Innehållsförteckning för March/April 2023 från Traction

We start this issue with an article by Michael S. Welch about a visit to northern Scotland to photograph trains on the Highland Main Line and the line to Kyle of Lochalsh. All didn’t go quite as planned due to the weather but fortunately another photographer, Martin Axford, has been able to fill in some of the gaps in Michael’s coverage. David Hayes starts a new series of articles about the transportation of carbon dioxide by rail and in the first part looks at the years before the end of Speedlink services. A hair raising experience is recalled by Stuart Broughton in his article about testing a Class 56 on the main line after maintenance at Toton depot. In the 1970s, Tyneside based Trevor Ermel ventured south to photograph East…

Carbon dioxide has various applications in industry, one of the most well known being its use by fizzy drinks companies. It is also used by the brewery industry and in the production of sparkling wines. The gas was conveyed by rail under pressure in a liquid state using purpose built two axle type tank wagons, the first of which were introduced in the early 1960s. These and the other tank wagon variants constructed in the 1960s and during the 1970s for CO2 will be discussed in more detail in David Ratcliffe’s ‘companion’ article in TRACTION 275. Although the traffic was more commonly to be seen being conveyed in mixed wagonload freight formations, there were times when carbon dioxide was moved in block trainload consignments as well, especially during the early…

in partnership with ‘Alexandra Sidings’ is a split-level O gauge layout. Unlike many split evel layouts, the usual format has been reversed with a low-level station at the front, and an upper-level parcels depot to the rear. The layout is a replacement for David Hampsons previous layout, ‘Oldham King Street Parcels’, and is a similar size, though the design allows greater use of visible scenic sections with hidden sidings, rather than a separate fiddle yard. The layout was planned and built during the Covid pandemic, by Keith Harrison and David, which presented its own particular challenges – not only the lack of exhibitions and having to purchase everything online, but David and Keith lived over 30 miles apart. Based on their individual areas of interest and expertise, Keith took on…

Manufactured to its own design, West Hill Wagon Works has released a kit containing parts to assemble a 7 1/4in gauge railway for 4mm:1ft scale. Modelled in CAD and 3D-printed in white plastic, the set contains an impression of a 1-Co-Co-1 ‘Peak’ locomotive, a driving truck and four bogie carriages. Track is provided too, with three lengths of straight track, a set of points, and two short curves. Priced at £5.95, add-on packs of the 3D-printed track section are also available, priced at £2.95.…

During the summer of 1993 I was employed in BR’s grandly named Network Repair Control Centre, located at Southern House, Croydon. You may not have guessed it from the title but our office was responsible for organising the repair and maintenance of Network South East’s vast fleet of electric and diesel multiple units plus the residual locomotive fleet. The junior clerk in the office was, to put it mildly, a fanatical modern traction fan and I could never understand his addiction to diesels as I had grown up during the last years of the BR steam era. Our young colleague, much to the dismay of the boss, was in constant touch with like minded friends who could be quickly contacted at the other end of the phone and there was…

Repairs The saga of 56005 began on Monday 29th November 1988 when, following engine repairs, it was required to be coupled to the load bank at Toton depot for running in and tests. Stages 7, 8 and 9 of the tests were left to do. Stage 7 was started and on completion the high water temperature relay tripped. After more checks the fans were found not to be running. As we had taken over the job from the previous shift on Tuesday morning, a check round soon located a burst hydrostatic hose which was quickly replaced. On the run up the fans were now running continuously. As we were unable to rectify the fault on the load test, the loco was uncoupled and returned to the shed for both hydrostatic…

Dapol has announced tooling for ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ variants of the Powell and Duffryn-built JHA hopper wagons in 4mm:1ft scale, with delivery of models expected in 2023. The project is in tooling, and production models expected to be arriving with retailers in Q3, 2023. Early CAD images have been shown (for illustration only) and Dapol has said that the number of internal ribs has been corrected, with “other adjustments made to underframe detailing.” Models are to carry an RRP of £60.00 for the end hoppers, with middle hoppers priced at £55.00. For all the latest modelling news head to www.world-of-railways.co.uk…

The island of Anglesey (Ynys Môn in Welsh) is the largest island in Wales with an area of 260 square miles. The island is linked to the mainland over the Menai Straits by two bridges, the first being the suspension bridge designed by Thomas Telford, was opened in 1826. The railway’s Britannia Bridge, built by Robert Stephenson, was opened in 1850. After a fire seriously damaged the parallel tubes in 1970, it was rebuilt as a combined rail and road bridge with this reconstruction lasting over a period of years from 1972 to 1980. Today the only operational railway on Anglesey is the main line to Holyhead where ferry connections to Dublin can still be made. Gavin Morrison’s photographs give us a taste of traffic to be seen on the…

Whilst Michael Welch encountered bad weather conditions when he tried to photograph the Class 26s on the Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh trains, Martin Axford had much better luck earlier in August. 26001 and 26007 were repainted in their early 1960s green livery in 1992. At the same time 26001 was named ‘Eastfield’ in celebration of the pair’s home depot in Glasgow, it being the only named Class 26. In the summer of 1993 they were often used on a Wednesday only Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh diagram to mark the passing of loco haulage on this iconic scenic line. After the repaint both locos also carried their original pre-TOPs numbers, D5301 and D5300. D5300 had become 26007 after the original 5307 was withdrawn in 1977. They were the first…

In the summer of 1975Trevor Ermel spent a week with his camera on the East Coast Main Line travelling around with a seven-day Eastern Railrover, which cost him £21. Rather than waste valuable daylight hours returning home to Gateshead each evening, he was based nearer the action at the London end of the line by staying with relatives in Cuffley (on the Hertford North line out of King’s Cross). His records indicate that he also spent two nights in Cleethorpes (no doubt at a suitable seaside b&b) although he now has no recollection of doing so! During his travels he kept a lookout for semaphore signals and old signal boxes and made a point of including them in some of his photographs if they were within walking distance of a…

The evolution of my railway enthusiasm probably follows a path common to many readers of TRACTION. Having started by collecting numbers, I was bitten by the bashing craze of the 1980s and moved on to locomotive haulage and travelling over as much of the rail network as possible. As services began to be rationalised, or were turned over to HSTs, the opportunities for haulage reduced in my native Yorkshire so I started to look for a new angle to the hobby. It is easy to forget in this age of the internet and social media that it wasn’t a simple matter in those days to obtain information about what was going on elsewhere and then to simply travel to where the action was, as knowledge was far more localised. My…