Innehållsförteckning för August 2023 från Rail Express

HEADLINE NEWS CHILTERN Railways plans to place an order for new trains within the next year, with the aim of replacing its Class 165 diesel multiple unit fleet. Speaking exclusively to Rail Express on June 15, CR managing director Richard Allan explained that the operator had received permission to issue a prequalification questionnaire (PQQ) to the market within the next few weeks, with the aim of an Invitation to Tender (ITT) being issued in a few months, and an order being placed next year. The aim, he said, was to have the first trains in traffic in four years’ time. It is expected that they will be either battery or battery-electric trains, with CR currently the only all-diesel operator serving London. The trains will be used to replace the 39-strong…

ALMOST 1000 ticket offices could close under plans launched on July 5. Thirteen operators controlled by the Department for Transport began a three-week consultation on July 5, which could see 974 ticket offices closed across the country. This does not affect stations managed by Transport for London, Transport for Wales, ScotRail or Merseyrail. Ticket offices at various locations including London Euston, London Paddington, Reading, Glasgow Central, Manchester Piccadilly and Bristol Temple Meads could all close under the plans, which are subject to a public consultation that closes on July 26. Jacqueline Starr, Rail Delivery Group chief executive, said: “The ways our customers buy tickets has changed and it’s time for the railway to change with them. “With just 12% of tickets being sold from ticket offices last year, and 99%…

TESTING of Great Western Railway No. 230001 Viva Venturer could start next year, with an initial trial lasting around 12 months. Under the plans, the ‘230’ will fast charge each time it reverses at West Ealing, with the train running over the charging equipment. The train will charge while the driver swaps ends. Each driving vehicle will charge independently, which should mean that if one fails the other can still power the train. However, GWR plans to stable a Class 165 with an adapter coupler in the area in case of failures. It is thought that from the 67 vehicles GWR bought following the collapse of Vivarail at the end of 2022, some 13 or 14 sets can be made should the trial prove successful. This could include the three…

THE North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR) has, once again, had to bring in additional diesel traction as a result of the summer’s hot weather conditions. A lineside fire on May 25, requiring the attendance of North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service, caused the railway to suspend steam-hauled services. With the Diesel & Electric Preservation Group’s No. 47077 North Star stopped after it was found to have a fracture in one of its cylinder head bolts, this put pressure on the line’s three operational diesels, Nos. D7628 (25278) Sybilla, 31128 Charybdis and 37264. Even with reintroduction of a limited steam-hauled service, all three were needed in service on some days. The Dean Forest Diesel Association’s No. 31466 was hired by the NYMR and had been due to remain on the line…

SHUNTERS & INDUSTRIALS RAILWAY Support Services (RSS) has won a contract to supply a shunter to Hitachi at Craigentinny and begun a trial with Imerys at Goonbarrow in Cornwall. The impending change at the former was signalled on May 24, with the arrival of No. 08480 at the Edinburgh maintenance facility, the Class 08 having departed from its reserve role at Lindsey oil refinery the previous day. However, the long-standing requirement for two Class 08s at Craigentinny has been reduced to just one following the changeover, the second duty now being performed by a newly delivered Niteq U-series battery-electric shunter. This was also on site by early June with driver training taking place. The reduction is not overly surprising, given Craigentinny is now largely focussed on maintaining LNER Class 800/801…

CREWE-based Locomotive Services has expanded its Mk.3 fleet with the addition of a Mk.3a RFM (Restaurant First Modular), No. 10212. The former ‘Pretendolino’ catering coach, which was previously owned by Eastern Rail Services (ERS), left Great Yarmouth for Crewe by road on June 21. Although Locomotive Services has yet to announce any plans for the vehicle, it could potentially be used to provide an enhanced catering service within its locomotive-hauled Mk.3 InterCity set, which has, since it entered traffic in 2020, been unable to provide full meals unless another coach is added to the formation. The set recently saw use with blue/grey Mk.1 kitchen car No. 1666 in the consist. No. 10212 is the seventh coach from the ‘Pretendolino’ set to change hands in recent weeks. In May, ERS bought…

A LONG-HELD belief is that the railways of the north have the oldest trains, while those in London and the South East have new fleets. This message was particularly prevalent towards the end of the last decade when local mayors would continually highlight the use of Pacers on local services as a backbone for their calls for change on the railway. In the middle of that was Richard Allan, then the deputy managing director of Northern who had to juggle the introduction of new trains (built by CAF), await electrification projects to be delivered (these, such as Blackpool North, were late) and contend with the constant calls for the franchise to be stripped. You would think, therefore, that coming south to Chiltern Railways (CR) to become managing director would make…

Downtrading hits revenue as passengers seek lower fares INCOME from fares during the first three months of 2023 was £2.2 billion, bringing the total for the financial year to £8.6bn. These statistics are compiled by the Office for Rail and Road (ORR) and published on a quarterly basis. When comparison is made with the same quarter four years ago, which was the last comparable period before Covid travel restrictions were in place, there is a shortfall of £1.0bn, meaning that income amounted to 70% of that received in the first three months of 2019. Journeys have recovered at a far faster rate with 389 million rail users recorded compared to 443 million trips made four years ago, despite nine strike days that affected a number of train operators. The figure…

TWO NEW ADDITIONS to the Accurascale Class 31 collection extends the range into the post Year 2000 era of Network Rail. Two quite different locomotives are offered under the Accurascale Exclusives label, requiring very different bodyshell toolings, not to mention the various pieces of equipment fitted to both locomotives. It brings the total number of locomotives in the range up to 22. No. 31105 is the only nonheadcode box locomotive to enter service with Network Rail, carrying the plain yellow livery which was applied in 2004. It saw several modifications during its time with Network Rail which will have made research challenging for the Accurascale. However, the company is showing that it is expert at single locomotive model development with details specific to individual machines and at realistic prices too.…

REVIEW A little history DESCRIBED AS ‘EARLY SCOTTISH’ Class 37s, the small lot of locomotives delivered during June by Accurascale features the car-style headlamp applied during the 1980s. The collection includes No. 37027 Loch Eil in BR blue with a white stripe; No. 37043 Loch Lomond in BR Large Logo blue livery; Railfreight Distribution No. 37026 Shapfell and unnamed No. 37051 in Trainload Metals livery. All four locomotives have interesting histories and close association with Scotland in the 1980s. The review model is No. 37027 Loch Eil finished in BR blue with the unofficial white stripe applied along the tumblehome, which was short-lived due to management expressing its disapproval of the embellishment. No. 37027 is documented as a solid Eastern Region locomotive prior to transfer to Eastfield in 1980 along…

LOCOMOTIVE hauled operations at TransPennine Express have been modified once again following the discovery of cracks on two rakes of Mk.5A coaching stock. TPE was taken over by the Operator of Last Resort (OLR) on May 28 (RE326), and an operational deep dive has been undertaken by the new interim managing director Chris Jackson and his team. A TPE spokesperson told Rail Express on June 29, that one quick intervention identified was to remove the locomotive hauled trains from the South Route (via Sheffield) which then allows the operator to reintroduce two missing services each day on the Hope Valley route. The spokesperson added that no decisions have been made on Mk.5A deployment for the December 2023 timetable, or beyond. Paul Staples, TPE fleet, safety and service delivery director, said:…

TESTING of Transport for Wales (TfW) Class 398 tram-trains began on the Welsh Valleys between Taff’s Well and Radyr on June 16. Two sets, Nos. 398008/009, were used initially, using both battery and overhead line electrification power. GB Railfreight is undertaking the initial testing. Stadler is building 36 three-car Class 398s for the Core Valley Lines (CVL) element of the South Wales Metro project, with the first tram-trains due to enter traffic next year. TfW plans to deploy the ‘398s’ on services between Cardiff Queen Street and Aberdare, Merthyr Tydfil, Treherbert and Cardiff Bay. They are planned to operate on a proposed new link between Cardiff Bay and Cardiff Central, will also run to Ninian Park and will operate off-street running from Cardiff Bay eventually. The ‘398s’ are currently being…

SLEEPER trains between London and Scotland are now being provided by Scottish Rail Holdings (SRH), an arm’s length body wholly owned and controlled by the Scottish Government. This follows a review of rail franchises in Scotland which resulted in a decision last October to terminate the Caledonian Sleeper (CS) franchise agreement with Serco. Earlier this year, the Scottish Government made the decision that SRH should operate the service, with the transfer happening on June 25. The new company is called Caledonian Sleeper Limited and will operate as a separate business to ScotRail, which is also now controlled by the Scottish Government. All staff, including senior management, are protected by TUPE regulations, and have transferred to the new company. GB Railfreight, which provided crews and traction for CS, has been awarded…

RAILTOURS THERE was a nice surprise for Peter Watts, founder of Pathfinder Tours on June 23, when, unknown to him, colleagues and friends had managed to get him and his family to Gloucester station to unveil a nameplate and plaque on GB Railfreight No. 69006. It had taken eight months of planning and was masterminded by Jack Boskett, photographer and press officer for Pathfinder Tours, the most difficult challenge being to keep the event from becoming known in the public domain, so difficult in an era where social media and instant knowledge is circulated. Mark Hopwood, Great Western Railway managing director, officiated at the ceremony where 69006 and classmate No. 69005 Eastleigh were stabled in Platform 4. Even getting them there without the real reason being known was part of…

CLASS 20 REJUVENATED Harry Needle Railroad Company (HNRC) Type 1 No. 20901, hired to Rail Operations Group (ROG) travelled from Derby to Didcot on June 5, to collect the Eurailscout measuring wagon for onward movement to Bristol Kingsland Road (see Wagons). Both the locomotive and wagon returned to Didcot four days later prior to venturing to London Paddington on the evening of June 12. Further trips with the wagon included HNRC (hired to ROG) Nos. 20901/905 passing Maidenhead at 20.20 on June 26 forming the 5Q73 19.39 Didcot-London Paddington. After a spell at Barrow Hill, Class 20189 Ltd Nos. 20007+20205 visited Leeds Midland Road for tyre turning on June 11, and two days later were back on shunting duties at Peak Forest. CLASS 37 Early on June 8, Scottish Railway…

LOCOMOTIVE DISPOSALS SCRAPPING of Class 58s in France is well-advanced. As this issue of Rail Express went to press, only a handful of the Type 5s stored at Alizay for many years remained intact in northern France. Another locomotive, No. 58044, was stored at Woippy Yard, Metz, and there are suggestions that this could be repatriated, however sources close to those trying to rescue the exported locomotives have suggested it is not possible for a complete ‘58’ to be brought back to the UK and instead any that do return will, in fact, be a mixture of components from several locomotives! Built by British Rail Engineering Limited at Doncaster Works between 1982 and 1987, the ‘58s’ were ordered with the idea that the design could also be exported, hence its…

WALLETS are set to be strained for the foreseeable future as brand-new models fall out of the end of the pipeline, with more exciting releases on the horizon expected from several of the smaller manufacturers in the coming months. The first completely new model to catch our eye this month is a specialised chemical tank wagon modelled in ‘OO’ gauge. Rainbow Railways teamed up with Revolution Trains to produce the Diagram TU013A 51t TUA caustic liquor tank wagon as built by Standard Wagon in 1977. Like so many redundant chemical tank wagons, TUAs were transferred to china clay slurry traffic long before they were life expired, making the new model a particularly useful one for Railfreight-era modellers. It also shows that the drought in specialist tank wagon models is finally…

AS THE PRICE of newly tooled Class 47 models can exceed £200, the difference in cost of detailing the Hornby Railroad range Class 47 versus the purchase of a newly tooled model has grown to the extent that adding lighting to the Hornby model no longer brings the total project cost close to that of newer models. Being able to buy a non-sound Hornby model for considerably less than £100 makes the additional £20 for a lighting kit quite reasonable. If DCC is your preferred control system, you have to buy a decoder regardless of the model’s brand. In this project, a DCC lighting kit is fitted to reworked and detailed Hornby Railroad Class 47s finished as No. 47095 in Railfreight livery, along with the recently completed and featured budget…

WEST Coast Railways (WCR) has been given a three-month exemption extension by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) to continue operating Mk.1s on the national network. The regulator had wanted all operators using Mk.1s to provide a fitment plan for door locking systems. ORR had provided exemptions for companies that had provided plans, but WCR did not provide one, and so was originally given a deadline of June 30. An ORR spokesperson told Rail Express: “WCR will be getting a new exemption, which will run from July 1 to September 30. This new exemption is for a three-month period only, and is granted to WCR to honour its bookings and to reflect the interests of its employees whilst its application for judicial review is determined.” WCR was unable to…

A further seven of the 12 Class 58s at the Euro Cargo Rail depot in Alizay, Northern France, were scrapped during May, including first-built No. 58001. The other six were Nos. 58004/026/032/034/038/042. The loss of the class leader will come as a shock to many enthusiasts, especially considering its spectacular return to its original Railfreight livery at the Wabtec Doncaster open day in July 2003, courtesy of the Class 58 Loco Group. The construction of No. 58001 was a protracted affair with parts shortages in particular pushing the completion date ever further forward. The frames were originally laid down at BREL Doncaster in July 1981, but the locomotive was not sent to the Derby Railway Technical Centre for testing until February 1983, having been handed over to British Rail the…

DELIVERY of the first 24 Tube Stock, currently under construction at Siemens’ Vienna factory, remains on target according to Transport for London commissioner Andy Lord. The newly appointed commissioner (see separate story) told Rail Express that the first train is due to be sent from Vienna to Siemens’ Wildenrath factory for testing during July or August. London Underground expects the first train to be delivered for operating testing next year. Meanwhile, ongoing infrastructure work related to the new trains continues, including power upgrades and extensive work at Cockfosters and Northfields depots. TfL still intends to put the first new trains into passenger traffic towards the end of next year or early 2025. While replacing the 1973 stock, first introduced into passenger service in 1975, isn’t in doubt, the older 1972…

EURAILSCOUT has imported a specialised switch inspection measurement vehicle, known as SIM14, which has been undergoing trials around the Bristol and London Paddington sections of the Great Western Main Line. The Dutch company is best known in Britain for Class 121 camera unit No. 977868 (ex-55029), which was handed over to Carillion Rail in 2004, and Network Rail track assessment diesel multiple units Nos. 999700 and 999701, which were both exported to the Netherlands in 2010. Also numbered 99 84 0362 006-0 NL-EUSCT under the UIC system, the wagon carries the name Sentinel and debuted at the Innotrans trade show in Berlin in September 2018. It is one of six similar vehicles that are based in the Netherlands but can also operate in France and Germany. For British use it…

THE campaign by lobby group West on Track and public representatives who are calling for the mothballed Athenry to Claremorris line to be reopened, received a significant boost on June 1 when multi-national pharmaceutical company, Baxter Healthcare, stated that it supported the campaign. The company, which has manufacturing plants at Castlebar and Swinford and exports most of its products, said that reinstatement of the 33-mile single track line, which is part of the Western Rail Corridor, would provide an alternative route to Waterford to the existing congested one via Kildare. Baxters also reaffirmed its backing for the construction of a new IE freight terminal near its plant at Castlebar (RE325). The commitment by the company to rail is because it has significantly less impact on the environment than road haulage…

NEW LOCOMOTIVE THE first tri-mode Class 93, No. 93001, arrived at Worksop on July 1, where it will be based for the next few weeks before beginning a period of maintenance and main line testing. It is the first of an initial batch of 10 locomotives owned by Rail Operations Assets Ltd (ROAL) that are being built by Stadler in Valencia, Spain. Factory testing has already been undertaken at the Spanish facility; however it cannot yet run on its own power on the national network here in the UK. Instead, testing using an unbranded No. 93002 is underway at the Faurei test facility in Romania. There, the locomotive will undergo various tests which will enable the class to receive the various certification required from the UK regulator, the Office of…

EIGHT DIFFERENT MODELS of the Newton Chambers car carriers are being produced by Bachmann for its EFE Rail range. The model was revealed at this June’s DEMU Showcase exhibition and is a completely new set of toolings with no association with any other similar product. Differences in the headstock detail is accounted for, whether it be the original design or in later condition with electric train supply fittings and airbrakes. Four each of two liveries are included in the catalogue, including BR maroon and BR blue and grey models. Two of each are finished in pristine condition and two are weathered. The models will be available as single vehicles rather than packs of two or more, priced at £59.95. Delivery is slated for late 2023. www.bachmann.co.uk CRANE FRUEHAUF CONTAINERS FROM…

The prototype PART of the IEP (Inter City Express) project to replace HSTs on the Great Western involved a fleet of 36 five-car Class 800/0 bi-mode multiple units constructed by Hitachi. They are equipped with generating units to allow the trains to run on non-electrified lines, making them operationally very flexible. The layout of the five-car sets is fairly standard, with a catering galley at one end of the train, located in driving trailer No. 815008, along with a First Class section (DPTF). The three intermediate vehicles consist of a composite car (MC) and two Standard Class cars (MS), but no buffet counter area for Standard Class passengers. The opposite driving trailer has Standard Class accommodation (DPTS) and pantographs are fitted to both driving vehicles. This is the formation represented…

1ST PRIZE – OO Hornby model of one of 10 Class 66 locos acquired by GBRf in December 2017. Renumbered from 66008 to 66780, it was named ‘The Cemex Express’ at a naming ceremony near Buxton and unveiled by Pete Waterman. 2ND PRIZE – Michael Foley’s entertaining Britain’s Railway Disasters looks at rail accidents from the earliest days up to modern times, while Mark Ovenden’s London Underground by Design is lavishly illustrated and informative. 3RD PRIZE – Two books by Deltic enthusiast Alastair McLean; Deltics - The final roar and Deltics - Shine on. Both are packed with brilliant images. On this page you’ll see our wordsearch grid... while on the page opposite are 16 adverts. On each of those adverts you’ll notice one word is underlined... and each of…

ONE LIVERY not included in the first line-up of the new Graham Farish Class 90 and carried by a number of Class 90s in the 1990s was the international or European version of Railfreight Distribution livery. It was carried by EWS No. 90021, the subject locomotive for this project, until its March 2007 repainting into First ScotRail colours. Prior to that, No 90021 was found on numerous workings, the most notable of which were the short-term locomotive hauled push-pull services between Edinburgh Waverley and North Berwick with former Virgin Trains Mk.3a and DVT stock, along with use on Anglia main line services. No. 90021 was first out-shopped in original RfD livery and although it retained a Class 90/0 number, it did undergo some of the changes applied to the Class…