Innehållsförteckning för June 2025 från Railways Illustrated

Firstly, I would like to say a sincere heartfelt thanks to all of you who got in touch with positive comments about my first issue as editor. It seems the nostalgic look at green diesels went down well, and I plan to run a similar pictorial every issue looking at three distinct eras, the 1960/70s, the 1980s, and 1990/00s – or, if you prefer, green, blue and sector/early privatisation eras. If you’d like to contribute, then please get in touch with your ideas or submissions for this. Several people have asked if I’m bringing back the rumours column. For those who don’t remember, during my first tenure at this magazine, I included a light-hearted collection of some of the gossip I picked up while out and about. Some rumours proved…

EAST MIDLANDS Railway unveiled its first fully refurbished Class 170 Turbostar on April 15 at Derby station, marking “the beginning of a transformative year for the company and a significant upgrade in comfort and convenience for regional customers.” The first overhauled unit is 170501, which has emerged in a similar EMR purple that Turbostar fleet already sports. It is the first in a £23 million programme to modernise EMR’s fleet of 27 two-car and 16 three-car Porter-brook-owned Class 170s which date from the turn of the century. The units have been acquired after their use with West Midlands Trains, Southern, ScotRail, Transport for Wales and CrossCountry and so have a mix of internal layouts. This project will bring uniformity to the fleet; the units will be Standard Class only. The…

THE SEVERN Valley Railway has announced that it can move ahead with repairs to the damage caused by a landslip at Mor Brook bridge in late January. This follows a decision by the heritage line’s insurer to pay for the full reinstatement of the bridge’s wing wall and stone arch, as well as the embankment itself. The railway said the final cost will be significantly more than £500,000. SVR managing director Gus Dunster said: “We are delighted with this decision by our insurer, which means we can now move ahead with fixing things. Nevertheless, the SVR is still responsible for funding a substantial excess as part of the settlement. “We are in negotiation with the insurer about the exact amount, but thanks to the generous donations that supporters have made…

MAIN LINE-REGISTERED D213 Andania has returned to Barrow Hill for its annual exam. While there the owner will attend to some body rot on the roof sections, along with tidying up the internal paintwork. New bonnet door seals will also be fitted, along with a bogie and buffer beam repaint. Once the loco is completed, it will be placed onto the load bank for horsepower checks, adjusted, and reset if required. The loco is privately owned but on long-term hire to LSL for charter workings. On April 5 it worked the 07.03 Llandudno Junction-Carlisle Saphos charter as far as Preston, where 60532 Blue Peter took over. The return train, the 15.25 Carlisle-Llandudno Junction, set off around the Cambrian Coast with the steam loco but was turned back at Wigton due…

The Scottish Railway Preservation Society (SRPS) has been promoting its own charter trains for over five decades now and is the only preservation society to have its own rake of coaches certified for use on the national network. It typically ran about eight trains a year from the Scottish Central belt. Most went to the scenic destinations of Oban, Mallaig and Kyle of Lochalsh, with one or two trains a year typically heading to popular locations in England such as Chester, Blackpool, Keighley or York. For years BR ran its trains, then in the privatised era it was predominately EWS until about 2005 when most trains shifted to West Coast Railways. It rarely requested traction, other than some trains with preserved diesels like 40145 and 55022 Royal Scots Grey, but…

This year Direct Rail Services (DRS) celebrates 30 years of operating trains, and from an initial fleet of just five refurbished Class 20s it has grown and diversified during those three decades. DRS was set up as a subsidiary of the Government-owned British Nuclear Fuels Limited. Its creation was initially simple – to operate the movement of BNFL’s materials. These were short loads that ranat infrequent times, although there were regular booked paths in the timetable. However, they were dangerous loads, conveyed in secure flasks. They caused some concern as the movement of highly radioactive loads by rail was seen by some as potentially hazardous, although a demonstration in 1984 when a 138-tonne Class 46 was driven head-on into a ‘derailed’ flask at 100mph proved that not only was damage…

WHICH RAILWAYS ILLUSTRATED SUBSCRIPTION SUITS YOU BEST? BEST VALUE 1: 12-MONTH SUBSCRIPTION 12 print issues for £49 Direct Debit 12 print issues for £54 credit/debit card SAVE £15.80 2: SIX-MONTH SUBSCRIPTION 6 print issues for £26 Direct Debit 6 print issues for £28 credit/debit card SAVE £6.40 WELCOME ABOARD THE BIGGEST RAILWAY COMMUNITY Railways Illustrated is written by enthusiasts for enthusiasts, providing the latest news and developments on the national rail network and from our standard gauge heritage railways. This is the title for anyone who likes heritage diesel and electric traction and showcases some of the best railway photography around. As well as an established team of writers, we also welcome contributions from you, our readers. Take out a subscription, save cash in the process, and take your place in…

For a while, it looked as though a model of the most recent motive power in the Direct Rail Services fleet might not be forthcoming. After all, with just 10 locomotives and, at the time, just one livery, the Stadler Class 88s did not present the most compelling case to be produced in OO gauge, even before considering that, as primarily electric traction, they would be largely restricted to wired routes. After all, Dapol had produced its all-diesel cousins, the Class 68s, very quickly, but none of this speed of production was evident this time. However, the world of modelrailway economics is very different today to what it was even just a few years ago, with an ever-growing number of manufacturers chasing an increasingly shrinking pool of subjects. The way…

FOLLOWING ITS granting of Open Access rights until 2038, Grand Central, through its parent company Arriva, announced on April 3 that it has ordered nine five-car Hitachi AT300 tri-mode multiple units based on the Class 800 platform. The order is worth about £300 million and will increase seats by 20%, which means 400,000 additional seats per year will be available between the North East, Yorkshire and London. The 45 vehicles will be manufactured at Hitachi’s factory at Newton Aycliffe and have been financed by Angel Trains. Hitachi will maintain them on an initial 10-year contract. Arriva has an option to buy more trains if other proposed new service applications are approved. The battery hybrid trains will replace the entire Grand Central fleet of 10 Class 180 and two Class 221…

EMD HAS no plans to scrap the remains of 66048, which is totally stripped and stood on accommodation bogies at its Longport site. The loco was written off by DB Cargo after it derailed and hit a tree at Carrbridge in January 2010. It had just been outshopped in Stobart Rail livery after DBC secured the contract to work intermodal trains for Stobart to Inverness. However, on its first run the train failed to stop on the descent into Carrbridge station in heavy snow and was derailed on trap points to avoid crashing into the station. The loco has been completely gutted internally and the body shell pained black. However, EMD said: “We don’t scrap Class 66s,” indicating there could possibly be a future for it. At the time, GBRf…

HNRC SWIETELSKY has unveiled its first loco in its new livery, a half-and-half orange and deep blue scheme. The loco was released from UKRL’s Loughborough site on March 31 sporting orange window frames at one end, but these have since been changed to blue. On April 9, the loco was named Pegasus, the fifth to carry this name after Class 43 Warship D835 in the 1960s, 47298 in 1990, 47839 in 2006 and 37611 in 2017. The next 37/4 for reactivation is expected to be 37419, while on April 9, 37424 was moved from Barrow Hill to Worksop by D213 Andania in readiness for work to start in returning it to use. Once 37419/424 are back in traffic, HNRCS will have five Class 37/4s in its active fleet – 37405/419/422/424/425.…

A FIVE-DAY special train run by LSL for its chairman, Jeremy Hosking, visited various destinations in England and Wales – but had its fair share of challenges. The train started at Paddington on April 17 behind 57002, which had just been named Winston Churchill, with Southern Railway-style light blue nameplates and oversize crest. It worked as 1Z29, the 10.42 Paddington-Kingswear, and at Bristol TM steam loco 5029 Nunney Castle and 57311 The Institution of Mechanical Engineers took over for the run to the Devon terminus. After overnighting, the 10-coach train left behind the same 57+Castle combination as 1Z29, the 07.50 Kingswear-Taunton, which experienced some very choppy weather as it passed the famous Dawlish sea wall. 37521 and 37667 Flopsie then were on hand to work 1Z30, the 11.00 Taunton-St…

ERS charter debut The long-awaited appearance of the Mk. 2 charter set assembled by Eastern Rail Services finally took place during the second half of March, with 57310 first taking the coaches on a test run from Great Yarmouth to Leicester and back on March 17. The formation featured Mk. 2e BUO 9805 and eight Mk. 2fs, namely RFO 1203 and 1220, FO 3295 and 3385, and TSO 5919, 5937, 6046 and 6173. Of these, 5937 returned to Yarmouth by road during February following its festive hire to the Weardale Railway, while 1203 and 3295 were both newly repainted in the teal livery used by Caledonian Sleeper but also adopted by ERS for much of its stock. For the test run, 3385 was still in InterCity livery, but its repaint…

A particularly busy period for locomotive repaints was headlined by the appearance of two new liveries, including the first look at the HNRC Swietelsky colours that now adorn 37422. Repainted at UKRL’s Loughborough workshops in late March, the half-and-half dark blue and orange livery was subsequently tweaked at Worksop, most notably removing the derided orange windscreen surround it sported upon initial release. Meanwhile, 69014 has become the latest 69 to carry a special livery following release from Eastleigh Works in March, the gold and black colours paying tribute to Electro-Motive Diesels and similar liveries that have graced American locomotives. Also at Eastleigh, 66601 has become the third Freightliner loco to receive a repaint in special 60th anniversary colours, sporting a similar green and yellow scheme to 70008. Locomotive Services-owned 47593…

A GOOD mix of visiting locos made the April 4-6 diesel gala at the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway a success. The event saw the first working by recently-sold 47715, which was joined by 45108 and 50015 Valiant from the East Lancashire Railway, 31108 from Butterley, and main line-registered 50008 Thunderer from Hanson & Hall. Home fleet loco 37227 was also in action, while shunter 08825 gave brake van rides at Princes Risborough. It also saw a welcome reuniting of 50008/015, which spent most of 1991 as special dedicated railtour locos in the final days of the type with British Rail. They worked as a pair for some trains – indeed, 50008 had to pilot other locos as it is air-braked only. It only worked on the Friday and Sunday…

03162 – Llangollen: The shunter has been reunited with its wheels at Llangollen. They have been reprofiled and the axle boxes white-metalled and machined. The final drive has been rebuilt with new oil seals on both input and output shafts. The frame has been steam cleaned, scraped, and primed through to black gloss. All these jobs represent a significant milestone in this loco’s full restoration. D9525 – Llangollen: The ‘Teddy Bear’ is on a year-long loan to the Llangollen Railway and shortly after delivery from Wirks worth went out on a test run. On the climb to Berwyn, all was going well and performing as expected, but upon exiting the tunnel, the water temperature was noticed at 95 degrees, so was far too high. The loco was stopped to allow…

The Phoenix Railway Photographic Circle was founded in 1971 to encourage innovative railway photography by exploring a variety of techniques, approaches and subject matter. Members discuss images in two ways. The circle operates online galleries (some of which are visible to non-members) and portfolios of printed images which are circulated by post. Where Phoenix differs from sites like Flickr and Facebook is in the depth and breadth of the comments made, which makes for more useful feedback. Regular online gallery sessions provide insight into the photographers’ aims and are ideal opportunities to talk about railway photography with fellow members. The galleries provide advanced facilities such as support for high-resolution images. Twice a year we produce a journal dedicated to railway photography; copies can be downloaded free of charge from…

For a rail enthusiast based in South East England, Inverness was a distant enough destination. But the 161 miles of railway from Inverness to Wick took remoteness to a new level and in the late 1970s it was like a step back in time. Not only had the Far North line survived the closure threat of the Beeching era, but it had also retained its loco-hauled passenger trains, its pick-up freight trains calling at station goods yards, and its traditional semaphore signalling. It was partly due to the large amount of parcels, mail, and newspaper traffic that DMUs were kept at bay. The first departure of the day from Inverness sometimes comprised as many parcels vans as passenger coaches. Class 26s held a near-monopoly of the passenger workings until the…

A NUMBER of heritage railways had to implement steam bans in mid-April due to the excessively hot weather, while some main line steam charters were worked with diesel assistance to reduce the risk of lineside fires. The worst affected was the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. The inaccessibility of the line where it crosses Newtondale means it is hard for emergency services to reach fires. With this in mind, the NYMR always errs on the side of caution and runs with diesel instead of steam after any sustained dry period. 31128 Charybdis, 31466, 37264 and 47077 North Star were all pressed into service, with the 31/1 working the Whitby trains for several days. By April 16, some sustained rain had eased the issue and by Good Friday steam was running as…

SEVERAL TRANSPORT for Wales trains booked to be worked by Class 67 and Mk. 4 sets are due to be diverted over some weekends in May and June. From May 6-9, 1W11 will be diverted via East Usk, while 1W13 will start at Cardiff, which will also apply to the latter train from June 9-13/23-27. May 13-16 sees 1V31 diverted via Chester and again in June 24-27. June 22 sees trains diverted via the Vale of Glamorgan line and the Mk. 4 trains will start or terminate at Cardiff, and the same will apply on July 6. Finally, on August 2-23, due to the Stockport blockade, trains will be diverted via Styal.…

A NUMBER of charter trains have run of late, visiting a mix of freight lines and scenic routes and using interesting traction. On March 15, Pathfinder Railtours visited a number of freight lines in the Home Counties with its ‘Thames Valley Wanderer.’ Top-and-tailed by 57009 GJ Churchward and 57315, it made appearances at Colnbrook and Brentford in West London and Appleford, near Oxford. The following weekend, March 21-23, The Branch Line Society rans its ‘Because We Can 3’ tour from Linlithgow to Wick. The train set off on the Friday with 37401 Mary Queen of Scots and 37403 Isle of Mull top-and-tailing eight SRPS coaches and went to Inverness via Leven and a trip on the Strathspey Railway, where 37674 was added. The next day was a trip to Wick…

FORMER RAILWAYS Illustrated contributor and Chiltern Railways driver manager Mark Hare unexpectedly died on March 22 aged just 54. He was an RI sub-editor and proof-reader for several years in the late 2000s and early 2010s. The magazine’s editor, Pip Dunn, said: “I was in a state of utter disbelief when I heard my good friend Mark had passed away at such a young age. He worked on RI during my first tenure as editor and was exceptional in his attention to detail and my ‘safety net’ on many occasions. His love of Class 47s was amazing, and he was also a superb photographer and a committed career railwayman. “As you get older, you get used to losing friends, but you don’t expect to lose someone like Mark who was still…

The working relationship between GB Railfreight and Electro-Motive Diesels has been commemorated by naming 69014 after the latter’s Stoke workshops, where the Class 69 conversion programme is drawing to a close and which regularly sees GBRf Class 66s for maintenance. Meanwhile, now repainted in the new HNRC Swietelsky livery, 37422 has been named Pegasus, after the winged horse from Greek mythology. It has become the fifth diesel loco to carry this name, following D835, 47298, 47839 and most recently 37611, the latter losing its nameplates upon repainting in March 2023. Another GBRf loco with a new name is 57310, which was christened UK Railtours during the company’s ‘Thames Meanderer’ charter, this taking in various locations in Essex including Tilbury, Southend and Shoeburyness. Ahead of the Chinnor & Princes Risborough diesel…

BOTH THE West Somerset Railway’s Class 35 Hymeks, two of just four survivors from the once 101-strong fleet, look set to star at the line this summer in what is the 50th anniversary since the last of the class were withdrawn by BR. A successful fundraising appeal for D7017 has reached and surpassed its target. Following a flurry of donations received at the end of March, its owner, the Diesel & Electric Preservation Group (DEPG), said it is “delighted to state that our expectations have been shattered because the D7017 bodywork repair fund was aiming for £12,000 but has now topped £16,000.” A total of 86 people donated ensure that the loco will be back in service in time for the WSR’s June 5-7 diesel gala. The repair work on…

THE LAKESIDE & Haverthwaite Railway ran a diesel gala on March 29/30, allowing its small fleet of diesel a rare chance to be enjoyed by enthusiasts. In use was 20214, which only very occasionally works passenger trains at the railway, and often does so unannounced, both Class 03s D2072 and D2117, former War Department Class 11 derivate WD878, and the line’s Class 110 DMU. This was the LHR’s first diesel gala since 2007 and it has generally rarely advertised any working by the Class 20, be they planned or last minute.…

THE TEAM behind the ambitious project to attempt to build a new ‘LMS Twin’ 10000 Co-Co diesel has been able to repatriate three traction motors from The Netherlands and they have arrived at Centenary Works. The Ivatt Diesel Recreation Society said: “We have developed friendly and professional links with Werkgroep 1501 in the Netherlands, the team behind the preservation of Class 77 1501 (E27003), which is in the Dutch national railway collection in Utrecht. “The LMS twins and the EM2s shared many similar parts, and our acquisition of these traction motors is of huge benefit to our project.” IDRS will now assess the nine traction motors in its ownership in the hope to have at least one tested in the forthcoming months. An additional six motors were obtained in 2019…

Railway photography for me is about two things: a record for capturing a point in time to preserve a memory and an art form to create a great-looking image. Sometimes for me that is to recreate an essence of how things used to be. I’m always looking out for a composition that takes me back to when I was young, particularly the early 1980s. I like the challenge of capturing an image that looks almost like it could have been taken in the past. This is hard because modern details creep into the scene. It requires a suitable subject, an appropriate backdrop, often some tight composition to exclude modernity, and some compromises. It’s rarely going to be a perfect recreation of the past, but it is great fun trying to…

AUTHOR: Tim Hillier-Graves PUBLISHER: Pen & Sword ISBN: ISBN 978-1-036106-66-9  PRICE: £30 WEBSITE: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk THIS BOOK, subtitled the story of Britain’s last gas turbine locomotive, is a 180-page hardback text dedicated to the fascinating machine that was GT3 – a trial 4-6-0 that to all intents and purposes looked like a large steam locomotive, complete with tender, but was actually a gas turbine machine. Built in the late 1950s but not officially unveiled until early 1961, its creation was the work mostly of one man, John Hughes. The author here has produced a superb and weighty book that looks at the story of gas turbine use for railways and the complete story of GT3, from its design and development to construction and testing. Although history tells us that GT3 cannot be…

➔ In June 1985, the first Class 37 fitted with Electric Train Supply was released from Crewe Works ready to work in the Scottish Highlands. Over the next eight months, 31 Class 37/4s were converted from Class 37/0s and have covered the length and breadth of the country ever since, and many are still in use on the main line today. ➔ Identity parade: Pip Dunn gives tips on how to identify loco identities on those images you forgot, can’t remember, or just know what the loco depicted actually is! Some are easy, some take time, and yes, sometimes it’s nigh on impossible, but with some guidance you will (hopefully!) never need to write ‘an unidentified…’ ever again! ➔ John Whiteley remembers…. Deltics around York. Renow railway photographer John Whiteley…