUL of the Dartmouth Steam Railway’s GWR 2-8-0T No. 5239 Goliath by the East Somerset Railway reached a key stage on July 23 when the loco’s No. 4 boiler was reunited with the frames. Re-tubing of the boiler was completed at the end of May and, following a successful hydraulic test on June 14, it passed its out-of-frames steam test at the beginning of July. New barrel cladding has been laser cut and rolled, although the old firebox cladding has been refurbished for further use. No. 5239 is seen standing on the workshop at Cranmore on July 23, just hours after the boiler had been lowered into place.…

Kilbarrak murals commemorate Barrytown trilogy CELEBRATED author Roddy Doyle took part in the unveiling of two large painted murals that immortalise his much-loved Barrytown trilogy. The ceremony took place at Kilbarrack DART station, North Dublin, on July 10. The murals feature scenes from Mr Doyle’s novels The Commitments, The Snapper and The Van, which are set in the fictional Northside area of Barrytown. Planning permission awarded for Maam Cross revival GALWAY County Council has granted planning permission for the Connemara Railway Project to restore Maam Cross station as an operational railway and tourist attraction. The permission includes the rebuilding of the signal cabin, restoration of the water tower, goods shed and cattle dock, and the relaying of track to the original layout.…

Maritime opens Tilbury rail terminal MARITIME Transport has opened a new rail-connected distribution terminal at the Port of Tilbury in Essex. Although the company has been at Tilbury for 15 years, it has relocated to the new facility as part of its increasing presence in the railfreight market – which includes its partnership with DB Cargo. Maritime handles mostly steel for export, and has relocated a building from another part of the port to provide coverage storage, and modified an existing rail terminal to handle both intermodal and specialist steel wagons. New Teesport train for IKEA PD Ports has launched a dedicated railfreight service for IKEA between Teesport and Doncaster, in partnership with GB Railfreight (GBRf ) and Containerships. The twice-daily trains carrying up to 56‘boxes’ each remove around 120…

WORK to lengthen freight sidings at the Port of Southampton’s Solent Rail Terminal has been completed, allowing more container trains to serve the port. Solent Stevedores and ABP Southampton have extended tracks by 70m to allow two 645m container trains to be handled simultaneously. Previously, only one shorter train could be accommodated in the terminal per day. Capacity has been more than doubled from five trains per week to a potential maximum of 12, and from 60,000 container rail freight moves each year to a potential of 180,000 moves per year. The Solent Rail Terminal at the Port of Southampton handles around 1,600 container trains each year, contributing to the 1.9m TEU (20ft equivalent units) that pass through the port every year.…

More funding for access improvements THE Department for Transport (DfT) has released a further £20million for accessibility improvements to stations across the country. The fund is designed to enable smaller-scale enhancements, such as tactile paving, handrails and ‘Harrington Humps’ to make travelling more straightforward for passengers with disabilities. Liverpool tunnel repairs resume PERMANENT repairs have begun on a retaining wall that collapsed onto the railway near Liverpool Lime Street causing major disruption two years ago. Two hundred tonnes of debris fell onto the track in February 2017 after the wall was overloaded with concrete and temporary buildings on land above the cutting. Interim repairs were made at the time, but now final structural repairs are underway and are due to be completed during the autumn. Real-time information in rural Scotland…

HIGH Speed 2 Ltd chairman Allan Cook has reportedly warned the Department for Transport (DfT) that the new railway cannot be delivered within its £56billion budget. Press reports in July suggested up to £30bn extra could be needed to complete the high-speed line, which stretches from Euston to the West Midlands and north of England. However, HS2 Ltd and the DfT refused to confirm the reports, saying:“The chairman of HS2 Ltd is conducting detailed work into the costs and schedule of the project to ensure it delivers benefits to passengers, the economy, and represents value for money for the taxpayer. “This work is ongoing. We expect Allan Cook to provide his final assessment in due course.” Fears However, the probability HS2 will cost considerably more than projected has been raised…

MIDLANDS Connect has submitted detailed plans for a £2billion investment in the West Midlands rail network to the Government. The Midlands Rail Hub would involve the construction of new and upgraded rail infrastructure between 2024 and 2033 to create capacity for an extra 24 trains per hour on the region's network, and the transfer of more than 4,000 lorry loads of freight from road to rail every day. Almost half the money would be spent on the proposed Bordesley Chords, two new viaducts in Birmingham linking the Camp Hill line to Moor Street station, and costed at £900million to £950m. These would create capacity for a further 20 trains per hour and relieve the pressure on New Street, the busiest station outside London. Moor Street is also closer to the…

THE news that Leicester City and Leicestershire County councils have joined forces to try to persuade their colleagues in Derbyshire and Staffordshire to fund yet another report into the reopening of the Leicester-Burton ‘Ivanhoe Line’ for passengers is encouraging. The latest initiative has been spurred by the possibility of an upgrade to the line to enable HS2 construction materials to be brought in should the high-speed project go ahead. Considering the track has been operational for freight since 1964, it’s astonishing to think it’s suffered decades of pussyfooting around while other closed or downgraded routes have reopened. It’s also incredible that 100,000 people living in the very heart of an advanced nation like England still don’t have a train service after more than half a century of relative isolation. A…

WHICHEVER yardstick is used, 31 years is a long time in railway terms. Our ancestors managed to build the majority of the national network between 1829 and 1860, locomotive designers managed to graduate from Edwardian four-coupleds in 1904 to streamlined Pacifics in 1935 – and BR managed to change the entire industry between 1949 and 1980. So what on earth didn’t happen between 1988 and 2019 for the following two statements to be made in both years? 1988: “The new Class 91s for the East Coast Main Line will have a design speed of 140mph, although 125mph will remain the maximum for the time being.” 2019: “The new Class 801s for the East Coast Main Line will have a design speed of 140mph, although 125mph will remain the maximum for…

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7 Burton Railway Society Marston’s Sports & Social Club, Shobnall Rd, Burton-upon-Trent DE14 2BG. 19.30. ‘I Moved It My Way’: Andrew Goodman. Pennine Railway Society Club 39, 39 College Rd, Waterdale, Doncaster DN1 3JH. 20.00. ‘It’s all gone Black & White’: Keith Glossop. FRIDAY, AUGUST 9 Slough and Windsor Railway Society The Manor, Brunel Way, Slough Station. 19.45. Members’ presentation evening. SUNDAY, AUGUST 11 Railway Correspondence & Travel Society (RCTS) (South East branch) Coach visit to Chinnor & Princes Risborough & Didcot Railway Centre. Contact: southeast@rcts.org.uk MONDAY, AUGUST 12 Lincoln Railway Society St Hugh’s Church, Harewood Crescent, North Hykeham, Lincoln LN6 8JG.19.30. ‘From Railways to Royalty’: Jack Boskett. Southern Electric Group (Sussex branch) Deall Room, Southwick Community Centre, Southwick BN42 4TE. 19.30. ‘The Brighton Main Line in Sussex’:…

AS LONG ago as 1845 Benjamin Disraeli wrote in his novel Sybil: ‘The railways will do as much for mankind as the monasteries did’, and there has been a love affair between the British people and their railways ever since. Like most intense relationships it has had its ups and downs, but the one aspect that everyone agrees on is our railway heritage is important and worth preserving. What sets Britain apart from every other country – and the railway uniquely compared with all other industries – is that its heritage is protected by a law – the Railway Heritage Act – passed in 1996 immediately following Privatisation. This means artefacts and records that are significant to the nation’s railway story are subject to ‘designation’ – a process that means…

DURING the 1950s and 1960s, the RCTS gained an almost unrivalled reputation for it rail tours, most of which were organised by volunteer local branch officers. One of the most active was the West Riding branch, and the complexity of some of their trips, even today, was quite astonishing. The ‘Festiniog Scenic Rail Tour’, run on Sunday, July 22, 1962, was typical of the genre, and even today looking back at the itinerary it is remarkable the tour ran as well as it did. Firstly, two portions were run, one from Bradford Exchange and the other from Leeds Central. Both trains should have departed at the same time and combined at Halifax. The Bradford coaches arrived on time at Halifax in charge of‘Royal Scot’ No. 46145 The Duke of Wellington’s…

THE Mid-Hants Railway (MHR) has secured the purchase of Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-2T No. 41312 from owner John Jones, ensuring its long-term future on the railway. The ex-Southern Region ‘Mickey Mouse’ tank becomes just the second engine to be owned by the line’s operating company MHR Ltd, joining ‘5MT’ 4-6-0 No. 73096, which it bought in 2017. Mr Jones had owned the loco since 1993, putting it through a full restoration at Ropley before entering service 20 years ago. Other than visits to other heritage lines it has been based on the railway ever since and, having made the decision to sell, Mr Jones gave the MHR first refusal as he wanted it to stay on the line. The loco has been acquired thanks to a grant from the MHR Preservation…

THE Pontypool & Blaenavon Railway (P&BR) will pay tribute to the industrial locomotive manufacturers of Leeds later this summer with a special Built in Leeds gala on September 13-15. The event will centre around Mike Pearce’s Hunslet ‘48150’ class 0-6-0ST Jessie (1873/1937), which recently joined the P&BR fleet following its overhaul and return to East Moors Steelworks livery as No. 18. Joining it will be another Hunslet 0-6-0ST – Brookes No. 1 – which will visit from the Middleton Railway. The 14in-cylindered loco (2387/1941) bears a strong family resemblance to Jessie, albeit on a smaller scale, and will make for an interesting comparison with its larger sibling. The locomotive spent its working career at Brookes Chemicals Ltd’s Lightcliffe Works, near Halifax. In 1969, the works closed and No. 1 was…

EMERGENCY services had to be called to Dublin’s Heuston station on July 8 after smoke from a small fire engulfed a Class 22000 unit that had just arrived from Portlaoise. The fire was located in the underslung engine area of the leading car, and appears to have started just moments before the unit rolled into Heuston as the 17.25 from Portlaoise. Fortunately, it was confined to this area, and the on-train fire-suppression systems were activated. Passengers were asked to leave the train on arrival at Heuston; no-one was hurt during the incident. The fire brigade was called in line with safety procedures, but the fire was fully extinguished by Iarnród Éireann (IÉ) staff. An IÉ investigation into the cause of the fire is underway. Like us facebook.com/TheRailwayMagazine…

FORMER Ffestiniog Railway (FR) steel-bodied carriage No. 120 was delivered to Apedale Valley Light Railway on June 10. It joins ex-FR No. 117, which was bought by Moseley Railway Trust (MRT) in 2016 after becoming surplus as FR constructed new vehicles which took the old numbers. Similar ex-FR carriages (Nos. 118 and 119) were bought by Golden Valley Light Railway, where they are now in service on replacement bogies. The transport that delivered the carriage returned to North Wales with MRT’s Kerr, Stuart 0-6-0T+WT ‘Joffre’ 3014/1916, which visited Bala Lake Railway’s June 16-17 gala.…

STATFOLD Barn Railway Trust’s Hunslet-built (Kerr, Stuart design) ‘Tamar’ class 0-4-2T 3756/1952 will burn oil on completion of its restoration (RM July). A similar ‘Tamar’ class (works number 4483) was built to burn oil when new, so there is a precedent. However, rather than burning conventional heavy fuel oil Statfold intends to use the loco for experiments with alternative types of organic oils aimed at limiting the carbon footprint of steam locomotives.…

■ VOLUNTEERS have expended 900 hours of work restoring Manx Electric Railway’s (MER) 1893-built trailer No. 54, and completed their task on June 8. MER staff were due to finish the mechanical and wiring aspects of the project with a view to the trailer appearing during Isle of Man Railway’s July Heritage Transport Festival; it last ran in passenger service on August 16, 1971. The trailer has been completed in red, white and teak livery. ■ THE Talyllyn Railway has raised sufficient finance to progress replication of the old locomotive watering point at Ty Dŵr, on the ‘mineral extension’ between Abergynolwyn and Nant Gwernol (RM Jan). More than £1,200 was raised from its appeal, with the railway holiday company PTG Tours offering a £4,000 sponsorship for the project, enabling it…

SOUTH Shields station on the Tyne and Wear Metro system was permanently closed from the end of service on July 7. This is the first and only T&W station to close since operations began in 1980. South Shields was at the end of the Yellow Line branch from Pelaw on the south bank of the Tyne. It was closed to make way for the town’s new £21million bus and Metro interchange, sited 100metres away, which is due to open on August 4. Until then, services are terminating at nearby Chichester. Construction of the interchange, which forms Phase Two of the £100million South Shields 365 regeneration masterplan, began in April 2018. It brings together the town’s bus and Metro services under one roof, and will include escalators and lifts to platform…

BRUTAL temperatures over a two-day period brought chaos to large parts of the rail network, affecting millions of rail passengers. The effects on one route were still being felt several days later. As temperatures began to rise into the upper 30s on July 24, the temperature of the railhead in many locations was far higher at 55-60°C. Because the heat makes the rail expand, it increased the risk of bending and flexing, and in some cases buckling. The increased risks led Network Rail to impose a blanket speed restriction of 60mph on a number of routes to reduce the possibility of a derailment. Many services were cancelled to reduce the number of trains and subsequent stress on overheated tracks. On July 26, Network Rail said between 12.00-17.00, a number of…

Fiddlers Ferry to close in March ENERGY provider SSE has announced Fiddlers Ferry power station, near Warrington, will close in March 2020. The decision is another blow to rail-borne coal traffic, which has been in steep decline over the last few years as the UK moves to cleaner fuels and renewable energy sources. The 50-year-old facility is currently served by Freightliner and DB Cargo. NR bids for British Steel rail assets NETWORK Rail (NR) has moved to protect its supply chain by making an offer for railway-critical assets from British Steel. The British Steel Scunthorpe plant supplies 95% of NR’s rails, comprising around 3% of the troubled steelmaker’s business. NR’s preference is that a buyer is found for the complete business, and it continues to work with the liquidator and…

THE Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB), British Transport Police and Office of Rail and Road (ORR) launched a major investigation after two track workers were struck and killed by a train in South Wales on July 3. Gareth Delbridge, 64, and Michael Lewis, 58, were fatally injured by Great Western Railway’s 09.29 Swansea-Paddington. A third worker was treated for shock. The train was passing Margam, east of Port Talbot Parkway, at around 73mph, when the GWR driver spotted the three track workers walking away from him on the Down line and three more on the line ahead of his train. Despite sounding the horn and making an emergency brake application, the 10-car Class 800 was still travelling at around 50mph when the incident occurred. RAIB’s initial report suggested the team…

GATWICK Express operator Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) has been fined £1million and ordered to pay £52,000 in costs after a passenger was killed while leaning out of a Class 442 EMU in south London. Railway enthusiast and Hitachi Rail Europe technician Simon Brown, 24, was leaning out of the guards’ compartment droplight window of the train when he hit his head on a signal gantry, with limited clearance, near Wandsworth Common. The train, one of the few on the route with droplights accessible to passengers, was travelling at 61mph when the incident occurred on August 7, 2016. Ian Prosser, Office of Rail and Road (ORR) director of safety and HM Chief Inspector of Railways, has written to operators instructing them to take “immediate action to prevent a similar tragedy occurring…

GB RAILFREIGHT has reaffirmed its interest in acquiring redundant InterCity 125 sets for conversion to high-speed freight trains. The freight operator is keen to tap into the rapidly growing internet shopping market, which requires speedy overnight delivery from distribution centres to customers in UK cities, especially London. GBRf believes 125mph-capable trains would make it more feasible to obtain paths on main line routes into London termini such as Euston and Paddington, where parcel cages could be quickly transferred to local delivery vehicles. Many HST power cars and Mk3 trailers have recently been retired by GWR, and more will be displaced shortly by LNER and East Midlands Railway, which will replace its Midland Main Line inter-city fleet with new bi-mode trains by 2022.…

STOP PRESS ‘T9’, Repton and Clayton for Great Central this autumn TWO former Southern Region 4-4-0s have been lined up to star at the Great Central Railway’s (GCR) annual Autumn Steam Gala on October 3-6. The National Railway Museum’s Drummond ‘T9’ 4-4-0 No. 30120 and the North Yorkshire Moors Railway’s ‘Schools’ No. 926 Repton have both been confirmed for the event, which will also feature many of the GCR’s resident fleet. No. 30120’s visit will provide one of the last gala appearances by the Swanage Railway-based ‘Greyhound’ before its boiler certificate expires next year. Meanwhile, the Diesel Traction Group’s Clayton Type 1 No. D8568 will be the star guest at the GCR’s Diesel Gala on September 6-8. The centre-cab loco will line up alongside the South…

IT WAS depressing to see the puerile manner in which elements of the mass media reduced our great rail industry to the level of ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ in coverage of the Williams Report in July. In what was supposed to be a serious story about the future of Britain’s train services, the recommendation by Keith Williams that a ‘guiding mind’ be created to oversee the industry was widely reported as a call for a‘Fat Controller’. Quite apart from the fact I thought ‘fatism’was supposed to be a no-no in political correctness terms, it’s disconcerting to think some presenters have such a low opinion of their audience’s intelligence that subjects like this require interpreting in such frivolous fashion. It will be heavily ironic if the Williams recommendation is eventually adopted,…

AT THE age of 30, Richard Davis is a good few years older than the Severn Valley Railway’s (SVR) other apprentices, but he believes this training opportunity came at just the right time. In our latest update from the SVR, we visit Richard in Kidderminster, where he’s worked 18 months of his apprenticeship in the railway’s carriage & wagon mechanical workshop. “I joined the SVR as a 17-year-old carriage cleaner, and worked my way up to become team supervisor. However, I don’t think I’d really appreciated the care and attention that goes into the maintenance and restoration side, until I got the chance to become an engineering apprentice. “It gives you a completely different perspective on the railway. Previously I was moving the coaches around and cleaning them, but had…

Western Steam 1948-1966 By Ben Brooksbank and Peter Tuffrey THIS new book from author Peter Tuffrey and photographer Ben Brooksbank is their fifth collaboration, and takes the reader on a pictorial journey through the British Railways Western Region in steam days. From immediately post-Nationalisation to the last days of Western Region steam in 1965, Ben photographed a wide sweep of the region from Paddington to Dawlish, Gloucester to Shrewsbury, and Wrexham and Swansea. He therefore captured many of the ex-GWR locomotive types in action, be them absorbed locos from pre-Grouping companies or the latest Hawksworth and Riddles machines. This book celebrates them all. An attractive feature of the book is the way it is presented alphabetically rather than by area. As a result it jumps around so that one minute…

Extra padding needed on South Western’s Class 450 EMUs I AM entering another contender for the ‘hardest, most uncomfortable seat on a modern train’? My nomination is the First Class seats of the refurbished Class 450 EMUs on South Western Railway. As part of the refurbishment of these units, First Class has been moved from the middle of one of the centre carriages to behind each driving cab, reducing the number of First Class seats per unit from 24 to 16. There are now only eight First Class seats behind each cab, but the seats are rock-hard – even worse than those in Standard Class. A fellow passenger remarked: “Would you pay extra money to sit on these seats?” I note Greater Anglia is promising its Class 745/0 trains will…

Page 92: Paul Moxon, from the Railcar Society, advises that vehicle No. M51188 (paired with the NRM’s trailer No. M56352) was repaired and repainted by the NNR’s Carriage & Wagon staff and volunteers (not the Weybourne Traction Group), and is maintained mechanically by the NNR’s diesel fitters. The NRM’s power car No. M51192 is awaiting the fitting of a pair of Leyland engines to return it to service, after which it will run with M56352, and M51188 becoming a spare.…

Nick Ralls leaves Severn Valley for Ironbridge… SEVERN Valley Railway (SVR) general manager Nick Ralls will leave the railway he has overseen for the last 12 years later this year. Mr Ralls, who joined the SVR shortly after the floods of 2007, is taking on the role of chief executive for the Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust. During his tenure as general manager the railway not only recovered from the 2007 landslips, but it also saw the opening of the Engine House at Highley, the diesel maintenance depot at Kidderminster, and enhanced visitor facilities at Bridgnorth. … as Bluebell’s GM also steps down JULIE Jones, the general manager of the Bluebell Railway, has left the railway after just 10 months in the role. She finished on June 12, with no reason…

THE West Somerset Railway ( WSR) is carr ying out a full restructure of its management board following a comprehensive business review by WSR plc chairman Jonathan Jones-Pratt. The review was part of the WSR’s ongoing recovery programme, and included an external safety and operational compliance audit, a full review of overheads and staff structure, and a detailed investigation into the railway’s finances. “The focus is now moving from ‘turn-around’ to ‘recover y ’, but for shareholders and staff we owe it to them to be transparent,” said Mr Jones-Pratt. “The results of the review highlight some critical business failures, which have resulted in significant financial losses accruing to the plc. The results for the 15 months to March 31, 2019, when published, will illustrate the extent of the sharp…

THE Isle of Wight Steam Railway (IoWSR) has had informal discussions with the Office of Rail and Road concerning the options available if the railway was to extend from its current Smallbrook Junction terminus to Ryde St John’s Road. Such an extension would see steam services sharing the St John’s Road facilities with South Western Railway’s Island Line operation. The IoWSR is working with SWR and the Department for Transport on ways in which this can happen without steam services impacting on those of Island Line. Island Line trains need to use platform 1 at St John’s Road owing to the footbridge leading to platform 2 not being mobility compliant. However, IoWSR trains would take over and occupy the present Up line from Smallbrook Junction that also leads into platform…

The Lady Armaghdale attends motor racing event FORMER Manchester Ship Canal and ICI Hunslet 0-6-0T The Lady Armaghdale (686/1898) formed part of a Severn Valley Railway display at the Chateau Impney Hill Climb event, near Droitwich, on July 13-14. It was a rare outing for the Warwickshire Industrial Locomotive Trust loco, which usually resides in the SVR’s Engine House museum at Highley. Waleswood gets its boiler back HUDSWELL, Clarke 0-4-0ST Waleswood (750/1906) was reunited with its overhauled boiler for the first time since 1990 at the Northamptonshire Ironstone Railway Trust’s Hunsbury Hill base on July 5. The ex-Waleswood Colliery loco passed its out-of-frames steam test the day before, and a return to steam is expected in the coming months. Merlin back in action at…

IARNRÓD Éireann (IÉ) has applied to Galway City Council to extend the planning permission it won for redevelopment of the city’s Ceannt station as it seeks to secure funding for the work. Planning permission was originally granted in August 2014, but IÉ was unable to progress the project after the National Transport Authority (NTA) withdrew funding. However, the NTA has subsequently agreed to provide 50% of the funding required, with the remainder coming from the Urban Regeneration & Development Fund. If the city council agrees to extend the planning permission window the redevelopment will include the construction of a 95sq m single-storey glazed entrance building and the extension of the north-eastern bay platform. An extra 2,336sq m of concourse and platform space will also be provided, together with a new…

■ THE Leadhills & Wanlockhead Railway postponed its late-July Steam Weekend because of delayed completion of the overhaul of Graham Morris’Kerr, Stuart 0-4-0ST ‘Wren’ Peter Pan. Transport issues ruled out booking an alternative loco. Provisional revised dates for Peter Pan’s visit are August 31-September 1. ■ CONSTRUCTION of a new car park at the Vale of Rheidol Railway’s Devil’s Bridge terminus started in July. Financial assistance for the project is being received from the Welsh Government Rural Communities – Rural Development Programme 2014-2020. The new car and coach park will allow the station and cafe surroundings to become a fully pedestrian area. ■ WORK continues on development of a passenger-carrying line at the Lancashire Mining Museum (former Astley Green Colliery). The trackbed of a new section of line has been…

DAVEY, Paxman 4-6-2 No. 1 Green Goddess returned to service at the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway (RHDR) on June 9. It had been out of traffic since colliding with a farm tractor on an occupation crossing on September 10, 2016. The backlog of RHDR work caused by repairing the damage to Green Goddess will be alleviated by the dispatch of Krupp 4-6-2 No. 11 Black Prince to John Fowler Engineering in Cumbria for overhaul on June 29. This enables RHDR to now begin an in-house overhaul of YEC 4-6-2 No. 10 Doctor Syn. RH&D Railway Association has committed £60,000 of reserves to support the contract overhaul of Black Prince, roughly half the anticipated cost, and launched an incentivised appeal towards covering these costs.…

August  9-11 Talyllyn Railway, young members’ gala 15-16 Launceston Steam Railway, Darjeeling gala 17 Richmond Light Railway, Kent steam fair 26 Westonzoyland Pumping Station, railway gala 30-Sept 1 Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway, steam gala September  7 Statfold Barn Railway, enthusiasts’ day 14-15 Kirklees Light Railway, steam and diesel gala 14-15 Vale of Rheidol Railway, forgotten engines steam festival 20-22 Perrygrove Railway, gala 21-22 Apedale Valley Light Railway, Moseley Railway Trust 50th anniversary 28-29 Lynton & Barnstaple Railway, gala October  4-6 Ffestiniog Railway, Victorian weekend 5/6 Leighton Buzzard Railway (LBR), centenary steam gala 19-20 Toddington NG Railway, steam up 26 RHDR, end-of-season parade 27 Bredgar &Wormshill Light Railway, end-of-season steam-up…

A TUBE train left a station with 10 sets of doors open after the operator bypassed the door interlock circuit, according to a report by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch. The Jubilee Line train left Finchley Road shortly after 09.00 on September 1, 2018 with around 30 passengers, and travelled for just under a minute to the next stop at West Hampstead at speeds of up to 40mph. After a door fault at Finchley Road, likely caused by a control system overload because of faults elsewhere on the train, the operator bypassed the door interlock circuit, but did not notice some of the train doors were still open as the train departed. RAIB found contributing factors were the sudden increase in the train operator’s workload after running automatic mode; fatigue…

DCRAIL started a new service on June 24 which is conveying used rail ballast from Westbury to Southampton for recycling by L&S Waste. The new flow follows shortly after the introduction of a similar ‘as-required’ flow of used ballast from Carlisle Kingmoor to Boston in Lincolnshire. On arrival at Southampton the ballast is processed and used by the local construction market. The use of rail transport removes more than 200 lorry movements per week, with the traffic expected to run on a campaign basis as stocks at Network Rail’s Westbury facility allow. David Fletcher, director, Rail for DCRail’s parent Cappagh Group, told The RM:“We are very busy at the moment starting new traffic and preparing for the opening in 2020 of our construction materials’ handling facility at Willesden ‘F’ Sidings…

JUNE 24 signalled the start of significant structural changes at Network Rail, designed to tackle the declining performance and punctuality of passenger and freight trains over recent years. More power is being devolved into five new regions, with 14 smaller, regional organisations aimed at being closer to customers and giving local managers the authority to tackle performance issues in their area. From a high in 2012, train performance has declined from 91.6% of trains regarded as arriving ‘on time’ to 86.3% today. The five new regions – Eastern, North West & Central, Scotland’s Railway, Southern and Wales and Western – are now ‘live’, while the new routes will come into operation later in the summer. Further devolution from the centre to the routes and regions is planned in the longer…

AT LEAST £245million will be spent by Network Rail to support research and development (R&D) of new technologies between 2019 and 2024. Projects include Spectrail, a low-cost system of internet-connected sensors that will ‘listen’ to rail lines and spot problems such as wheel flats, cable theft and trespass at remote locations before they cause disruption; the development of alternative methods for gauging that could deliver savings on clearance, stepping and intervention work; and an artificial intelligence -assisted lineside inspection and maintenance planning system that will help NR boost the resilience of infrastructures and reduce maintenance costs. NR also plans to further improve safety for staff and reduce costs by automating track inspections, surveys and incident response using drones. Innovate UK is helping Network Rail to deliver R&D schemes and broaden…