Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2025 i The Railway Magazine

DESPITE a proposal to progress the scheme being presented for approval to the board of TfW Rail last October, Transport for Wales has told The RM that it is yet to make a commitment to converting its 11 Class 231 diesel multiple units into bi-mode trains. The Stadler-built sets, the first of which entered service in January 2023, have four passenger cars and a fifth (middle vehicle) carrying a diesel power pack to generate electricity for the traction motors. Under a variation agreement with the manufacturer, TfW can opt to have the Class 231s converted into bi-mode (diesel and electric) sets, with pantographs fitted to draw current on sections of route with overhead electrification. Minutes published from the October meeting show board approval was sought to move forward with the…

WABTEC has announced plans to close its factory in Doncaster, which is the final major part of the famous Doncaster Works still in rail use. The US-owned company said the decision was made after a“comprehensive review of the product lines and cost challenges”at the factory, which employs about 300 people at the site adjacent to the city’s station. A company statement added that several options were under consideration, including moving to another UK location or relocating to a nearby site. The Doncaster factory maintains and repairs rolling stock, wagons and wheels. If the site does close, the company said it would complete its current projects and then “withdraw from the vehicle maintenance market in the UK and close the site”. Current contracts are said to take the factory“well into 2026”.…

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GEORGE Henry Sandham Behrend was a man of many parts: soldier, gentleman farmer, transport enthusiast, chauffeur to the composer and conductor Benjamin Britten, bon vivant, travel writer and publisher. But above all, he was a connoisseur of everything Pullman. However, it was buses not railways that were George’s earliest transport passion. At the age of 13 or 14 he wrote to every local and regional bus operator in the country requesting copies of their timetables, and nearly all responded. This interest in buses never entirely deserted him and at university his rooms were known as ‘the bus office’, while he managed to slip bus information into several of his railway books. Fifty years later, the present writer’s first encounter with George was when he arrived at his house-cum-bookstore in a…

100 YEARS AGO MARCH 1925 Viaduct fatalities A PASSENGER train from Londonderry to Burtonport, on the Londonderrry and Lough Swilly Railway, was blown over on January 30, when crossing the Owencarrow Viaduct between Kilmacrenan and Creeslough. One vehicle was blown off the rails and pulled another over with it, though as the couplings held, neither fell to the bottom of the ravine, although roof destruction caused several of the passengers to be thrown into the valley beneath, three being killed outright, while a fourth died later in Letterkenny Hospital. Others were more or less seriously injured. Whilst this terrible disaster is not without parallel as to the cause and effect, no similar incident has been as serious. In November 1898, a train on the Tralee and Dingle was derailed in…

THE East Lancashire Railway’s first major steam gala of the year will be the ‘Legends of Steam’event on March 14-16, bringing together an impressive line-up of express locomotives as part of the railway’s ongoing ‘Railway 200’ celebrations. The event will include some of the most famous steam locomotives, including A1 Class No. 60163 Tornado, the first main line steam engine to be built in Britain since 1960. Since its completion in 2008, Tornado has appeared in the film Paddington 2, starred in an episode ofTV’sTop Gear, achieved 100mph in a 2017 test run, and also had the honour of hauling Royal Trains. Joining Tornado is LMS‘Black Five’No. 44871, one of the four locos to haul the ‘Fifteen Guinea Special’ in 1968, British Rail’s final main line steam working. Now preserved…

ON January 24, No. 350002, the earliest-numbered of the production series of merry-go-round (MGR) wagons, entered preservation on the Chasewater Railway (CR) in Staffordshire. Dating from 1965, it was part of lot No. 3528 built at Shildon Works – one of a total of 11,162 high-capacity wagons built for carrying coal around the UK. Previously on static display as gate guardian at DB Cargo’s Knottingley depot, it was donated by the company to the National Wagon Preservation Group. Idea The idea of it becoming part of the NWPG collection was mooted at last year’s Drax Power Station 50th anniversary celebrations, at which it had been intended that it would make an appearance. Unfortunately there were challenges in making it fit for traffic in time to take part, but it made…

THE Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway (R&ER) has announced two guest locomotives for its May 3-5 150th anniversary gala. Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway’s (RH&DR) Davey Paxman 4-6-2 No. 1 Green Goddess first ran at Ravenglass in 1925, undergoing trials before delivery to the RH&DR which at that time had not yet been built! It subsequently appeared at R&ER in 1985 and 2011. Also appearing at the gala will be 0-4-2 tender Bonnie Dundee, which is owned by the R&ER but has not pulled a Ravenglass train for some 20 years. Originally built by Kerr Stuart as a 2ft gauge 0-4-0WT (KS720/1901) for Dundee Gas Commissioners, it entered preservation when purchased by the late Ian Fraser. The loco arrived at R&ER in 1976 where work completed in 1981 produced a 15in…

THE Deltic Preservation Society’s Class 55 No. D9015 (55015) Tulyar moved under its own power for the first time in nearly 28 years on February 15, as its long-term overhaul draws to a close. The Type 5’s engines were switched off on April 13, 1997 at the Midland Railway Centre, Butterly (No. D9015’s home at the time) for a thorough overhaul. It then moved to the DPS’s base at Barrow Hill in 2003. The work done has included a new body skin – a weak point with‘Deltics’– and the removal of all components that essentially left Tulyar as a stripped shell. However, rebuilding work slowed down with the Society’s need to keep stablemates Nos. D9009 (55009) Alycidon and 55019 Royal Highland Fusilier in operating condition. Work on No. D9015 recommenced…

PREPARATIONS are being made for construction work to begin on the second phase of the West Midlands Metro Black Country extension between Dudley and Merry Hill Shopping Centre. Rising costs prompted West Midlands Combined Authority to decide in 2022 to split completion of the 11 kilometre (6.8 mile) extension from Wednesbury into two parts, with emphasis on completion of the route as far as Flood Street in Dudley (due to open this autumn), while trying to secure the necessary finances to enable the rest of it to be finished. The total cost of constructing the line is £655 million, £361 million of which was for the first phase. The Government confirmed funding for phase two (£294 million) last October through the latest City Region Sustainable Settlement for the West Midlands.…

THE former Class 314 electric multiple unit which was used in the Scottish Hydrogen Train project (to trial fuel cell technology on an existing train) has been moved from the Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway to Gibson’s Engineering at Springburn Works in Glasgow for decommissioning work. Previously No. 314209, it is the last survivor of the 16 units built for Strathclyde suburban services by British Rail Engineering Ltd in York. It was designated as No. 614209 for the purposes of the Transport Scotland-funded project, managed through the University of St Andrews with Ballard Motive Solutions (formerly Arcola Energy) as its lead partner. The unit was moved to Bo’ness for display during the COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2021 and tested on the B&KR the following year after the completion…

LOCOMOTIVES Allocations 66122 KM/XHIM-TO/WBAT66126 KM/XHIM-TO/WBAT66155 WBAT-WBHT66165 WBAT-WBHT66197 WBAT-WBHT68023 TPEX-XHTP68029 TPEX-XHTP92011 CE/WFBC-WQ/ WQAA LiveriesDB Cargo red: 66126 Named08721 Ken Davies60096 Skiddaw66126 Driver Jack Mills Names removed08822 Dave Mills43162 Caerhays Castle47772 Carnforth TMD60096 Impetus90036 Driver Jack Mills To be renamed67005 King’s Messenger Stored/stopped locationsCrewe ETD: 92011 Colwick: 56087/96 Gresty Bridge: 68023 RSS Wishaw: 08507, 08629/32 MULTIPLE UNITS Allocations 197028 HQ-CH197126 HQ-CH321313/15 sent for disposal379002/22 HQ-HE398018 newly delivered HQ/ HLHQ(45)5906 sent for disposal 466004/05/09/32 sent for disposal555008/09 newly delivered GF/ PXGG756102/03/12 HQ-CF807005/07 newly delivered HQ/ HFHQ807007 HQ-OY Named800021 Gill Clay LiveriesBlue & Grey: 60000, 60501 Cross Country: 221109/12 Northern: 323203/07/10/12/19 NR light blue: 153385 NSE: 465908 c2c white + pink doors: 357005, 357207 Now in passenger traffic 197028197126379002/22555002/21756102/03/12807007 Stored/stopped locationsCrewe ETD: 769002 Crewe South Yard: 197023 Derby: 221103 Eastleigh T&RSMD: 701026/59 Ely: 175006…

FOLLOWING years of low or zero economic growth, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves outlined in her speech on January 29 how the current Government views rail’s role in kick-starting the economy. First up was East West Rail, which has been given financial backing for the full route between Oxford and Cambridge. Phase 1 of the project between Oxford and Bletchley/Milton Keynes is now ready for services to begin later this year. The Phase 2 upgrades of the exiting route between Bletchley and Bedford is estimated to cost £1.1 billion with a benefit:cost ratio of 1.1, but this rises to 2.4 when assumptions about housing growth are added in. Phase 3 will be a new railway between Bedford and Cambridge, and the alignment has been firmed up via an…

VANGUARD Sustainable Transport Solutions showed off a prototype hydrogen-powered shunter at the Severn Valley Railway on January 31. Class 08 No. 08635 has been converted to run off batteries that are charged by an on board hydrogen fuel cell. The conversion work was carried out at the SVR’s Kidderminster depot and has been done in such a way that the‘08’can be converted back to diesel powered in the future if required. For now, the diesel power unit has been removed and replaced with a bank of lead-acid batteries. These are connected to the original traction motors and can be charged up by a shore supply or an on board 80kW hydrogen fuel cell, which was still to be fitted on the day of the demonstration. Vanguard STS, a spin-out from…

ON February 12, HS2 Ltd showed-off the first completed major viaduct, one of 13 bridge structures, which will form part of the high speed route’s Delta Junction in Warwickshire. In what the company described as the first such application of the process in the UK, a 40-strong team of people working for contractor Balfour Beatty VINCI joint venture used a cantilever to construct the deck of the 472-metre (516yd) single-track River Tame West Viaduct, moving the concrete segments into place, span-by-span. A total of 190 such segments were lifted into position to complete it. Further viaducts The cantilever system will be used during the construction of eight further viaducts within the Delta Junction. Decks for all are expected to be in place by late 2026. Among them is the double-track…

THE Darlington Railway Preservation Society held an open day on February 1, at its new headquarters in Darlington. The society was originally based in the 1833 Goods shed at Darlington North Road, which has now been renovated as the gateway to the town’s Hopetown railway museum. As part of the major redevelopment of the site, the DRPS now occupies part of the nearby 1861 shed, formerly a wagon repair shop. After sitting empty for more than 30 years, the shed now houses both the DRPS and the North Eastern Locomotive Preservation Group (NELPG). The DRPS has two steam locomotives on site. The elder of the two is also the most unusual, being a fireless locomotive that was charged with steam produced by the factory boilers of wool spinners Paton &…

THE South Tynedale Railway (STR) has recognised its founding ambition of reinstating the full length of the line between Haltwhistle and Alston is not achievable. Moreover, the view has been reached that in current circumstances this aspiration would be unlikely to result in a more attractive offer to the public and is therefore not a desirable objective. The standard gauge Haltwhistle to Alston line finally closed in 1976. When the South Tyneside Railway Preservation Society (STRPS) was first formed, the objective was to revive the branch as a standard gauge preservation project. The required finance could not be raised and in 1977 a rethink resulted in the decision to rebuild the railway as a narrow gauge line in stages commencing at Alston. This aspiration continued, albeit slowly, with the 2ft…

‘JUBILEE’4-6-0 No. 45596 Bahamas is to work a railtour over Shap summit on March 29 – the first time the former LMS locomotive has run over the route in the preservation era. Operated by Vintage Trains, the‘Shap Mountaineer’starts diesel hauled at Birmingham New Street (06.55), calling at Wolverhampton, Stafford, Crewe, Warrington Bank Quay and Preston (pick-up only). At Carnforth, Bahamas will take over from the diesel and take the‘Mountaineer’over Grayrigg and Shap to Carlisle, where passengers will enjoy a break of around three hours. The return southbound run will see Bahamas tackle the gradients over the Settle & Carlisle line as far as Hellifield where the diesel loco will take over for the return to Birmingham. Vintage Trains says its new Tourist Enthusiast Class seat will allow passengers to sit…

PROBABLY the shortest revenue-earning bogie wagons in use are the French-built and registered IHA ‘Sfhimms-u’hooded steel carrying flats. Moisture sensitive‘bright’steel coils up to a maximum of 68 tonnes are transported from Tata at Port Talbot to Middlesbrough, Round Oak, and Dee Marsh/Shotton. Past movements have included consignments of imported steel from Boston Docks to Washwood Heath. Through time, the wagons have had various owners, such as Captrain, Ermewa, France Wagons, SNCF and Touax SA. Currently in service are: Nos. 33 87 4667 000-3 to 113-4, design code IHE 796 from 1993; Nos. 33 87 4757 029-1/046-5, design code IHE 857 from 1998; and Nos. 33 87 4904 000-6 to 060-0, design code IHE 894 of 2001. All batches were constructed by Arbel Fauvet Rail, Douai. ■ MOST of the JHA…

SPANISH-BUILT type RSD39 Alco diesel locos remain in use on a handful of passenger services on the regional line from Zárate to Villa Ballester in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, alongside a Canadianbuilt type RSD35 loco (dating from 1962) on loan from the national rail freight company. Seventeen of the RSD39 (RENFE Class 313) locos, 50 of which were built by Euskalduna in 1965-66, came to Argentina in 1995-96. The rest of the trains on this route are worked by 1970s-built EMD type G22 locos. Several other routes west of the city centre retain diesel-hauled trains which are often worked by vintage locomotives. These are Merlo-Lobos, Moreno-Mercedes on the ‘Sarmiento’ network and the Victoria-Capilla del Señor line. These routes see a mixture of old EMD locos built in the USA…

Michael Mensing Railway Photographer West Midlands 1959 FOR those of a certain age, the name of Michael Mensing is synonymous with his photographs in the Ian Allan ABC spotters’books of the 1950/60s, and also in the railway magazines of the day. Of course, these were virtually all in black and white, so this publication gives an opportunity for his excellent material to be shown in colour. This is volume two and is based on the West Midlands during 1959 and, because at the time Michael lived in Solihull, it is inevitable that almost (but not all) of the photos are based on the Western Region lines rather than the London Midland Region. These are very much ‘action’pictures of trains in service and show the working environment of the railways at…

THE Tyne & Wear Metro’s Green Line saw its first Class 555-operated service on February 18, despite a problem with track height at Sunderland station. No. 555021 became the first of the new Stadler-built trains to carry passengers between South Hylton and Newcastle Airport, two months to the day after it operated the inaugural public working of the class on the system from Pelaw and Monkseaton. Airport-bound services are unaffected by the issue at Sunderland and continue to use platform 3. But the track serving platform 2, the usual stopping point for Metro services heading for South Hylton, is currently too low for the Class 555s (which have a retractable step to bridge the gap between the train and the platform). Until the line has been raised by around 10…

TICKETS for the three-day ‘Greatest Gathering’event to be held in Derby on August 1-3 sold out within days of going on sale, organisers Alstom have confirmed. Following the launch on January 30, unprecedented demand saw a temporary pause in tickets sales as enthusiasts rushed to secure a ticket to what will be a highlight of the Railway 200 year. When sales restarted at £30 for adults and £15 for children, the estimated 10,000 tickets per day sold out for the Saturday by February 7, the Friday by February 10 and the Sunday by February 20. The event will be staged at Alstom’s Litchurch Lane Works and will be a celebration of the past, present and future of our railways. It promises to be Britain’s largest temporary gathering of historic rolling…

TENDERS have been invited by HS2 Ltd from two companies for the contracts to supply, operate and maintain the automated people mover (APM) system which will link Interchange station (north east of Solihull) with the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham International station and Birmingham Airport. French cable-driven lift systems provider POMA and Doppelmayr Cable Car UK Ltd have been asked to submit tenders for the contracts, which have a combined value of around £269 million. Expected to be announced next year, the winning bidder will design, supply and install the cable-worked system, as well as maintaining and operating it for a 25-year period. HS2 Ltd says the process of engaging with potential contractors to design and build the APM infrastructure is“ongoing”. ■ Concrete frame specialist MPB Structures has been awarded the…

Guinness World Record: Longest-running railway series, established in 1901 “A series of speed improvements was on the brink of introduction for the June 1963 timetable” WHEN they first appeared at the end of 1962, the Co-Co Brush Type 4s (later TOPS Class 47s) certainly meant to ‘cause a big sensation’ with their innovative two-tone green livery and sleek front-end design. My memory tells me I first saw one at Neville Hill on Boxing Day 1962, No. D1505 on staff familiarisation duty, looking ‘awful c-cold’ as the first snow of that winter’s big freeze started to fall, but it is officially shown as entering service on January 11, 1963. At that moment we had no inkling that the first 20 ‘Brush 4s’ would become non-standard as a result of their generator…

THE £2 million, 14-year overhaul of 1941-built ‘Merchant Navy’No. 35005 Canadian Pacific is complete, and the loco is due to be officially relaunched into traffic on March 19 at the Mid Hants Railway, followed by four days of public services. ‘Can Pac’has undergone heavy boiler and firebox repairs undertaken in conjunction with a full chassis renovation at both Eastleigh Works and the MHR’s Ropley workshops. This will be No. 35005’s third stint in heritage operation since being withdrawn from British Rail service in October 1965. Previous‘tickets’included a short period of mainline operation between 1998-2002, which was prematurely cut short following the bursting of a boiler tube at Paddock Wood on October 19 that year. The MHR says that more than 10,000 hours of volunteer time and six apprenticeships have been…

THE Llangollen Railway has announced that new-build 4-6-0 ‘Grange’No. 6880 Betton Grange will be a star attraction at its Branchline Gala on April 11-13. Construction of Betton Grange began at Llangollen in 1998, with the locomotive’s frames first laid out in 2004. The Swindon No. 1 boiler, which is from ‘Barry Ten’loco Willington Hall, was overhauled at Tyseley Locomotive Works, and by 2018 the engine was sent to Birmingham for completion. After a successful test run in 2024, No. 6880 embarked on a successful tour of heritage lines, including the North Norfolk Railway, Battlefield Line and Great Central Railway. For the foreseeable future, it will be based at Toddington on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway. Returning to North Wales has been a goal for the Betton Grange Society (BGS), as many…

THE 60th anniversary of the final day of steam operation at the Penrhyn slate quarry in north Wales was marked almost to the day at the Apedale Valley Light Railway on January 18. Two ex-Penrhyn locomotives, Martyn Ashworth’s Avonside 0-4-0T Ogwen and John Rowlands’Kerr, Stuart 0-4-2ST Stanhope, were in steam hauling slate wagons, and the day was rounded off with a night photography session. The last steam operation at Penrhyn (January 15, 1965), was worked by Ogwen, and its driver that day, the late Iorwerth Jones, chalked an appropriate inscription inside the cab reading:“LAST TRAIN 15.1.65” together with“I W JONES”. After the end of its working days there, Ogwen was one of six Penrhyn locos bought by American antiques dealer Mr C B Annette and exported to the USA in…

WORK is progressing on the heavy refurbishment of a tram which plays a particularly important role at Seaton Tramway in Devon. Although it is generally to be found by visitors at Riverside Depot, Works Car No. 2 comes into its own for use by the tramway’s maintenance team. Originally commissioned by the Air Ministry, a start was made on building the tram in 1952 at Barnet as a 2ft gauge vehicle. It was moved to Eastbourne in 1958 where, virtually complete, the order was cancelled. The tram was subsequently used for works duties before going into storage. In 1968, Works Car No. 2 was lengthened and it also received an overhead gantry. Rebuild After being moved to Seaton, in 1973 it was regauged to 2ft 9in, for use on the…

DIRECT Rail Services will move 46,400 tonnes of stone in the first phase of a new traffic flow between Shap Summit Quarry, alongside the West Coast Main Line on the eastern side of Cumbria, and Drigg in the west of the county. The trains will supply aggregate for a replacement protective barrier over legacy disposal trenches at the Nuclear Waste Services Low Level Waste Repository (LLWR) at Drigg. Movements, the first to use the company’s new JNA-Z box wagons, will consist of two trains, operating four days a week, each delivering 750 tonnes of material. Consisting of 64 trains in total, DRS estimates that this first phase will equate to 2320 lorry journeys and that the use of rail instead of road will save the emission of 100,000 kilogrammes of…

FIVE million pounds worth of improvements have been completed to maintenance and stabling facilities for West Midlands Railway Class 730/0s at Coventry North Yard. The changes include new equipment for emptying the controlled emissions toilets (CETs) on the trains, CCTV, smart lighting and upgrades to walkways and staff facilities. Four new full-time jobs have been created at the site. WMR says the combination of additional staff and modernised facilities will allow six units to be cleaned at the yard simultaneously. In turn, this helps to increase the time available for maintenance. ‘Major priority’ “Investing into our depots is a major priority for us so we can improve the quality of service for our passengers across the region,” said WMR engineering director John Doughty.“WMR is a major employer in the West…

MINI GATHERING: This is the ‘Greatest Gathering’ launch event on January 30, seen from above and showing the extent of Alstom’s Litchurch Lane factory in Derby (see page 16 for more details about the event). Pictured from left are: ‘Aventra’ EMU No. 720503; ‘Pendolino’ No. 390200 (390116) Railway 200 and GBRF’s No. 69004 RIDC Melton; ‘A4’ No. 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley; ‘Hoover’ No. 50049 Defiance and GBRf ’s No. 66315; and ‘Merchant Navy’ No. 35018 British India Line and Europhoenix Type 3 No. 37800 Cassiopeia (drone shot taken in accordance with all applicable rules and regulations). Steve Donald…

STORM Éowyn, a record-breaking extratropical cyclone, struck Ireland towards the end of January, causing widespread damage, particularly in the west. A provisional wind gust of 183 kilometres per hour (114 mph) was recorded at Mace Head in Connemara, County Galway. The trail of destruction on January 24 included severe damage to the Connemara Railway’s sheds at the Maam Cross station and there was disruption to main line rail services across the network. Jim Deegan, who leads the Connemara Railway Project, told The RM that the high winds caused the collapse of the roof and part of the wall of the main shed, where equipment and some rolling stock is stored. Fortunately, none of the rolling stock onsite was damaged. However, because of the collapsed roof, the railway no longer has…