Innehållsförteckning för August 2024 från Rail Express

THE pioneer GB Railfreight bi-mode Class 99 locomotive will start testing at the Stadler factory in Valencia soon, the operator has confirmed. A delegation from Infracapital, which owns GBRf, and from the operator, visited the Spanish facility in late June to see progress of the new locomotives. Stadler is building an initial 30 Class 99s while there is an option for a further 20. They will be leased from Beacon Rail. GBRf confirmed that No. 99001 is close to undertaking its maiden voyage at the Valencia site’s test track, before undergoing a rigourous testing programme ahead of it entering traffic next year. The first locomotive is due to be unveiled to the industry at the InnoTrans show in Berlin in September, before heading to the Velim test track. The ‘99s’…

ALSTOM will build an additional 10 nine-car Class 345 electric multiple units in a deal that eases the pressure on Derby Litchurch Lane. The manufacturer announced on June 14 that it had signed a £370 million contract for the 10 trains, with associated maintenance until 2046. £220.5 million worth of funding has been provided by the Department for Transport (DfT), with Transport for London (TfL) also contracting for the provision of maintenance on the 10 EMUs until 2046. The trains will be used on the Elizabeth Line, which continues to experience passenger demand ahead of predictions. Currently there are 70 nine-car Class 345s in use on the cross-London railway, which opened in stages from May 24, 2022, and it is believed that they won’t be able to meet the required…

THE last of Merseyrail’s 53 Stadler Class 777 electric multiple units, seven of which are fitted with batteries, arrived in the country during June. The appearance of No. 777035 in the United Kingdom concludes the delivery of the fleet which began over four years ago; the first set, No. 777003, arrived in January 2020. No. 777035 was hauled from Dollands Moor to Wembley Yard, along with Nos. 555002/021 (which were bound for Nexus), by DB Cargo No. 66067 on June 12. Here, the units were split and No. 777035 continued north as the 6Q77 18.31 Wembley Yard-Walton Old Junction (Warrington) behind RailAdventure power car Nos. 43468/480. As of late June, it remained at Walton Old Junction, along with Nos. 777033/047 which had been delivered at the end of May. Making…

THE 6LDA Group’s No. 26038 Tom Clift 1954-2012 returned to passenger service on June 29, after the completion of a four-year overhaul at the Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway. Its first working was a trip from Bo’ness to Manuel and back with Neilson Reid steam locomotive No. 1 Lord Roberts for company. Some finishing work, such as application of numbers and double arrows, is still to be carried out. No. 26038 last saw regular use when it was on extended loan to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway between 2016 and 2019. It returned to Bo’ness in October 2019 but had to be stopped two months later after a generator flashover. This resulted in an engine overhaul being undertaken as well, in addition to its generator being sent away for repairs. Bodywork…

CLASS 08 (TOTAL 232) D3000 WorksopD3002 Plym Valley RailwayD3014 Dartmouth Steam RailwayD3019 Cambrian Heritage RailwaysD3101 Great Central RailwayD3255 Private Site, LeaveningD3261 Swindon & Cricklade Railway08011 Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway08015 Severn Valley Railway08016 Peak Rail08021 Tyseley Locomotive Works08022 Cholsey & Wallingford Railway08032 Mid Hants Railway08046 Caledonian Railway08054 Embsay Steam Railway08060 Cholsey & Wallingford Railway08064 Locomotion, Shildon08102 Lincolnshire Wolds Railway08108 Kent & East Sussex Railway08114 Epping Ongar Railway08123 Cholsey & Wallingford Railway08133 Severn Valley Railway08164 East Lancashire Railway08168 Nemesis Rail, Burton08195 Llangollen Railway08202 Llangollen Railway08220 Great Central Railway (North)08238 North Yorkshire Moors Railway08266 Keighley & Worth Valley Railway08288 Mid Hants Railway08308 Barrow Hill08331 Midland Railway - Butterley08359 Avon Valley Railway08375 Boston Docks08377 Mid Hants Railway08389 Cardiff Tidal08401 Hunslet, Barton-under-Needwood08405 Neville Hill08410 AV Dawson, Middlesbrough08411 RSS, Wishaw08417 Tyseley Locomotive Works08418 WCR, Carnforth08423…

REVIEW TT GAUGE 1:120 scale 1979 to present ERA First impressions ‘HELLFIRE!’ would be the exclamation made by platform end enthusiasts when watching Class 50s lift heavy Western Region Inter-City trains or a nine-coach NSE Waterloo-Exeter service from a standing start under full power. The low beat and exhaust sound of the English Electric 16 CSVT power unit is unique, and once heard, is never forgotten. Does the miniature Class 50 with TXS sound from Hornby rekindle memories of those days of locomotive-hauled action on the West of England Main Line? Well, upon lifting the models from their boxes, the very first impression is that Hornby has nailed the visual character of the class. The model has the bulk and character of the real locomotives with an excellent balance of scale…

A QUICKIE project to rework Hornby’s Class 08 No. 3817 into a BR blue Class 09 started by adding illuminated marker lights to the locomotive. It was supplied with a factory installed TTS sound decoder and an 8 Ohm speaker fitted to the inside of the radiator grille which was removed. Once completed and installed, the model was renumbered as Class 09, No. 09003 and finished in fairly clean BR blue to represent the locomotive in the early 1990s prior to its relocation to South Wales. The main features of No. 3817 match No. 09003 well, including cab and bonnet doors. The lighting project can be used to model any Class 08 shunter, the number of LEDs needed being determined by the number of marker lights fitted to the locomotive.…

John Heaton finds an unexpected opportunity to go half-a-century back in time. FOLLOWERS of diesel-hydraulic Class 52s have learnt to be patient. After No. D1015 Western Champion was sidelined in 2016, the locomotive’s supporters have suffered some false dawns as their aspirations of once again travelling behind these charismatic machines were thwarted. This was not for the lack of effort from the dedicated Diesel Traction Group, as it battled against financial and logistical odds to get the 1962 Maybach-engined C-C Western back on the main line. Thanks to the group’s co-operation with Pathfinder and UK Railtours, these hopes came to fruition on April 14, when a proving run from Paddington to Birmingham was opened to the public as the ‘One Way Wizzo’ charter. Remembering the days when the Westerns used…

REFURBISHED and reformed Class 458/4s entered traffic on June 24, but not on the routes they were initially planned to operate on. South Western Railway had originally planned to dispense with the ‘458s’ and use ‘442s’ but instead decided to retain the Alstom electric multiple units and deploy them on the London Waterloo-Portsmouth Harbour route. This saw the decision to return them to four-car sets after they were reformed into five-car sets from 2013 onwards. However, SWR said that due to changes in passenger behaviour, the ‘458s’ will now not serve the coast in the near future and instead will “temporarily operate services on SWR’s suburban network.” The operator said that this would be while it continued to work on the full introduction of its Class 701 Arterio fleet, which…

SCOTRAIL has begun lengthening more of its High Speed Trains sets from four to five vehicles, adding coaches which have been stored for several years to three rakes. It increases the number of five-car sets in service from five to eight (see table). The first of the latest sets to be strengthened, HA09, re-entered service on June 1, with Trailer Standard (TS) No. 42032 having been added to its formation. This coach, along with Nos. 42009/047, 42213, had been moved from Slateford to Haymarket during May, and Nos. 42009/047 were subsequently added to HA14 and HA03 respectively, with No. 42213 due to be placed in a set in the coming weeks. They had been stored at Slateford for over three years, having moved there following release from Wabtec, Doncaster on…

THE Railway Preservation Society of Ireland (RPSI) ran the “201 at 30 Railtour” from Dublin Heuston to Rosslare Europort via Kildare and return to Connolly on June 15, to mark 30 years in service of the GM 201 Class fleet. The tour’s train, featuring van No. 3173 and six Cravens coaches was initially hauled empty to Heuston from Inchicore by No. 219. Traction for the first leg of the tour from Heuston (departing 08.10) to Kildare was 071 Class locomotive No. 084 as no other 201 Class locomotive was available. No. 219 followed, running as a light locomotive, replacing No. 084 at Kildare and working the remainder of the tour. The choice of Rosslare Europort as the destination for the tour was because a 201 Class locomotive working a passenger…

REVIEW 00 GAUGE 4mm:1ft 1966 to 2009 ERA THE VIBRANT COLOURS of CIÉ Supertrain livery are applied to one of the four new 181 (B) Class locomotives issued by Murphy Models for 2024. At the same time, four 141 (B) Class were released using the same tooling suite. In all, four different liveries are applied to both models making at least two iconic locomotives available for a given era, if not more. For all intents and purposes, the two locomotives types are externally the same, the major differences being internal, making this assessment applicable to both locomotive classes. Thirty-seven 141 Class locomotives were introduced in 1962, built by General Motors EMD. They were fitted with EMD 8-567CR engines rated at 960hp. Upgrading of engines and fitting of different engines took…

IN THE July issue of Rail Express Modeller, alternative cleaning methods, along with the chemicals suitable for improving the conductivity between wheel and rail, were investigated. Several compounds have now been trialled over a long period of time on an ‘N’ gauge and a 4mm scale layout with double track main running lines allowing materials to be tested alongside each other. The objective was to find products that will limit track cleaning cycles to avoid damaging scenery, structures, signals and overhead line equipment (OHLE). Improvement in the Performance of models, including those with digital sound and lighting was also sought, with the results carefully monitored during the tests. Caring for the rails falls into two areas: track rail head cleaning to remove dust, dirt and metal oxides, and rail conditioning…

VANDALISM of London Transport Museum’s 1938 Tube Stock forced the cancellation of June 9’s planned heritage trips on the Piccadilly Line between Acton Town and Oakwood. LTM was forced to announce the cancellation late in the afternoon of June 8. A series of trips had been announced by the LTM in May, with that on June 9 due to be the first. “The hard work of both volunteers and specialists from the LTM and London Underground has reversed the damage. This means that the trips between Harrow-on-the-Hill and Uxbridge can now take place during the weekend of Saturday and Sunday July 20/21,” said LTM director and CEO Elizabeth McKay. “Those who lost out on the opportunity to travel on the trip in June were given priority on the July trips,”…

WHAT was likely to be the final UK coal train was operated by GB Railfreight on June 28, with No. 66781 hauling the 6M61 08.25 Doncaster Down Decoy-Ratcliffe Power Station. Upon arrival at its destination, the ‘66’ was named Ratcliffe Power Station to mark the end of the domestic coal being moved by train. The power station, operated by Uniper, is due to close on September 30. The 1650-tonne train carried enough coal to generate electricity for approximately 500,000 homes for an eight-hour period. The power station was first commissioned in 1967 and was the last operational coal-fired power station in Britain, and its 2GW capacity can produce enough electricity to power more than two million homes. GBRf said that the final train was a significant landmark as the UK…

HAVING just made it to their 30th birthday, the former Buxton Lime Industries (BLI) fleet of JGA hoppers has been almost obliterated, with the scrapping of 17 of the 20-strong batch by Thomsons of Prudhoe at North Blyth in March and April, for Mandy Rail/VTG Rail UK. Stored since being removed from service in 2023, Nos. VTG 19200-4/6-17 had initially moved from East Usk Yard on July 4, 2023, as the 6Z96 08.01 to Mountsorrel, hauled by DB Cargo UK No. 66089 for power. They subsequently made their final journey on March 13, behind GB Railfreight No. 66724 Drax Power Station, as the 6L91 11.33 to North Blyth for component recovery and their date with the demolition shear. Although many younger hoppers have been disposed of in the last few…

POWERSCENE CLASS 20 Training runs over the Heart of Wales line employed Locomotive Services Group Nos. D8096 (20096) and D8107 (20107) Jocelyn Feilding 1940-2020 over a period of four days in the middle of June. Sandwiching Mk.2d No. 17159 they formed the 5Z20 08.40 Crewe-Ninian Park, Cardiff, on June 10, later that afternoon heading to Landore. The next day the ‘20s’ travelled to Craven Arms with a stopover at Llandrindod before heading back to Swansea. Finally, on June 13, the Type 1s and coach formed the 5Z24 09.10 Landore-Crewe departing from Llandrindod at 13.06. Passing Princes Risborough at 14.00 on June 21, Nos. 20007 and 20205 had Chiltern Railways’ Mk.3 Driving Van Trailer No. 82301 for company on the 5V82 12.50 Wembley-Bristol Barton Hill routed via Oxford and Swindon. CLASS…

A welcome sight at the Barton-under-Needwood workshops of Hunslet in mid-June was that of No. 08530 largely back together and nearing the end of a protracted overhaul. This scenario had seemed unlikely until earlier this year as the shunter languished outside as a stripped shell, having arrived from Trafford Park back in June 2021. The return to traffic of the Class 08 will restore Freightliner’s DDIN pool to its full complement of seven shunters, the operational members of which are currently divided up between Southampton, Ipswich, Felixstowe and Trafford Park. Only No. 08891 is also currently out of traffic, a short distance away from No. 08530 at the Nemesis Rail depot at Burton upon Trent. The overhaul of No. 08530 has also brought a repaint into the current Freightliner orange…

Biomass wagons are back! DRAX BIOMASS WAGONS make a welcome return to the Hornby range for the second half of 2024, with two wagon twin packs being added to the catalogue, priced at £79.99 per pair. One pack contains No. 83 70 0698 009-3 and No. 83 70 0698 071-3 decorated in Northern Powerhouse livery (R60176A). The second pack (R60177A) consists of No. 83 70 0698 083-8 and 83 70 0698 158-8 in different versions of the Northern Powerhouse scheme to those in pack R60176A, making four individually numbered wagons available. This model has not been available for some years and with suitable traction readily available, they will be popular. Budget Grand Central HST Another set of HST models was revealed, this time for open access operator Grand Central with…

ROLLING STOCK LOOKING across Vauxhall Carriage Sidings, near Great Yarmouth, it’s fair to say that the facility has not been this busy in decades. Over the past four years, an array of coaching stock, mainly Mk.2s and Mk.3s with some Mk.1s as well as a Class 08, a ‘31’ and even a ‘321’, have all been acquired by Eastern Rail Services (ERS), which operates the facility. Most, but not all, have moved to the Norfolk site for storage, repairs, restoration, routine maintenance and subsequent commercial duties. ERS has taken advantage of the introduction of new fleets across the network to acquire vehicles that had been refurbished only a couple of years before being returned to their various leasing companies, or owners. These include the ex-Greater Anglia Mk.3s and former Direct…

THE Scottish Railway Preservation Society (SRPS) has joined forces with the Royal Scot Locomotive and General Trust (RSL&GT), part of the Locomotive Services Group empire, in a deal which will see RSL&GT provide financial input to enable SRPS Mk.1s to operate on the main line again. The deal will also see the SRPS site at Bo’ness used as a base for LSG to stable locomotives and stock. LSG traction will also be used on the Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway. Sixteen Mk.1 coaches are involved and the initial plan is for 10 vehicles to be used on charter services. SRPS has been unable to use the stock due to Office of Rail and Road (ORR) directives while the rolling stock owners undertake a programme of inspections on its vehicles. In particular…