Innehållsförteckning för January 2023 från Rail Express

THE departure of No. 143617 from St Philip’s Marsh to the Tarka Valley Railway (see Preservation, p33) concludes the disposal of the ‘Pacer’ fleets by their former owners (Angel Trains, Porterbrook and Great Western Railway). The rundown of the ‘Pacers’ began in 2019, and was concluded in May 2021, when the final units in use were withdrawn by Transport for Wales. While over 70 sets went for scrap, more than 50 have been preserved, although some of those are intended to be used as spares donors. A small number have also been acquired for further static use by organisations such as schools and the emergency services. Main line operators Loram and Vintage Trains have also purchased four Class 144s, although they have yet to see any use on Network Rail…

ELECTRIC Traction’s No. 89001 Avocet, which is being returned to working order for use with Locomotive Services, has been moved to the former Brush Traction works at Loughborough, now used by UK Rail Leasing, for completion of work in advance of a planned main line return in mid-2023. Previously located at Barrow Hill, the ‘Badger’ arrived at Loughborough on November 24, for installation of equipment to enable it to operate on Network Rail lines. In addition, the ‘89’ will undergo other work, including the replacement of a faulty blower motor, fitment of repaired traction motors and overhaul of the two cab air conditioning units. It is almost a year since the partnership with Locomotive Services was announced, but delays in obtaining some of the components required has meant that work…

AS London Underground (LU) passenger numbers have returned to almost pre-pandemic levels, the need to upgrade the existing systems to meet forecast demand remains. Use of the network is projected to increase into the 2030s. The ongoing Piccadilly Line upgrade is projected to enable train frequency to increase from 24 trains per hour (tph) to 27 tph during peak times. The oldest of LU’s 600+ trains date back 50 years. While the 72 Tube Stock (TS) used on the Bakerloo Line is the oldest, the Piccadilly Line’s 73TS units are due to be replaced first, as part of the Deep Tube Upgrade Programme (DTUP). The 73TS trains entered passenger service in 1975 and so already have almost doubled TfL’s planned 25-year lifespan for LU rolling stock. Regular maintenance programmes, mid-life…

THE project that, when completed, will see the Limerick Check to Foynes branch restored to its status as a revenue earning freight line by 2025, has started. The complete relay of the 42km single track mothballed line and installation/refurbishment of associated infrastructure will cost around €104 million, a significant increase over the original estimate (see October issue). The commencement of the project, which is funded by the Department of Transport, was celebrated at Foynes on November 14 by the chief executives of Irish Rail and the Shannon Foynes Port Company, Jim Meade and Pat Keating, respectively. While a significant amount of new track material had been stacked on the quayside and provided a backdrop for the bosses’ photocall, work had already begun during October, with contractors removing vegetation and debris…

THE final train on my recent Swiss itinerary involved an early evening run from Brig along the upper Rhône Valley to Geneva, a journey deliberately picked to finish in comfort and style aboard one of the Swiss Schindler ‘Corail’ lookalike coaches, watching dusk enshroud the lakeside fortress that shelters the ghosts of Lord Byron and François Bonivard, the poet's hero in the epic The Prisoner of Chillon. At the head of the train was one of the staple Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) Class 460 ‘Lok 2000’ locomotives built at the Swiss Locomotive and Machine (SLM) works between 1991 and 2003. This particular example was No. 460063, named Brunegg, continuing the Swiss tradition of geographical names, in this case a small municipality near Lenzburg in the Aargau canton. I was speculating…

THE NER 20t coal hopper family of wagons was one of the more unexpected announcements for ‘OO’ gauge leading up to the Warley show, and is probably a very astute decision by Accurascale given the number and detail differences in this family of wagons. It also bolsters a trend where the value of pre-grouping rolling stock is grabbing the attention of major manufacturers. It is much needed recognition of a much neglected, yet rich seam of opportunity for the company willing to undertake the difficult task of researching such old vehicles. Four wagon types Many of the NER 20t family of hopper wagons which consisted of P6 15t wagons, P7 20t wagons (which were built in large numbers), together with the P8 23t wagon, share some similar features. The fourth…

00 GAUGE 4mm:1ft 1982-2010 ERA ACCURASCALE released the third and final lot of its comprehensive MGR wagon family project, effectively completing the history of the wagons from the early bodied HAAs through to the upgraded and canopied wagons of the 1990s and 2000s. The new models are fitted with the revised 1970s hopper with its strengthening strip along the inside edge which replaced the bracing struts of the 1960s hopper design. The level of detail is the same as the HAA, HCA and CDA wagons reviewed in previous editions of Rail Express Modeller. The models are fitted with specifically tooled details that are bespoke to each wagon type rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all approach with a few add-on fittings. This approach is particularly important for mid- to late-life wagons…

CLASS 20 Type 1s Nos. 20142+20189 undertook a light engine move from Tyseley to Worcester Yard and back on November 2, while Nos. 20007 and 20205 continued with their autumnal shunting duties at Peak Forest. That left the LS duo of Nos. 20096 and 20107 to make most of the news with their main line perambulations. On November 8 they moved B1 4-6-0 No. 61306 and its support coach from Kidderminster to Crewe and the following morning set off with kitchen car No. 80043, forming the 5Z43 10.30 Crewe HS-Eastleigh Arlington, returning north with Mk.2 No. 3231 on November 10. Eight days later they were back at the Hampshire works to collect No. 80043 and return it to Locomotive Services at Crewe. As part of a route refreshing programme, Nos.…

THE beginning of November brought the latest exchange of pilots at the Hams Hall intermodal terminal, with freshly-repaired No. 08460 Spirit of the Oak arriving from Wishaw on the 3rd. The shunter had only been retrieved from Felixstowe in mid-September after failing back in the spring and subsequently put to one side awaiting a replacement. With No. 08460 unloaded, this allowed No. 08757 Eagle CURC to be removed the same day on the comparatively short journey back to the Telford Steam Railway. This brought its second stint on hire to RSS to a close with the Rail Express Systems-liveried loco required back at the preserved line in advance of festive specials commencing. No. 08757 had been away from Telford since mid-May, spending just over five months at Hams Hall, following…

THE first of the former Grand Central Mk.4 rakes – originally planned to be used by GC on its Blackpool services before they were pulled during the Covid-19 pandemic – entered service with TfW on November 10, enabling one of the existing TfW sets to be stood down for Selective Door Operation (SDO) modifications. This is necessary for when the sets are extended to six vehicles (five passenger coaches, plus DVT). Set HD05 was released from Arriva Traincare at Crewe on November 8, being taken to Cardiff Canton by newly reliveried No. 67020 (see Power By The Hour, last issue). The set lost its orange stripe applied as part of the Grand Central colour scheme, though DVT No. 82200 gained a wrap to mark Remembrance Day. Incidentally, this DVT is…

REGULAR readers of Bessie’s Bulletin (see p12) will know that her home depot, Freightliner’s Southampton Maritime, reached its half century this year (see last month’s issue). The 10-road rail terminal nestled into Southampton’s Western Docks sits next to the main line, with Redbridge to the west and Millbrook to the east, and the whole site, which is both owned and operated by Freightliner, extends to around 610,000 sq ft (equivalent to the area of nearly eight premier league football pitches). Terminal manager Dan Prendergast, who has worked at Maritime for 15 years, looks after a team of 20 people on the 06.00-18.00 dayshift, who keep a constant flow of containers moving to/from the intermodal trains, normally hauled by Freightliner’s Class 66 and 70 locos. At the time of the Rail…

BETWEEN 1982 and 1985, BR’s Southern Region took delivery of 137 four-car Class 455s, which enabled the withdrawal of older slam-door stock, as well as the transfer of the Class 508 fleet, which had been introduced as a stop-gap in 1980, to Merseyside. Within a few years, it became obvious to Network SouthEast, which had come into existence in 1986, that some two-car sets were also needed, to enable six-car services to be operated where they were too busy for a single four-car unit, but did not warrant the use of a pair of ‘455s’. In September 1989, an order was placed for 24 two-car EMUs, designated Class 456, to be constructed at BREL’s York Works. Unlike the Class 455s, the new units were not fitted with gangways at the…

REVIEW 00 GAUGE 4mm:1ft 1960-1980s ERA ORIGINALLY constructed, as the classification suggests, for the transport of carriages and motor cars, over 800 Diagram 816 Mk.1 CCTs were introduced by BR between 1960 and 1961 in six lots, numbered as Nos. 94101 to 94922. Several CCTs survived long enough to see preservation on several heritage railways. As the size of motor vehicles increased, the flat-sided, and narrow body profile of the CCT became a limitation and their use in routine vehicle transport was curtailed, resulting in their allocation to mail and parcel traffic. To assist with vehicle loading from ramps at stations, the flat ends were fitted with hinged twin-leaf loading doors and a drop section at the bottom which was fitted with brackets aligned with the buffers to support…

UNDERGOING repairs at Barrow Hill since January 2019, after just over a year of service with its then new owner HNRC, No. 37609’s main line exile came to an end on November 23, when the bright orange repainted Class 37/6 was sent out on an 0M38/0M39 shakedown run to Worksop and back. Still allocated to COTS, the original plan for it to leave in the company of No. 37405 (transferred from HNRL to COTS) and head back to work with Colas Rail were scuppered by the non-availability of the recently acquired Class 37/4, also now repainted in the same Class 20/3-inspired livery. In related news from this small sub type, No. 37606 has joined LSLO from MDBL. At the start of the period under review, No. 37069 at Eastleigh was…

THE healthy appetite of GB Railfreight for new motive power and rolling stock continues with the arrival of 45 new wagons, comprised of two different types that are new to the UK. The first to enter the country were 25 upgraded JNA-X box wagons (still UIC code Ealnos), built at the former Astra Rail workshops in Drobeta Turnu Severin, Romania. Announced earlier this year (see May 2022 issue) they form part of an order of 50 vehicles that will supplement GBRf’s existing fleet of 150 branded JNA-T boxes and other JNAs, all variously leased from Ermewa, Porterbrook and VTG. Consecutively numbered 81 70 5932 757-781 moved from Dollands Moor on November 5, behind No. 66797 and formed a 6Z92 03.00 to Wembley. These were followed just over two weeks later…

WHILE operating on the Severn Valley Railway as part of No. 55009’s running-in tests, several defects emerged, with the main one being a cracked silencer. As this was a fire risk, the DPS realised there was insufficient time to deal with the problem and reluctantly had to withdraw from its inaugural comeback railtour on December 3, Pathfinder Tours’ ‘The North Eastern Christmas Markets’. Participants were still able to savour vintage EE traction as the CFPS stepped forward with their ‘Whistler’ No. D345. With No. 55009 now at its home depot of Barrow Hill, volunteers have embarked on putting right the problems encountered. No bookings for 2023 tours are being entertained until Alycidon is deemed fully fit by the DPS engineers. Meanwhile, No. 55009’s stablemate, No. 55019 Royal Highland Fusilier, recently…

00 GAUGE 4mm:1ft 2002 to present ERA MHA fact file OVER 1000 MHA wagons were constructed on the underframes of redundant MGR wagons, to bolster the fleet of air-braked ballast and spoil wagons which included former MEA four-wheel box wagons (MFA), and those built on the underframes of former TTA tank wagons and other similar vehicles (MTA and PNA). The MHA is not the first attempt to reuse MGR wagons and their underframes. The cut-down hopper wagons called Coalfish, attempted in 1994 along the lines of former HTV hopper wagons (Tope), were not considered to be a success. New boxes fitted to MGR underframes to create box wagons for industrial coal traffic (MAB and MAA) accounted for five wagons, which themselves were cut down in 2001 and coded MHA.…

00 GAUGE 4mm:1ft Circa 1835-1960s ERA Relevance for D&E era modelling LONGEVITY and variety make the 4t chaldron waggons (note the spelling), a compelling modelling subject to the point where its relevance to the D&E era was investigated to see if they could be included within these pages. The ingenuity and care that has gone into the design of the models deserves coverage. After all, waggons dating from pre-grouping railway companies which lasted into BR days are as relevant as the newest air-braked wagons. It is perfectly possible that the chaldrons that survived into the 1950s and 60s might have been worked with diesel shunting engines in addition to small industrial steam locomotives such as Pecketts. Furthermore, whilst worked exclusively as internal users within colliery yards and internal railway…

ANYONE with a collection of original Bachmann Class 20 models will know that running lights of any kind are not part of the model’s specification. Bachmann has since retooled the ‘OO’ gauge Class 20 from the rails up and has incorporated sophisticated electronics which includes running lights. This leaves the original model in the dark, making a mix of the two on a layout a little difficult to reconcile. The level of detail on the original model is reasonably good despite a couple of dimensional errors, now eliminated in the newly tooled model. Nonetheless, detailing and refinishing usually results in a respectable representation, including the subject locomotive, the early BR green example with tablet catcher apparatus (32-044). Numbered as No. D8028, the model represents one of a small batch of…