Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2024 i The Railway Magazine

HEADLINE NEWS THE newly rebuilt line between Bletchley and Bicester via Claydon was handed over to Network Rail on August 25, making it available for use as part of the national rail network, signalled from Claydon workstation within Rugby ROC. Certain operating restrictions currently apply, but paths for empty stock runs between Oxford and Milton Keynes are already in the timetable for December onwards, making public services possible in late 2025. Ahead of the handover, No. 37418 An Comunn Gaidhealach and inspection saloon No. 975025 Caroline made several runs over the new line, the photo being a driver’s view looking west over the flyover at Bletchley High Level platforms on August 8. PHIL MARSH…

Guinness World Record: Longest-running railway series, established in 1901 OPPORTUNITIES to travel on a brand-new class of train from a London terminus do not occur all that often, and for InterCity journeys from Euston there has been a gap of 21 years between the Class 390 ‘Pendolinos’ and the latest Hitachi-built Class 805 bi-modes. Some might say there is little to celebrate about the introduction of another minor variation on the Intercity Express Train (IET) theme, or that they now serve the former London & North Western Railway’s showpiece London terminus. But having given some thought to such reservations, I decided I ought to give it a try. After all, their electric mode would be replacing diesel ‘Voyagers’ on 158 miles to Crewe of the 264 miles from London to…

MOMENT IN TIME SIXTY years ago on September 1, 1964, a steam ban came into force for certain classes and locos on the West Coast Main Line south of Crewe. Overhead electrification at 25kV AC had reached Crewe from Manchester and Liverpool in September 1960 and January 1962 respectively, and the wiring was then extended southwards in stages until the first overhead electric trains left Euston in November 1965. Although steam had been running West Coast wires since 1960, some sections south of Crewe ended up with reduced clearances under bridges and other structures, meaning that locos taller than 13ft 1in were now ‘out of gauge’ and in danger of being with arcing range (1-2 inches) of the high voltage wires, which was why the selective ban was introduced. This…

100 YEARS AGO SEPTEMBER 1924 Economies of scale SIR Ralph Wedgwood, chief general manager of the LNER, has issued a very telling appeal to the enginemen on the 7000 miles of railway under his control. It reads:“Coal costs 22s (shillings) per ton. We use 4½ million tons a year. Our coal bill is thus £4,675,000. “If every locomotive burnt 1lb of coal less for every mile it ran, the company would use 75,000 tons less in a year and save £80,000. Will every engineman help his running superintendent to get this economy?” New LMS steamer THE new steamer Dearne, which is being constructed and engined by Vickers Limited for the London Midland and Scottish Railway, was launched on July 21 at Barrow-in-Furness. The vessel is intended for the LMS Continental…

THE building for the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway’s (LCLR) redeveloped South Loop terminus station has connections to both railway heritage and a historic link to its new location. The structure was originally constructed at Skegness station by the Great Northern Railway (GNR) in the late 1800s/early 1900s, as a coal office. The wooden building was sold out of railway use in 1947 and moved to Ellis Brothers’site in Lansdown Road, Skegness, by the founders of the company which now owns the Water Leisure Park. At some stage the building acquired a clerestory roof, although it is unclear whether this addition was sourced from an old carriage. Following dismantling, the renovated components were being re-erected during August on the previously prepared foundations at the South Loop site, where a platform is…

AFTER more than a quarter of a century, both power units of the Deltic Preservation Society’s (DPS) No. D9015 (55015) Tulyar roared into life at Barrow Hill depot in Derbyshire on July 30. Long-standing volunteer Geoff Brain (who had been present when the locomotive was last shut down in April 1997), pushed the button to start power unit No. 538 (previously in operation in No. 55009 Alycidon until a generator failure in 2019). The second (No. 417) ran for the first time since 2003. The DPS said the ease with which the engines started and ran was testament to an“outstanding team effort and meticulousness of the preparation”. However, on August 3, the day of three scheduled public start-ups of No. D9015 (the first for 27 years), power unit No. 417…

THE project to reopen the 18-mile Northumberland Line between Newcastle and Ashington has seen several key milestones passed in recent weeks – and crew training is now underway. Completion of a new bridge on the A1061 Newsham Road on the south side of Blyth was achieved on August 1, and will allow the signalling system to be completed, paving the way for the start of driver training runs along the route. During August, another key piece of infrastructure to be completed was the installation of the cycle bridge over the A189, connecting northern Blyth to Blyth Bebside station. On July 31, the Palmersville underpass opened for public use, connecting a right of way on either side of the line, and replacing a foot crossing with safer and convenient access for…

HAVING initially used the first-built of the 15 hybrid Class 18s on a trial basis, GB Railfreight has confirmed the acquisition of four of the locomotives, on lease from owner Beacon Rail. No. 18001, the first of the 90-tonne Bo-Bo shunters to be completed, was also the inaugural example to be delivered to a potential customer for evaluation, arriving for assessment on GBRf-operated movements at Whitemoor Yard in Cambridgeshire on February 1, 2022. As in the trial, the four locomotives will support Network Rail supply chain movements at Eastleigh, Whitemoor and Bescot. No. 18012 is at Whitemoor and No. 18015 at Eastleigh. Nos. 18013/014 are the other locos being leased. Class 18s can operate solely on battery power, charging via a three-phase electricity supply as well as via regenerative braking.…

LOCOMOTIVES Allocations 43030 sent for disposal43185 sent for disposal47830 DFLH-DHLT-LSLO60012 Off registration60032 Off registration60036 Off registration60037 Off registration60048 Off registration60052 Off registration60068 Off registration60077 Off registration60078 Off registration60084 Off registration60089 Off registration60093 Off registration66112 WBBT-WBAT69013 GBGD-GBRG LiveriesBlue & gold + Drax 50 Years of Moving Forward: 66301Blue Pullman: 43050/59GBRf: 60056/76Large logo blue: 50007/49 Named43050 Loch Morar43059 Loch Shiel60056 Great Gable66050 Yorkshire Rose66301 Drax Power Station 5066305 Embsay & Bolton AbbeySteam Railway Name reapplied50007 Hercules Renumbered56312 – 6901366156 – 66656 Stored/stopped locationsEastleigh Works: 57007Radway Green, Alsager: 60036/37/77 DisposalsLowmac Alloys, Irvine: Arrival date: w/c August 12: 43030, 43185. Cut date: w/c August 19: 43030, 43185 Sandbach Car Dismantlers, Middlewich: Cut dates: August: 90017/23/32 MULTIPLE UNITS Allocations 150281 sent for disposal197034 newly delivered HQ/HLHQ197121/24 HQ-CH730028/42 HQ-BY730215/21/ 26/27/ 28/29 newly delivered HQ/EJHQ777033/43 HQ-KD807004 newly delivered…

THE new Iarnród Éireann timetable has been signed off by the National Transport authority and was due to go live on August 26, with several service improvements aimed at accommodating the increasing number of passengers. Key changes include up to five additional weekday services on the Heuston/Galway route, featuring an earlier first service and a later final service, plus an extra Sunday service in each direction. The Heuston/ Waterford route will also see additional services, including a later final service. The Dublin to Belfast route will introduce seven new services from Monday to Saturday, providing an hourly service that includes pre-09.00 arrivals in both cities. These services will eventually operate from the new Belfast Grand Central Station. Other improvements include a new late evening connection from Wexford to Dublin Connolly…

THE 50th anniversary of Drax Power Station was marked over the weekend of August 17/18, with a series of events that together raised more than £37,000 for the Martin House Children’s Hospice charity. The weekend began with two photoshoots on the afternoon and evening of August 17, featuring past and present locos and wagons involved with the movement of coal and biomass to power stations. Nos. 20118 Saltburn-by-the-Sea+20132 (evening only), 37901 Mirrlees Pioneer, 56098, 59202 Pride of Ferrybridge, 60076 Cross Fell, 66004, 66301 and 70004 were positioned in and around the power station’s now disused coal delivery bunker. The National Wagon Preservation Group’s HMA wagon No. 355798 and Chasewater Railway’s HDA No. 368103 (which had arrived separately by road in early August), Freightliner’s specially-cleaned HTA bogie coal wagons Nos. 370188+370227,…

HEADLINE NEWS GREAT Western Railway is understood to be preparing for the arrival of former Transport for Wales Class 175 diesel multiple units, in readiness for staff training. The company has yet to officially confirm any plans for the Alstom-built trains (the last of which were withdrawn by TfW in October 2023, having been displaced by new Class 197s ordered from CAF), but The RM has seen a GWR-branded map indicating “planned operating territory” for the Class 175s. It suggests they could be regularly used on the routes between Exeter St David’s and Penzance, Barnstaple and Okehampton and occasionally on Truro-Falmouth services. Taunton-Castle Cary and Castle Cary-Exeter St David’s would be diversionary routes. Exeter St David’s to St Philip’s Marsh depot in Bristol is highlighted as a regular path for…

HEADLINE NEWS London North Eastern Railway has confirmed to The RM that its 10-car tri-mode units, for which a £437 million contract was confirmed with manufacturer CAF last year, will be given the Class 897 designation (pictured in an artist’s impression). The operator declined to offer any further information regarding progress of the order for 10 trains (capable of running on electric, battery or diesel power), but it is understood that CAF will construct the first two Class 897s in Spain, with work beginning on them next April, and the remainder being built at its Newport factory in South Wales. The sets are being financed by Porterbrook. It is reported that the first could be delivered as soon as autumn 2025, although, following testing and acceptance, 2027 is the expected…

THE finishing touches were made in mid-August to a bridge which will take HS2 trains under the A452 Kenilworth Road near Balsall Common (between Solihull and Coventry), marking the conclusion of an 18-month construction project. A team of 50 were involved in building the self-contained structure, which has a 19.5 metre (nearly 64 feet) span over the railway alignment and is almost 14 metres (46 feet) high. Trains will travel a distance of 185 metres (just over 200 yards) beneath the dual carriageway, which is to be realigned from its current position to cross it. Building the bridge, which was designed by Mott McDonald and SYSTRA Design Joint Venture (MMSD), required 7200 cubic metres of concrete and 1800 tonnes of steel. The process of backfilling with earth, to enclose the…

HS2 NEWS The 84-metre (nearly 92 yards) wide, 1600-tonne steel and concrete bridge that will carry Aston Church Road in Birmingham over the HS2 route and the adjacent Birmingham to Derby line, was moved into place overnight on August 10/11, in just five hours. Assembled next to the site, it was positioned during a Network Rail blockade using two 128-wheeled self-propelled modular transporters that moved over specially-laid matting to provide a level surface. The current route of the road, including the old bridge (which was not wide enough to accommodate the new high speed line and will be demolished) can be seen immediately behind the structure. The 100-yard-long bridge (moved into place using a similar process in May 2022), carrying the Stechford-Aston freight route over the alignments, is in the…

NARROW GAUGE HISTORY SEVERAL of the Welsh narrow gauge railways were still running as Britain emerged from the Second World War. The Vale of Rheidol had resumed passenger services in the summer of 1946 and the Festiniog ran slate trains until August that year, while the Corris limped on until 1948. In the north, the railways serving the Nantlle, Penrhyn and Dinorwic quarries all continued into the 1960s. At Towyn (now Tywyn, but contemporary spellings are used in this article), the Tal-y-llyn Railway had continued to run throughout the war under the ownership of Sir Henry Haydn Jones and the watchful eye of general manager Edward Thomas. The railway had attracted some press attention in the 1930s and built up a reasonable summer tourist trade to offset the decline in…

NB. Publication of a letter does not imply that the Editor or staff of The Railway Magazine necessarily agree with its contents. Lost ‘Black Five’ HAVING read your No. 44781/‘Virgin Soldiers’ article (August issue), I always thought that the locomotive they tried to depict was a little odd as it appeared to have side tanks and an L Class tender. Others have quoted it as No. 542.04, which is a K2 (indicating the second series of K Class), but that was the second loco which came to the rescue at the end. There is another possibility, and that is a C Class 4-6-4T with an L Class tender, as in the accompanying photograph taken by Peter Hodge of No. 403.05 at Kuala Lumpur on August 16, 1969 (above, from the…

HISTORY was made at the Bluebell Railway’s Sheffield Park station on Sunday, August 18, when new-build‘H2’Marsh Atlantic No. 32424 Beachy Head was formally handed over for service on the line. Atlantic Project chairman, Terry Cole formally handed over the locomotive to the Bluebell Railway PLC chairman, Neil Glaskin on platform 1 at Sheffield Park where Beachy Head was taking water. Speeches were followed by a blessing by Father David Murdoch. Beachy Head then ran around and was coupled up to the front of the‘Golden Arrow’dining carriages ready for departure. Invited guests which included members of the Atlantic group and the team behind the project, boarded the train for a celebratory lunch. In a separate development, the Bluebell Railway Trust has launched an appeal to raise funds for the restoration and…

THREE steam locomotives of industrial origin have been playing a key role in the operation of North Norfolk Railway (NNR) services during the peak summer season. Early July saw Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST No. 18 (3808/1954) make a welcome return to the Poppy Line. Recently restored by its owner, Loughborough-based contractor Locomotive Maintenance Services, No. 18 operated on the NNR between 1988 and 2006. It is due to remain on the line for the rest of the season. No. 18 was built in the early 1950s in Leeds for the National Coal Board (NCB), spending most of its working life at collieries in Fife, before entering preservation in 1983. A feature of No. 18 is a Giesl ejector – as evidenced by its narrow, oblong chimney, fitted by the NCB around…

A NEW 0-4-0 petrol locomotive is expected to become the flagship motive power at the Aln Valley Miniature Railway. Now covering a distance of around 273 yards, the 7.25 inch gauge line was originally conceived as a portable railway, but has evolved over the last two years, since finding a suitable permanent base at the standard gauge Aln Valley Railway’s Lionheart station on the edge of Alnwick in Northumberland. Final testing of the 13.5 horsepower Honda petrol-engined loco (with Eaton hydrostatic transmission driving all wheels and a‘sit-inside’cab) designed and built by Phil Civil, began towards the end of July, prior to its delivery to Alnwick. It is the most powerful traction for the railway to date, and AVMR owner and director Patrick Allen told The RM it will help it…

CLASS 90 No. 90050 has gone back on display at Crewe Heritage Centre (CHC) after the completion of extensive cosmetic restoration. CHC advertised its return to public display on August 3, praising the“incredible work” done by its volunteers to complete the project, with the help of Freightliner, the locomotive’s owner. The last of the class to be completed, all 50 being built by British Rail Engineering Ltd at Crewe Works between 1987 and 1990, No. 90050 was delivered to its current home in October last year, on long-term loan. Attention When it arrived at the centre, having travelled the short distance by road from Crewe Basford Hall Yard, it was in need of major attention. Since being withdrawn from service in December 2004, many of its components had been recovered…

FREIGHT THE success of a GB Railfreight service between the Port of Felixstowe and the Stobart Ports terminal at Widnes in Cheshire has led to a second being launched to meet what both companies describe as a“substantial demand”for container movements. GBRf launched the initial six trains per week operation in October last year. The new service adds another five paths to the weekly total. The two firms estimate that the additional trains will remove the need for around 500 lorry movements each week. “This year alone, Stobart Ports have moved over 100,000 containers by rail, cutting road miles and saving around 20,000 tonnes of CO2,”said Stobart Ports managing director Sean French.“Our ongoing investment in rail not only maintains our leadership in UK rail logistics but also supports our environmental goals.”…

IN a collaboration involving London North Eastern Railway, Network Rail, train manufacturer Hitachi and Artificial Intelligence (AI) specialist Cross Tech,‘Azuma’ sets are carrying Forward-Facing Closed-Circuit Television (FFCCTV) equipment. The 12-month trial of the system, which LNER says can be moved between trains and set-up relatively quickly in the cab, began in May, but details were announced several weeks after the launch. It utilises AI camera sensor technology to pinpoint where work is necessary and is also expected to provide an insight into how maintenance on the East Coast Main Line can be optimised by detecting situations such as leaves on the line, overhanging and invasive or hazardous tree species, low ballast levels, track and embankment conditions including subsidence and signal and level crossing sightings from a driver’s perspective. “We can…

ALSTOM’S Derby Litchurch Lane Works is to undertake the refurbishment of 312 CrossCountry Class 220‘Voyager’ and Class 221‘Super Voyager’ vehicles after signing a £60 million contract for the work with Beacon Rail, the owner of the units. The design process will begin immediately and the first trains are expected to enter the works next year. The refurbishment of the 34 four-car Class 220s, along with 4 four-car and 32 five-car Class 221s, is due to be completed in 2027. Included in the total are the 12 ex-Avanti West Coast ‘Super Voyagers’being cascaded to augment CrossCountry’s fleet. Three have so far arrived and entered service. They are expected to be refitted towards the end of the programme. Ordered by Virgin Trains and built by Bombardier, the Class 220s and 221s have…

IN what HS2 Ltd describes as a “UK first”, a cantilever process is being used to construct spans of the River Tame West Viaducts, part of HS2’s Delta Junction near Water Orton in Warwickshire. The two viaducts (one single track and the other double track) are at the northern tip of the junction, along with the single-track RiverTame East structure. They will cross the river and join the Curdworth Box, which will take HS2 over the Birmingham to Derby line. In its initial phase, span construction involved placing the concrete segments onto truss beams and positioning them using a skidding trolley. The cantilever structure was then built using a 22-metre (72-feet) high mast, including temporary post-tensioning cable stays, and a swivel crane of 14 metres (almost 46 feet) in height.…

INFRASTRUCTURE THE decision of HS2’s designers not to use the majority of the former Great Central route has not stopped the GCR’s Catesby Tunnel from having a high-speed future of its own. At almost 1¾ miles, Catesby was the longest bore on the Marylebone-Sheffield main line and is once again breaking records as the longest indoor vehicle test track in the world. It was built in the late 1890s just north of Charwelton in Northamptonshire and, despite more than 50 years of neglect following closure in 1966, its straight alignment and constant gradient of just 1:176 made it an ideal choice when Aero Research Partners began seeking a suitable site for an aerodynamic test facility. Since 2018, the tunnel has undergone a multi-million pound investment to pump it free of…

“IT was a dream come true and I had an amazing day out.” That was how Eddie Holden, overall winner in the 2024 Railway Correspondence and Travel Society/Mortons Media Photographic Competition (see June issue), summed up his prize generously provided by DB Cargo: a cab ride on the main line. This turned out to be a full day on a biomass duty from Knottingley, West Yorkshire, covering a round trip to Drax Power Station and Immingham Dock with tours around both locations included. The day chosen was June 17, which started dull and overcast as we met up with our host for the day, David (Dave) Jenkinson. Although closed as a depot with allocated locos many years ago, the Knottingley site is still very much active, providing facilities for stabling,…

ON August 1, the Mid Suffolk Light Railway (MSLR) Company applied to the Secretary of State for Transport for a Transport and Works Act Order (TWAO). It is believed that this is the inaugural heritage railway application since the implementation of the streamlined process in 2023. A TWAO authorises the construction or operation of railways, tramways, trolley vehicle systems, other guided transport systems, inland waterways and certain structures interfering with the rights of navigation of waterways in England and Wales under the Transport and Works Act 1992. As reported in RM May 2023 and September 2023, the Department for Transport modernised the TWAO process to enable electronic applications instead of working solely with paper documents. The revised process applied to all new applications with effect from July 14, 2023. The…

A STAFFORD-built steam locomotive which spent its working life in South Africa is now back on the roster at the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway (L&BR) following overhaul. Former Tongaat Sugar Co. Bagnall 4-4-0T 2819/1946 joined an afternoon service train on July 9, top-and-tail with recreated Baldwin 2-4-2T Lyn, to establish if any issues required attention. The loco arrived at the railway in 2014, named Charles Wytock, after being purchased by an L&BR member. It ran during 2015/2016 but was withdrawn when the boiler was condemned and sold in 2019 to Bagnall 2819 Co. Ltd, formed by a consortium of L&B members. An extensive overhaul subsequently commenced. Following the test, minor issues addressed included completing the steam sanding gear. The loco, which has been completed in a new red livery, was…

NEWCASTLE Corporation Tramways No. 102 has returned to full service at CrichTramway Village in Derbyshire – 24 years after it was withdrawn from traffic due to a broken axle. It was mid-2018 before repairs on the F-Class tram (built in 1901 by Hurst Nelson in Motherwell as a single deck car and converted by the corporation before entering service in 1903) began, the Tramcar Sponsorship Organisation (TSO) funding work to return it to service, having first of all carried out assessments to establish the extent and cost of attention required. As well as work on its bogies (requiring it to be placed on temporary ones while they were refurbished), restoration, progress of which was interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, included removal of saloon windows and one of the staircases for…

IN preparation for the various Christmas markets and festivals which are held around the country, Pathfinder is gearing up for the festive period and has announced four seasonal specials. The first train is the‘Edinburgh Festive Explorer’on November 23, starting at Gloucester and picking up at Cheltenham Spa, Worcestershire Parkway, Bromsgrove, Birmingham New Street, Stafford and Crewe. At Crewe, the West Coast diesel will give way to privately-owned Class 86 No. 86259 Les Ross for the onward journey over Shap and Beattock to Edinburgh. Here, passengers will have a number of hours to visit the Christmas Market in Princes Street Gardens or do their own exploring of the Scottish Capital. Just a week later, November 30, is the‘Chester Christmas Whistler’which is due to be hauled by Class 40 No. D345 (40145).…

TYNE &Wear Metro passengers were asked by operator Nexus to allow extra time for journeys and avoid travelling at peak times, after faults were discovered with pantograph carbon strips on the system’s Class 599 Metro-Cammell trains. The problem came to light on the morning of July 22, when seven trains were initially identified as having defective strips.Temporary withdrawals from traffic reportedly resulted in delays of up to 36 minutes. The decision was taken to prevent potential overhead wire damage and affected vehicles were refitted with older batches of strips as a temporary solution. It is understood that only 20 Class 599s were available to run services that afternoon, eight short of the number needed for a full timetable. Reintroduction By early August, Nexus had established that over half its Class…

NETWORK Rail is moving away from a national programme of track renewals, and in the future such work will be devolved to regional level. This in turn has raised questions about the various fleets of expensive to operate high-output equipment, including High Output Ballast Cleaners (HOBC) and Track Renewal Trains (TRT) based at Taunton, and the High Output Plant System (HOPS) electrification vehicles based at Swindon. Two Plasser & Theurer-built HOBC sets have already been sold, and in the future only the most recently delivered RM 900 unit No. DR 76504 (also carries EVN identity No. 99 70 9314 504-0) dating from 2016 will be kept. A major issue with these trains is their extreme length and weight. Few yards have sidings long enough to stable a complete set, so…

Avanti West Coast The 9S44/06.16 London Euston to Edinburgh Waverley had an eventful journey on Monday, July 15. From Wolverhampton, it was operated by Pendolino No. 390124 and was gradually losing time throughout the journey. Between Slateford and Edinburgh the train lost 15 minutes. The return working 9M56/12.52 Edinburgh to London Euston was cancelled. Meanwhile Class 57 No. 57308 was summoned from Carlisle and was attached to No. 390124 at Edinburgh hauling the set to Polmadie depot for attention. Later, No. 57308 left Polmadie light engine (0Z99/21.31) bound for Carlisle. With their imminent replacement by Hitachi IETs, it does seem appropriate to show some interest in the Avanti West Coast Voyagers. On Tuesday, July 23, a journey from Chester to Llandudno Junction was made on 1D83/09.02 from London Euston to…

LOCOMOTIVES from a bygone era can still be found hard at work, serving the needs of heavy industry, in Kazakhstan. The country’s mainline railways have seen considerable investment in new locomotives built locally under licence and in France and China – plus new passenger trains supplied by Talgo (again mostly built in Kazakhstan) for use by national railway company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ), as reported in RM March 2021. However, away from the main line a wide variety of locos built during the pre-independence period when Kazakhstan was part of the Soviet Union remain in use at major industrial sites, although they are rarely photographed other than by local enthusiasts. In the north east of the country, around 330km from the Capital Astana, the city of Ekıbastūz is home to…