Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2023 i The Railway Magazine

DERBY’S Litchurch Lane works, now part of the Alstom empire following completion of a merger in 2021 with Bombardier, could see around 1300 workers trimmed from its workforce in spring. With no further new train orders beyond the current Class 701 build for South Western Railway, which should be completed by April, the company has entered consultations with its workforce over redundancies. The indications are that up to 550 permanent and 780 temporary jobs are at risk. The number of job losses is expected to be ultimately higher because of the wider impact on Alstom’s supply chain partners. Just four years ago, Bombardier took on 400 additional staff to work on new trains for Greater Anglia, SWR and West Midlands Trains. With the news coming just before Christmas, it is…

THE Downpatrick and County Down Railway in Northern Ireland has had to suspend all operations until further notice because of flood damage caused by Storm Ciaran at the end of October, with water levels rising on the last day of the DCDR’s‘Phantom Flyer Halloween’trains on October 29. The flooding devastated large parts of the town, with the DCDR’s station area, carriage gallery and workshops under 5ft of flood water at one point, damaging locomotives and rolling stock. DCDR chairman Robert Gardner told The RM :“This is a devastating blow to the railway. We were all gearing up for a busy Christmas season with our popular‘Lapland Express’and our Winter Diesel Gala. However, we are now in a position where we don’t know when can start running trains again. “We see the…

TOWARDS the end of October, tunnel boring machines (TBMs) Emily and Anne were lowered in sections into a 25-metre deep (82 feet) ancillary shaft at Victoria Road in Ealing, West London. It will be their starting point at the beginning of 2024 for the excavation of the 3.4-mile tunnel under Ealing to Greenpark Way in Greenford, which will take around a year to complete. Emily is named after midwife (and later Ealing mayor) Emily Sophia Taylor, who provided help for women who could not afford maternity care. Anne is named after educational reformer, philanthropist and anti-slavery campaigner Lady Anne Byron. Manufactured by Herrenknecht in Germany, the assembled TBMs will each weigh 1700 tonnes and have eight back gantries each, carrying all the systems required for the tunnelling operation.…

LATE summer saw me working as an official photographer at a railway industry event in central London, and I found myself seated next to Network Rail chairman Lord Peter Hendy. The event began with a video showcasing NR’s Air Operations team, during which Lord Hendy asked if I had ever been up in one of its helicopters. When I answered: “No, but would love to,” he then promised to make it happen. I did not have to wait too long. A date was set for October 3 to fly with Network Rail pilots Dave Vasey and Chris Ashworth as they conducted their analysis over the heart of London. I had prepared a wish list of areas I wanted to capture, with the main railway stations topping the list – such…

THE sole surviving GWR‘Collett Goods’locomotive could steam again at the South Devon Railway (SDR), after agreement was reached between the 0-6-0’s owners and the heritage line. Under the terms of the agreement with the 2251 Locomotive Fund, the South Devon Railway Ltd, a Charitable Community Benefit Society will become the custodians of No. 3205 for the next 50 years. Following acquisition by the 2251 Locomotive Fund from BR in 1965, No. 3205 became the second locomotive to arrive at Buckfastleigh for preservation later that year. Two years later, the‘2251’became the first loco on the fledgling Severn Valley Railway (SVR). No. 3205 left the SVR in March 1987, initially to the West Somerset Railway before returning to Buckfastleigh to what by then had become the SDR in 1998. During 2016 No.…

THE Yorkshire Dales Railway Museum Trust, owner and operator of the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway, is celebrating having raised over a quarter of a million pounds towards the overhaul of ‘Austerity’0-6-0ST Wheldale. The volunteer team, led by Mike Walsh, has raised the money in a variety of ways, including informing passengers about the appeal and seeking donations from passengers on Embsay’s regular trains, a display in the former Cabman’s Shelter at Embsay station, an annual draw and sales through the station’s popular‘Bric-a-Brac’ shop. The appeal fund initially started back in 2015, the beginning of a huge fundraising effort to raise at least £300,000 to fund the overhaul of the locomotive, and has grown significantly over recent years. Built in 1944 as works number 3168 by the Hunslet Engine…

A RAILWAY in a Liverpool park that has remained untouched for around 15 years is now being reopened. A team of volunteers is in the process of reviving the 7¼in gauge railway in the grounds of Croxteth Park, a stately home owned by Liverpool City Council. The local authority said the railway has remained dormant for many years and was last operated by Jack Woods through a company called Forest Model Engineering. In the intervening period, nature took hold, with the track becoming overgrown and buried beneath leaf mulch and earth. Now, however, the once popular railway is being brought back to life by a small team of volunteers led by local resident Kevin Brown. “It started when we arrived on site and found that the track was still in…

INTERCITY, one of the railtour arms of the Crewe-based Locomotive Services Group (LSG), has released details of three excursions to cover the opening quarter of 2024 – two of which are to Scotland. The first of these tours which will feature all first class accommodation is‘The Ayr Extension’on January 13, which will see both a Class 86 and 87 working different sections of the train from Crewe to Ayr via Glasgow Central. With an expected start at 08.15 from Crewe, pick-up points are Warrington Bank Quay, Wigan North Western, Preston and Carlisle before an arrival at Glasgow Central (circa 12.00) where some passengers may opt to depart and visit the city. Understood to be running in top-and-tail mode, the train takes the route via Paisley Gilmour Street to Ayr where…

TWO of Tyne & Wear Metro’s existing Class 599‘Metrocars’are to be preserved, but operator Nexus has abandoned plans to offer vehicles to local groups for repurposing once they are displaced by its new Stadler Class 555 fleet. As previously expected, No. 4001 will become part of the collection at the Stephenson Railway Museum on North Tyneside. The site was home to the unit and fellow prototype No. 4002 when it was the test track for the system in the 1970s. Beamish Museum will also receive a‘Metrocar’. Bids were invited Applications were invited two years ago with the aim of turning up to five further Class 599s into community assets, but despite what a Nexus spokesman described as a “fairly high level of community interest”, resulting in a dozen separate bids…

DEUTSCHE Bahn acquired EWS from Canadian National Railway in June 2007, rebranding the company as DB Schenker. Historically, Schenker was a road-based logistics company and today, Schenker-branded lorries and containers are a common sight on British roads. Only one fleet of new wagons was built during this period, HLA’s Nos. 82 70 6956 000-7 to 011-4, delivered by WH Davis in 2010 to design code HL 003A. Ordered to replace older stock carrying dredged aggregates from AngersteinWharf, they were short-lived and scrapped by 2021. Since March 2016, railfreight operations have been carried out under the DB Cargo UK banner. Notably, this company and its forerunners have taken over various private owner wagon fleets, including British Gypsum, Brunner Mond, Marcon, National Power and RMC Roadstone. Not all the wagons remain in…

RHTT A visit to Marylebone station on Sunday, October 1, found Class 66 Nos. 66522 and 66507 top-and-tailing a Rail Head Treatment Train in the Wall Siding, having arrived as a 3J04 from Kings Norton On Track Plant Depot. The Rail Head Treatment Train (RHTT) season along the southern section of the Midland Main Line commenced on October 3, when DB Cargo Class 66 Nos. 66041+66169 had charge of the 3J92/23.17 Toton TMD-West Hampstead Thameslink and 3J93/12.01 return. When next seen on October 6, No. 66041 had been joined by No. 66104 and this pairing became the staple for the month, including when seen on October 13, 23 and 30. Class 66 Nos. 66010 and 66085 have been hauling RHTTs from Stapleford & Sandiacre and were observed in Nottingham on…

THE Indonesian capital Jakarta is now connected with the city of Bandung by a 142.3km (88 miles) long 350km/h (217mph) high-speed line which was opened by Indonesian President Joko Widodo on October 2. Branded as Whoosh, services on the new line, the first of its kind to open in the southern hemisphere, will be operated by a fleet of 12 new 350km/h EMUs built in China by CRRC. A joint venture of Indonesian and Chinese state-owned companies called PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia China (KCIC) operates the trains. The eight-car CR400AF Yawan high-speed EMUs have seats for 600 passengers. The new line, which is electrified at 27.5kV AC, serves a combined population of more than 45 million people (the Jakarta conurbation has 34 million people and Bandung around 11 million). KCIC…

THE Office of Rail and Road has announced that railway funding for Control Period 7, which runs from April 2024 to March 2029, will total £43.1 billion. This comprises £38.5 billion for England and Wales and £4.6 billion for Scotland. The total is not significantly different from the previous five-year period (CP6, April 2019 to March 2024), but there is a change of emphasis for renewals and contingencies as a result of climate change. Income from fixed and variable track access charges is calculated at £10.6 billion and, taking into account the net effect of the performance regime and recovery of the cost of providing electric traction current from the train operators, the Government grant will be £29.8 billion, which again is a very similar figure to that paid in…

HEADLINE NEWS RUNNING for three weeks from late October, the North Yorkshire Moors Railway was the location for a trial of new technology aimed at improving mobile communications on board trains. The project called SODOR is led by IT and business consulting firm CGI, which was chosen by the Government in November 2021 to develop and demonstrate a hybrid satellite and terrestrial communications system for use on trains. The acronym stands for Satellites for Digitisation of Railways, although it also appropriately spells out the name of the fictional island from Reverend W Awdry’sThe Railway Series books. Testing on the NYMR between Pickering and Grosmont was a precursor to future main line trials and involved moving a train including a wagon carrying a generator and satellite equipment. Working in partnership with…

TO TAKE control of the East Coast Main Line’s premier motive power depot at the age of 30 requires an exceptional level of ability. To play a vital role in the development of Gresley Pacifics too confirms Peter Townend as one of the most influential steam figures in postwar Britain. Born on August 13, 1925 and raised in Doncaster, Peter had been taken as a 10-year-old to witness the inaugural run of ‘A4’No. 2509 Silver Link on the ‘Silver Jubilee’in September 1935 and quickly became an enthusiast, devouring the pages of The Railway Magazine in his local library every month. “It was the only way we could find out what was happening on the LNER and other railways in those days,”he said. After learning his trade as a premium apprentice…

CLIFF RAILWAYS BRITAIN’S steepest funicular reopened on October 23 following a year-long refurbishment of the track and cars. The 5ft gauge East Hill Lift (EHL) in Hastings closed for extensive refurbishment work in October 2022. It is one of two cliff railways in the town, this one opening in 1902, 11 years after the West Hill Lift (WHL). The refurbishment took longer than planned because more work was found to be needed than first thought. The two cars were removed to complete the track repairs and were refurbished at Wheel Sets UK in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. Funicular railways operate by cable with counterbalanced ascending and descending cars. The EHL originally used the water balance principle, with the tanks hidden in the towers at the Upper Station, but it was switched…

I LIVE in a little village in the Chilterns. It is rather isolated from the main roads and, while attractive to those who are well off and drive large cars, it is less appealing to younger folk. The remaining elders of the village have to make do with one village shop, a twice-weekly bus to town, and me as the local painter, carpenter and handyman with a small van. Years ago, the village had a railway and station. You can still see the trackbed and the remains of a bridge over the road at the end of the village. The railway was closed in late 1962 – not from the Beeching cuts, but following an accident that took place at the bridge. The line had been used for occasional main…

THE Kent & East Sussex Railway (KESR) has got itself on to a more secure financial footing in the 2023 season – despite the strong headwinds. With the heritage railway sector facing a host of challenges, Dr Robin Coombes, the line’s general manager, said the KESR has“not only survived but thrived.”The news formed part of his report delivered to the KESR’s Annual General Meeting. “In a time when many visitor and heritage venues experienced reduced numbers, we proudly achieved a 13% increase in passenger numbers,” he said.“Moreover, the critical indicator of financial health, revenue per passenger, also saw an upswing. Our passengers not only increased in number but also in their contribution to our financial stability.” He said one of the most remarkable achievements this year has been the railway’s…

WITH no trains operating at many heritage lines between late October and into November, it provides a short window to undertake track maintenance before festive season services get underway. Volunteers at the East Somerset Railway have been carrying out track improvements in Cranmore station. The work includes resleepering on the Down platform and attention to the drainage. After Christmas, further work is planned to be carried out in the same area, replacing more worn-out components and taking the opportunity to modify the layout. The diamond crossing is to be removed and replaced by a point, resulting in the Tanker Sidings being accessed direct from the main – plus the loop being shortened. Existing signals are being refurbished and a scheme for full signalling is being worked on with design, verification…

PLANNING approval has been granted for an ambitious scheme to turn the home of Blackpool’s heritage tram fleet into a nationally-significant and family-orientated heritage attraction. Built in 1935, the tram shed at Blackpool Transport’s Rigby Road site, marketed as Blackpool Tramtown, has proved consistently popular since opening its doors to visitors for guided tours in September 2021, but the longer term aim, scheduled to take five to seven years to complete, is its redevelopment into what is described by Blackpool Transport’s head of heritage Bryan Lindop as an“adventure driven”visitor destination. It aims to showcase the 138-year history of tramcars and tram operations in the area. As well as remaining the base for the tram collection, it will include an exhibition area, viewing galleries, a cafe, retail areas, historical archives and…

THE restoration of a once derelict Victorian station building has been completed in a project led by the Derbyshire Historic Buildings Trust (DHBT). Situated between Derby and Chesterfield, SouthWingfield was opened in 1840 by the North Midland Railway, before eventually being renamed to just Wingfield by the Midland Railway in May 1862. Designed by Francis Thompson, the building is said to be one of the world’s oldest rural stations and is the only survivor of 13 designed by Thompson for the North Midland and built between Belper and Eckington. Thompson was also responsible for a number of buildings around Derby station, including the roundhouse, several streets of terraced houses for railway workers, the Brunswick Inn public house and the Midland Hotel, which give the area a particular character. Wingfield station…

TRANSPENNINE Express (TPE) says it is in“active discussions” with the Department for Transport and Transport for the North regarding the future deployment of its Mk. 5a‘Nova 3’ coaching stock. With effect from the introduction of the winter timetable on December 10, TPE will operate 16 fewer trains per day, a move it claims will be short term, to simplify operations and improve reliability. This will lead to the removal from traffic of its‘Nova 3’sets (for which Beacon Rail-owned Class 68 diesel locomotives have been sub-leased from Direct Rail Services) and the use of Class 185 DMUs and Hitachi Class 802 ‘Nova 1’bi-mode trains between Manchester Piccadilly and Scarborough instead. Twelve out of 13‘Nova 3’sets were used in rotation to cover five diagrams per day with 14 locomotives (Nos. 68019-032) allocated…

LOCOMOTIVES Allocations 37218 XHSO-XSDP37401 XHSO-XSDP37424 XHSO-XSDP43007 EC/EHPC-HQ/SCXL43008 EC/EHPC-HQ/SCXL43009 LA/EFPC-HQ/SCEL43016 LA/EFPC-HQ/SCEL43184 EC/EHPC-HQ/SCXL43238 EC/IECP-HQ/SCEL43239 EC/EHPC-HQ/SCXL43285 EC/EHPC-HQ/COTS43301 EC/EHPC-HQ/COTS43303 EC/EHPC-HQ/COTS43304 EC/EHPC-HQ/SCXL43321 EC/EHPC-HQ/COTS43357 EC/EHPC-HQ/COTS43366 EC/EHPC-HQ/SCXL43378 EC/EHPC-HQ/SCXL57002 XWSS-XSDP59002 MD/DFHG-FE/DHLT59103 MD/DFHG-FE/DHLT60001 WQ/WQAA-TO/WQBA60015 TO/WCBT-WQ/WQBA60044 WQ/WQAA-TO/WQBA66063 WBRT-WBAE66068 WBRT-WBAR66088 WBAE-WBRT66089 WBAE-WBRT66107 WBRT-WBBT66186 WBRT-WBAE66552 LD/DFIM-FE/DHLT67028 WQ/WQAA-CE/WAAC70011 LD/DFGI-FE/DHLT91131 SAXL-MBEL LiveriesDB Cargo red: 66110FL orange: 08624Northern Belle: 57315+ Colas decals: 43285 Named66508 City of Doncaster66623 Lest We Forget Names removed20132 Barrow Hill Depot43088 Dartmouth Castle43160 Castle-an-Dinas66413 Lest We Forget Exported to Poland:66526 Exported to Nigeria:43008/09/10/ 16/40, 43172/84/92, 43239, 43304/66 Stored/stopped locationsCrewe Gresty Bridge: 37401EMD Longport: 56303Great Yarmouth: 43007, 43306/07/16/20/78Leeds Midland Road: 59002, 66552, 70011Loughborough:92021/40/45/46Merehead: 59103Toton: 60015Operational67028 MULTIPLE UNITS Allocations197108/09 HQ-CH319215 sent for disposal319220 sold to MoD323208 SO/EJHQ-AN/EDHQ508112/37 sent for disposal701518/20/21/22 newly delivered HQ/HYHQ1720128 HQ-IL720603/07/11/12 HQ-EM730006/07/10/11 HQ-BY730044 newly delivered HQ/EJHQ730205 newly delivered HQ/EJHQ756111-15 newly delivered HQ/HLHQ777020/23/31/36 HQ-KD777021/22/25/27/32/34 newly delivered HQ/HEHQ777152 HQ-KD805006/07 newly delivered HQ/HFHQ…

TRACK laying on the Foynes Rail Project is due to start in January, an Iarnród Éireann spokesman confirmed to The RM. He said that all track on the 42km-long line had been removed with the redundant sleepers being sent to Sweden. In addition, the first 2.4km of track of the mothballed Cement Factory branch to Castlemungret which runs parallel to the Foynes line has been lifted but will also be relaid. Lead contractor Sisk has engaged a specialist contractor to install the track from Foynes towards Limerick. This work is expected to begin in early January, with the aim to deliver 1000 metres of Continuously Welded Rail (CWR) a week, completing track laying by the end of 2024. Track will be CWR and welded by IÉ’s new mobile welder, with…

SPANISH train builder Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) has won a contract worth in excess of 500 million Euros (approximately £437 million) to build and maintain a 10-strong fleet of 10-car tri-mode multiple units for London North Eastern Railway. To be assembled at the company’s Newport plant in South Wales, the trains will be capable of taking traction power from 25kV AC overhead wires, as well as from on board batteries and diesel engines. They will be part of CAF’s ‘Civity’family, which includes the TransPennine Expressoperated Class 397‘Nova 2’EMUs, to which they are expected to bear a strong resemblance. Although details are still to be confirmed, LNER’s description of them as‘long distance’and tri-mode (which includes the ability to arrive and depart stations on battery power, thereby lowering noise and…

During a visit to Nuclear Transport Solutions’base in Barrow-in-Furness on November 15, the Princess Royal visited the cab of DRS diesel locomotive No. 68006 Pride Of The North. Part of the UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, NTS is a specialist transportation company comprising shipping firm Pacific Nuclear Transport Limited (PNTL) and Direct Rail Services. Princess Anne also visited the Pacific Heron, said to be one of only three specialist nuclear transport ships in the world.…

COLAS Rail Freight has“no immediate plans”to continue its involvement in a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) trial unless further funding becomes available, writes Graeme Pickering. This follows a static demonstration at its Rugby depot in September, using Class 37 No. 37254, which was attached to a SOFC running on Bio Liquified Petroleum Gas (BioLPG) to power its exterior and interior lights. The trial, in partnership with fuel systems developer G-Volution and using equipment supplied by Adelan Ltd, aimed to prove the concept of using on board fuel cells to power locomotive auxiliary equipment. Route simulations carried out by the University of Birmingham showed that, on a working using two Class 37 locomotives, 35kW SOFCs had the potential to give an average carbon dioxide equivalent saving of 12% (50 tonnes) per…

AS PART of its centenary year celebrations, the NRM’s‘A3’No. 60103 Flying Scotsman returned to its home city over the long weekend of November 10-12. The world famous locomotive was displayed at Freightliner Railport in Doncaster, as its actual birthplace at Doncaster Works (‘The Plant’) was knocked down in 2008 and the land reused for housing. The first day of the three was a private event led by Freightliner UK & Europe chief executive officer Tim Shoveller, and Doncaster Mayor Ros Jones, which also saw No. 66508 named City of Doncaster. This was followed by a ticketed event over the next two days allowing the public to get up close to the‘A3’in light steam. ■ Flying Scotsman is to end its centenary year with a visit to Locomotion in Shildon from…

HS2 NEWS HS2 contractor EKFB has been busy on the northern outskirts of Aylesbury preparing the groundworks for the Thame Valley viaduct, which will carry the high-speed line at low level across the river’s floodplain. MAIN construction has begun on the 880 metre-long Thame Valley Viaduct to the north of Aylesbury. The viaduct will have 36 spans, each formed of two 90 tonne precast box girders (beams) placed longitudinally on a series of 70 precast piers, which in turn each rest on three 45m-deep piles. The piers are only 3.3m above ground level, so this will be no Welwyn or Harringworth viaduct in appearance, despite the estimated total of nearly 6km (3¾ mile) of piling required. 32 spans are 25ms long and four are 20m, which when complete will have…

FOLLOWING the unveiling of the Ffestiniog Railway’s newly built Double-Fairlie James Spooner during its October 6-8 Bygones Weekend (see Headline News last issue), the locomotive was ceremonially launched on October 20. James Spooner was fully painted in lined ‘Victorian Plum’ livery for its Bygones Weekend cameo appearance, but did not carry nameplates – although the name did appear on the distinctive bells atop the boiler. As invited guests and press arrived at a rainswept Harbour station on the morning of October 20, James Spooner stood at the head of a train with its nameplates fitted but obscured. On the adjacent road was England 0-4-0STT Welsh Pony, which carries the same ornate livery as the new Double-Fairlie. Welsh Pony is currently out of service awaiting work on a crank pin, but…

EUROSTAR Train 9024 was speeding across the plains of Northern France with Class 374 ‘Velaro’ tri-voltage half-sets Nos. 4033/34 forming 16 coaches weighing some 916 tonnes tare and packing 21,000hp. Cruising speed was close to the 300kph infrastructure’s maximum, varying with the gradients and neutral sections, averaging around 290kph (180mph) over long distances. We had left London St Pancras International on time to the second at 11.31 and made the mouth of the Channel Tunnel in just 32min 26sec, covering the 111.41km (69.2 miles) at an average 207kph (129mph). To those train timers weaned on Southern CEP EMU and baggage car formations of 13 coaches usually taking over 80min to reach Folkestone Harbour before the tedious embarkation, unpredictable crossing times and unseemly scrummages alongside a Calais Maritime boat train, there…

YEARS AGO DECEMBER 1923 Big LMSR investment THE London Midland and Scottish Railway Company intend to spend £10,000,000 on locomotives, carriages, wagons, steel rails, construction work and tools. The fact was announced recently by the prime minister by reason of its bearing upon the unemployment question. Among the works contemplated are the doubling of the line between Crewe and Weaver Junction for a distance of about 13 miles, additional loops between Manchester and Carlisle, extended siding accommodation at Camden and Willesden, the strengthening and partial reconstruction of about 30 bridges – plus station improvements atTilbury Docks, Warrington, Bangor and Manchester Exchange. The early electrification of the Manchester and Oldham line is another of the works proposed and is part of the policy for electrifying the lines in the northern suburbs…

THE Ecclesbourne Valley Railway (EVR) has been hit by fresh movement on a landslip, although it is hoped repairs will be undertaken promptly. As previously reported (RM July 2023), on April 2 it was found that a landslip had occurred in the cutting north of Duffield close to the footbridge. Interlocking concrete‘Lego’ blocks weighing about one tonne each were installed to hold back the slope. EVR trains began running through to Duffield on June 10 – services having been curtailed since April. Heavy rain on October 20 caused the landslip to slump further and this has caused the‘Lego blocks’to move by a few inches, while both ends of the slip have extended beyond earlier boundaries. As a result, trains will run only to Shottle until further notice. It is understood…

HISTORY was made at the East Lancashire Railway (ELR) on Saturday, October 13 when the line operated its longest freight train in the preservation era. Thirty restored goods vehicles were in action using three locomotives at the line’s recent Autumn Steam Gala. It followed a mammoth effort by a team of volunteers and staff to organise and prepare resources for the event. Stanier‘8F’2-8-0 No. 48305, visiting from the Great Central Railway (GCR) hauled Class 24 diesel No. D5054 (24054) Phil Southern to appear like a rescue train – but in the end the steam loco failed and the‘24’hauled the train to Ramsbottom. LMS ‘Jinty’0-6-0T No. 47298 was attached to the rear as a banker. The presence of three locos on a freight train proved to be another first for the…

RESTORATION to steam of Isle of Man Steam Railway’s Beyer Peacock 2-4-0T (6296/1926) No. 16 Mannin is currently targeted for 2026, with the proviso that this timescale“remains subject to budgetary prioritisation”. Mannin was the final steam loco supplied to the original Isle of Man Railway and was bigger and more powerful than the previous Manx Beyer Peacock 2-4-0Ts. It was last steamed in 1964 and for many years was exhibited in Port Erin Museum. Being non-standard with the rest of the IoM steam fleet, Mannin had not been viewed as a restoration candidate. However, in 2019 Isle of Man Transport confirmed it was seriously considering returning No. 16 to operation (RM, July 2019) with a view to it forming a centrepiece attraction for the steam line’s forthcoming 150th anniversary celebrations.…

THE 400 Series Preservation Group has acquired first-built Class 313 EMU No. 313201 (the former No. 313001) from Beacon Rail for a symbolic sum of £1, with the aim of restoring and maintaining the unit’s operational status. The plan includes conducting a B-exam at Eastleigh Works in early 2024 using the skills of the on-site engineers. The unit was originally chosen by the Railway Heritage Designation Advisory Board for preservation after retirement, but the board changed its decision in early 2023 in favour of ex-Network Rail unit No. 313121, which retains original seating and dual-voltage traction equipment. No. 313201 spent the majority of its working life in North London, operating Euston to Watford DC and North London Line services. Over the years, it served under British Rail, then Silverlink and…

WAGON leasing company VTG Rail UK and braking equipment supplier Knorr-Bremse Rail Systems (UK), are carrying out a main line trial of nine wagons fitted with digital technology which they claim has the potential to revolutionise performance of rail freight. VTG says the initial‘iWagons’ feature 12 innovations including new wheelsets which feature four axle end generators to power patented Wheel Flat Prevention (WFP) technology, which monitors slide of wheelsets and condition of the brakes. The information can be accessed remotely, giving the ability to highlight issues as they occur and the potential to help Network Rail to locate areas where there is low rail adhesion. The‘iWagons’also feature axle lock detection. “Our patented Wheel Flat Prevention technology increases wheel life and reduces potential deep wheel flats which may result in track…

SOUTHEASTERN’S Ramsgate depot will be the location for an automated train inspection system. It will be developed by the operator in partnership with Siemens Mobility and leasing company Eversholt Rail. Using high-sensitivity cameras and optical laser sensors, the equipment will be capable of gathering and analysing data regarding the condition of train brake pads, third rail traction current collector shoes, wheel profiles and tread thickness. The system will also run underframe inspections. “The technology will provide detailed information on each train in the fleet which can then be used to reduce maintenance time in the depot, ensuring the trains can continue to run reliably,”explained John Butler, head of rail infrastructure customer service for Siemens Mobility in the UK and Ireland. Programme Southeastern says the information obtained through the technology will…