Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2026 i The Railway Magazine

A MAIN road has been temporarily diverted to allow excavation of the next stage of HS2’s longest ‘green tunnel’. Stretching a distance of over 1.6 miles (2.7km), the ‘green tunnel’ at Greatworth in Northamptonshire is one of five being created as part of the high-speed route. They are so-called because they are built by excavating a cutting into which precast ‘m’-shaped concrete segments are placed (providing the formation for both the north and southbound sides of the tunnel) before being covered in earth and landscaped to help them blend into the local surroundings. Progress Engineers have already assembled the first kilometre of the tunnel and a short stretch of the B4525 (a local main road which runs from the east of Banbury to the A43 near Brackley) has been temporarily…

NO longer will the sound of Class 43 HST engines resonate across the bay from Penzance to St Michael’s Mount, as an era came to an end on December 14 when Great Western Railway finally withdrew its last IC125 set from regular service. Perhaps the Saphos Midland Pullman (an HST in disguise) will visit occasionally, but the famous power cars that are sometimes credited with saving British Rail’s InterCity business are otherwise extinct in English passenger service. Some short formations continue to perform sterling work in Scotland, but even their days are numbered. When a black hole appeared in the GWR DMU allocation, following delays over the introduction of new classes and subsequent planned stock cascades, there was widespread incredulity when GWR announced it was to spend vast sums on…

LAST year we lost a true railwayman with the passing of Brian Penney at the age of 90. Brian was among the last of his kind, a career locomotive engineer who had experience of steam, diesel-hydraulic and diesel-electric traction spanning more than 50 years. He began his career as an apprentice at Worcester depot in October 1950, getting involved with diesel power in the shape of the ex-GWR railcars that operated from there. His apprenticeship continued at Swindon Works in September 1954, during which time he obtained a Higher National Certificate in Mechanical Engineering, the first step to becoming a fully fledged chartered engineer later in his career. February 1956 saw a move to the drawing office at Swindon Works as a draughtsman, followed by military service – which resulted…

100 YEARS AGO JANUARY 1926 Whitemoor upgrade THE LNER is to carry out considerable improvements at its locomotive depot at Whitemoor, near March, by installing a mechanical coaling plant to be operated electrically, constructing a triangle for engine turning purposes, providing additional watering facilities and carrying out other alterations which are anticipated to have a very beneficial effect on the working. The whole scheme will cost £43,000. Shildon memorials THE association of Shildon with the early days of railways was commemorated on Saturday, December 5, by the unveiling of a tablet at the Masons Arms Crossing, Shildon, and a monument of Timothy Hackworth in the Recreation Ground. A sum of about £700 was raised, the LNER subscribing £150. 50 YEARS AGO JANUARY 1976 Crowds flock to York POPULARITY of the…

TAVISTOCK Junction Yard on the eastern edge of Plymouth was a hive of activity on November 18-19 as an operation took place to recover three vehicles for preservation at the nearby Plym Valley Railway. The acquisition of the long-term yard residents stems from enquiries made by PVR during a site meeting with Network Rail regarding the offer of track panels and sleepers at the old Marsh Mills station which will be used to replace some of the existing track on the Plym Valley Railway. The vehicles are Brake Gangwayed Mk.1 (NBA) No. 94540 (once part of the RES and later EWS mail and parcels fleet), ZUA ‘Shark’ ballast brake van No. DB993840 and MTA open wagon No. 395285. PVR chairman Dan Phillips said: “We asked what was going on with…

BEAMISH Museum’s reassembly and successful testing of the bogies on Gateshead No. 10 has been described as a “momentous point” in the tram’s overhaul by director of development for transport, industry and design, Paul Jarman. One of a batch of single-deck cars constructed by Gateshead and District Tramways at its Sunderland Road works, No. 10 dates from 1925. Following the system’s closure in 1951, it was among 19 Gateshead cars which were acquired by British Railways for use on the Grimsby and Immingham Electric Railway, running in dark green livery as No. 26 until the GI&ER closed 10 years later. It was secured for preservation in anticipation of the opening of Beamish Museum and, having been restored to its original appearance at the Consett Iron Company Works, inaugurated services on…

RAIL Operations Group, Freightliner and the Malcolm Group are reviewing data from a trial which involved a Class 93 operating an intermodal working for the first time. The train ran from Daventry to Grangemouth and Mossend on November 5 hauled by No. 93006. With a length of 775 metres (2543ft), it had a total weight of 1700 tonnes, 1000 tonnes of which was cargo. Manufactured by Stadler in Valencia, all 30 of the Bo-Bo locomotives, which can draw current from 25kV AC overhead line equipment and are also equipped with a Caterpillar diesel engine delivering 1,200 horsepower and a 400 kilowatt battery pack, will be operated by ROG. ‘Major step’ Brian Ferguson, general manager of Rail Operations Assets Ltd, said that the trial marked a “major step” in demonstrating how…

EAST Midlands Railway No. 810010 became the first of the fleet of 33 Class 810 ‘Aurora’units to enter revenue earning traffic on December 3, working the 07.00 (1C17) Sheffield to St Pancras International service. The introduction was low key despite its significance, with an announcement from the train operating company made after it had taken place. Delayed launch The five-car bi-mode trains were initially scheduled to enter traffic from 2022 having been ordered in a £400 million deal with Hitachi three years earlier. They will supersede the Class 222 ‘Meridian’ diesel multiple units on intercity diagrams on the Midland Main Line. EMR managing director Will Rogers said the units would “transform” services, offering a greater number of seats, improved legroom, three-pin and USB charging points and more luggage space. The…

POOL CODES DDHJ Heavy Haul Locomotives-Restricted (revised) DDHS Heavy Haul Class 66/6 (revised) LOCOMOTIVES Allocations 43305/67 SCEL-HAPC59001 DFHG-DDII59002 DDII-DHLT59004/05 DFHG-DDII59101-04 DFHG-DDII59201-06 DFHG-DDII66006 WQNC-WBAR66007 TO/WBAT-WQ/WQAA-TO/WBAT66009 WQNC-WBAR66014 WQNC-WBAR66023 WBAT-WBET66024 WQNC-WBAR66027 WQNC-WBAR66037 WQBA-WBBK66040 WQNC-WBAR66047 WQNC-WBAR66068 TO/WBGT-WQ/WQAA-TO/WBAT66069 WQNC-WBAR66075 WQNC-WBAR66076 WQNC-WBAR66080 WQNC-WBAR66085 WQNC-WBAR66086 WQNC-WBAR66087 WQNC-WBAR66089 WQNC-WBAR66090 TO/WBAT-WQ/WQNC-TO/WBAT66095 WQNC-WBAR66096 WBAI-WBAT66105 TO/WBAT-WQ/WQNC66110 WQNC-WBAR66111 WQNC-WBAR66115 WQNC-WBAR66133 WBRT-WBAT66138 WQBA-WBBK66145 WQBA-WBBK66151 WBRT-WBAT66160 WQBA-WBBK66168 WBAT-WBGT66176 WBAI-WBAT66197 WQNC-WBAR66413-15 DFIN-DDHN66416 DFHJ-DDHN66418-20 DFIN-DDHN66534 DFHJ-DDHJ66536/37 DFIM-DDHM66545-48 DFIM-DDHM66550 DFIM-DDHM66552 DHLT-DDHM-DHLT66555-66 DFIM-DDHM66585 FD DFIN-DDHN66587-90 DFIN-DDHN66591 DDHN-DHLT66594 DFIN-DDHN66601-07 DFHH-DDHS66601 DDHS-DDHJ66610 DFHH-DDHS66613-23 DFHH-DDHS66622 DDHS-DDHJ66951-53 DFIN-DDHN66957 DFIN-DDHN67019 CE WQDA De-registered67030 CE WQDA De-registered68021 LG/XHTP-HQ/MBDL57007 sent for disposal70001-08 DFGI-DDHH70009 FD COLO-DDHH70010-11 DFGI-DDHH70014 DFHJ-DDHJ-DDHH70015-17 FD DFGI-DDHH70019 DDHH-DHLT70020 DFGI-DDHH99003/04 newly delivered Renumbered 66761 – 66671 Liveries Chiltern revised: 68028/31DB Cargo red + Peel Ports branding: 66108Debranded: 68017Named 37419 Agamemnon 66108 Seaforth Highlander Names removed68016 Fearless68017 Hornet Stored/stopped locations Cockshute Yard: 43190 Toton: 66105…

A DECISION by the Office of Rail and Road in November to reject an application by Avanti West Coast for track access rights to restore its premier morning service from Manchester Piccadilly, Stockport and nonstop to London Euston brought an unparalleled intervention from the Minister of State for Rail, Lord Peter Hendy, in December. This led to the service being reinstated before the December 14 timetable change, with the ORR chief executive John Larkinson announcing his retirement soon after in a move said to be unrelated. The 07.00 from Manchester completes the journey to London in just under two hours, and is seen as a flagship train that was first put on the timing graph when the original Very High Frequency (VHF) timetable was introduced by AWC’s predecessor Virgin Trains…

NETWORK Rail’s Test Tracks team staged an event at High Marnham, Nottinghamshire, on December 3 highlighting the use of hydrogen and railways, including what was claimed to be Britain’s first ever shipment of hydrogen by rail with a demonstration run from Doncaster to the site. High Marnham is at the eastern end of NR’s Tuxford test track from Shirebrook, close to the site of the former coal-fired power station of the same name and at the truncated end of the ex-Great Central Railway through-route to Lincoln. The power station closed in 2003 and was fully demolished by 2012, but the site is now home to a hydrogen production facility operated by GeoPura and JG Pears. Called HyMarnham Power, the facility takes water from the adjacent River Trent and uses green…

TOWERING above the western edge of Stockport town centre is Stockport Viaduct, a massive brick icon of early British railway history that has been widely celebrated in art and culture since its construction in 1841. The viaduct carries what was originally the Manchester & Birmingham Railway (absorbed into the London & North Western Railway in 1846) over the valley of the River Mersey, connecting Manchester with Stockport and lines to the south and carrying around 400 trains every day. It is a hugely impressive structure, emphasising the triumphs of Victorian industrial engineering, and Network Rail recently completed a £1 million restoration project focusing on the removal of vegetation, clearing of graffiti, and brickwork repairs. The history of the viaduct can be traced back to October 6, 1838, when a notice…

APOLOGIES for being a pedant, but the vintage ‘OO’ Gauge model depicted in the W H Smith article (November issue) was not a Hornby Dublo item, being made by MasterModels as No.14 in its 1950s range. The same casting was also used for a tobacconist stall, painted brown. It is however an excellent representation of the period. Richard Kennell, by email …LOVELY article by Robert Humm on this legendary news vendor. Unfortunately, the green die-cast model bookstall was a product of BJ Ward in its ‘MasterModels’ range, not Meccano Ltd through Hornby Dublo. Although I am fairly sure a lot of them would have been used on Dublo layouts of the period! Airfix made a plastic kit of one too and that tooling is now owned by Dapol. They still…

THE connecting line and bridges between the heritage Great Central Railway and Great Central Railway (Nottingham) were removed by British Rail in the 1980s, but since then their reinstatement has become a top priority for both organisations. Work has been in progress for the best part of a decade. In that time, a new rail bridge was built over the Midland Main Line in 2017, an existing bridge over the Grand Union Canal was overhauled in 2020, and a bridge over the A60 road was replaced in 2022. All of these structures have been declared ready for trains again. The next two stages will see construction of a new road bridge across Railway Terrace and a short section of viaduct. This will fill another 60m of the ‘missing’ 500m gap.…

BAGNALL 0-4-0ST (2088/1919) Armistice left the Bredgar & Wormshill Light Railway (B&WLR) on November 29. Following its acquisition by Rob Ellis, it is now based at Bressingham Steam Museum. Having gone out of ticket during 2025, Armistice will be overhauled at Bressingham with the intention of entering traffic at its new home this year. The loco was ordered for the Ministry of Munitions in 1918 but with the First World War having ended before it was completed it was delivered to the sewage works at Minworth, Warwickshire, where it operated until 1961. In preservation it was named Lady Luxborough for a period before joining the B&WLR collection in 1991 where its identity reverted to Armistice. In a further move to slim down its collection the B&WLR has advertised 2ft gauge…

THE South Wales Metro’s £100 million depot at Taff’s Well was officially opened by the King on November 14. The 12-acre site, which also includes the Integrated Control Centre (ICC) at its northern end – managing signalling for the Core Valley Lines, a responsibility transferred from Network Rail’s control centre in Cardiff – will provide stabling and maintenance for the Class 398 Stadler ‘Citylink’ tram-trains. Transport for Wales told The RM that the first will enter service in spring/summer this year. All 36 are expected to be phased into use on the Treherbert, Aberdare and Merthyr lines during the course of 2026. Opening of the depot marks the completion of a six-year project which began with the clearance of former industrial premises on the land in 2019. The removal of…

WASCOSA is a Switzerland-based wagon leaser, founded in 1964. It is well known across Europe for its innovative wagons and cargo loading systems, plus its signature bright orange livery. A recent arrival in Britain, it claims to be the new benchmark in UK rail wagons. Network Rail provided the company with an entrance to the UK market, agreeing in 2019 to lease 570 wagons for infrastructure use over a 10-year period. Types supplied are JNA/MLA box opens and FEA module carrying flats. GB Railfreight is the other major customer of the firm, operating hundreds of FEA-G twinset intermodal flats. Uniquely for a wagon leaser, a locomotive carries the Wascosa name and branding, GB Railfreight’s No. 66720. ■ RIVAL leasing firm Porterbrook has purchased 50 JNA-X bogie box opens from Greenbrier…

PROCUREMENT of the next generation of Dublin–Belfast Enterprise trains from Stadler can progress after the High Court in Dublin lifted an injunction sought by rival bidder CAF. The ruling on November 26 enables Iarnród Éireann (IÉ) and Northern Ireland Railways (Translink) to award the contract to Stadler, named preferred bidder in mid-September. CAF launched judicial review proceedings on October 17, alleging tender evaluation errors and insufficient clarity in competition documents. The case, now admitted to the Commercial Court for an expedited hearing, also drew attention to a disputed United Nations listing affecting the manufacturer. IÉ chief mechanical engineer Peter Smyth told the court that the current De Dietrich push-pull fleet, despite a 2015 mid-life overhaul, would reach the end of its 30-year design life in 2027 and need major investment.…

AN arrangement with Direct Rail Services to provide Class 57/3 locomotives to rescue Class 390 ‘Pendolino’ trains in the event of a breakdown on the West Coast Main Line came to an end on December 8 after 13 years. Nicknamed ‘Thunderbirds’ after the TV series featuring the exploits of ‘International Rescue’ and carrying the names of its characters, Class 57/3s were first used to haul and recover Class 390s by Virgin Trains, which placed an order eventually running to a total of 16 locos (converted from Class 47s) with leasing company Porterbrook in 2002. DRS took over rescue duties in December 2012 and continued provision after Avanti West Coast (AWC) succeeded Virgin in 2019. However, the need for the Class 57/3s has declined over the last 18 years and DRS…

RAIL passengers in England will welcome the Government’s decision not to raise the price of controlled fares in 2026. An increase of 5.8% was expected, linked to the July 2025 Retail Prices Index, and would have applied to season tickets, full fare products and off-peak travel. Train operators will be able to set fares for First Class and advance purchase tickets. However, the consequence of the decision will be to reduce ticket revenue by up to £600 million per annum which, coupled with the 5% reduction of rail funding already announced in the most recent Government spending review, will mean a significant cut in the funds available for infrastructure investment and renewal. This cut in funding could have implications for performance and safety, as postponing renewals will likely lead to…

NETWORK Rail has a new chief executive, its former chief financial officer Jeremy Westlake, who succeeded Sir Andrew Haines when he left the post on October 17 after seven years in charge. Sir Andrew spent 31 years in the rail industry in two spells, punctuated by eight years leading the Civil Aviation Authority. “The railway has changed immeasurably in many ways since I joined in 1984, and it was good to remember some key elements of the industry then, such as the [inferior] safety record, [lack of] accessible travel and the poor state of the major stations,” he said. He recalled how in the 1980s there were fatal accidents every year, with at least 20 trackworkers losing their lives annually and a similar number of passengers not surviving falling from…

LEAF through issues of The Railway Magazine published in the 1980s and you will be treated to an array of offerings from specialist bookshops and publishers. One double-page advert alone in 1984 listed no fewer than 750 in-print titles from the likes of David & Charles, Ian Allan, Bradford Barton, Haynes, Janes and Patrick Stephens. Today, the era of very large-scale railway publishing houses has passed and the number of high street bookshops devoted primarily to trains and open daily to the public can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Sadly, the biggest of them all has now closed its doors for the final time. August 26 last year saw Robert Humm lock his emporium in the historic Lincolnshire town of Stamford and call it a day after…

CHRISTMAS came early for the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust and its new-build P2 project, as the boiler for 2-8-2 ‘Mikado’No. 2007 Prince of Wales was delivered to its base at Hopetown in Darlington on December 9. Constructed at DB Meiningen Works in Germany at a cost of around £500,000, the boiler is 17 inches shorter than the original P2 boilers so it can be interchangeable with that of the Trust’s previous new-build, A1 Pacific No. 60163 Tornado. The difference in length will be accommodated by a longer smoke box on No. 2007. Delivery of the boiler means the largest component of the £7 million new-build project is now complete, with first movements of the engine currently anticipated for three years’ time. P2 project director Richard Courteney-Harris MBE said:“It is a…

ROCKS by Rail – formerly known as the Rutland Railway Museum – has launched an appeal for funds to cosmetically restore Peckett R2 class 0-4-0ST Uppingham. The site is a living museum dedicated to ironstone, an industry which the locomotive, built in 1912 as works No. 1257, worked in all its life. It was delivered new to the then recently opened Uppingham Ironstone Quarry operated by James Pain Ltd, the first standard gauge steam loco to operate in a Rutland ironstone quarry. The locomotive was transferred to the company’s other quarry at Market Overton in Rutland, before being transferred in 1947 to the firm’s limestone operation at Wirksworth in Derbyshire. The engine continued duties at Wirksworth until 1972 when it was retired into preservation from Tarmac Roadstone Ltd and left…

A CHARITY railtour has been organised to bid farewell to the Mk.3 coaching stock operated by Chiltern Railways. Chiltern, working in conjunction with the Branch Line Society, has scheduled the trip for February 22. Loco-hauled Mk.3s were introduced between 1975 and 1988 and have received several refurbishments, but those used by Chiltern over the last 15 years are now deemed to be life-expired. The operator initially used the Mk.3s with Class 67 locomotives at one end of a rake and a driving van trailer at the other. Since 2014, the Mk.3 rakes and DVTs have been paired with Class 68s. They are to be replaced during the first quarter of the year with Mk.5a coaches which will be operated using a different fleet of Class 68s previously allocated, along with…

A NEW steel bridge to carry the West Coast Main Line over the M6 motorway near Penrith in Cumbria has been completed and is ready to install. Network Rail has released aerial images of the 130m-long (142yd) structure, which weighs 4,200 tonnes and is due to be installed this month. The existing Clifton viaduct is nearly 60 years old and has weight restrictions that mean only one train at a time can cross it. The new bridge has been built alongside the line and the motorway in a special compound. Closure Between January 1 and 14, the WCML will be closed between Oxenholme and Carlisle while work takes place to remove the old bridge and replace it with the new one. Avanti West Coast will divert a limited number of…

Rail Head Treatment Trains (RHTT) The Rail Head Treatment Train working serving the southern section of the Midland Main Line, plus the South Leicestershire Line and Bardon Hill, continued running during November. When observed on November 7, Class 66 Nos. 66150+66158 had charge of the 3J93 working. On November 21 and 28 it was Nos. 66116+66150 that operated the 3J91 train. On November 13, the 3W75 RHTT working from Tonbridge West Yard to Tonbridge West Yard via Sittingbourne, Battersea Park and Rochester was seen arriving by platform 1 at Victoria station. Waiting to continue its journey from Victoria, train 3W75 was ‘top-and-tailed’ by Nos. 73136 and 73109 Battle of Britain. Returning to Victoria station on November 16 the 3W90 from Tonbridge West Yard to Tonbridge West Yard, via Redhill, Newhaven…

A BRAND new 127km-long (79 miles), 250kph line connecting Graz and Klagenfurt in the south of Austria opened to freight services on November 4 and passenger services on December 14. Electrified at 15kV AC, the new line had been under construction since 2001 and includes the 32.9km Koralm base tunnel. Journey times between Vienna and Klagenfurt are around 45 minutes faster via the new route whilst those from Graz to Klagenfurt have reduced from around two hours to around 40 minutes. The line should also reduce journey times from Vienna to Venice. In addition to Railjet services operated by Austrian Railways (ÖBB), private open access operator Westbahn has announced plans to introduce services on the new route between Vienna and Villach from March 1, 2026, with five train pairs daily…