Innehållsförteckning för June 2023 från Rail Express

HEADLINE NEWS GREAT Western Railway will continue using its short-formed 2+4 Castle High Speed Trains beyond the December timetable. The operator confirmed the decision in late-April. GWR had always planned to retain a handful of the sets for strategic purposes beyond the start of the December 2023 timetable. A GWR spokesperson told RE on April 25 that the key difference between the plans announced last year and now is that the HSTs will now certainly be in traffic. The spokesperson said that they will “generally be used in the same region as they are now, and that they will be focused on mid-distance journeys.” The spokesperson also said that there will be a reduction in the overall number of Castles in the GWR fleet, and that “while those going will…

FIVE Class 175 diesel multiple units have been sent off-lease by Transport for Wales as the operator begins to remove the trains from service. The fleet was due to be sent off-lease once enough new-build CAF Class 197s entered service, however a series of fires aboard three ‘175s’ had caused TfW to remove the entire fleet from traffic for safety reasons (RE324). Now TfW is beginning to return repaired ‘175s’ to traffic, with around 10 in use per day (see Units). A TfW spokesperson told RE that the ‘175s’ were undergoing a process involving replacing the charge air coolers, which are part of the radiators. This is expected to be ongoing for several more weeks as it requires the sourcing and importing of brand-new and specialist components for the radiators…

FORMER Railfreight Petroleum sector celebrity No. 60014, acquired by GB Railfreight in December 2018 along with Nos. 60004/018, moved from DB Cargo’s Toton depot to Progress Rail, Longport, on April 26 by road. GBRf has extensive experience with Class 60s, having acquired the 10 Colas Rail locomotives in July and August 2018, which includes both standard range and extended range fuel tank examples, and fully understands the strengths and weaknesses of the Type 5s. The large body opens up many opportunities for conversion and Progress Rail will be exploring several possible repowering options, which could include hybrid alternatives. No. 60014 was stored by EWS in December 2008 at the same time as No. 60043 (which is still owned by DB), starting a mass cull of the beleaguered locomotives that sidelined…

THE West Midlands was the place to be in mid-April to see Class 08s employed by Railway Support Services (RSS) on the move. Fresh from an exam at Wishaw, No. 08460 was sent on its way on April 18, pitching up at Bescot Yard in order to replace No. 08825. This allowed the Network South Eastliveried shunter to be released from its 11-month hire to RSS and returned to the Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway, where it was soon back on permanent way duties. After 18 months at Tyseley Loco Works, No. 08730 departed around April 20, on the short journey to the European Metal Recycling yard at Kingsbury to take over as yard pilot from No. 08752, the latter being returned to Wishaw to await its next job. This…

IDEAS mooted over drinks in the pub don’t usually come to fruition. Yet on February 25, as No. 47712 Lady Diana Spencer stood at Glasgow Queen Street on a matching rake of ScotRail Mk.3s having just propelled its train from Edinburgh Waverley, its owners could be forgiven for questioning that theory. Not that they would have believed it a decade ago. The Crewe Diesel Preservation Group (CDPG), based at the Crewe Heritage Centre, had never intended to return a Class 47 to the main line. Indeed, it had not even intended to own a ‘47’! Yet on April 14, the CDPG celebrated a decade of owning the ‘47/7’ by organising a railtour from Crewe to Carlisle, running north via the West Coast Main Line and returning via the Settle &…

NEWSDESK ‘N’ GAUGE headlines in the Bachmann summer 2023 announcement, with a flood of much-needed Graham Farish rolling stock and new models too. There is an exciting new ‘N’ gauge model in the line-up and that is the ‘Clay Tiger’ wagon which is coded PBA. Eight different wagons are listed, both in weathered and pristine condition priced from £44.95. The new tooling is being marketed under the EFE Rail label which also includes the ‘OO’ gauge version. The MXA Lobster general materials wagon is the new tooling for Graham Farish, to be produced in two forms including Y25 bogies with clasp and disc brakes. The ‘OO’ gauge version is reviewed in this issue (see p62-M22). Perhaps the most important development for ‘N’ gauge modellers is the huge boost in the…

00 GAUGE 4mm:1ft 2016 to present ERA HORNBY has produced close-fit models of both GB Railfreight Class 66s painted in Belmond Royal Scotsman using its upgraded former Lima model, which is priced at £90.99. The main detail difference between the model and prototype is in the running lights which are of the large round headlight type. The yellow warning panel is adjusted in size on the models to compensate. Locomotive history The Royal Scotsman pair are originally from the first batch of Class 66s to be introduced by DRS. A parcel of five Class 66s numbered Nos. 66406-410 were transferred first to Advenza Freight, which renumbered them as Nos. 66841-845. They moved to Colas Rail after the locomotives were placed in store following the demise of Advenza Freight. A…

MODELLINGPart 1 THE HUGE ACHIEVEMENT of returning a ScotRail push-pull set to the main line has inspired this month’s modelling feature (see p80-82). Locomotive Services Limited’s (LSL) project to bring together five Mk.3 coaches and a DBSO to work with Crewe Diesel Preservation Group’s Class 47/7 No. 47712 Lady Diana Spencer was quite an undertaking. Undoubtedly, minds will turn to how it can be modelled to suit a contemporary layout scene to leaven a diet of multiple units and Class 66s. Despite the length of the train and number of vehicles involved, it can be modelled in a fairly short time and with minimal repainting. The project defined The objective was to model the complete train which can be re-created in ‘OO’ gauge using off-the-shelf models available at the time…

A £1.5 million Survival Fund has been launched by the Severn Valley Railway to try and help it overcome its current financial crisis and enable the implementation of longer-term plans for the future. Without the money, the SVR warns that a viable future for the railway is at risk unless there is an urgent injection of money. The SVR is appealing for supporters to step in and donate, and has written to more than 25,000 shareholders, members and donors to explain the predicament. The Covid-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, post-Brexit supply chain issues and the cost-of-living crisis have all had an adverse effect on the SVR’s finances in the past three years. SVR interim managing director Jonathan ‘Gus’ Dunster told RE324 that the line’s annual electricity bill had risen…

STADLER has signed a contract with GB Railfreight to provide a full service offer for the 30 Class 99 bi-mode locomotives on order, with the work to be carried out at a new facility in Leicester. The £1.5 million shed is being constructed at UK Rail Leasing’s Leicester depot, and will be ready by the end of the year, and fully operational in February next year (RE324). Construction began earlier this year. Stadler will be responsible for the maintenance of the locomotives, which it is building in its Valencia factory in Spain, once the first ‘99’ is handed over to GB Railfreight in 2025. Beacon Rail will own the fleet, which will be used on mainly intermodal duties. GB Railfreight CEO John Smith has previously said that he expects the…

THE 125 Group is repainting its MTU-engined power car, No. 43159, into Midland Mainline’s ocean blue livery, as originally applied when it joined the ‘Project Rio’ fleet in 2003. The repaint comes 20 years after the launch of the short-lived service which ran between Manchester Piccadilly and London St Pancras from May 2003 until September 2004, providing additional services between the two cities while upgrade work was carried out on the West Coast Main Line. Following luggage van roof repairs, the repaint began at Butterley in April. While the colour scheme was not exclusive to ‘Project Rio’ vehicles, being applied to all High Speed Trains in the Midland Mainline fleet at the time, power cars which were dedicated to the Manchester services, of which No. 43159 was one, were denoted…

CRAVENS Heritage Trains Limited (CHTL) has sold its four-car 62 Tube Stock (TS) unit back to London Underground (LU), formed of cars 1506-2506-9507-1507. The deal took place at the start of the year, with LU obtaining the unit to maintain its 62 Tube Stock (TS) cars used in Rail Adhesion Trains (RATs). The Central Line operates two RATs, both formed of 62 TS units which were withdrawn from passenger service during the mid-1990s, as the last of the replacement 92 TS units were introduced to passenger service. During the autumn, each train, one as an eight-car, the other as a five-car, operates at either end of the line, Hainault depot to the east and Ruislip to the west. Applying Sandite to the line, they prevent, or at least reduce, incidents…

WARD Recycling of Ilkeston has received the first five of 39 TDA tank wagons for disposal, all from long-term store at Long Marston. Nos. 86953/6/9/61/2, which all arrived by road in the second week of April, will be the first examples of the distinctive battleship grey 90-tonne bogie vehicles to be scrapped. Sixty of the Class B tankers were constructed in 1993 for carrying fuel oil/diesel by Bombardier Prorail at the former Procor (Charles Roberts) workshops at Horbury, West Yorkshire, and were numbered CAIB 86910-86969, later reprefixed after the VTG takeover. They are notable for being the forerunner of the ubiquitous post-2006 built fleet of Marcroft/Greenbrier TEAs, which now numbers almost 500 wagons. Introduced on the Conoco HumberKingsbury circuit and later onto Lindsey services, they immediately stood out compared to…

THE dominant use of diesel traction for freight haulage is inconsistent with plans to deliver a carbon neutral rail network by 2040, and to date there has been reluctance by Network Rail to promote the electrification of route sections where there are high levels of freight traffic. That decision is understandable as there has been a lack of suitable electric locomotives to maximise the use of existing electrified lines. That situation has changed with the decision by GB Railfreight to order 30 Class 99 bi-mode locomotives, to be built by Stadler and financed by Beacon Rail, which are due to enter traffic from 2025 onwards. These locomotives have a Co-Co arrangement and will offer power of 8050hp in electric operation with 2150hp available for use on non-electrified routes and within…

THERE’S a constant flow of passenger trains in the background as Rail Express meets Greater Anglia engineering director Martin Beable at Ilford depot, but what stands out is that apart from the freight services, they are all brand-new trains passing the office block. Even the Elizabeth line trains are formed of trains delivered from 2016 and introduced into traffic the following year. This has been quite the transformation on the Great Eastern Main Line, and indeed across GA’s network. Inside Ilford depot, itself modernised in readiness for the influx of new trains, there are several Class 720 electric multiple units undergoing maintenance. Beside them, a Class 321 is undergoing handback repairs while two ‘379s’ are receiving checks ahead of their planned departure for storage. This perhaps perfectly reflects the changes…

APRIL 2023 marked a quarter of a century of Class 66 operation in the UK when the first locomotive for EWS, No. 66001, landed at Newport Docks on April 18, 1998. It was the first of an order of 250 locomotives for EWS which was an instant success, bringing huge changes in rail freight operation in the UK. It did not stop there. Other operators purchased Class 66s in number including GB Railfreight’s acquisition of locomotives from the European market. Consequently, Class 66s were built over an 18-year period, culminating in GB Railfreight No. 66779 which was named Evening Star to commemorate the last steam locomotive to be built for British Rail. No. 66779 was finished in BR lined green livery with nameplates of the same style as BR class…

00 GAUGE 4mm:1ft 1980s to 2009 ERA THE Cavalex Models HAA project was first conceived in 2019 when feedback from customers indicated that strong support for a new MGR HAA model in ‘OO’ gauge was growing. It became reality in 2020 when a collaboration between Cavalex Models, KMS Railtech and Trains4U was established to produce the wagon type in various forms including the china clay CDAs. The range includes the original HAAs with hopper cross-bracing and early canopied HCAs too. The review sample is a triple wagon pack of ‘standard’ HAAs featuring rebuilt hoppers with internal bracing fitted along the top edges of the hopper, a feature introduced to replace the original hopper cross-bracing which was prone to damage. Pack HAA01 is offered by KMS Railtech and contains Railfreight…

TWO charity charters marking the end of two veteran electric multiple unit fleets ran on April 29, raising money for charities. Greater Anglia’s Class 321 Farewell tour raised £22,200, which will be shared between East Anglia Children’s Hospice (EACH), Havens Hospices and the Railway Mission. Meanwhile, a farewell charter for the Southern Class 313s raised around £25,000 for Chestnut Tree House Sussex children’s hospice and the Railway Children. The GA train employed Nos. 321307 and 321314, with the pair running from London Liverpool Street to Clacton, Walton, Harwich Town, Stowmarket, Shenfield and Southend Victoria, covering many of the core routes the EMUs operated on since their introduction in 1989. The trip included journeys over a number of loops and sections of track not normally used by scheduled passenger trains. The…

TRAINS will operate roughly every 150 seconds between Paddington and Whitechapel, in the Elizabeth Line core section, at peak time from May 21. This is part of the final introduction of services on the Crossrail project, with direct trains being introduced between Shenfield and Heathrow Airport. Up to 24 trains per hour (tph) will operate in both directions during the peak period, Transport for London (TfL) confirmed on April 24. Journey times will also be shrunk from west London through Paddington while there will also be additional trains serving London Liverpool Street main line station. TfL said that peak time frequencies will increase from 22tph to 24tph, with 16tph operating off-peak. There will be 12tph between Canary Wharf and Abbey Wood in the peak, restoring the frequency in place between…

ALL 30 Class 379 Electrostars remain out of traffic more than a year after the last of the four-car electric multiple units were withdrawn by Greater Anglia. In the past few weeks, further examples have been taken to Harry Needle Railroad Company’s Worksop site for secure storage. Heading north from Ilford to Worksop behind Rail Operations Group No. 37601 Perseus on April 14, were Nos. 379009/027, and these were followed by Nos. 379002/016 (on April 19) and 379004/019 (on April 21), both moved by ROG No. 37608 Andromeda. The same ‘37’ took Nos. 379021/023 to Worksop on April 28. Meanwhile, the last two sets at Wensum Sidings, Norwich, Nos. 379003/024, departed for Ilford on April 5, and a further two units (Nos. 379018/028) ran to Ilford from Harwich on April…

THE announcement that CrossCountry will remove its five High Speed Train sets from service later in the year (RE324) provides an ideal time to survey the current situation regarding the trains it leases. In recent months, the fleet has been subject to regular reformations, to the extent that, as of late April, none of the Trailer Composite Kitchen (TCK) cars – which have in the past dictated the set number, e.g., No. 45001 being formed in XC01 – were formed in the correct rakes (see table). During the past few months, three sets (XC02, XC04 and XC05) have been in regular use, covering the two diagrams operated by the fleet. Of the other two, XC03 went to Wabtec, Doncaster for overhaul in October 2022, with XC01 following in the new…

CLASS 37 Locomotive Services’ Type 3s Nos. 37667 Flopsie and 37521 hauled a Llandudno-Crewe private charter from Chester North Junction on April 7, (see Class 40) and later took the train to Bristol via the North & West route. Next day the tour continued into Cornwall visiting Truro via the Fowey branch, Penzance and later Kingswear. In ‘top and tail’ formation the ‘37s’ returned to Penzance on April 9, prior to traversing the branch to St Ives. Having travelled back into Devon they powered the 1Z31 08.45 Kingswear-London Euston on April 11. Unusually, the start of the ‘Jacobite’ season brought dry weather for much of April necessitating the use of a diesel locomotive on the rear of the 10.15 Fort William-Mallaig and 14.10 return services, West Coast Railways No. 37518…

OPERATIONS SO much has changed with the High Speed Trains (HSTs) in the past five months. Since RE321, when we published the Great Western Railway Castle diagrams for the December 2022-May 2023 period, the Department for Transport (DfT) has forced CrossCountry to relinquish its popular HST fleet, while GWR will now continue using its Castles in traffic beyond December, having originally planned to retain a handful for strategic reserve purposes. This means that the prospect of no booked daily HST passenger duties outside Scotland, unless on a charter or at a heritage line, is now no longer the case, however the number of duties is diminishing. Nevertheless, the number of Castle diagrams is dropping. In RE321, we detailed the trains that the short-formed sets would operate, as the countdown to…

00 GAUGE 4mm:1ft 2016 - present ERA Unboxing impressions HERITAGE INTER-CITY ‘MAINLINE’ LIVERY is currently carried by DRS No. 37419 Carl Haviland 1954-2012 which was applied in 2019 and is the subject model for this review. Once the comprehensive paperwork and owner’s manual are removed from the box, which is a work of art in itself, the plastic inner packaging can be teased from its foam cradle. The rich depth to the livery colours, together with printed details make the biggest impression when the model is lifted from its large box. There’s something about the Accurascale Class 37/4 which demands attention beyond its livery application. It has the same sharpness of detail as the Class 55 and Class 92. It is pretty heavy too considering the amount of space…

00 GAUGE 4mm:1ft 2015 to present ERA Wagon origins THE REUSE of redundant wagon underframes is still regarded as an economical way of building rollingstock to meet demand or to replace older wagons. The DB MXA ‘Lobster’ bogie box wagon is a modern example, constructed to replace four-wheel general materials wagons such as the ‘Sea Urchin’ and ‘Pike’ for infrastructure duties. MXAs are built on the frames of airbraked Bogie Bolster D wagons along with former BPAs (BNA/BMA) made redundant by the downturn in steel traffic, themselves constructed in the 1950s and modernised with air brakes and Y25 bogies in the late 1970s. All that remains of the wagon is the framing, bogies and brake equipment. The bolsters and deck were removed during the conversion along with the low…