Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2024 i The Railway Magazine

HEADLINE NEWS Britain’s newest agricultural railway opened on December 16 for the commercial haulage of Christmas trees. The 12¼ inch gauge Oakberry Farm Railway at Dunton Bassett, Leicestershire, has been almost five years in the making since rails were acquired from Shropshire’s Hughley Light Railway and the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway in 2018 (RM March 2019). A line of just over a kilometre (two-thirds of a mile) now runs through the farm’s extensive fir tree plantations and began operations nine days before Christmas using Hughley-built Class 37 No. 37309 Endurance to convey freshly-cut trees from the fields to the sales area on custom-built bogie wagons. A double-track section is planned to enable two-train running but owner Richard Underwood is keen to stress the line is not open to the…

COMPLETION of the £236 million scheme to restore passenger services between Newcastle and Ashington, almost 60 years after they were withdrawn, is expected to be further delayed, writes Graeme Pickering. The ‘Northumberland Line’ project involves the construction of stations at Northumberland Park, Seaton Delaval, Newsham, Blyth Bebside, Bedlington and Ashington, and reconfiguration of 15 miles of the current freight-only route running north-easterly from the East Coast Main Line at Benton North Junction on the outskirts of Newcastle. Originally scheduled for opening in December 2023, a new target of summer 2024 was announced last year after it was concluded considerable additional spending was likely to be required to meet the original deadline. An even later launch is now anticipated after Northumberland County Council (NCC) Leader Glen Sanderson said there had been…

A KEY stage in two major rail projects was reached on December 1 when HS2 contractors completed their responsibilities for the East West Rail route at the point where the two new lines cross in rural Buckinghamshire. The handover gave the East West Rail Alliance (EWRA comprising Atkins, Laing O’Rourke, Network Rail and VolkerRail,) full control of its route from Bicester to Bletchley, thus allowing the final tracks to be laid connecting Oxford with Milton Keynes and Bedford. HS2’s contractors EKFB (a joint venture between Eiffage, Kier, Ferrovial Construction and BAM Nuttall) had been responsible for building the section of EWR trackbed from just west of the former Claydon Crossing (at 11 miles 17 chains from Bletchley) to just east of bridge No. 29 (at 13 miles 39 chains from…

THE Middleton Railway is preparing for 2024 by overhauling locomotives, and training crews over the winter period. Hunslet 0-6-0ST Brookes No 1, works number 2387, built in 1942, has been the main locomotive used for several crew training days involving new recruit guards and footplate volunteers. In the workshops, Hawthorn Leslie 0-4-0ST Swanscombe No. 6 (3860/1935) was prepared for Santa duties alongside Brookes No 1. The main overhaul project is currently Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0ST Slough Estates No 3 (1544/1924). Much work has been completed on the chassis and motion, with it due to be lowered back on its wheels shortly. One frame stretcher still requires replacement, with design work currently taking place. Work on the boiler will commence shortly and it is hoped the engine might steam for its centenary…

COMMUNITY interest company Big Heritage (BH) has officially taken over the running of Wirral Transport Museum in Birkenhead from Wirral Council and expects to announce further details regarding its reopening this month. It explained that prior to the handover, Wirral Council spent “considerable time and resources” on addressing health and safety issues relating to the building and the operation of the museum and its half-mile long tramway to Woodside, following an inspection by the Office of Rail & Road. The museum and tramway have been closed since April last year for remediation work, but BH, which runs several other local historical attractions, hopes a service can resume this year. As a not-for-profit organisation, any income not required for covering operational costs will be reinvested into the museum and its other…

USING further modelling and analysis, Midlands Connect, the sub-national transport body for the region, is working on a revised ‘Freight Routemap’, building on the first which it produced in 2022. Taking into account the changing movement of goods, regional growth and the need for decarbonisation, the document is a long-term plan which will be updated at regular intervals as key information becomes available. It includes the zone known as the ‘golden triangle’ (incorporating the West Midlands Combined Authority area, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Warwickshire and parts of Derbyshire and Staffordshire), so-called because it sees a heavy concentration of national freight activity. ‘Rising demand’ Midlands Connect chief executive Maria Machancoses said there was an “ever-increasing” demand for the movement of goods in order to maintain global competitiveness, which in turn led to…

OWNERSHIP of Class 56 Group locomotive No. 56301, which has been on hire to DCRail since last summer, is due to transfer to the freight operator’s parent company Cappagh Group from April 1 after an agreement was reached to purchase it. Proceeds of the sale will be used to carry out work on the group’s other locomotive, Romanian-built No. 56006, the first Class 56 to enter traffic with British Rail in February 1977. A statement on C56G’s website said that the sale of No. 56301 had been anticipated for some time as there were neither the finances nor sufficient working volunteers to preserve two locomotives. Bought by C56G after previous owner Fastline went into receivership in 2010, the locomotive has primarily been regarded as an income generating asset, its main…

Farewell to TPE ‘68s’…

DOWNPATRICK and County Down Railway (DCDR) will not receive grant aid support from its local authority Newry, Mourne and Down District Council from the Business Flood grant scheme – despite flooding causing extensive damage to the railway at the end of October during Storm Ciaran (RM December 2023). DCDR chairman Robert Gardiner told The RM: “We find the decision by the local council not to provide any financial support disappointing, just because we have insurance. While the grant of £7500 would be helpful, it’s a long way off the actual cost of the damage the flooding has caused. We estimate that damage to tools and equipment alone is more than £500,000.” He added: “We have not finalised the cost of the damage to our rolling stock, which needs to be…

DB Cargo has lost its crown as the UK’s largest rail freight haulier, according to the latest figures released by the Office of Rail and Road on December 12. Covering the period from June to September 2023, the overall total was similar to the same period in 2022 at 8.11million train kilometres operated (a marginal decline of 0.3%), but DB Cargo fell by 12% to 2.25m km, representing a market share of 28%. This compared to 2.54m km worked by the two Freightliner divisions (Intermodal and Heavy Haul, a combined 31% market share), and 2.38m km hauled by GB Railfreight (representing a 29% share). The remaining 12% of the market was shared between Direct Rail Services, Colas Rail, and Devon & Cornwall Railways. In terms of the amount of traffic…

HEADLINE NEWS FOLLOWING recent tender lists for Classes 60 and 90, DB Cargo has put out a new sales tender as it continues to remove redundant assets from its books, writes Ashley Butlin. The latest list includes the 12 Class 90 locomotives that were removed from traffic at the beginning of 2023, Nos. 90019-21/24/26/28/29/34-37/39. All are currently located at Crewe Electric depot and were fully serviceable when they were withdrawn from traffic. The second group of 10 Class 67s Nos. 67001/03/04/09/11/18/19/26/28/30 are located at Crewe and Toton depots – except for No. 67028, which is currently in traffic. Of these, No. 67019 has been out of traffic since March 2015, with Nos. 67009/11/26 from the following year. DBC states that: “These locomotives will be sold as seen and where lying…

I JOINED the railways in 1973 and continue to enjoy working in a rail industry that, given recent controversial decisions on railway policy, perhaps deserves some scrutiny. The cancellation of HS2 north of Birmingham, dropping plans for ticket office closures, and no prospect of any Great British Railways legislation before the looming general election have all created industry uncertainty. A major question is just how much political or Department for Transport support there actually is for the GBR project or railways in general. For example, Network Rail and HS2 Ltd were given just a few minutes’ notice in the autumn ahead of the prime minister’s announcement to cancel HS2 to Manchester. It is understood that a maximum of just a dozen people were involved in that decision – including Boris…

IT was announced in early December that the 163 metre-long (178 yards) Highfurlong Brook Viaduct near Aston le Walls in Northamptonshire had become the first HS2 structure to have all of its deck beams installed. One of more than 50 major viaducts being built as part of the project, it consists of seven spans and crosses Highfurlong Brook and its floodplain at a height of nine metres (30 feet). Each of the spans contain four beams weighing up to 56 tonnes, which were lifted into position over a two-month period. The viaduct deck itself and the parapets will be among the next phases of work. November saw over 2000 cubic metres (over 6500 cubic feet) of concrete poured to create the first two 90 metre (295 feet) deck sections of…

LOCOMOTIVE BUILDERS THIS fascinating photograph (above) was passed to us by James Robinson, editor of our sister title The Classic Motor Cycle, a publication that can trace its lineage back to the founding of The Motor Cycle in 1903, just six years after The Railway Magazine was established. James discovered the photo while doing research in the magazine’s archives. It is presumably a publicity shot showing two products built by Glasgow-based engineering firm William Beardmore and Company in the early 1920s, namely a Beardmore Precision motorcycle and a HGS Class 2-8-0 loco for the 5ft 6in gauge East Indian Railway Company. The photo appeared in an issue of The Motor Cycle dated February 15, 1923, illustrating an article comparing the engineering and performance characteristics of locomotives and motorcycles – the…

THE Severn Valley Railway (SVR) has no plans to sell further locomotives for the foreseeable future. The news was revealed by managing director Jonathan ‘Gus’ Dunster as part of his interview with The RM (see page 38). As previously reported (RM September 2023), LMS ‘Black Five’ No. 45110, which last ran in 2008 and was unlikely to steam, was sold in summer 2023 to help raise valuable funds for the railway’s Survival Fund. Asked whether any other assets are being considered for sale, Gus replied: “In terms of locos, we have no plans for further disposals.We are looking at selling things we have been given or have acquired over the years and never really used. “We’ve recently sold a redundant permanent way wagon to the Telford Steam Railway. They approached…

TWO popular members of the Ffestiniog Railway’s loco fleet are on course to return to the roster – while the replica of an historic ‘lost’ Ffestiniog loco is taking shape in Darlington. Hopes that Hunslet 2-4-0STT Linda, which last ran in March 2021, would return to action by Christmas (RM, October) were realised. The extensive overhaul, which included major rebuilding of the tender incorporating a new bunker and water tank, reached its conclusion late in November. In early December the loco was in steam at Harbour station providing footplate rides for Christmas visitors and participating in top-and-tail shuttles to Minffordd with ‘sister’ Hunslet 2-4-0STT Blanche. The extensive overhaul of Single-Fairlie Taliesin at the railway’s Boston Lodge works was also making progress. The power bogie is being rebuilt (the first time…

THE Western Locomotive Association celebrates its 50th anniversary in January 2024. Its 1974 objective was to ensure the preservation of a Class 52 diesel-hydraulic loco, but today it owns three based at the Severn Valley Railway. The donation of No. D1048 Western Lady in September has given the WLA the opportunity to think about the future of this locomotive, but in the meantime it will prioritise the overhaul of No. D1013 Western Ranger and keep No. D1062 Western Courier in traffic. Work will be done to ensure ‘Lady’ does not deteriorate and a full assessment will be made. No. D1048 has been made fit to be shunted within the yard and station limits at slow speed, which will allow it to be viewed on gala days in 2024. It has…

HAVING rolled-off the production line in Vienna at the end of July, the first of the completed nine-car trains being manufactured by Siemens Mobility for London Underground’s Piccadilly line has entered the first phases of dynamic testing. Acceleration, braking, noise and vibration are the areas of performance which the initial runs on the test track at the Siemens Test and Validation Centre (at Wegberg-Wildenrath in Germany) have focused upon. “Although we are still in the early stage of testing, we are learning a lot about this test train and its future performance,” said Siemens Mobility UK & Ireland joint chief executive Sambit Banerjee. In Austria, three further vehicles, which will also form part of the 94 sets on order for Transport for London, were placed in a climate chamber to…

Railhead Treatment Trains The RHTT season along the southern section of the Midland Main Line continued during November with DB Class 66 Nos. 66041+66104 being the regular pairing on the 3J91/23.17 Toton TMD to West Hampstead Thameslink and 3J93/12.01 return. However, when seen on November 10 the pairing was Nos. 66041+66099, and on November 13 it was Nos. 66010+66085. The regular pairing of Nos 66041+66104 was back on November 23 and 27. On Sunday, November 5 RHTT 3W75 from Tonbridge West Yard to Tonbridge West Yard, which had already visited Ashford International and Bromley South, was seen coming to a halt beside platform 7 at London Victoria formed with Class 57 No. 57305 at the front of the train with No. 57306 Her Majesty’s Railway Inspectorate 175 at the rear.…

THE derailment of a steam charter train on the famous 750mm gauge La Trochita (which literally translates as ‘the little gauge’), better known as ‘The Old Patagonia Express’ route in Southern Argentina on November 11, may mark the end of operations on part of the 423km (263 mile) route which was built in stages from 1923 to 1945. The train derailed on the last day of a multi-day charter on the route run by USA-based Trains & Travel International (T&TI) with 45 participants from the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, and Europe. Of these, 22 passengers were from UK-based PTG Tours. Several people were injured with a few needing hospital treatment. The derailment happened in a remote area around 8km southwest of Cerro Mesa station near km post 135 in the…

HEADLINE NEWS A NIGHT photoshoot at Network Rail’s Holgate Engineering Works in York on December 16 raised £3000 for the Yorkshire-based charity Martin House Children’s Hospice. The one-off photoshoot was organised by Chris Gee, programme director for Network Rail, and involved the five DRS Class 37 locos that had been used hauling the seasonal railhead treatment trains (RHTT) around Yorkshire. The locos involved were Nos. 37407 Blackpool Tower, 37419 Driver Tony Kay, 37422, 37425 Sir Robert McAlpine/Concrete Bob and 37716. This was due to be the last year that DRS Class 37s were used on RHTT trains, and the well-supported event proved a fitting finale. With the RHTT programme ending on December 15, the locos were in a filthy condition, and so a number of the 70 participants that attended…

THE first Class 18 hybrid locomotives are expected to be handed over to the customers leasing them within the next couple of months, according to their manufacturer Clayton Equipment in Burton-on-Trent. Fifteen of the 90 tonne Bo-Bo shunters were ordered by Beacon Rail in 2020. Of a kind already in use in industrial settings (the seventh for Tata Steel’s Port Talbot to the same CBD90 specification was completed in December), the aim was to break through into the mainstream rail market as a replacement for conventional diesel locomotives, such as Class 08s. Although they have a Stage V emissions-compliant JCB diesel engine, the Class 18s can also operate solely on battery power, which can be recharged through regenerative braking and by plugging into an energy supply, as well as by…

LSWR 2-4- 0WT No. 30587 returned to its former Cornish stamping ground on December 7 after a three-year loan was agreed between the National Railway Museum and the Bodmin Railway. The out of ticket 149-year-old loco will be displayed at Bodmin General’s platform 2 on selected days, and be housed undercover in the running shed the rest of the time ( RM October 2023). The railway’s appeal to cover the transport cost remains open – see the website at https://bodminrailway.co.uk for details of how to donate.…

THOUSANDS of passengers were trapped for several hours after overhead wires came down near Ladbroke Grove, West London, on the evening peak of December 7. Although the exact cause of the overhead line equipment failure has not yet been determined, seven trains were affected, impacting services on the Elizabeth Line, Heathrow Express and Great Western Railway. On board one of the trains was Andrew Haines, CEO of Network Rail, who was trapped on a train with 980 other passengers (see also story on page 16). Without power, passengers on some of the affected trains were in total darkness and in the cold. Those on Elizabeth Line services also faced the prospect of no toilet facilities. Many passengers were trapped for up to four hours, while some took a riskier approach,…

AFTER being Britain’s busiest railway station for all but one of the past 18 years, London Waterloo has lost its top spot to Liverpool Street, which has moved up from fourth place. Waterloo is now the third busiest station in the country according to 2022/23 station usage figures released by the Office of Rail and Road on December 14. The figures, which are based on passenger entries and exits, reflect the significant impact the opening of the Elizabeth Line has had on London travel patterns since it opened on May 22, 2022. Paddington is the capital’s second busiest station with 59.2 million passengers, and the Elizabeth Line’s Tottenham Court Road station appears in the annual figures for the very first time. Another station to benefit from the Elizabeth Line fully…

FLEET FOCUS JUST a few years after their introduction in the late 1950s, a batch of 25 EE Type 4s (Class 40s) were given names honouring ocean liners owned by shipping firms Cunard Line (19), Elder Dempster Lines (3) and Canadian Pacific Steamships (3). Only Nos. D210-212 were given official naming ceremonies, the remainder (Nos. D213-225, D227-235) receiving theirs during routine works visits. The first to be named was No. D210, which became Empress of Britain at Euston on May 12, 1960; the last was No. D229 Saxonia on March 5, 1963 at Crewe Works. No. D226 was earmarked to carry the name Media, but as far as is known it never did. Some debate continues as to whether the plates were ever fitted or not, but the lack of…

Send your letters to: The Railway Magazine, Media Centre, Morton Way, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6JR. Email: railway@mortons.co.uk Selby on the radar I THOROUGHLY enjoyed the article on the Selby Diversion (October issue), and it brought back a memory of an unusual occurrence every time a train ran. I spent two years at RAF Church Fenton between 1984-86 and I worked in Air Traffic Control. The airfield is very close to, and clearly visible from, the diversion and the Runway 24 threshold is about a kilometre from the line by Ryther. When Runway 24 was in use, the Precision Approach Radar (PAR, used for ‘talking down’ an aircraft) would face towards the railway line and whenever a train passed by, it would show up on the glide path radar screen as…

100 YEARS AGO JANUARY 1924 LNER proposals SEVERAL new works are proposed in the London and North Eastern Railway Bill, including connections between the Great Northern and City Railway at Drayton Park and the Canonbury lines at Finsbury Park, widenings between Liverpool Street and Stratford and between Fenchurch Street and Stratford, a new railway connecting the Alexandra Park and the Enfield branches, a connection just outside Lincoln between the Sleaford and Market Rasen lines, new railways at Scunthorpe and Frodingham, a new railway at Rufford, widenings near Pyewipe Junction and between Hull and Selby, and the conversion into cutting of the Thurgoland and Hattersley tunnels on the Sheffield and Manchester Railway. The South Yorkshire Joint Line Committee will also be authorised to construct a line connecting the Firbeck Light Railway…

BATS are among the species which stand to gain from the reopening of the Rother Valley Railway (RVR). Work on surveying bats began in August 2023. “We’ve carried out bat transect surveys once a month,” explained Giles Coe, RVR’s environmental expert. “We’ve accompanied that with activity surveys for bats for which we’ve set out static monitors approximately every 500 metres along the route of the line. Those are left to record for five nights. We then investigate the data to see what bats are there and roughly what kind of abundance.” Giles said that sections of the trackbed are currently covered by densely thatched secondary woodland. He added: “While some species are able to move through that quite easily, groups such as bats will find that extremely difficult. We anticipate…

THE name Ropley is well known in the heritage railway sector as the home of the Mid-Hants Railway’s motive power depot – but now smaller scale steam will also be resident on site. The Ropley Miniature Railway (RMR), a 10 ¼in gauge line located at the intermediate Watercress Line station, has purchased its inaugural complete steam locomotive for operation. Quarry Hunslet 0-4-0ST+T Ivor has been acquired from the North Cornwall Miniature Railway; a line founded in 2019 by Bob Lanaway. Mr Lanaway bought Ivor in 2022 but he decided to offer the loco for sale in August 2023. Built in 1991 for the Ferry Meadows Miniature Railway, Peterborough, by Mr A Mills and Mr D Jones, the loco was sold 10 years later to the Royal Victoria Miniature Railway, Hampshire,…

A NEWLY announced railtour from the Locomotive Services Group’s Inter-City offshoot is a weekend tour with the popular push-pull set hauled by a Class 47/7, and provides a rare appearance for the class on Scotland’s west coast at both Oban and Wemyss Bay. Hauled by No. 47712 Lady Diana Spencer, the ‘West of Scotland Push-Pull’ tour starts at Crewe on March 29, and picks up at Preston and Carlisle, before a mid-afternoon arrival in Edinburgh, where passengers are free to spend the rest of the day in the Scottish capital. Scotland The next morning, March 30, the push-pull set will work across towards Glasgow before taking the West Highland line towards Crianlarich and Oban for a break of approximately two hours. A return to Edinburgh is planned for mid-evening. On…

LOCOMOTIVES Allocations 37025 COTS-RAJV56103 HQ/DCRS-LR/DCRO59103 DHLT-DFHG60040 TO/WCAT-WQ/WQBA66025 WBRT-WBAT66088 WBRT-WBAT66089 WBRT-WBAT66092 WBRT-WBAT66097 WBRT-WBAT66113 WBRT-WBBT66130 WBRT-WBAT66144 WBAR-WBAT66154 WBAE-WBAT66155 WBRT-WBAT66192 WBAR-WBRT-WBAT66205 WBAI-WBAE66501 LD/DFIM-FD/DHLT70009 FD/DHLT-LD/DFGI Liveries DB Cargo red: 66067 Heidelberg Materials green: 59101 Names removed37409 Lord Hinton43049 Neville Hill57303 Pride of Carlisle Sold Andania Engineering: 37402 Europhoenix: 37069, 37218, 37423 Locomotive Services Ltd: 37401 Operational 5610366205 Stored/stopped locationsLongport: 56303 Loughborough: 73138 Toton: 60040 Disposals EMR Kingsbury: Arrival date: November 29: 31106 MULTIPLE UNITS Allocations 150269/70 CF/HLHQ-NL/EDHQ153358/63 sent for disposal156416 NH-HT170206/07 CF/HLQ-DY/EMHQ196112 HQ-TS197005/45 HQ-CH197122 newly deliveredHQ/HLHQ319217/19 sent for disposal319367/75/78/84 sent for disposal331001-09 AN-NL331102-05/08-11 NL-AN398013 newly deliveredHQ/HLHQ508103/36/39/41 sent for disposal555013/15 newly deliveredGF/PXGG701523/24/25 newly deliveredHQ/HYHQ720608 HQ-EM730012/13/14/16/18/19/21HQ-BY730045/47 newly deliveredHQ/EJHQ756116/17 newly deliveredHQ/HLHQ777024/26/28/30 HQ-KD777140 HQ-KD805008/09 newly deliveredHQ/HFHQ LiveriesBlue and grey: 507001EMR Purple: 170422SWR: 444026, 458424 Named185113 Hull Paragon 175 years197049 Castell Caeriw Cyflym/Carew Castle Express802210 Hailes Castle Names removed508136…