Indholdsfortegnelse for November/December 2023 i Traction

We start this issue of TRACTION with a visit to Lancaster station in 1992. John Dedman spent several hours there recording on film the wide variety of motive power that passed through on passenger, mail and freight services. Roy Kethro continues the story of his railway career at Bristol Bath Road depot in the late 1970s and early 1980s during a period of great change. Gavin Morrison takes a look at the Skipton to Grassington line with photos of passenger specials at Grassington before the terminus there closed, as well as more recent trains to the quarry at Rylstone. Another branch line is the subject of Michael Welch’s article about the line from Haltwhistle to Alston. Colin Boocock recalls one of his more difficult experiences when, as a railway consultant,…

The freight only branch from Skipton to Rylstone is well known for its heavy limestone trains from the quarry at Rylstone (Swinden). On a typical day three or four loaded trains will leave the branch for destinations such as Leeds Hunslet, Hull Dairycoates, Leyland, Dewsbury and Wellingborough. Originally the line continued further up Wharfedale to Grassington. Regular passenger services finished in 1930 but occasional excursion traffic continued until 1969 after which the line between the quarry at Rylstone and Grassington was lifted. The line to the quarry was one of the last to feature steam haulage with BR Standard $MT 4-6-0s powering trains until summer 1968. Gavin Morrison’s photographs show a selection of excursion traffic on the branch. In the next issue of TRACTION we will look at the growth…

Here’s a model that proves that the O gauge RTR diesel-electric locomotive market has reached maturity. The Class 58s haven’t been the most widespread, longest-lived, or – dare I say it – most loved of the diesel-electric locomotives. And yet, arriving with Heljan stockists is a newly-tooled model for the scale. Kindly sent for review is a sample of a ‘Version 1’ model (5851) in Railfreight red stripe livery. Heljan has tooled the Type 5 for early and later-built variants, with six liveries on general release, plus Coal Sector and Railfreight red/grey exclusives for Tower Models, and a Gaugemaster iteration in Mainline blue (also stocked by Tower Models). A ‘plug-and-play’ DCC interface designed for ESU’s LokSound XL (58515) decoder is now a familiar sight with Heljan’s ‘big diesels’ and the…

www.europeanrailwayatlas.com The atlases are available as printed books or as downloadable pdfs. Book 1. ISBN 9781838488611: printed book £24.95: pdf £16.95 Book 2. ISBN 9781838488628: printed book £23.95: pdf £17.95 Book 3. ISBN 9781838488635: printed book £26.95: pdf £19.95 Both printed books and pdfs are also available at a reduced price when ordering all at the same time. These three railway atlases by well known cartographer Mike Ball cover the railways systems of Europe in considerable depth and are an invaluable source of information. The books are stitch bound in A4 format with card covers. All railway lines are shown indicating whether they are multiple or single track, main line or secondary, freight or passenger or out of use. The standard gauge of the railways in each country is indicated…

It was in the late 1980s that my wife and I found the delights of the area around the coast of northern Lancashire. Whilst having short breaks there I always looked for an opportunity for some railway photography. I explored a few locations and found Lancaster station to be within easy reach and it had good views in both directions plus all the required facilities. I have records from two visits in 1992 on August 21st and October 29th. I got some of the train information from local enthusiasts on the day and the rest I have obtained from the working and public timetables. After checking the timetables for the workings I regret that I didn’t record the HST workings or the local DMUs but maybe I did not have…

Authorised on 22nd May 1829 and commissioned in stages from 1835, the route through the Tyne gap linking Newcastle and Carlisle opened throughout on 18th June 1838, following completion of the last section from Greenhead to Haydon Bridge which included the town of Haltwhistle. The line’s promoters, the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway, were keen to exploit the rich lead workings around Alston and on 26th August 1846 they were granted powers to construct a 16 mile long branch from Haltwhistle to Nenthead, a small village about seven miles south east of Alston. The town of Alston claims to be the highest market town in England at 1,000 feet above sea level but Nenthead, a lead mining centre, is 400 feet higher and surrounded by inhospitable, barren moorland. The line was…

in partnership with BRM ‘Scottie’ dog exclusives for model shops Bachmann Europe launched two new ‘sales area exclusive’ OO gauge models last month, to tie in with Monk Bar model shop’s birthday celebrations. The models depict two Scottish Class 20 prototypes, 20048 and 20100, and will be available from Bachmann retailers in Scotland, the North East and North West of England, and North Yorkshire. Both examples sport disc headcodes and carry the West Highland Terrier logos, as applied by Eastfield Depot during the mid-1980s, where the pair were allocated. Both models will be available in standard or sound-fitted formats with an RRP of £224.95 and £324.95, respectively. With delivery due in September 2023, all versions can be ordered from retailers in the specified regions now. Located in the historic city…

Moving household refuse by rail entered a new era in the 1970s when BR won several contracts to transport compacted waste in containers from urban areas to landfill sites. Specialised terminals were an essential feature of the schemes, using either fixed gantry cranes or mobile reach stackers to load and unload the containers. The household refuse business has had its ups and downs, with some flows ceasing because of increased recycling as well as ever keener competition from road haulage. But several of the schemes launched in the 1970s and 1980s are still in operation today. Alongside the household refuse traffic, the railway has picked up a number of temporary and longer term flows, mostly using conventional wagons for discharge by mechanical grab. London’s refuse The first containerised refuse flow…

During the first half of 1977 I was tasked with snagging all the plant and machinery within the new HST depot at St Philips Marsh, occasionally being involved with the trains themselves by the Project Manager, the late Peter Sales. Then, out of the blue, I was catapulted up to the Railway Technical Centre in Derby for a spell of design office experience. I was assigned to the power equipment section for the new tilting train which turned out to be a spectacular failure. I only played a very minor part in its downfall. After around three months, a letter arrived telling me to report back to Bath Road depot. I still considered it to be my home depot so there was no need to tell me twice. The reason…

in partnership with BRM After a few years of playing around with second-hand layouts, Ben Sharich finally decided to go for a bespoke layout that would fulfil his needs. While his DIY skills were slowly improving, Ben decided a professionally-built layout (by Steve Hornsey) would give him much less to worry about and let him concentrate on adding his own details. Once he had figured out the space available for storage and transportation, Ben had to work out compromises such as train lengths desired, operational interest, and space available to decide what he could be satisfied with. The location and sectorisation era were chosen because it’s the earliest railway memory Ben has. Watching West Coast Main Line trains at locations such as Berkhamsted and Hemel Hempstead evokes strong memories for…

Colin Boocock once found himself ‘between a rock and a hard place’ during a consultancy project. He explains: Background I retired from full-time employment on the railways after 41 years working mainly for British Railways. By that time, early 1996, I had amassed, over the decades, considerable experience as a railway engineer, manager and senior officer. Maybe there might be a way that the railway industry could still tap into all this knowledge. Happily, other people thought that, too. I was quickly invited to an interview with a major consultancy in Croydon. That resulted in my being taken on as a part-time senior consultant in a section that dealt with railway strategy. I was to work there for two or three days a week. Privatisation of our railways was just…

E-mail: steverabone@hotmail.com Editorial postal address: 120 Churchill Road, Middlesbrough TS6 9NS CEMENT AND GE CLASS 86s I have just received TRACTION 277. It is well up to your usual standards. The articles set in East Anglia were of particular interest as that is my home area and where I worked on the railway for 38 years. A couple of observations if I may. The article on cement working was very interesting but fails to mention that Blue Circle had a rail connected factory at Claydon (Suffolk) which received coal in particular and despatched cement by rail for virtually all of its working life. I have attached a photograph of mine depicting 40152 passing Blue Circle Claydon Works. The Class 40 is working 7F15 1009 Whitemoor to Parkeston (Speedlink Service) on…