Innehållsförteckning för March 2019 från Rail Express

THE Great Central Railway has bought Class 50 No. 50017 Royal Oak from Boden Rail. The sale of the ‘Hoover’, minus its main line running safety systems, was completed on February 1, ending a nervous few days in which the loco had been threatened with scrapping. Royal Oak, one of two Class 50s owned by Boden Rail along with No. 50050 Fearless, was put up for sale on January 21. A statement from the company said: “Due to business commitments, and to keep investing in No. 50050 (which includes generators being overhauled) and the return to service of No. 37240 (which will have its own role soon), we can no longer support No. 50017, especially with space constraints at Nottingham Eastcroft. “The locomotive can either be sold complete with safety…

GREATER emphasis will be given to improving rail services in North Wales following criticism the new Wales and Borders franchise contract included little focus on train services serving Llandudno and Holyhead. A dedicated business unit has been created by Transport for Wales at Wrexham that will oversee plans for enhancing the timetable on the main line route between Crewe and Holyhead and associated branch lines. The route infrastructure is largely unchanged since the replacement of steam in the 1960s, when the largely four-track formation was cutback to a two-track railway. Singling the line between Chester and Wrexham has also proved to be a severe constraint on developing services, and will need to be re-doubled if proposals for a Metro service centred on Chester are to go ahead. The 15-year franchise…

AS early as 1903, the London Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR) began to electrify local routes in the London area, in response to increasing competition from tram operations. It chose a German overhead system, which provided power at 6,700V AC, and the initial route was between London Bridge and Victoria via Denmark Hill, which was energised in 1909. Success, in terms of passenger numbers, led the LBSCR to expand its electrification programme, and the routes from Victoria and London Bridge to Crystal Palace were equipped with overhead catenary in 1912, while a much more ambitious plan for main line electrification to Brighton and Eastbourne was also approved by the company. The First World War was to intervene, however, and the wires reached only as far as Coulsdon North and…

Just how nimble are today’s locos and units, and what’s the quickest off the mark? THE launch of the Hitachi Class 385 units on the newly-electrified Edinburgh to Glasgow Queen Street (via Falkirk High) route has not been without its problems, notably the replacement of the curved windscreens, which were prone to phantom signal-duplication images. But the wait has been well worth it. All the Central Belt expresses I saw on my visit were seven-car formations of three-car Class 385/0s coupled to four-car Class 385/1s. With my mind firmly in the mode of the particularly impressive Siemens Class 380s, I was initially disappointed as I was expecting the same pattern of single three-car units to be superior to the four-car sets. A little homework put that misapprehension right. The three-car…

A THOUGHTFUL gesture by the Branch Line Society has seen it renaming one of its forthcoming spring specials after one of its members, Andrew Wilson. The May 4 tour of lines on the Kent & East Sussex Railway, including some rare sidings and hauled by the much sought after Class 08 No. 08888 (now in new guise of No. D4118), has been retitled ‘The Andrew Wilson (‘Brillo’) Memorial Charter’. It is being run in conjunction with the Preserved Locomotives Enthusiasts Group (PLEG), and Class 14 No. D9504 is expected to assist with ‘top and tail’ reversals. The tour leaves Tenterden Town at 10.00 and undertakes a complete return journey, but also includes Rolvenden Carriage Shed No. 2 road. Andrew Wilson, known to his friends as ‘Brillo’ on account of his…

JUST weeks after an agreement was signed for No. 47712 Lady Diana Spencer to be used by Locomotive Services Ltd (see last month’s issue), it has been announced that another preserved Class 47 is being returned to main line use with a charter train operator. No. 47828, owned by D05 Preservation Ltd, is to be hired by West Coast Railways as an additional ETS-fitted Brush Type 4 for its operations. No. 47828, which has only been in preservation since early 2016 when it was purchased from DRS, was collected from the GCR(N) at Ruddington on January 23, Nos. 31128 Charybdis and 57001 being used to move the loco to Nemesis Rail at Burton. Here, the loco will be prepared for main line operations before being moved to Carnforth later in…

DB CARGO FOLLOWING repairs at Toton, ‘Tug’ No. 60092 has been reinstated from WQAA to the WCBT (extended fuel range) pool, and was noted out on test with No. 66031 to Doncaster on January 7. Also released from repairs at Toton is No. 66060, which is now back in the active WBAE (stop/start) pool. Meanwhile, silver-liveried No. 67012 has been reallocated to the WAWC (Wales) pool, but was noted powering the DBC management train from Toton to Kettering on January 30. No. 90028 has received a repaint into DBC red livery, and was hauled from Toton to Doncaster by No. 66019 on January 11, then on to York the following day by No. 67018 ahead of being named Sir William McAlpine at the NRM (see pages…

■ RECRUITMENT: IR is to recruit 100 drivers in a rolling programme during the next four years due to retirements and a planned expansion of services. A first for the company is that applications are being invited from outside its workforce for the positions, with an emphasis on recruiting female drivers as these are currently under-represented in the 500-strong driver pool. It is believed that the reduction in the number of lower-grade positions on the railway has also impacted on internal promotions to driver level, hence the opening up of the recruitment process to include members of the general public. ■ TRAFFIC AND TRACTION: The Nenagh branch had extra custom over three days in early January, when the North Tipperary Rail Community used the 10.05 Ballybrophy to Limerick and 16.55…

WAGON enthusiasts will be excited by the second ‘OO’ gauge wagon project by Cavalex Models, which will fill a glaring hole in most Railfreight wagon collections. The heavy and distinctive BBA bogie steel carrier built between 1973 and 1980, numbered 91000-120 and 910161-591 (with gaps), is one that has been at the top of modellers’ lists for many years and it has been baffling as to why such a distinctive and common wagon has yet to appear as a ready to run model. Suitable locomotive models exist to run with BBA wagons in all their forms including the Hornby Class 60 and Bachmann Class 37/5 and Class 66 locomotives. Block steel flows using the BBA family of wagons are still common today, carrying a variety of different forms, semi-finished steel…

SEVERAL turnouts on my compact ‘N’ gauge layout Dudley Heath are manually operated for various reasons. Turnouts in the freight yard are thrown using ground throws because operations are localised on that area of the layout, a method which worked well since the layout first became operational. Common crossing or ‘frog’ polarity is switched through a solid state frog juicer for seamless operation. A second area of the layout fitted with manual turnouts is the fiddle yard where trains are staged in readiness to enter the scenic area of the layout. Stall motors such as Cobalt and Tortoise are used on the rest of the layout, both of which are relatively expensive and relatively bulky, so use of those was restricted to the main line and in areas out of…

ALWAYS likely to be a challenging multiple unit to produce in ‘N’ gauge, the Dapol Class 142 ‘Pacer’ has been in development for at least seven years, although some modellers may feel its been longer than that. Was it worth the wait? Well, on first impressions, it does have the appearance and character of a Class 142 ‘Pacer’, and Dapol has overcome the challenges presented by the long fixed-wheelbase chassis to produce a model with a good degree of technical specification. A total of 96 Class 142s were built with Leyland bus body modules fitted to a rigid fixed-wheelbase underframe, which resembled something found under air-braked freight wagons and a feature well represented by the model. As documented many times, the cheap-and-cheerful chassis design did not suit sharp curves and…

DESIGN plans for an extension of the Oxford-Bicester route to Bletchley and Bedford were finalised and delivered to Parliament in 2018 to obtain the Transport and Works Order necessary for construction to begin. This year will see the planning focus shift to the section of East-West Rail (which aims to reopen the full length of the former ‘Varsity Line’) beyond Bedford to Cambridge, which provides a greater challenge because it is not possible to use all of the former track bed as a number of developments have been built on the trackbed since it closed in 1967. FIVE ALTERNATIVES The need to find an alternative route has resulted in East-West Rail providing five alternatives as part of a consultation process. All of the options will see a connection with the…

THE National Transport Authority (NTA), which oversees public transport in the Republic of Ireland, published a notice on January 25 stating it was seeking “pre-owned” DMU vehicles for Irish Rail, writes William Watson. The document, called ‘Provision of Pre-owned Rail Vehicle Fleet’, stated only that the requirement was for 60-80 vehicles in three- or four-car units with a driving cab at each end. They could be bought outright or hired for a period of at least seven years, with the vehicles chosen to be available for delivery prior to February 28, 2020. Interested parties were asked to respond to the NTA by February 26, 2019.…

THE Mendips-based quarrying firms Amalgamated Roadstone and Foster Yeoman pioneered the use of two-axle air-braked aggregate hopper wagons in 1972, but it was not until the end of that decade that Redland Aggregates began running trainloads of new PGA hopper wagons from its loading point at Mountsorrel (Leicestershire) to six new stone terminals at Kennett (Cambridgeshire), Norwich, Radlett and Elstow (Bedfordshire), Tallington (Lincolnshire) and Bat & Ball (Kent). Another working involved the movement of gritstone from Jersey Marine (South Wales) to Elstow. Redstone was acquired by Lafarge in 1997 and DB Schenker purchased the wagon fleet in 2009. The PGAs were then gradually replaced on Mountsorrel workings by bogie aggregate hoppers and cascaded to other DBS-hauled aggregate services, such as the sea-dredge workings from Cliffe (Kent) to Purley (South London)…

50 YEARS AGO... MARCH 1969 VICTORIA LINE OPENS: The Queen officially opened the Victoria Line at Green Park on March 7, signalling completion of the main part of the project, which was the first new ‘in-town’ London Underground line for more than 60 years. The 10.5 mile line from Walthamstow to Victoria was built in twin tunnels at an average depth of 70ft below ground and at a cost of £70million. At the official opening, the Queen purchased a five-penny ticket from an automatic machine, used the ticket to obtain access through an automatic gate, and passed down the escalators to make a speech on the platforms. She then boarded a train to Oxford Circus before returning to Victoria to unveil a commemorative plaque. ASHCHURCH COLLISION: The sides of the…

THE first events have been announced as part of London Underground and the London Transport Museum’s year-long celebration marking 150 years of the District Line. The first section of the line opened on Christmas Eve, 1868 with just five stations from South Kensington and Westminster. This was extended west to West Brompton in 1869 and east to Mansion house in 1871, when the District Railway took over running of its own services from the Metropolitan Railway. Today the line serves 60 stations. The inaugural event of 2019 was on January 25, when heritage displays were erected at stations and leaflets handed out to passengers explaining the line’s history. During the weekend of April 27/28, to coincide with the LTM’s Love your Line open weekend, Acton Town station will be opened…

THE close working relationship between the Class 50 Alliance and GB Railfreight took a major step forward on January 18 when it was announced that Nos. 50007 Hercules and 50049 Defiance are to be repainted in GB Railfreight colours. The new colour scheme, to be applied by Arlington Fleet Services at Eastleigh Works, has been sympathetically designed in a style similar to ‘large logo’ colour applied to most of the class in the 1980s. The new arrangement between the locos’ owners and the freight operator will see the ‘50s’ being used on a spot-hire basis, covering charters, gala drags and other movements. The first of these took place on January 23/24, when No. 50007 was used to move surplus HST stock from St Philip’s Marsh to Long Marston (see page…

A PAIR of ‘Peaks’ have been announced as two of the headline visitors to the Severn Valley Railway’s Spring Diesel Festival in May. Class 44 No. D4 (44004) Great Gable and 46010 are both in the final stages of overhauls and, as neither have operated for several years, they are bound to be popular attractions. The ‘44’ was previously a visitor at the line’s first diesel gala some 32 years ago back in 1987. Also appearing at the SVR gala will be No. D7535 (25185), which recently moved to a new home at the South Devon Railway after more than 30 years on the Paignton-Kingswear line. After visiting the SVR, No. 46010 will move on for the West Somerset Railway gala in June. ‘Hymek’ No. D7018 should also be in…

CLASS 20 TWO of the half dozen EE Type 1s in the MOLO pool, Nos. 20142+20189 teamed up with No. 56113 to work the 6Z01/05.29 Derby RTC-Okehampton on January 9, moving a rail grinding train to Devon. The Colas Type 5 was left at Exeter Riverside while the Class 20s headed for Okehampton. All three locomotives returned to the East Midlands on January 10, which was a busy day for the venerable Class 20 as a dozen different examples could be found on the main line. For instance, two further examples from the MOLO pool Nos. 20007 and 20205 were moved from Carlisle to Crewe Gresty Bridge by Nos. 37218+37059, while a trio of DRS Type 1s Nos. 20302/3/5 (all off RHTT autumn use) formed part of the 0X06/14.52 York…

WORK continued in January at the Chasewater workshops on Sentinel 0-6-0 DH No. 150c, which as reported previously has been purchased from Potters of Ely. The ‘c’ in 150c indicates it was a conversion from a Sentinel steam locomotive, in this case fireless 0-6-0 No. 9650. Removal of the slab-sided walkway side panels with hand rails has made the locomotive a little more aesthetically pleasing. No. 150c was replaced on site at Ely by Thomas Hill 4w No. 184v hired in from the Vale of Berkeley Railway, although as a lot of the shunting work is of HST carriages, a HST power car is usually used to ensure coupling compatibility. Engine swap Another Thomas Hill conversion at Chasewater is TH No. 111c, which is privately preserved by Phil Civil. No…

JANUARY saw two owners of Mk.3 rolling stock send redundant vehicles to CF Booth’s Rotherham scrapyard for cutting up. The first to arrive were Driving Van Trailer (DVT) Nos. 82106/123 from Long Marston on January 9, followed by Nos. 82110/122 the next day. All were owned by Arriva UK Trains (formerly DB Regio). They were among a number of such coaches acquired in 2009/10, several of which were overhauled for use with Wrexham & Shropshire/ Chiltern Railways/Arriva Trains Wales and renumbered into the 823xx series. A further four Arriva UK Trains coaches arrived by road from Long Marston between January 11 and January 14. These were Restaurant First Modular (RFM) No. 10201, Sleeping Car (SLE) No. 10682, First Open (FO) No. 11005 and HST Buffet Car (TRSB) No. 40419. All…

LIVERY samples of the brand-new PCV ‘Cemflo’ cement tank wagon were received by Accurascale late last year and the models approved for production. Accurascale reports that production is well under way and arrival of the PCVs should be in late March or early April when preorders will be shipped. Six runner packs of three individually numbered wagons in plain silver livery with TOPS markings, together with seven packs of three wagons in pre-TOPS condition wearing Blue Circle Cement brandings are currently available for preorder for £69.95. Two single wagons are also available with and without TOPS markings for £24.95 each. At the same time, the ‘OO’ gauge PCA cement tank wagons to design codes PC017B and PC017C are in production and have an anticipated delivery date of the end of…

THERE was a sharp decline in the rating of a number of Train Operating Companies according to the latest National Passenger Survey results, which cover the period from September 1-November 16. Overall, 79% of passengers were satisfied with their journey, with 80% approving of the station facilities, and the train service rated at 76% satisfaction. Services on the Great Northern route out of King’s Cross/St Pancras saw the lowest level of satisfaction, with a rating of 68%, a decline of 9% compared to the previous survey, which is a reflection of the slow recovery from the disruption that followed the disastrous May 2018 timetable change. Many services on the route to Cambridge and Peterborough are now formed of trains running through the Thameslink core section and, as well as planned…

DECEMBER 28 was the last day of Class 37-powered trains on services between Carlisle and Barrow, bringing down the curtain on almost four years of use since they were first introduced to cover for a DMU shortage in May 2015. Back then, delays in stock cascades around the country left Northern Rail (as it was then) short of trains to operate a full service. A decision was made to free up DMUs from the Cumbrian Coast using locos and stock supplied by Direct Rail Services, conveniently based at Carlisle Kingmoor. Testing began in April 2015 using a variety of traction, such as Classes 37, 57 and 66, although the public services would be booked for ‘37s’. The early trains were also ‘top and tailed’ until DRS’ Driving Brake Standard Open…

NO MORE SAPHOS DIESEL SPECIALS JUST YET FOLLOWING the three Class 40-hauled charter specials run by Saphos Trains last year, there was expectation of more this year. As Rail Express closed for press, however, a spokesman confirmed that no diesel-hauled specials were pencilled in for this year to date. The company is forging ahead with its steam tour programme, of which 18 are booked this year, but some of Saphos Trains’ Class 47 fleet will be used in conjunction with steam tours on some legs of the itineraries. TORBAY BOUND WITH DRS 'SYPHONS' RETRO Railtours’ next tour will take place on May 25. Titled ‘The Retro Paignton Seasider’, it will start as usual from Huddersfield and head for Paignton via Stalybridge and Stockport, Crewe, Shrewsbury, Maindee…

THE number of nine-car Class 802 units in service was increased to three sets during January, with Nos. 802102/103 undertaking their debut workings. The first outing for No. 802103 occurred on January 10, when it operated the 1A06/06.18 Westonsuper-Mare–Paddington, although unfortunately later in the day it failed while working the 1L82/16.56 Cardiff-Paddington and had to be terminated at Bristol Parkway. It returned to Stoke Gifford for attention. No. 802102 also debuted with the 1A06/06.18 Weston-super-Mare–Paddington, which it worked on January 21. No. 802105 was expected to be the next unit to enter service, the unit having moved from North Pole to Stoke Gifford for final commissioning during January. A pair of five-car sets, Nos. 802016/020 are still undergoing tests before being put into service. No. 802001 entered traffic on January…

WHILST RMS Locotec has lost the Shotton contract (see LH Services story, right), it does have several other contracts that still utilise Class 08s. Currently these are Teesport (Nos. 08423 and 08613), Derby Loram (No. 08588), ScotRail Inverness (Nos. 08523 and 08648), Ketton Cement (Nos. 08375 and 08622), and Ilford T&RSMD (Nos. 08700 and 08871). RMS also owns the only remaining ex-Dutch Class 11 in the country, No. NS690, which is on long-term loan to the Llanelli and Mynydd Mawr Railway. The loco should be in action on the railway’s running days this year, namely the last Saturday of the month from March to June plus August 31, October 26 and December 7/8 for Santa Specials. ■ When between contracts, or undergoing repair, RMS locomotives usually end up at the…

THE first of three rakes of GWR HST coaches to be sent to Long Marston for storage arrived at the site on January 23. Nine Porterbrook-owned coaches, which have been reformed as OC44 Nos. 40110, 41192, 42115/232/382, 44000, 46012/016/018, were moved by Class 50 No. 50007 as the 5Z50/08.30 St Philip’s Marsh-Long Marston. The preserved ‘50’ then returned to St Philip’s Marsh with the two barrier coaches (Nos. 6336/48) in readiness for a further move the next day. This conveyed Nos. 40108/802, 41169, 42319/321, 46008 (OC49), which had been moved from Laira to St Philip’s Marsh by HST power cars Nos. 43097 Environment Agency and 43162 Exeter Panel Signal Box 21st Anniversary 2009 on January 23. The third set of coaches was due to move from Laira to St Philip’s…

AN interesting contract to create a second HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) electrical connection between the UK and France via the Channel Tunnel has required the creation of a battery-powered specialist construction train on behalf of Balfour Beatty. Known as ‘ElecLink’, the 1-Gigawatt connector, comprising two 30-mile cables, will be laid through the North Running Tunnel, and is expected to start operation in the first half of 2020. In the first half of 2018, Clayton Equipment finished the design, manufacture and commissioning of the 500-metre long wiring train, which was formed of 24 20-metre modules (12 drill rig modules and 12 monorail handler modules) installed on eight Touax (former Tiphook/GERS) KFA platforms that had been previously employed by Freightliner for intermodal services. The drill rig module required the installation of…

FEW new models have been announced in the new Bachmann catalogue for 2019, with diesel and electric modellers having to be content with one completely brand-new model in both ‘OO’ and ‘N’ gauge. Previously announced new models delayed by a recent factory move will appear in 2019 starting with the ‘OO’ gauge Class 90 in the first quarter of the year. The new factory in Gaobu is now operational which should see ‘OO and ‘N’ models released steadily during the year, culminating with a clutch of ‘OO’ gauge multiple units in the fourth quarter, including retooled Class 158s and 159s; brand-new 2-HAP and Class 117 and Class 121 DMUs. In ‘N’ gauge, the TEA tank wagons, Class 70/8 and Mk.2f coaches should make an appearance from the third quarter of…

HORNBY’S contemporary ‘OO’ Class 56 model has been produced in various forms to cover some of the locomotive-specific details that exists between the various builds of Class 56s and at different times of their operating lives. Hornby released a model of No. 56032 in Railfreight metals livery which has been used in this project to create No. 56031 Merehead in ‘Dutch’ yellow and grey livery which was worn by the locomotive throughout the 1990s. It requires some corrective and detailing work to better match the real Nos. 56031 and 56032 which closely resemble the appearance of the first 30 locomotives built by Electroputere in Romania. Otherwise, we can take advantage of the fine roof and cab tooling, flush glazing, etched radiator grilles and a well detailed underframe. The subject locomotive…

ALL of the Class 142 ‘Pacer’ units are scheduled to be withdrawn from the main line by December 2019 as new stock comes on stream for the Northern franchise and Transport for Wales. Despite their low cost of construction, the ‘142s’ have served the railways for over 30 years, perhaps longer than they should have given the use of a separate body assembly on rigid underframes. First introduced in 1985, ‘Pacers’ ate into the ranks of conventional DMUs on short distance services, rural branch lines and some suburban routes. A development of the railbus concept, they were assembled as semi-modular units, with bus bodies constructed by Leyland Bus at Workington fitted to a rigid steel underframe with a long fixed wheelbase built by BREL Derby, where final assembly was completed.…