Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2025 i The Railway Magazine

THE latest statistics issued by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) covering rail passenger usage between July and September 2024 show that, while passenger numbers recovered to 97% of pre-Covid levels, revenue from ticket sales reached only 86% of this figure. Journeys totalled 433 million in the period, which was an increase of 9% over the comparable period in 2023. Revenue did improve by 11% to reach £2.9 billion using the same comparison, but was below that expected after the 4.9% fares increase in March. Home work trend Greater investigation by the ORR confirms what industry analysts have already identified – that the continued practice of working from home has deflated the sale of season tickets, which in the most recent period fell again to 11% of all journeys,…

A total of 120 concrete beams, ranging in length from 13-24 metres (42.6-78.7 feet), have been lifted into place by cranes to form an integral part of a box structure which will allow HS2 to go under the A46 Kenilworth Bypass in Warwickshire. Engineers worked round the clock to complete the operation in 14 days. Weighing 14,500 tonnes, it will be positioned underneath the road this spring using a guiding raft and jacking mechanism, once the deck and parapets have been completed. HS2…

The Blyth & Tyne route is rich in railway history and now, after an absence of almost exactly 60 years, passenger trains are running once more. John Heaton FCILT heads north to try out the new service. Guinness World Record: Longest-running railway series, established in 1901 RISING from the destruction of Ashington’s passenger rail service in 1964, the communities of the Blyth & Tyne railway had their trains to Newcastle restored on December 15, 2024. The intervening 60 years of isolation and industrial decline have seen every vestige of the area’s coal industry obliterated from a landscape formerly peppered with pits, much of the production having been destined for power stations in South East England via busy shipping staithes at nearby Blyth, where coasters constantly plied for traffic. There was…

ON the cold, damp and foggy evening of November 1, 1964, Blackpool Central welcomed its last passengers. Marking the station’s passage into history, the local Evening Gazette described an atmosphere which appears to have been as gloomy as the weather. Detonators marked the final departure, the 9.55pm to Euston. The final arrival was the 11.30pm DMU from Manchester Victoria, with Blackpool-based driver Tommy Eastham sounding the horn as it pulled into the platform. There to greet him was his wife and his son, who presented him with a bottle of beer. Once the crowds had dispersed, the station was locked-up, ending over a century of service to residents and holidaymakers. Central had grown in size and importance since opening as Hounds Hill on May 6, 1863, the terminus of the…

THE Keighley & Worth Valley Railway’s fleet has recently grown, with two industrials, although one is only there for trials. Following overhaul at Riley & Sons for owner Neil McArthur, Avonside 0-4-0ST Dora (works No. 1973 of 1927) has arrived at Haworth for running-in trials. It will be in action on the railway on non-operating days. The locomotive is actually a returnee, having first arrived in the early 1970s as BEA No. 2 from Barton Power Station (near Manchester), which originally belonged to the British Electric Authority, later renamed the Central Electricity Board. The loco was steamed a few times, running up and down Haworth loop, but was too small for regular use on the railway and was soon moved. The second new arrival is somewhat more permanent, being owned…

HAVING not hauled a mainline railtour since December 2023 at the end of its centenary year celebrations, the sole surviving LNER ‘A3’ No 60103 Flying Scotsman is due to move to the Nene Valley Railway’s Wansford depot in February. The NVR announced on January 12 that the locomotive will be hauling trains on February 22/23 and March 1/2, 9/10 – including evening‘Jolly Fisherman’supper trains. Opportunities to visit the footplate and meet the crews will also take place between running days. A photographic goods charter using the NVR’s fleet of vans, with tickets priced at £200 each, will also take place on February 28, reminiscent of Scotsman’s freight charter on the line in 1994. The move follows the loco’s new custodian, Northern Steam Operations Ltd (NSOL), reaching an agreement with the…

THETalyllyn Railway (TR) will not be able to utilise the‘Orchard’ site adjacent to Tywyn Pendre as part of its planned major redevelopment of the Pendre site. Bounded by houses and the railway, it was purchased when two cottages in Frankwell Street (with the adjacent land) became available (RM, March 2019), with the cottages (without the‘Orchard’land) subsequently being sold. Plans drawn up in relation to theTR’s‘Preserving Our Past, Building Our Future’project for developments at Pendre and Wharf station, for which theTR secured a £110,000 National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) development grant award (RM, Headline News, November 2022), envisaged using part of the land to construct carriage storage and repair facilities, stores and a paint shop. Following a mid-term review with the NLHF, a decision whether to apply for planning permission to…

AFTER sustaining momentum with work during 2024, the team restoring Chester No. 4, the city’s last surviving electric tram, believes that completing it this year is a“real possibility”. In the last year, progress made on the tram by members of the Hooton Park Trust (at the former Hooton Park Airfield near Ellesmere Port) has included the completion of stairs, fitting of handrails and advertising panels around the upper deck, the purchase (and start made on restoration) of two controllers, installation of headlamp electrical wiring and ratchet mechanisms to the brake handles. After a four-year search, a set of contact breakers has been sourced. Priorities At the top of its list of priorities for 2025 is finding a suitable four-wheel truck for the 3ft 6in gauge double-deck tram, built by George…

LEASING firm VTG Rail UK has announced three deals for vehicles equipped with its ‘iWagon’remote digital monitoring system, one of which is with a customer involved in the initial main line trial of the technology. Three JPA tank wagons used by Tarmac began four months of testing in October 2023, on the daily return diagram between its cement plant at Oxwellmains near Dunbar and Seaham in County Durham. As part of a five-year lease renewal with VTG which began at the start of January 2025, 30 Tarmac JGA-M wagons (used to carry powdered cement) will be fitted with ‘iWagon’ -equipment which collects performance data and gives live information on wheelset conditions, allowing action to be taken quickly in the event of the problem. The details obtained from the system also…

SCOTRAIL has launched the procurement process for a fleet to supersede its existing 25‘Inter7City’High Speed Train sets, with the aim of it being in “reliable passenger service”from December 2026. A contract notice was published on December 17, outlining requirements for replacements capable of sustaining a minimum of 19 intercity diagrams per day connecting Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perth, Stirling, Dundee, Inverness and Aberdeen. The‘Inter7City’ trains, consisting of eight four-car and 17 five-car sets, will be withdrawn from service as their successors enter service. “This latest milestone in our rolling programme of decarbonisation will ensure the reliability of our intercity routes for the long-term, making Scotland’s railway a more attractive and greener travel choice,”said Fiona Hyslop, Scotland’s cabinet Secretary for Transport.“Over four million passengers travelled on intercity trains between our key cities in…

RHTT The RHTT season along the southern section of the Midland Main Line continued during December, with DB Class 66 Nos. 66019+66060 on the 3J91/3J92/23.17 Toton TMD to West Hampstead Thameslink and 3J93/12.01 return, being seen on December 6. The season finished in mid-December for another year. On Wednesday, December 11, work-stained DRS Class 66 No. 66109 pulled four Railhead Treatment units from Mossend Down Yard (6Z91/09.35) to Spring’s Branch Wigan. The RHTT season out of Stowmarket lasted until December 20 on the southern Great Eastern Main Line route, with Class 66 Nos. 66710 Phil Packer BRIT and 66729 Derby County on the last 3S60 diagram before all the RHTT units were moved off to Whitemoor Yard the following day and then for onward delivery to York Thrall depot. Avanti…

FREIGHT operators are worried that a new timetable to be introduced in December for the East Coast Main Line (ECML) will give passenger services preferential treatment in the pathing of trains. Although there is nothing new in this, as train classifications have long determined both timetable priorities and real time decisions about the way the network is used, there have long been grumbles that prioritising a lightly-used local passenger service over a full-length intermodal service is not an efficient use of capacity. Now the practice looks set to continue, although providing more capacity through improving gauge clearances, increasing permitted train lengths, and better journey timings has been a feature of investment made as part of Network Rail’s Strategic Freight Network. For example, significant investment has taken place at Werrington Junction…

IN an eight-figure deal, Austrian railway infrastructure contractor Swietelsky has completed the purchase of Harry Needle Railroad Company. Founded in 1998 by Harry Needle to process and recover spare parts from redundant rolling stock, HNRC has since built up its own fleet of locomotives for hire and also provides maintenance and storage services for rail vehicles. HNRC’s headquarters are in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, where it took over the former DB Cargo depot in 2019 and turned it into a site for testing, repairs, refurbishment and maintenance, employing around 30 people. It also has facilities at Barrow Hill near Chesterfield and, as reported in January’s RM, recently outlined plans to fit Engine Carbon Clean technology (to improve efficiency and lower emissions) to some of its main line diesel locomotives, as well as…

AFTER a journey lasting more than two years and two months, the first of two tunnel boring machines working on HS2’s Northolt Tunnel West broke through into a reception can filled with foam concrete at the tunnel’s Green Park Way ventilation shaft in Greenford. Sushila was launched at the tunnel’s western portal at West Ruislip on October 6, 2022, excavating over 1.2 million tonnes of earth, and creating the lining by installing 4217 rings of precast concrete during its five-mile journey. TBM Caroline is close to completing the adjacent bore, while counterparts Emily and Anne are working westwards from Victoria Road Crossover Box at Ealing on the 3.4 mile long Northolt Tunnel East, which will join the west tunnel end-on at Greenford. The reception can, which Sushila entered on December…

IN May 1982, I chaired the internal Joint Departmental Inquiry into a plain line derailment that had occurred on April 23, approaching the Butterwell Opencast mine at the northern end of the Blyth area. My inquiry panel colleagues were Dave Doggett (area civil engineer at Morpeth and future assistant engineer at Exeter), Bill Gilpin (assistant to Derek Reeves on traction and rolling stock), and a Mr Cook (manager of the Butterwell Opencast Mining Site). Also in attendance were a representative of the National Union of Railwaymen (now part of the RMT), the general manager of the Opencast Executive track maintenance contractor, and the regional works engineer of the Opencast Executive. To be as clear as possible, the track was owned by the National Coal Board (NCB), administered by the opencast…

TRIMMING is the art of restoring and reupholstering railway carriage seats to their original condition, a process done almost entirely by hand. Whereas today’s modern train seats typically comprise a plastic shell, foam cushion and stapled-on moquette cover, heritage seats can consist of up 22 components including frame, springs, calico, wadding and a large proportion of horse hair. One centre of excellence keeping the skills alive is based at Horstead Keynes on The Bluebell Railway. Led by Steve Bigg, the team of about 20 volunteers looks after the seats in the Bluebell’s carriage fleet, but sometimes takes on work from elsewhere, while some of the team have also formed a specialist commercial spin-off firm. Long-time Bluebell member Steve joined the Carriage & Wagon team after retiring from the retail sector…

100 YEARS AGO FEBRUARY 1925 Horwich cranes upgrade IN order to speed up work in connection with its programme for new rolling stock, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway has placed an order for two 50-ton overhead travelling cranes for the Horwich Works. They will replace the existing 20-ton cranes which have been in place for the last 40 years, but which are unable to carry the larger modern engines. LNER order locos THE London and North Eastern Railway has placed an order for thirteen 4-6-2 passenger tank engines with Hawthorn, Leslie & Co Ltd. [Later designated as ‘A5/2’, ordered to fill a shortage of passenger locos in the North East]. 50 YEARS AGO FEBRUARY 1975 New breakdown equipment REPLACEMENT of the British Railways breakdown and rerailing equipment, much of…

HAVING moved to the North Norfolk Railway in mid-December for completion of its overhaul, the Gresley Society has launched a £100,000 fundraising scheme to complete the sole surviving Gresley‘N2’ No. 1744 (BR No. 69523). The loco was withdrawn from service in 2018, requiring more extensive boiler and mechanical work than first anticipated. The list of jobs has included new driving wheel and pony truck tyres, a new blast pipe cap, a replacement reverser screw link, repairs to the axleboxes and horns, new front and firebox tubeplates, new superheater tubes, new crown stays and extensive repairs to the firebox wrapper. The boiler passed its steam test on October 18, prior to moving to Weybourne for the final push. But there’s a long way to go before the engine turns a wheel…

THE Bishop’s Castle Railway Society has acquired a London & North Western Railway covered goods van which it plans to restore at the town’s Weighbridge Railway Museum. BCRS will use the vehicle as the new home for its model railway, which gives visitors a visual representation of Bishop’s Castle station and trains which would have used the line to Craven Arms prior to its closure in 1935. “It currently sits in one of the rooms in the weighbridge building, but it’s slightly too long,”membership secretary David Hemsley explained to The RM.“The railway group decided we needed more space. We’ve already got our Great Western banana van, which is the bookshop. The original idea was for us to get another van body – and then it sort of escalated a little…

THE three HST power cars recently arrived at the Plym Valley Railway (see January issue) are all set to undergo different fates, with one being set aside for conversion to a simulator. Staying on the line is No. 43063, which is understood to be in generally good external condition, but has been heavily stripped for spares, including its power unit, and has many internal components missing. The power car, together with a Mk.3 buffet, is being turned into a cafe on site and there are no plans to make it operational. Of the other two cars that recently saw‘service’on the line, No. 43091 has been taken away to a private site for further storage while No. 43161 was dismantled on site during January. The cab from No. 43161 has been…

DESPITE recording a loss of £26.3 million in the year to March 31, 2024, Nottingham Express Transit operator Tramlink Nottingham says it is in a“robust”position, which it expects will continue during 2025. In 2023, working in partnership with the Department of Transport and Nottingham City Council, the organisation completed the restructuring of its finances, including renegotiation of terms with lenders, with the aim of stabilising its longer term position and creating scope for investment in new technology, recruitment and the potential expansion of the network. In a statement in December, it said that it continued to trade“in line with expectations”and that losses for the previous year were £57.1 million. It added that this figure reflected an impairment charge of £26.7 million relating to a reduction in the carrying value of…

LOCOMOTIVE variety is still prevalent on the railway in Cameroon, working freight, passenger and mixed traffic services in the Central African country. The original part of the network, which is metre gauge, was built during the period before the First World War when Cameroon was a German colony. The railways were first built to enable fruit exports, especially bananas, to reach the coast. After 1918, the country was largely administered by France although Britain also had a role in part of the country. In the period before and after the Second World War connections between the formerly separate lines were built and some were extended. Expansion Following independence in 1960, the network was expanded with a new 667km (414 miles) long line, built from the capital Yaoundé to Ngaoundéré in…

NORTHERN has announced that five manufacturers have been shortlisted to compete for the contract to supply it with up to 450 new trains – the largest fleet investment in the operator’s history. Alstom, CAF, Hitachi, Siemens and Stadler have been invited to enter negotiations. The winner (or winners) will manufacture and deliver new vehicles in phases, the first of which will replace the operator’s Class 150, 155 and 156‘Sprinter’DMUs, which entered service with British Rail in the 1980s. Twelve three-car EMUs for York-Leeds-Huddersfield-Manchester local stopping services (to be introduced following completion of electrification as part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade) will be included in the first phase. The BR legacy element of the Northern fleet also includes Class 158‘Express Sprinter’DMUs, Class 323 EMUs and Class 769 bi-mode units (built as…

THE doors to Darlington Hopetown’s historic carriage works opened to display the replica Locomotion No. 1 from January 2-12. In anticipation of the S&DR200 celebrations in September, the 1975-built replica was paired with the newly-built coal wagon and passenger coach Experiment, giving visitors a taste of things to come for later this year. The replica train has now left Hopetown to undergo further preparation work for its anniversary runs in September. It is expected to undergo testing at the Weardale Railway later this year.…

THE Stephenson Locomotive Society and Manchester Locomotive Society organised a railtour from Huddersfield to the NCB’s Ashington Colliery Railway (ACR) on June 10, 1967. It was hauled to and from York by ‘Black Five’ No. 45428, and between York and Ashington by ‘Jubilee’ No. 45562 Alberta. Passengers then transferred to the nearby Hirst Platform for a trip on the ACR using the line’s own passenger stock and steam loco No. 39. The NCB train was formed of three coaches (one ex-Furness Railway and two ex-NER bogie vehicles) and a brake van, and two return trips were made to accommodate all of the railtour passengers. These ran from Hirst Platform (the NCB’s own station at Ashington) to Ellington and Lynemouth. The ACR had its own fleet of industrial steam (until 1970)…

CHURCHILL’S FUNERAL TRAIN: January 30 marked the 60th anniversary of Winston Churchill’s funeral, his coffin being conveyed by rail from Waterloo to Hanborough in Oxfordshire, the closest station to the Churchill family plot in Bladon Churchyard, where he was buried. My father and I drove from our home in North West London to a spot between Ashford (Middlesex) and Staines to see the train hauled appropriately by ‘Battle of Britain’ Class No. 34051 Winston Churchill. A black and white version of my photo (attached) appeared in the March 1965 issue of The RM, and it is noteworthy that someone had arranged the locomotive headcode (the three white discs) in a‘V for Victory’configuration! V C K Allen, by email Mea massive culpa… IT was a great pleasure to read Joseph Brennan’s…

RESTORATION work on Hunslet 0-6-0ST Newstead (works No. 1589 of 1929) is progressing well. This remarkable survivor is an early example of the standard Hunslet 16in saddle tank, the 16in referring to the diameter of the cylinders. The pioneer locomotive, Fitzwilliam (works No. 1438 of 1923) gave its name to this successful class, being the first to be purchased by the South Kirkby Featherstone and Hemsworth Colliery, where Newstead also went to work. Initially privately preserved, Newstead was considered scrapped until its owner sadly passed away and his wife contacted various organisations to arrange its future preservation. It is now privately-owned and being restored at the Spa Valley Railway, Tunbridge Wells. The boiler has had a new front tubeplate fitted and has passed a hydraulic test. There are some leaks…

FFESTINIOG Railway (FR) Double Fairlie Merddin Emrys greeted the new year carrying a green livery. Previously in red/maroon, this is the first time Merddin Emrys has been seen with its traditional outline in green since pre-preservation days. It was last green in post-preservation service when it had square topped water tanks and Hunslet-built smokeboxes. The livery change was undertaken by volunteers during the Christmas/New Year holidays, giving Merddin Emrys a similar appearance to that of the Double Fairlie then named Taliesin (originally and now reverted to Livingston Thompson). The change of livery relates to the FR celebrating its 70th anniversary of the recommencement of passenger trains under its‘new’regime this year. The liveries for FR locos will therefore be Prince (previously red, currently under overhaul) and Merddin Emrys in green, reflecting…

ALMOST four months after it was withdrawn from service for a major overhaul, Saltburn Miniature Railway’s 15 inch gauge 4-4-2 locomotive Blacklock R underwent trial steaming and hydraulic testing during mid-December. The Atlantic, the only steam loco in the SMR fleet, is named after railway volunteer Reg Blacklock. It was acquired around 15 years ago and entered service in 2016 after a rebuild undertaken by the SMR. Blacklock R was taken out of traffic at the end of last year’s summer season, working its final trains prior to overhaul on August 30. Initial efforts included stripping it down and removing cladding to examine its Franklin & Bell-built 32-tube boiler, manufactured in 2002. Phosphor bronze plugs, more substantial than those originally fitted, were sourced and a new gasket was made for…

FANS of Class 50 haulage can enjoy a three-day Branch Line Society (BLS) railtour around the North West over the May spring bank holiday, from which profits will be donated to Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity. Additionally, there are positioning tours before and after the main event. The main tour will be the‘16 CSVT Explorer’ running from Saturday, May 24 to Monday, May 26, operated in ‘top-and-tail’mode by Hanson & Hall Class 50 No. 50008 Thunderer, with the second locomotive being provided by the Class 50 Alliance. The BLS add that the charter has been designed to cover a significant number of routes normally worked by multiple units, plus a number of sought-after lines for Class 50 haulage. Saturday Starting on the Saturday from Kidderminster (08.00), the tour will pick…

NETWORK Rail has begun the refurbishment of the 161-year-old Hungerford Bridge which spans the River Thames and connects Waterloo East to Charing Cross station. With spans of wrought iron lattice girders dating from 1864, maintenance is essential, and the planned work includes preparation for a repaint. Additionally, the engineers will test the truss pins which join the supports together, and replace the pin end caps on the girders. The refurbishment work, a massive project which will take nearly three years, will be carried out in two phases. The first phase commenced on the spans on the South Bank and the south side of the river last month. It will last until January next year. The second phase will be the main refurbishment works, which will take place on the remaining…

LOCOMOTIVES Allocations 66054 WBRT-WBAT66060 WBRT-WBAT66066 WBRT-WBAT66067 WBRT-WBAT66083 WBRT-WBAT66109 WBRT-WBAT66119 WBRT-WBAT66133 WBAT-WBVT66143 WBVT-WBAT66154 WBRT-WBAT66172 WBRT-WBAT-WBHT66179 WBRT-WBAT66182 WBRT-WBAT66200 WBRT-WBAT66205 WBRT-WBAT66206 WBRT-WBAT66207 WBRT-WBAT Renumbered 66171 – 66659 Liveries DB Cargo red: 66053 Swietelsky branding added: 20302/11, 37405, 37607 Named 37402 Oor Wullie 66310 Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway Names removed 60019 Port of Grimsby & Immingham Stored/stopped locationsEly: 43305/67 Haymarket: 43024 Mid-Norfolk Railway: 43027/29, 43206/38, 43312/19 DisposalsEllacombe EngineeringServices at Plym ValleyRailway: January: 43161 Sandbach Car Dismantlers,Middlewich: Arrival date:January 20: 43300. Cut date:January 21: 43300 MULTIPLE UNITS Allocations 150230/37 sent for disposal197034 HQ-CH197123 HQ-CH321443 sent for disposal377121/22 SU/HWHQ-RM/HUHQ398019/20/21 newly delivered HQ/HLHQ507029 sent for disposal 756104/08 HQ-CF730233/36 newly delivered HQ/ EJHQ Liveries Darlington branding added: 801207TfW active travel: 153352De-branded: 52803 Renumbered 153352 – 153552458519 – 458419769935 – 769535769949 – 769549 Formations 150279: 52279+57242 Now in passenger…

HEAVY and widespread snowfall on Saturday, January 4 and Sunday, January 5 disrupted Iarnród Éireann services,particularly in North Munster, affecting rail services in Tipperary, Limerick, North Cork and Kerry. While many rail services kept running, delays were experienced due to infrastructure faults because of the snow and ice conditions on the Sunday. Points failures were reported at Banteer on the Mallow to Tralee line and Killonan Junction near Limerick on Limerick to Limerick Junction line which caused delays to services. The 1350 Tralee-Heuston collided with a fallen tree between Farranfore and Killarney but continued after a short delay. Reaching faults Infrastructure staff struggled to attend the faults due to hazardous road conditions. A number of rail services from Limerick to Limerick Junction, Ennis and the single Sunday service from Limerick…