Railways Illustrated October 2025

Well, I don’t know about you, but I really enjoyed The Greatest Gathering open days at Alstom’s Derby Litchurch Lane on the first weekend in August. A superb event that was professionally delivered. If you chose not to go, or were simply unlucky in not getting a ticket, I’m sorry you missed out on what many are calling the best railway show in a long time. Events like this take an inordinate amount of time to organise, plan, and deliver. A handful of locos were not in the best position, but given they were still shunting at 02.30 on the day of the event opening, it’s inevitable there comes a time when you have to call it quits and leave as is. And yes, one or two locos didn’t make…

AS WIDELY expected, Chiltern Railways has agreed a deal to take on all 13 sets of ex-Transpennine Express Mk. 5A CAF coaches for use on its Marylebone to Stourbridge route. It will increase its locomotive-hauled operations from four to nine diagrams a day. Because the Mk. 5As have a different operating system to the Mk. 3 coaches they will replace, Chiltern will be leasing 68019-032 directly from Beacon and returning 68010-015 to DRS as they cannot operate with the newer coaches. Also,68018Vigilant willbe made available as a ‘rescue only’ loco, but DRS’s 68033/034 (which it owns outright rather than leases fromBeacon) will not be included in any operational agreement, despite them previously being compatible with the Mk. 5A coaches. As soon as the contract was signed, moves began to reactivate…

NEMESIS RAIL is planning to revive 47701 for main line charter work and is understood to be planning to add extra locos to its main line fleet, which will be available for spot hire or to work with its new Mk. 3 coaching set (see page 18). Also understood as being evaluated for reactivation are 31190/454 and 47703 – all the recent acquisitions by the firm. 47701 is being worked on and hoped to be ready by December. It last worked on December 19, 2003, so it will be some 22 years since it last hauled a main line train, although it spent the 2023 Christmas season on hire to the Weardale Railway to work Polar Express trains. Currently, Nemesis Rail has just one main line-registered loco, 31128 Charybdis, which…

EUROPHOENIX RAIL has had unveiled its 37423 in a new grey and turquoise livery. The repaint was undertaken by Boden Rail Engineering at its Colwick depot, near Nottingham. The ex-DRS loco was revealed on August 16 and made its debut main line outing on August 18 hauling 37407 Blackpool Tower and 56113 on a return test run to Loughborough. EPR owns 11 Class 37s and of them, 37501 Teesside Steelmaster, 37510 Orion, 37608 Andromeda, 37611 Pegasus, 37800 Cassiopeia and 37884 Cepheus are dedicated hire locos used by Rail Operations Group. 37218, 37407/423 and 37901 Mirrlees Pioneer are used by EPR itself, which has a train operating licence, while 37069 is stored pending a possible return to traffic.…

→ GBRf has added another 66/6 to its active fleet, with 66777 Amanda returning to traffic as 66687 following on from 66689 Evening Star and 66693. → The latest CrossCountry Class 170/1 to be refurbished is two-car 170113, which joins 170101/112 back in traffic, and in the new livery. → Now in traffic on Great Northern lines are 379001/002/006/010/016/017/020/022-029, and their re-entry into traffic after two years in store has allowed 11 Class 387s–387119/121/123/126-129, 387301/302/305/306 – to transfer to Southern. → 37884 took 455915/919 as 5Q76, the 10.35 Wimbledon Park Depot-Newport Docks scrap move, on August 11, while on August 19, the same 37 took 466017/030 as 5Q66, the 08.57 Ely Papworth Sidings-Kingsbury EMR. → The ORR has agreed additional paths on the East Coast Main Line for Grand Central, Lumo…

AFTERITS use with Network Railended, Class 37 97301 was sold to Boden Rail Engineering for component recovery and expected to go for scrap. Instead, it has been bought by Steve Beniston and taken to Kinsley, near Wakefield. Although bereft of bogies, theex-Cambrian line ERTMS loco is not expected to be scrapped and could be reactivated. Mr Beniston, who owns main line-registered37418An Comunn Gaidhealach and 37508 – typically on hire to Loram – also has 37503 undergoing repairs at the Yorkshire site. He also owns 60050/086 stored there, but their future is less clear at the moment.…