Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2024 i The Railway Magazine

FOUR and a half years after its West Coast Main Line franchise ended, Virgin Trains has made an application to the Office of Rail and Road to run services on the route as an open access operator. Virgin Group confirmed to The RM that it has submitted a plan for trains between London Euston and Preston, Liverpool Lime Street, Birmingham New Street and Glasgow Central. Preston trains would also serve Nuneaton, Stoke-on-Trent, Stockport, Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Victoria, Rochdale and Bolton. Liverpool Lime Street services would call at Tamworth, Lichfield Trent Valley, Runcorn and Liverpool South Parkway. Coventry and Birmingham International would be intermediate stops for Birmingham New Street workings, while the proposed new station at Golborne (five miles south of Wigan North Western on the WCML), Preston, Carlisle, Motherwell and…

A MINI-museum has opened in Leeds on the site of the city’s former Central station. Located in a Grade II-listed wagon hoist building, the museum contains artifacts, photographs, stories and ephemera relating to the terminus station that closed in May 1967, when all services were concentrated on the nearby through-station Leeds City. Leeds Central was a joint station for the London and North Western Railway, the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, the Great Northern Railway and the North Eastern Railway. It was built on a viaduct but surrounded by extensive goods yards at ground level, and two steam powered hoists were built on the north and south sides of the station to transfer wagons between the two levels. When the station was demolished soon after closure, all that remained were a…

IT is 25 years since the last train ran on the Weymouth Harbour Tramway and sadly more than three since its rails were finally ripped up, but the 1.25-mile line still holds a special place in the memory of many rail enthusiasts. The tramway was opened by the Great Western Railway in October 1865, initially for freight to and from the harbour (and worked by horses until 1880), but then also for passengers from 1889 when the company took over shipping services to the Channel Islands – the GWR aiming to take traffic from its LSWR rival’s port at Southampton. The branch started from a junction just north of the main line terminus, running through the goods yard and past the junction with the line to Portland before crossing King…

A FORMER Sunderland shipyard crane tank which has not steamed for more than half a century is being brought back to life in West Yorkshire. Robert Stephenson & Hawthorn 0-4-0CT Southwick was built in 1942 as works number 7069 for Doxford & Son’s Pallion shipyard. It was one of several locomotives of similar design dating back to 1918, the earlier ones being built by Hawthorn Leslie & Co. These unusual locos gained much fame among enthusiasts as the last working examples of the type in commercial use during the late 1960s. The design of these locomotives is interesting in that the elevation of the jib is done using the pressure within the boiler and it could also be depressed downwards. Because of this, the hooks on the jib were fixed,…

THE Tramcar Sponsorship Organisation (TSO), which provides financial support for restoration projects at the National Tramway Museum at Crich Tramway Village in Derbyshire, is appealing for new members to join it in order to continue funding such work well into the future. Founded in 1961, the TSO’s initial aim was to provide funding to acquire tramcars for the Tramway Museum Society (TMS), which owns and operates the Crich site. More recently, its role has been to finance full restorations of vehicles to operational condition and major work on cars which have previously run at the museum. In partnership with the Blackpool Railcoach Fund, it is jointly supporting the restoration of Blackpool No. 298. Over recent years, money raised from TSO subscriptions also facilitated the extensive work on Newcastle No. 102…

THE final designs for a major project to transform access to Leicester station, alongside the creation of a new public plaza, have been revealed by Leicester City Council and submitted for approval. Under the plan, the station’s main entrance will be moved from London Road to Station Street, which will be closed to traffic and replaced with a pedestrianised public plaza. This involves demolishing the building to the side of the station – No. 48a London Road – latterly used as the Parcel Yard bar and a taxi office. Demolition will reveal the original façade of the historic GradeII-listed building. This will be carefully restored to its Victorian glory and form the new entrance, facing directly towards Granby Street and into the city centre. The redevelopment is being led by…

SIXTEEN months after the process to fit European Train Control System (ETCS) in-cab signalling equipment to DB Cargo Class 66 No. 66039 began at Progress Rail in Doncaster, the locomotive was moved (April 26) to Network Rail’s Melton Mowbray Rail Innovation & Development Centre (RIDC) in preparation for dynamic trials. The‘Shed’, which has already undergone static testing, is the first in its class to be fitted with ETCS. To date, from the design stage, four years of work has gone into the project, which will form the blueprint for equipping other Class 66s and Class 67s. Signalling As part of the East Coast Digital Programme (ECDP), digital signalling is being installed on the East Coast Main Line between London King’s Cross and Stoke Tunnel, south of Grantham. Due to be…

Avanti West Coast Observations of the new Class 805 units out on test have included Nos. 805008 and 805010 on Friday, April 5, working from Oxley Carriage Sidings-Rugby-Blackpool-Preston-Oxley, being seen heading south at Charnock Richard. A further report on May 4 produced three of the Class on test runs: No. 805001 worked 5Q87/12.20 Euston to Preston; No. 805005 on 5Q70/13.03 Euston to Edge Hill; and No. 805012 worked 5Q87/14.38 Oxley to Crewe. Two days later, four units were on test with No. 805002 on a Crewe-Northampton-Preston-Northampton circuit; No. 805004 Holyhead-Crewe-Holyhead; No 805005 on Edge Hill-Euston-Northampton-Edge Hill; and No. 805009 Oxley-Crewe-Euston-Oxley. Changes to the Voyager fleet have seen Nos. 221114/15/16 returned to Beacon Rail with a further two sets to join them in June as they are due to be transferred…

FROM the 1950s to the early 1990s Czech manufacturer Škoda built thousands of electric locos for domestic use and export to several other countries in the communist Comecon trading bloc, including the then Soviet Union. Two classic designs, both of which were also exported, are nearing the end of service with the Czech and Slovak national rail companies which inherited them when the two countries became independent states in 1993. In 1963 Czechoslovak Railways ČSD had introduced a prototype six axle 25kV AC Škoda-built loco numbered S699 001. The loco featured glassfibre cabs which gave rise to the nickname‘Laminatka’ and was the forerunner for locos exported to the Soviet Union. Loco No. S699 001 is preserved as part of the Czech national collection and may be restored to operational condition…

The Severn Valley Railway’s May 16-19 Spring Diesel Festival welcomed an incredible 5000 visitors over the four days, no doubt attracted by the mouthwatering collection of heritage and main line locos in passenger use. Joining the SVR’s home fleet were representatives of Classes 37, 46, 59, 69, 70 and 73, plus two HSTs and five Class 20s. Managing director Jonathan ‘Gus’ Dunster said: “I would like to thank everyone involved across the entire SVR for their hard work and dedication. “We are also indebted to our industry partners for their wholehearted and much-welcome support: GB Railfreight, Colas, Freightliner, Locomotive Services Group, 20189 Ltd and Eastern Rail Services.” The SVR’s next big diesel event, the Autumn Diesel Bash on October 3-6, promises to be “an almighty celebration of heritage locomotives,…

AFTER the departure of the 23.32 to Bangor on May 10, Belfast’s Great Victoria Street station was closed in advance of the replacement £340 million Grand Central station opening later in the summer. The first railway terminus in the area was called Glengall Place, which was opened in August 1839 by the Ulster Railway for services to Lisburn. It was renamed Victoria Street in 1852 and then, in 1856, Great Victoria Street as the terminus for Great Northern Railway services to Dublin. Closure of large parts of the GNR system in the 1950s and 60s saw the station go into decline, culminating in part of the original station being demolished to make way for the Europa Hotel in 1971. The remaining parts of the station were then damaged by two…

LOCOMOTION’S £8 million New Hall building was officially opened on May 23, part of the Shildon museum’s most significant regeneration project since it opened in 2004. The 47 vehicles in New Hall mean there are now more than 100 vehicles on display across the site, which the museum claims is the largest undercover collection of historic rail vehicles anywhere in Europe. The development is part of a larger £95 million project to improve both Locomotion and its sister site the National Railway Museum in York. The expansion at Shildon means Locomotion is now aiming to attract 250,000 visitors a year. Head of Locomotion Sarah Price said:“New Hall is the place to be to celebrate the North East’s railway story for generations to come, ahead of the nationally significant bicentenary celebration…

EXCAVATION of the 22-metre (72ft) deep western portal of the 3.5-mile Bromford Tunnel at Washwood Heath in Birmingham was completed in May. The tunnel will run from Water Orton in Warwickshire and the portal has been finished in readiness for the two 1600-tonne tunnel boring machines (TBMs) breaking through. Mary Ann, launched from Water Orton last year, is expected to arrive by the end of this year and Elizabeth should complete its drive of the adjacent bore in autumn 2025. A team of 130 people working for HS2 construction partner Balfour Beatty VINCI has been involved in the earthworks operation over the last nine months, supported by Coventry-based specialist Duo Group. The Washwood Heath portal is said to be the deepest on the Midlands section of the route. Its excavation…

NEARLY everyone carries a camera with them these days, most often in the form of a smartphone, so it has become second nature to snap pictures and videos of trains. In the future, some of these images will have historic value, as there will always be a demand for old images – be it for a personal website, social media use, local history purposes, a book, or even a magazine feature. Just as today we enthuse over pictures taken in BR steam days or the early diesel years, pictures taken now will provide the future record and nostalgia, showing changes such as redevelopment, re-signalling, electrification and even vegetation growth. But how do you best preserve those carefully crafted images? It is a problem faced by every photographer, whatever their area…

THE 1961 Ian Allan ABC contains references to two locomotives named after Earls of Powis, both formerly owned by the Great Western Railway. There are full details of Castle 4-6-0 No. 5056 Earl of Powis, but they are sparse for 0-6-0T No. 822 The Earl (named after the same branch of the nobility), viz: ‘Unclass, W&L, Line Closed. Locos stored.’ Yet here is that very loco today on its native Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway (W&L), standing at the water column outside Welshpool Raven Square station for every passing motorist on the adjacent A458 to admire. The W&L is a remarkable story of the preservation movement in general, but of Welsh and narrow gauge aspects in particular. Different attempts to build a railway via various routes between the two towns…

THE Swanage Railway hit the headlines late last year when it launched a £450,000‘Save Your Railway’appeal – and it has now announced how it plans to get back on track. The Swanage Railway Company (SRC), which runs the trains on behalf of the Swanage Railway Trust, has aimed to reduce operating costs and boost revenue to return the operation to profitability (RM December 2023). “Last year the financial predicament facing the railway required urgent attention to both secure funds to support us over the quieter winter trading period and the production of a plan to stabilise and create a sustainable business base,” explained Gavin Johns, SRC chairman in a memo to trust members. “It was clear that for us to gain the confidence of those who were being asked to…

THE Vale of Rheidol Railway’s (VoR) new museum at Aberystwyth was officially opened on May 3 – showcasing a number of exhibits which have been out of the public eye for several years. Following introductory speeches, Steffan Roberts, deputy director, culture, sport and tourism at the Welsh Government, cut the red tape which formally opened the building. The invited guests then travelled on a special train to Devil’s Bridge for the traditional buffet lunch provided on such occasions. In the weeks prior to this official opening, further changes were made to the exhibits. Two further small locomotives, previously at the Brecon Mountain Railway, have also been added to the displays at Aberystwyth. De Winton 0-4-0VBT Pendyffryn, built in 1894 for the Pen-yr-Orsedd slate quarry and saved for preservation in 1965,…

FIVE months after arriving on the East Kent Railway, ex-European Passenger Services (EPS) Class 73/1 No. 73130 made its passenger debut on the line on April 17. The locomotive was purchased in working order from its Bicester-based previous owner Coulsdon Old Vehicle & Engineering Society (COVES) in November 2022 by 73130 Ltd (a group of Class 73 enthusiasts, including members of the Llanelli & Mynydd Mawr Railway) and temporarily relocated from its new home shed at Cynheidre to the EKR in November last year in a deal expected to last until at least March 2025. 73130 Ltd director Graeme Gleaves says the arrangement allowed the locomotive to be properly commissioned as well as“stretching its legs”. Work undertaken by the group has included the full reblocking of brake blocks on the…

SCOTTISH transport and logistics company Russell Group has taken over ownership of Coatbridge rail freight terminal in North Lanarkshire from Freightliner and launched a new subsidiary to focus on developing its rail freight business. As well as increasing the group’s involvement in the sector, Russell RailRoad Ltd aims to bring about closer collaboration with other arms of the firm. Adjacent to Russell Group’s existing road distribution operation at Coatbridge, the 39-acre rail site consists of two areas which each have three sidings served by overhead gantry cranes. A further two sidings can be used for shunting or holding wagons which require repairs. All are electrified. Intermodal traffic includes Freightlineroperated services to and from Felixstowe, Southampton, London Gateway and Crewe Basford Hall and Direct Rail Services trains bound for or originating…

ERMEWA’S rake of JNA-T box opens fitted with intelligent wagon technology are Nos. 81 70 5500 001-9/002-7/009-2/010-0/012-6/048-0. Operated by Tarmac, the onboard diagnostic equipment monitors load-status, plus any issues around maintenance. Power for the 24 volt system is supplied from the haulage locomotive via a jumper cable. This contrasts with the approach taken by VTG Rail UK with its‘i-wagon’ installation. Being trialled by Tarmac and Mendip Rail, this system has axle-end mounted generators supplying power to individual wagons. Advanced diagnostics measure braking performance plus issues relating to hot axleboxes, wheelslide, axle-locking and braking performance. Both of these i-systems, known as railcar telematics in the USA, are primarily concerned with improving safety on the railway, notably for trains carrying petroleum products and construction materials. The increased length and weight of these…

MUCH of the debate about future rail policy concerns the former franchised passenger services, which are currently operated by a mixture of contracted private companies and public sector entities such as the Department for Transport in England and the devolved Scottish and Welsh governments. The current Conservative Government policy is to retain the private sector operators and ultimately transfer those that are presently sponsored by the DfT back to the private sector when the conditions are right using concession-based contracts. Labour disagrees and does not see a role for the private sector operating these services. Its policy document‘Getting Britain Moving’states that the passenger services will become the responsibility of the proposed state-owned entity Great British Railways as current contracts expire. Its justification is that bidding costs and the bureaucracy from…

HEADLINE NEWS OTHER changes at Shildon to accompany the new building include the restoration and resiting from York of the Gaunless Bridge, one of the first railway bridges to be constructed of iron and the very first to use an iron truss. Designed by George Stephenson, the bridge was built in 1823 for the horse-drawn Witton Park Colliery branch of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, spanning the River Gaunless (a few miles west of Shildon at West Auckland) from 1823 to its removal in 1901. The bridge has been restored and repainted into its original green colour scheme in early 2024 and is now installed on the approach to New Hall.…

OVER the weekend of April 20-21, the 518ft section of steel girders and precast concrete slabs, forming the initial deck structure for HS2’s East Viaduct over the M42/M6 link roads at Water Orton (pictured below left), was moved into its final position. A push-pull jacking technique was used to complete the 13-hour operation, which followed a previous move to the halfway position in February. A two-stage process will also be used for the parallel West Viaduct. Both are part of a series of 13 bridges that will form HS2’s Delta Junction. Work is under way (pictured below right) on the 52-metre (170ft) deep-piled foundations for a bridge, north east of Brackley in Northamptonshire, which will take the A43 over the HS2 route. Both pairs of lanes have been temporarily diverted…

ENTERING Didcot Railway Centre is a step back in time – an oasis of Western Region heritage surrounded by a busy triangle of main line passenger and freight traffic to Paddington, Oxford, the West of England and South Wales. The former steam shed serves as the headquarters of the Great Western Society (GWS) and is home to an invaluable collection of buildings, rolling stock, infrastructure and artefacts. Preserving the past can also mean keeping up with the present. A new, fully accessible pedestrian entrance is under construction (RM May) and following the restoration of the coal stage, the engine shed is due be sensitively restored. There is an awareness that the operation has to be commercially sustainable while maintaining interest and not dumbing down the offering. On the day of…

NB. Publication of a letter does not imply that the Editor or staff of The Railway Magazine necessarily agree with its contents. The all-line timetable MY first job after leaving art college in 1973 was as a draughtsman with Hunting Surveys in Borehamwood, Herts. My interest in railways was known to my manager, so when Hunting won the contract to produce the rail map accompanying the 1974 BR timetable (see TRM May issue), the job fell to me. Although there were all-system maps previously, this version was a total redraw. I liaised with Bernard Slatter of British Rail and together we produced exactly what was required. The map was made by scribing the lines on a waxed sheet and then dyeing them with an etching ink; the‘sea’was cut from a…

THE restoration of a 100-year-old GWR meat van to its former glory is a key project for members of Didcot Railway Centre’s (DRC) Carriage & Wagon (C&W) Department. Mica B No. 105860, built in 1924, has been stripped back to a bare frame and reconstruction is now well underway. ‘Mica’was the GWR telegraphic code for a refrigerated meat van with interior ice tanks – the‘B’ indicating it could be used as an ordinary ventilated van, without refrigeration if required. These vans were later designated by BR as Vent-Insul-Meat. No. 105860 was one of 150 similar wagons constructed between 1923 and 1926. Built in 1925, and preserved in 1976, it is owned by the GWR 813 Preservation Fund. Among the beneficiaries of the current work is Ed Bull, who has gained…

AFTER more than three months out of traffic for an extensive mechanical overhaul and repaint, the Lakeshore Railroad in South Shields welcomed No. 3440 Mountaineer back into service on April 20. Testing had taken place earlier that week on the 9.5 inch-gauge line, which runs for just under a third of a mile around the boating lake in the town’s South Marine Park. No. 3440’s absence from service was significantly longer than originally anticipated. At the time of its withdrawal in early January, the Pacific was expected to be back in action during February. However, delays with contract work meant that the boiler was not returned to the line’s workshop team until April 5, at which point reassembly of the loco began for a boiler inspection, other tasks including the…

PLANS for A1 No. 60163 Tornado to return to the main line this summer have suffered another setback. The latest obstacle the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust (A1SLT) has to overcome is the unavailability of a coded welder. On reassembly of the boiler and its fittings, there was a need to undertake some work to the gauge frame pads. However, due to the level of welding and supporting paperwork required, the trust found its regular welder was not available – a problem which affects many heritage railways. A search for a suitably qualified welder with availability led to the enforced delay, although other work has gone ahead unimpeded. With the boiler back in the frames, the trust undertook another hydraulic test on May 1, and although passing the test, one of…

ALMOST seven years after it was approved by the Transport Secretary and over five years since it was originally expected to see tram services, the £23.4 million Talbot Road extension of Blackpool’s tramway is finally set to open this month. Around 600 metres (656 yards) of route has been constructed from a junction with the Promenade line at North Pier to a new double-track terminus outside the Holiday Inn, opposite Blackpool North station. Time frames for completion and the launch of services have been pushed back a number of times since the project was given ministerial consent in November 2017, with the Covid-19 pandemic and delays in redevelopment of the area (including demolition of the former Wilko store on the corner of Dickson Road, which was in the path of…

LOCOMOTIVES Allocations 37407 KM/XSDP-LR/EPUK37419 KM/XSDP-BH/HNRL37422 KM/XSDP-BH/HNRL37716 KM/XSDP-BH/HNRL50050 HQ/COFS-CD/LSLO56091 DCRO-DCRS59003 GBYH-COLO60004 GBTG-GBSD60014 GBTG-GBSD60018 GBTG-GBSD66111 WBBT-WBAT66306 GBSD-GBEB66307 GBSD-GBEB66308 GBSD-GBEB66791 GBBT-COLO67016 WQAA-WAWC90017 WQ/WQDA sent for disposal90018 WQ/WQDA-CB/DFLC90022 WQ/WQDA sent for disposal90023 WQ/WQDA sent for disposal90025 WQ/WQDA sent for disposal90027 WQ/WQDA sent for disposal90030 WQ/WQDA sent for disposal90031 WQ/WQDA sent for disposal90032 WQ/WQDA sent for disposal90033 WQ/WQDA sent for disposal90038 WQ/WQDA sent for disposal90040 WQ/WQDA-CB/DFLC Liveries BR blue: 20066 BR green: 37108 DB Cargo red: 66060 GBRf: 57306/10, 66312 GBRf + Ukraine flag: 66737 HNRC orange: 20302/11 ROG green: 37608 TPE branding removed: 68024/27/32 Named 60047 Scafell Pike66308 Signalman Willie Taylor66569 Gerald ‘The Rule Book’ Riley 97304 Rheilffordd Talyllyn Railway Names removed 68023 Achilles90018 The Pride of Bellshill90022 Freightconnection90027 Allerton T&RS Depot90031 The Railway ChildrenPartnership Working for Street children Worldwide Renumbered 66164 – 6665266194…

THE first track was laid on the Limerick to Foynes line in early May from a compound established by specialist Portuguese tracklaying subcontractors Stenconfer at Glenbane East near milepost 24, close to Foynes. A loading gantry was seen assembled on site on April 20 to allow rails to be loaded onto a Road Rail Vehicle (RRV) for delivery for to the work site. The Iarnród Éireann (IÉ) project manager delivering the project told The RM that the scheme was on target and on budget to allow trains to start running in early 2026. Progress He said that the €65 million Work Package 1 being delivered by contractors John Sisk & Son which started in April 2022, has focused on clearing vegetation and removing the existing track to allow the installation…