Indholdsfortegnelse for November/December 2022 i Traction

In this issue we start a two part series by David Hayes about the once vibrant traffic that brought milk from all over Britain to London. In the first part we concentrate on the 1960s and 1970s. One of the more demanding tasks that any heritage group is undertaking at the moment is the re-creation of the former LMS designed Co-Co diesel No. 10000. Andrew Hoseason describes the background to the first British main line diesel and brings us up to date on progress using parts from a variety of sources. In ‘Devon Scots’ Steve Carter presents a selection of photographs of the Class 47/7s when they moved from Scotland to work trains between London Waterloo and Exeter. Ian Buck was involved in the gradual run down of the Metro-Cammell…

Over the years diesel locomotive hauled services along the former LSWR London Waterloo to Exeter route have utilised a variety of traction types. 1991 saw the last variant to operate regularly along this demanding route when former Scottish Region Class 47/7s found a new home with Network SouthEast. Introduced as a stop gap to assist the dwindling number of Class 50s, the long in the tooth ‘Devon Scots’ performed gamely until loco hauled services were finally brought to an end by the introduction of Class 159 units in 1993.…

The answer is that the last first generation or ‘Heritage’ dmus to operate were the Class 101 and, as they ended their days around Glasgow, some of that fleet were sent south to Manchester to assist in the last rites there. Ian’s involvement was with the owning leasing company and managing a controlled run down of the fleets. For many reasons the withdrawal took a little longer than expected, meaning that the units just lasted into the 21st Century. The following describes the last few years of their use in the Glasgow area. Glasgow’s Finest Of the two fleets the one based in Glasgow was the most homogenous and the smallest. It consisted of twelve power twin sets which consisted of a Driving Motor Brake Standard (DMBS) coach and a…

The movement of milk by rail was one of the many fascinating aspects of railway operations to be seen in the UK, hence its popularity amongst railway enthusiasts and the railway modelling fraternity. By 1923 some 282 million gallons was moved annually on the ‘iron road’, much of it by the Great Western Railway. The average milk run by rail in the 1960s covered around 250 miles, with London being the principal destination for this traffic. Although volumes had greatly diminished since the 1920s, there was still some 70 million gallons of milk being railed annually to ‘the smoke’ by the late 1960s, accounting for some 25% of all milk moved. Unlike most general freight moved by rail in the UK during the 1970s, milk by rail was a seven…

The expansion of the rail tour charter market in the 1980s saw an increasing number of preserved coaches being refurbished and registered for main line operation. This also meant allocating them with newTOPS numbers in the 99xxx series, which had previously only been occupied by the escort coaches owned by the Ministry of Defence and the various coaches and vans used in the Chipmans and Fisons weed control trains. In addition the handful of coaches that had been modified for use as support vehicles with preserved steam locomotives were also givenTOPS numbers in the same series and their number also steadily increased during the decade as more steam locomotives were passed to main line operation.…

Britain’s first mainline diesel locomotive, 10000, was built in Derby in 1947 but tragically scrapped in 1968. Now an engineering charity, the Ivatt Diesel Re-creation Society, is constructing the third of the class as a living legacy for the original number 10000, based on a surviving power unit from the same batch as the originals. They are currently fundraising to create the rolling chassis. The Ivatt Diesel Recreation Society was formed in 2011 with the aim of producing a recreation of the lost pioneer mainline diesel loco, 10000, which, along with its twin 10001 was scrapped in 1968, long before the diesel preservation movement got off the ground. The official reason for not preserving one of the locos seems to have been that they “weren’t original enough”. What really happened…

Bachmann has already produced many iterations and developments of a Class 37 in OO gauge over recent decades, but the time has come for it to produce a model from new tooling that caters to the demands and expectations of the modern buyer. The initial impression of this all-new model is more detail and sharper definition all-round – this is particularly noticeable around the nose and roof areas. The shape is spot-on, particularly in the all-important ‘face’ of the model around the nose and windscreen area. The panel lines are more distinct, while the top of the nose features separately-fitted doors. The fan and roof grille are the most eye-catching features with a woven mesh and separate retaining frame. The bodyside grilles are crisply moulded, but the provision of interchangeable…

I first visited Luxembourg in 1961 on the doyen continental trip undertaken by the Bournemouth Railway Club, albeit it was a brief experience there. We changed trains in Luxembourg station on the way from Trier (Germany) to Namur (Belgium), and had a spare hour or so to watch part of the evening rush hour from an overbridge near the main station in Luxembourg city. The variety of trains was surprising. Indeed, the passenger rolling stock included some real old-timers such as four-wheeled carriages for commuters. Unsurprisingly, none of these trains survives in regular service today. After the second world war, Luxembourg had begun the task of replacing its steam locomotives with diesels, either railcars, railbuses or locomotives. From the mid-1950s, CFL (les Chemins de fer Luxembourgeois) decided to adopt the…