Innehållsförteckning för November 2022 från Rail Express

Editor’s Comment ‘SORRY, not sorry’ seems to be the attitude of DB Fernverkehr (DBFV), the InterCity arm of Germany’s incumbent operator Deutsche Bahn, when it comes to chronic timekeeping issues that have persisted now for at least a couple of decades. Our view, based on journeys to/from InnoTrans in Berlin in September (see feature, p78) is that DBFV can’t run trains to time for toffee. The worst thing is that the operator simply doesn’t seem that bothered. On two long-distance legs with DBFV, Rail Express was delayed, in one case missing an hourly connection, resulting in a late night wait on a cold platform. There was no mention of compensation, though Chris Milner, contributing editor to our sister title The Railway Magazine, who also suffered delays on a different service,…

AN operating licence has been granted by the Office of Rail and Road to Varamis Rail for the operation of express parcels services. The first route is to be between Glasgow and Birmingham, followed by extension to London using the West Coast route. An East Coast service between London and Edinburgh, with intermediate hubs at Peterborough and Doncaster, is also proposed. Social media posts indicate that there are two initial customers, a parcels delivery company and a supermarket operator, and recruitment is taking place for traincrew and control staff. The intention is to use repurposed electric units that have been displaced from passenger working, although the details are awaited. Varamis will need to move quickly as the quantity of stored vehicles has been diminished by recent decisions to scrap a…

WITH all usable parts now removed, No. 56106 has been removed from Leicester LIP for final disposal. It was one of the first inmates at the newly reactivated UK Rail Leasing depot, just north east of Leicester station, after moving there in December 2013, along with Nos. 56007, 56031, 56069 and 56081. All five were acquired by GB Railfreight in June 2018 as raw materials for the Class 69 project. The unlucky Type 5 is the only member of the quintet not to have been reactivated, with the remainder all back in traffic either still as Class 56s (No. 56081) or Class 69s (Nos. 56007 – now 69005, 56031 – now 69001 and 56069 – now 69004). Built at BREL Doncaster in April 1982, the Loadhaul-liveried ‘Grid’ was eventually taken…

Among the more expensive trains to model are the locomotive-hauled Rail Head Treatment Trains, or RHTT. Two locomotives is a considerable outlay unless one of the few RHTT circuits, which uses just the one locomotive, is modelled. RHTT trains usually start running at the beginning of October, as days become shorter and light levels are reduced. Long shadows greet an RHTT working at Castletown, just south of the Nairn viaduct on the Highland line. DRS liveried Class 66 No. 66126 leads No. 66091 south on October 28, 2021 with two FEA-F wagons. Hattons Model Railways has produced a good ‘OO’ gauge model of the FEA-F wagons used on RHTT workings, complete with water tanks and modules. It makes the ideal short train for compact layouts, assuming the layout has autumn…

THE first railtour date for a rebuilt No. 55009 Alycidon has been announced – December 3 – when it is earmarked to haul Pathfinder Tours’ ‘The North Eastern Christmas Markets’ tour from Swindon, stations to Derby, thence to York, Durham and Newcastle. It will be the culmination of over £400,000 worth of repairs since the locomotive suffered a severe power surge while returning from Edinburgh in March 2019. On the cards, provided all goes to plan, is a London King’s Cross to Edinburgh charter to run on January 2, 2023. The second of January will forever be etched on Deltic aficionados’ memories as the day the Deltics ended on BR – in 1982. Because of Covid and the fact that no other Deltic was available, this tour celebrates the 40th…

FREIGHT operator DRS has started using its Class 68 locomotives for nuclear flask traffic to Georgemas Junction on the Far North Line in Scotland. This is the first time this type of traction has been used on the line. The honour to be the first of its kind to make it that far north befell No. 68017, which worked up light engine on September 13 to check all of the (many) speed restrictions, as well as to test the portable RETB equipment (the previously used Class 66/3s, which have since passed on to GB Railfreight – see Power by the Hour, p25 – had in-cab RETB). The first revenue-earning run took place the following week, when Nos. 68001 and 68007 worked up as 6S99 on September 20, before returning south…

That name sounds a bit familiar. So it should. It dates back to a GNR poster from 1908 advertising Skegness as a holiday destination, and named trains to the resort, especially on summer Saturdays, have been using it since. I sense Class 20s might be mentioned soon. Amazing intuition! Yes indeed, modern(ish) gricers will associate the title with pairs of ‘Choppers’ and Mk.1 coaches on sunny (and not so sunny) Saturdays in the 1980s. Lovely jubbly, but what’s that got do with this year? EMR has been keen to keep the tradition going and in recent years has run HSTs instead. The fact that it has disposed of its ‘125’ fleet hasn’t dampened its enthusiasm and this summer, two summer Saturday pairs have run from Derby with, wait for it……

UNITS FOLLOWING on from the disposal of Nos. 322481/482 recorded in last month’s issue, the remaining three Class 322s were sent for scrap during September, having been stood down by Greater Anglia at the end of August. No. 322484 undertook its final movement on September 7, when, along with No. 321903 (the last former West Yorkshire PTE ‘321/9’ in existence), it was hauled from Ilford to Sims Metals at Newport by No. 37884 Cepheus. The last two, Nos. 322483/485, were similarly disposed of on September 21, when Nos. 37884 took the pair to South Wales on the 5Q76 11.04 Ilford-Sims, Newport. At the beginning of the month, they had been located at Colchester, making their final runs under power when they ran to Ilford on September 6, (No. 322483) and…

THE announcement of a long-term funding settlement at the end of August came just too late for the last issue of Rail Express. The agreement provides TfL with Government funding that lasts up until March 31, 2024, with £598m for the 2022/23 financial year, and £565m for 2023/24. This covers the projected loss of passenger income as a direct consequence of changes in passenger numbers due to the Covid pandemic. Day-to-day operation of TfL and London Underground will change little. The deal will, in the short term, settle the financial uncertainty that has dogged the organisation since the catastrophic drop of income. However, in the medium to long term, the increase in a need to find additional savings, and service its additional debts, along with terms and conditions that came…

THE first three of 41 new 22000 Class ICR DMU intermediate cars on order from Hyundai Rotem of South Korea, Nos. 22511/12/13, arrived at Dublin Port on September 7, on the ship Aal Kobe. Another three cars were noted being transferred from the port to Heuston valeting shed by GM No. 088 on the 13th. The vehicles will be used to strengthen the existing 234-strong fleet. They feature ZF transmission and updated power packs and sport the same livery as the existing stock. The €150 million investment was approved by the Irish government in October 2019. After the planned rolling introduction of the extra vehicles is completed next year, the fleet will comprise 22 x six-car units, 20 x four-car units and 21 x three-car units, a total of 275…

IN its third run, the popular and beautifully modelled Accurascale ‘OO’ gauge CAWD PFA container wagon has been reissued with Cawoods and British Fuel coal containers. Furthermore, new PFAs labelled for nuclear material traffic featuring models of specialised containers loaded on DRS-registered PFA wagons have arrived. They feature ‘Nupack’ and ‘Novapak’ containers loaded on ISO container frames, together with full height 20ft container designs. Two types of the IP-2 container are included in an Accurascale Exclusives pack, along with the fascinating ‘Dragon’ flask. The IOS 20ft 2031-type used to carry processed uranium ore is included in three packs. The price per pack of three wagons, including the coal container and half container packs, is £74.95. The colourful new nuclear container packs will be reviewed in the next issue of Rail…

REVIEW 00GAUGE 4mm:1ft 1989 to present ERA CONSTRUCTED for the electrification of the East Coast Main Line, BR Mk.4 stock was based on the Advanced Passenger Train and consequently featured a profile which would have allowed tilt packs to be fitted at a later date. InterCity 225 Mk.4 train formations were fixed, comprising of nine coaches, a Class 91 locomotive and a Driving Van Trailer located at the London end of the train sets for push-pull working. They continue to serve the East Coast Main Line today, but in reduced numbers since the introduction of Class 800 Azuma trains, with no InterCity 225 services running north of York. The remaining coaches are stored pending reuse or have been scrapped. An exception is a small fleet acquired by Transport for…

MODELLING AS MODELLERS look at their household finances against a backdrop of high inflation, building a model railway might seem to be a poor decision to make when money is tight. However, for most of us, that desire to model is an itch than needs to be scratched from time to time. Limited cash does not necessarily mean that a layout cannot be constructed as an intermediate project to keep up skill levels, and to practice new techniques in preparation for a larger layout when better times come round again. Is big necessarily better? Naturally, the larger the layout, the more money it will absorb over its construction phase because the price per square foot changes little the larger it becomes. Yet the temptation to go as large as possible…

WHEN the first phase of the Elizabeth Line finally opened to passengers on May 24, one central London station remained under construction. Various delays meant the Elizabeth Line platforms at the existing London Underground station at Bond Street were not ready, and trains passed through at reduced speeds. The station is now due to open fully on October 24, ahead of the next phase of Crossrail service improvements, scheduled for November 6. With daily capacity for 140,000 Elizabeth Line passengers, Bond Street station, located in a prime area of London’s West End, is expected to have a significant impact on reducing congestion on the Tube network (particularly the Central Line) and surrounding stations, notably Oxford Circus. Initially, the step-free station will be served by an Elizabeth Line train every five…

CLASS 20 The quartet of Nos. 20007+20205 and 20189+20142 sandwiched IWA barrier wagons on the 6Z20 10.27 King’s Norton-Crewe CS on September 13 and later that evening formed the 5Q21 22.18 Crewe DRS-Kirkdale TMD with Merseyrail units Nos. 777001/8. Three days later, Nos. 20205+20007 formed the 6Z20 12.35 Tyseley-Derby RTC with No. DR98008, prior to the green-liveried No. 20007 teaming up with Type 3 No. 37418. September 19 found the English Electric combination taking saloon Caroline (No. 975025) from Derby to Cricklewood, before trips from Richmond to Shoeburyness, then to Stansted Airport next day. On September 21, the trio travelled from Peterborough to York via Lincoln, Darlington and the Durham coastal route. Back in harness, Nos. 20007 and 20205 could be found at either end of saloon No. 975025 on…

AUGUST saw the closure of the Freightliner stabling and fuelling point alongside Ipswich station, with all of Freightliner’s maintenance activities now concentrated at the new Vehicle Maintenance Facility (VMF) in Ipswich Yard. Slightly surprisingly, the presence of two Class 08s has been maintained at the site following the latest exchange of shunters for exams, with No. 08691 arriving from Burton Wetmore on September 5. This allowed No. 08785 to be removed by road to the Nemesis Rail depot later that afternoon in order to undergo a D exam. During its five-month stay at Burton, No. 08691 received not only mechanical attention but also a repaint into Freightliner’s orange and black livery. When the repaint was completed back in July, the loco initially lacked its Terri nameplates, but these were back…

‘Peak’ project for Rapido Trains ARGUABLY, the most glaring omission in the range of available scale ‘N’ gauge BR diesel-electric locomotives has to be the Class 44, Class 45 and Class 46 family of Sulzer locomotives or ‘Peaks’. Announced in time for The International N Gauge Show (TINGS) by Rapido Trains, work has just commenced on what is undoubtedly a very welcome, if ambitious, project to model an important BR locomotive family. It will not only cover the three generic classes of ‘Peak’ locomotive, the Class 45s are divided into two distinct sub-classes with significant detail differences existing between them which will be covered in the new models. Rapido Trains plans to accurately match the many detail differences between the three classes of ‘Peak’ and individual locomotives with the appropriate…

00GAUGE 4mm:1ft 1918 to late 1980s ERA A FINELY DETAILED ‘OO’ gauge model of one version of the South Eastern & Chatham Railway (SE&CR) 25t ‘Dance Hall’ brake vans was unveiled in Bachmann’s autumn statement. It was immediately released in four different liveries including SE&CR grey, SR brown and BR unfitted freight grey. The fourth model is probably of most interest to D&E modellers and that is finished in post-1967 BR engineers olive as unfitted No. DS55466, which would have been TOPS coded as a ZTO. No model of a Diagram 1559 or 1560 brake van has been offered before in ‘OO’ gauge, other than a useful plastic kit by Cambrian Models. The new Bachmann model represents one of the 20 wagons built between 1918 and 1921 at Ashford…

WE are back on third rail 750v DC power supply following a couple of trips in search of the threatened Class 313s (see September issue). This month’s trip involved a 12-car Class 700/1 dual voltage Siemens ‘Desiro City’ packed with a massive 6439hp capability to move just 400.6tonnes tare. Whether the installations could feed these hungry monsters is a different question. Post-pandemic pleasure-seeking passenger numbers rose steeply as we headed towards Brighton, adding about 20tonnes to the set’s plated weight by the time we reached the coast. There are many 1-in-264 rising gradients from station stops on this route, so the southbound departure from Burgess Hill, used for the Class 377 article (see July issue), becomes the most suitable for assessing 0-60mph against the slightly adverse 1-in-1378. In similar fine…