Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2025 i The Railway Magazine

WORK towards completing an 18-mile section of railway between Birmingham and the West Coast Main Line at Handsacre, near Lichfield in Staffordshire, which will allow HS2 trains to serve locations further north via the WCML, has been deferred for another four years. Progress was halted on what will now form the northernmost stretch of the high-speed route by Rishi Sunak’s Government just months before it cancelled the Manchester and East Midlands legs of HS2 in 2023. As a result of that decision, the link with the existing main line at Handsacre is now pivotal to plans for HS2 trains to run to destinations beyond Birmingham. HS2 Ltd chief executive Mark Wild confirmed in a letter to Staffordshire County Council leader Ian Cooper last month that, although some“essential construction”in the area…

LOCATED on a wedge of land two miles north east of Newcastle Central station, bordered by the East Coast Main Line and the Newcastle and North Shields Railway route to Tynemouth (now part of the Tyne & Wear Metro system), the first depot on the Heaton site took the form of a shed for steam locomotives. Costing £9,270, it opened in 1875, the year after it was authorised by the North Eastern Railway, providing a base for motive power to deal with growing volumes of traffic. Facilities for stabling and maintenance of locomotives and carriages were further developed in phases during the rest of the 19th century. Employing around 270 people and occupying 30 acres of the site, Northern’s current traincare centre, however, is a legacy of British Rail and…

THE venerable firm of W H Smith has been one of the most enduring features of everyday British life, having been a fixture on hundreds of high streets for the best part of the past 120 years until earlier this year when they were sold to T G Jones. While those on the high street are now gone, W H Smith continues with branches at larger railway stations across the country, as well as motorway services, airports and other travel outlets. It is also one of two British newspaper and magazine trade distributors, and the company has a strong presence in more than 30 overseas countries. From the earliest days, including on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway in the 1830s, licensed hawkers had been permitted to bawl cheap broadsheets and…

100 YEARS AGO NOVEMBER 1925 RHDR line approved THE consent of the Ministry of Transport has been obtained to file an application for a Light Railway Order for a line from New Romney station (Southern Railway) to Hythe, Kent, serving Jesson Camp and Dymchurch village in the Romney Marshes. The line will be a 15-inch gauge. Mr Henry Greenly has been appointed manager and engineer, and the line is being promoted by Captain J E P Howey. Procession loco scrapped GNSR 4-4-0 No. 45A, which appeared in the Railway Centenary procession in July, after serving for a few weeks as works pilot at Inverurie, has been broken up. 50 YEARS AGO NOVEMBER 1975 Runaway fatality THE driver of a freight train was killed on September 11 when 30 wagons loaded…

THE‘A1’Pacific No. 60163 Tornado was able to arrive at the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust’s Darlington Locomotive Works by rail for the first time ahead of its stint at the‘Titans of Steam’event at Darlington Hopetown from September 20 to October 5. Much of the 50th Peppercorn ‘A1’Pacific was constructed from 1990 to 2008 inside the nearby Old Carriage Works. But in 2023, the A1SLT took up residence in the new works building on the other side of the tracks, opposite Hopetown Museum and the town’s North Road station. When built, the new premises had no main line connection, but this has now been rectified with help from numerous supporters including the Army, VolkerRail, Network Rail and many volunteers. Tornado appropriately became the first steam locomotive to use the site’s new main…

THE Severn Valley Railway’s new wheelchair accessible buffet car entered passenger service on September 18, after eight years of conversion work. It carries the identity of long since scrapped Great Western Railway Collett Composite Diner No. 9581, but was originally built in 1928 as bow-ended Third Class corridor coach No. 5043. The coach spent around 35 years in its original configuration before being converted into a breakdown train mess vehicle and renumbered as DW150301. It arrived at the SVR in October 1981 to fulfil the role of workshop, store and mess facilities for the 2857 Society and was later transferred to its current owner, SVR (Holdings) Plc. The transformation into a wheelchair accessible buffet and saloon was funded by the Severn Valley Railway Charitable Trust. Led by the SVR’s LNER…

PROGRESS with work on several tramcars at Beamish Museum continued throughout September, with attention ranging from repairs and painting to completing more major tasks. Efforts were focused throughout the summer on the truck assembly for Gateshead No. 10. Its return to service following a major overhaul, which has taken over two years longer than originally expected, is viewed as a priority. New spring cups and control links and pins have been completed and a start was made on fitting them to the bogies prior to reassembly of its brake gear and refitting of its motors. Both bogies are expected to undergo mileage accumulation by being towed before they are reattached to No. 10. This will enable inspections to take place to establish how the new components are performing and allow…

GLOBAL logistics group CMA CGM has announced a deal to acquire the UK intermodal business of Freightliner in an arrangement which is expected to be completed early next year. Subject to regulatory approval, it will see CMA CGM take over the Freightliner brand as well as its rail and road container operations and inland terminals. Freightliner’s current Heavy Haul business, along with Rotterdam Rail Feeding and Freightliner Poland/Germany will remain under existing ownership. “This transaction marks an exciting new chapter for Intermodal and Heavy Haul, allowing each to focus on their distinct markets under separate ownership,”said Freightliner Group chief executive Tim Shoveller.“The Intermodal business will become a stand-alone business within CMA CGM’s portfolio, with opportunities to collaborate with other arm’s length CMA CGM companies. Heavy Haul will continue its growth…

JUST five and a half years after ordering them from Burtonon-Trent manufacturer Clayton Equipment Ltd, Beacon Rail Leasing has put the entire fleet of 15 Class 18s up for sale. A TOPS-registered version of Clayton’s CBD90 locomotive, part of a wider family of shunters supplied to industrial users, they were procured as a potential successor to older diesel traction such as Class 08s. Capable of operating entirely on battery power, which can be charged via a three-phase electricity supply or topped-up through regenerative braking, the Class 18s are also equipped with a Stage V emissions compliant diesel engine, which can be used where required for traction and assisting with range and performance.The class has the ability to haul a load of up to 2500 tonnes. Although the arrival at Whitemoor…

Rail Head Treatment Trains (RHTT) Departing from Carlisle New Yard at 10.49 on Monday, October 6, were Colas Rail Class 70 Nos. 70806 + 70809,‘top-and-tailing’eight RHTT tank wagons on a tour of Cumbria and Lancashire. This service (3J11) went on to Whitehaven, Appleby, Preston, Barrow-in-Furness and Windermere to arrive back at Carlisle NY at 07.29 the next day having looped up and down, as well as reversing, along many lines. The same locos and formation ran twice again over the following days. Passing south through Barnsley at 15.32 on October 10 were the RHTT tanks‘top-and-tailed’by Colas Class 66 Nos. 66847 and 66849. DR98971+DR98921 has been utilised on the Horsham to Horsham RHTT diagram recently, visiting Littlehampton at least four times on October 11. Avanti West Coast Avanti West Coast through…

GREATER Anglia services were nationalised on October 12 in the latest stage of implementing the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024. The operator is now managed by the Department forTransport Operator (DFTO), an interim arrangement before the expected establishment of Great British Railways (GBR) in 2027. In a step towards the integration of passenger services, Greater Anglia (GA) and LTS (c2c) are to be managed as a single Anglia entity, which will include Network Rail operations such as control and signalling, as well as infrastructure renewal and maintenance activities. This follows a similar structure established for South Eastern Railway and South Western Railway operations, where common ownership is expected to remove the friction that occurred in the previous alliance created in 2012. This suffered from being unable to resolve…

TUNNEL boring machine Elizabeth finished the excavation of HS2’s 3.5-mile Bromford Tunnel on the morning of October 13, also marking the completion of major tunnelling work for the project between Old Oak Common and the West Midlands. It began its journey from Bromford’s eastern portal at Water Orton in Warwickshire to the Birmingham suburb of Washwood Heath in March last year. Between them, Elizabeth and fellow TBM Mary Ann – which broke through on May 9 having been launched to create the first of the twin bores in July 2023 – removed a total of 1.8 million tonnes of earth, including various grades of Mercia Mudstone to be reused in landscaping parts of the high speed route’s approach to the city, and installed 5,804 concrete ring segments to create the…

I WAS one of the hordes who descended on Cheadle Heath to see Flying Scotsman arrive on the‘High Peak Railtour’in September 1965 (October issue). Up at the other end of the station by Cheadle Heath North Box, seen in the photo (right), the signalman was obliged to lean out and tell people to remove themselves from the assortment of dangerous vantage points they had taken, or he would call the police. Others were not impressed by the standard of cleanliness of the‘Jubilee’though, as railtour locos were usually well bulled-up, and one was heard to complain it was“just clean dirt”. Alan Graham, by email …YOU ask about travelling on the Locomotive Club of Great Britain tour featured in the photograph taken at Cheadle Heath. I was a passenger on that tour…

THE Nene Valley Railway’s resident DSB Class F 0-6-0T No. 656 has been modified to haul both air and vacuum-fitted stock having previously been fitted just with air-braking equipment. Now equipped with a vacuum ejector, the 1949-built tank engine was signed off on September 30 and ran its first public train with the line’s resident Mk.1 stock on October 5. Having been based on the NVR since 1975, this historic milestone marks 50 years of preservation for the engine on air-braking alone. The decision was made, according to the NVR Wansford MPD Facebook group, to allow more operational flexibility, enabling No. 656 to stand in for another vacuum-fitted loco in the event of any failures. Stars align at the North Yorks TWO of this year’s biggest celebrities in railway heritage…

THETalyllyn Railway’s (TR) September 13-14 Heritage Weekend presented cameos from the line’s past. Highlights on the Saturday included Fletcher, Jennings 0-4-0WT No. 2 Dolgoch hauling the TR’s original carriages arranged in numerical order from No. 1 behind the loco to brake van No. 5. The set was also complemented by five TR wagons added to the tail to work as a heritage mixed consist. The wagons included a replica gunpowder van, newly completed by young TR members, who also demonstrated hand shunting atWharf. Taking water at Dolgoch station was also a novelty with the original water tower in use (rather than the more modern tower) employing a wooden chute to direct the water into Dolgoch’s tank filler behind the cab. At Abergynolwyn there was a National Slate Museum display while…

THREE Class 26s have moved around the country to new homes pending full restoration and returning to working order. First of the‘McRats’to move during October was No. 26040, which was previously based at Whitrope Heritage Centre on the former Waverley Route near Hawick, and is undergoing long-term restoration having not fully re-entered traffic since its withdrawal by British Rail on December 4, 1992. The loco – which has its own Facebook page (‘26040 D5340 BRCW Type 2 locomotive’) – has now moved to a private site near Carlisle, where restoration is expected to continue. Much work was done on the locomotive at Whitrope, including the engine being restarted in 2022 after 17 years of inactivity. Caley duo Also on the move were Nos. 26002 and 26025, which have been transferred…

THE first of the Docklands Light Railway’s new five-car CAF-built B23 trains entered service on September 30. No. 209 made its debut journey between Canning Town and Stratford International, a year and a half later than had been anticipated when a completed set was unveiled at Beckton depot in February 2023. Problems during integration testing, followed by the discovery of a pre-existing technical issue with the DLR’s signalling system, led to the timescale being revised. A total of 54 units have been ordered from the Spanish manufacturer and Transport for London expects them to have replaced all of the B90, B92 and B2K trains by the end of next year. Timetable changes were made in July with the intention of allowing withdrawals to take place while still maintaining a reliable…

FREIGHTLINER operates a fully modernised fleet of aggregate wagons on its Mendip Rail services. Mendip Rail is a joint operation conveying limestone from the Somerset quarries of Heidelberg Materials at Whatley and Holcim UK at Merehead. Previous restrictions on speed due to the use of Orenstein & Koppel stock, which have plate framed and leaf-spring bogies, have been eliminated and all stock in use now features low track force bogies. Further expansion of the aggregates-carrying fleet is taking place with the delivery of repurposed MWA-C box opens Nos. 81 70 5891 701-1 to 776-3 from WH Davis of Langwith Junction. However, the use of high capacity wagons to transport bulk materials is not new. Before the creation of a National Grid, power for electric railways had to be generated locally.…

WORK has recommenced on the restoration of former Great Southern and Western Railway (GSWR) 0-6-0T No. 90, now in the care of the Downpatrick & County Down Railway (D&CDR), in the hope that it will return to action by 2027. The D&CDR says that, by then, it will be the oldest operating steam engine on the island, as well as being the oldest surviving Irish-built locomotive. Dating from 1875, No. 90 has been out of traffic since 2010, shortly after it was donated to the railway by Iarnród Éireann. Following its withdrawal, No. 90 was put on public display, but was moved from the Carriage Gallery to the Maghera shed in 2023 for overhaul. Initial work began between July and October of that year, focusing on disconnecting the boiler. However,…

CLASS 91-operated Intercity 225 sets will serve Newcastle from next spring for the first time since 2020. LNER confirmed to The RM that it planned to roster an IC225 for the 14.33 departure from King’s Cross to Newcastle and the return 18.27 from Newcastle to the capital (Mondays-Fridays). On Saturdays and Sundays, a set will operate the 12.33 from King’s Cross, returning south at 16.27. London-based train crews will be deployed on the diagrams. The introduction of the 65-strong fleet of Hitachi-built ‘Azumas’saw the Class 91s and rakes of Mk.4 vehicles with driving van trailers removed from East Coast Main Line duties north of York five years ago. A dozen Class 91s and eight rakes of Mk.4 vehicles were retained and are based at Neville Hill Traincare Centre in Leeds.…

BLYTH Bebside, the fourth of six stations to be completed as part of the Northumberland Line project, opened to passengers on October 19. A ribbon-cutting event was held the following day to mark the inauguration of the station and a walking and cycling route, including a new bridge over the A189 that links it to the Chase Farm area of Blyth. “I’m really pleased to reach another milestone on the line’s journey,”said Neil Blagburn, programme delivery director, adding that it was testament to the team involved. Mr Blagburn, who works for AECOM, the firm which has been leading the project to transform the line from a freight route on behalf of Northumberland County Council (NCC), explained to The RM that contractors had faced a“real challenge”in cleaning up remnants of a…

MY interest in railway photography was rekindled in the early 1970s during a family holiday in Cornwall, where I realised that the ‘Western’ diesel-hydraulics were still at work. Consequently, that holiday and the next few years were spent travelling around Britain photographing our railway system, with the ‘Westerns’ claiming a good deal of my attention. But in October 1973, I found myself on the platform at Bristol Temple Meads station peering across at Bath Road depot and noticed an unfamiliar face. It turned out to be Class 50 No. 400 (which became No. 50050 Fearless) along with classmate No. 401 (50001 Dreadnought), both recently transferred from the London Midland Region and about to begin trials on the Western Region. I managed to talk my way into the depot and got…

ENTHUSIASTS’eyes were fixed on the Crewe-Chester-Shrewsbury-Telford main line circuit on October 7/8 as Riddles Standard 8P Pacific No. 71000 Duke of Gloucester hauled its first loaded main line trains since 2012. It was a big moment for onlookers and members of the BR Class 8 Steam Locomotive Trust (BRC8SLT ) standing on the platforms at Crewe on the 7th. The‘Duke’– once described as“the impossible dream”by sceptics when rescued from Barry Scrapyard – made its first departure on the mainline for 13 years when it left at 10.29 hauling a rake of‘blood and custard’-liveried coaches. The loco’s overhaul was undertaken at Tyseley Locomotive Works, followed by initially testing at the Severn Valley Railway in May before being finished off in the paint shops at Locomotive Services’ base in Crewe. The chairman…

TWO diminutive steam locomotives ran a special train from Keighley to Oxenhope and back on October 4, evoking memories of timetable trial trains undertaken on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway in 1968. The railway became the host of the two very different industrial machines. Privately owned Dora is an 0-4-0ST built by the Avonside Engine Company as works No. 1973 in 1927 for the British Electrical Authority and was initially preserved at the K&WVR. It visited a number of preservation sites before its current owner purchased it and had it fully overhauled in 2024 before bringing it back to Haworth for running in. Sentinel Also privately owned is Ann,a Sentinel 4wVBT, works No. 7232 built in 1927 for British Tar Products in Irlam, Lancashire. The owners have rebuilt the…

KNOWN for running the miniature railway at Tees Cottage Pumping Station on the other side of the town, Stockton & Darlington Model Engineers (S&DME) planned, laid and operated a track of 65 metres (71 yards) at Hopetown Darlington, offering train rides to visitors as the S&DR200 festival reached its climax. Situated on the eastern side of the Stockton & Darlington Railway Carriage Works building at the site, the line was constructed using a combination of portable track belonging to the club and one of its members, although the ground required some levelling before it could be put down. Trackbed “The trackbed was a mixture of gravel ballast and an actual proper sort of granite chippings,” S&DME club secretary Andrew Jordan told The RM.“We also pinned it down with some rebar…

BELMOND has cancelled Britannic Explorer trains for the remainder of 2025. The tours were due to have visited Cornwall, Wales and the Lake District. Dates for 2025 still on display on the company’s website have been struck through, but new bookings are being taken from March 2026. The train has 15 suites and three grand suites, but since launching in the summer has been affected by a number of technical problems, particularly relating to the door locking system. There have also been reports of wiring and water supply issues. The inaugural excursion was postponed because of technical problems and on one occasion the Britannic Explorer was cancelled hours before departure from London. On another, in early August, the train was terminated at Fenny Stratford and passengers were transferred to London…

A MAJOR programme of improvements will take place on the West Coast Main Line from the Christmas and New Year holidays through to mid-January as part of £196 million investment by Network Rail. Work will run between December 24 and January 15, 2026, requiring passengers to use bus replacement services to complete some journeys. Between Christmas Eve and January 5, engineers will carry out £26 million of track and ballast renewals at Hanslope Junction near Milton Keynes and consequently, there will be no trains between Milton Keynes and Northampton/ Rugby. Replacement of Clifton bridge, which spans the M6 near Penrith, will run from December 24 to January 15, resulting in a closure of the WCML for the duration, as well as the short-term closure of the M6. Services operated by…

LOCOMOTIVES Allocations 66101 TO/WBBT-WQ/WQNC66108 KM/XHIM-TO/WBAT66127 WBAI-WBRT66133 WBAI-WBRT66151 WBAI-WBRT66244 WBAI-WBRT-WBAI66416 DFIN-DFHJ66418 DFHJ-DFIN66592 DFHJ-DFIN66597 DFHJ-DFIN66687 GBNB-GBHH66689 GBEL-GBHH66757 GBEL-GBHH 66772 GBEL-GBHH67015 WQ/WQAA-CE/WAWC70014 DFHJ-DFGI90046 DHLT-DFLC Liveries Chiltern new two-tone blue: 68020/22/32DRS 30th anniversary: 68007Lined black: 57302Rail 200: 08600Romic new: 43094, 43122Debranded: 66116/51/69 Named 68007 30 Years of DRS 92023 Polmadie 150 1875-2025 For Sale 18001-15 Stored/stopped locationsRiverside Park Roundabout,Middlesbrough: 08600 Toton: 66101 Operational 67015 DisposalsCarnforth, October: 37712 EMR Kingsbury: Arrival date:October 8: 67019/30 MULTIPLE UNITS Allocations 197026/37 HQ-CH321338/42 sent for disposal377125 SU/HWHQ-RM/HUHQ379003/04/05/08 HQ-HE398031 newly delivered HQ/HLHQ5707/15/18/33/38 sent fordisposal5860/65 sent for disposal5910/14/18/20 sent for disposal466024 sent for disposal555034/37/43 newly deliveredGF/PXGG701005/09/20/56 HQ-WD720505 HQ-IL730209/14/25 HQ-BY810006 newly deliveredHQ/EMHQ Liveries London Overground new: 378221/22/26 Journey of Strength vinyls: 195107 Rail 200 branding: 390020(390200) Rebranded: Great BritishRailways coming soon: 755422 Named195107 Rob Burrow CBE450014 King Athelstan800316 Roar of the Roses802208 Diligence…

TWO classic American-built diesel locomotives have returned to main line operation. This summer, a former Santa Fe/Delaware and Hudson Alco 1948-built‘PA’diesel hauled a passenger train in the USA for the first time since 1978 and one of the enormous‘Centennial’ diesels built by EMD for Union Pacific in 1969/70 worked main line excursions for the first time since entering preservation. The Alco‘PA’design dates from the early days of dieselisation and, between 1946 and 1953, 294 locos were built by Alco in partnership with General Electric for multiple Class 1 railroads in the USA. Three more were delivered to Brazil. The A1A-A1A‘PA’design, using Alco’s 244 series engine, was designed for 117 miles per hour passenger operation and most locos were bought to replace steam for the most prestigious passenger trains run by…