Sommaire pour March 2018 de Rail Express

THERE was surprise at the end of December when, just before his resignation as chairman of the National Infrastructure Committee, Lord Adonis suggested that freight paths caused reduced capacity for passenger services and that the poor punctuality of freight trains reduced the performance outcome. This was despite his acknowledgement of the environmental benefits of rail. It was suggested that motorway lorry ‘platooning’ could replace rail services, although the idea of running groups of wagons together under the radio control of a single driver is unproven technology, and would present significant problems in negotiating roundabouts and motorway slip roads. An interim report will be published in June, and freight stakeholders have been quick to draw attention to the drawbacks of any policy that discriminates against rail. This could include raising track…

WHILE most of British Rail’s first generation DMU fleet was phased out of operation by the mid-1990s, the Class 121 ‘Bubble Cars’ proved too useful to be completely discarded and many passed to the departmental fleet for use as Sandite layers during the autumn leaf-fall season. It was one of these that Balfour Beatty and Omnicom Engineering employed as a’go-anywhere’ vehicle in 2000, to fulfil a contract carrying out a video survey of the entire network for Railtrack, which was the private company that had taken over ownership of Britain’s rail infrastructure from BR in 1994. And 2Z02, or ‘Two Zulu Zero Two’ to use the phonetic terminology, was the headcode that it ran under during that survey. The aim was to provide Railtrack with a complete video record of…

LAST month we spent some time assessing the performance of 2x5-car Class 800 IETs in diesel mode. The controversial issue of power output, as specified and as being delivered, is still exercising the attention of observers. And are IETs better at starting away than an HST? To find out, I went back to Swindon on a Paddington-Swansea express worked by a 2+8 HST set. Our IET recordings examined the acceleration over the 1-in-1320 up/1-660 down westbound departure from Swindon. Internet chatter has commended the IETs for their swift getaways compared with a HST – while also admitting that the HST soon caught up. How soon though? Many station starts by HSTs are undertaken in low power notches nowadays, and it is rare to encounter ones that reach notch five as…

THE festive period gave London Underground the opportunity to undertake maintenance work on crucial projects, including track upgrades at Earl’s Court; connecting the Northern Line’s Kennington Loop to the forthcoming Nine Elms and Battersea extension; and cabling work for the first section of new Sub-Surface Line signalling. Earl’s Court is the hub of the District Line, with connections to north, south, east and west London, meaning the junctions either side of the station are heavily used. A redesign has been an ongoing project for some time, and Christmas 2017 saw three track junctions replaced. Trains should now be able to pass through the area quicker, allowing for a more frequent service as well as reducing incidents of track defects that cause delays and frustration for passengers. The Kennington Loop allows…

THE period under review saw the first two renumbered Class 66/7s emerge from Eastleigh Works following repainting out of their previous EWS or DB colours. First out of the Arlington paintshop in GBRf blue and orange was No. 66782, this being the former No. 66046, and it was joined by No. 66781 (ex-No. 66016) at the end of January. No. 66782 departed under its own power to Hoo Junction on January 22, before being included in the 6L36/19.51 Hoo Junction-Whitemoor behind No. 66729 the next evening. Initially moved onwards to Doncaster Roberts Road, the sparkling GM was engaged on training runs between Derby and Stoke at the end of the month. Next to appear from Eastleigh Works should be No. 66788 (previously No. 66238) with No. 66058 awaiting its turn…

MUCH like last year, 2018 had barely begun when the first Class 08 was disposed of for scrap. Twelve months ago it was spares donor No. 08807 that was put out of its misery after years in store at AV Dawson’s Middlesbrough terminal. This time around, the unfortunate machine, No. 08913, was more of a surprise, but perhaps not in much better condition on reflection. The shunter was most recently in the ownership of the Hunslet Engine Company, and thus ultimately Wabtec, and was one of three Class 08s originally painted in the unmistakable yellow, blue and green livery of Malcolm Rail for use at Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal. No. 08913 initially arrived at Daventry in December 2009 and impressively remained on site until March 2013, apart from a…

SOME five-and-a-half years since the last batch of bogie TEA tank wagons arrived in the UK, VTG Rail UK has taken delivery of the first 21 of a planned fleet of 42 aviation fuel tankers from Greenbrier Europe’s plant in Swidnica, Poland. They are numbered Nos. 81 70 7836 000-2 to 81 70 7836 041-6 with the TOPS code TEA-L and design code TE049A. The new wagons continue the growing trend of dropping the ‘f’ from the UIC/ERA code. The last group to arrive, the 50 Greenergy tanks, were numbered in the 7792 series and designated Zafgns. The new aviation fuel tanks are numbered in the 7836 series with the Zans designation. The ‘g’ in the 7792 series wagons denotes the transport of gases under pressure. The new tankers, which…

FOLLOWING on from its highly successful Class 15, the Little Loco Company has announced it will tackle the North British Class 22 diesel hydraulics as its next BR ready-to-run model in ‘O’ gauge. With the Type 2s being a minefield of detail variations, the initial releases will portray the production versions from No. D6306 onwards, with the Pilot Scheme batch following shortly afterwards. Five different cab fronts have been designed to cater for the headcode box styles and other variations, while at least five incarnations of BR green and BR blue will be offered. Equally notable is that the model will be supplied with ScaleSeven wheels pre-fitted if desired. The specification promises to be revolutionary for a R-T-R model, this partly being driven by the open nature of the bogies,…

A PRESSING need for some engineers’ stock for exhibition use was the catalyst for this project, the wagons needing to be a quick and simple job due to a shortage of time. Rummaging around the stock cupboard turned up some spare Bachmann OBA opens, these having been acquired as well-priced bulk buys some time earlier. Like most of Bachmann’s ‘OO’ gauge BR air-braked wagon models, the OBAs are a very solid offering as supplied with little in the way of extra detailing actually required. The main limiting factor of the model is that it portrays the batch built by Ashford Works between 1977-79 as Nos. 110001-500. The 300 extra wagons that followed from Shildon in 1978/79, Nos. 110501-800, had more noticeable square doorstops, some of which were in different positions…

RECENTLY released by Bachmann is the latest addition to its slightly belated celebration of the Railfreight sub-sector livery, depicting VDA van No. 200706 (38-147). This was the wagon chosen to launch the new image at Ripple Lane in October 1987 and was illustrated in the December 2017 issue of Rail Express Modeller. The van was finished in Rail grey with yellow ends and what would become Railfreight Distribution logos, it also featuring in the publicity material of the time. Despite its attractive appearance, the livery failed to find favour and remained a one-off. Following its moment of fame, the VDA was allocated to pool 4313 for drinks traffic conveyed by the Speedlink network, which included workings from Bulmers of Hereford and Taunton Cider to a wide variety of destinations, including…

THE design of the Thameslink Southern and Great Northern (TSGN) franchise has resulted in a negative impact on service quality and a failure to deliver value for money for rail users. These are the conclusions of an investigation by the National Audit Office. The NAO also identified that the specified timetable was not seen as workable by Network Rail and this continues to be the situation as implementation of the intended higher frequency train service has been pushed back from May 2018 to December 2019. At the time the Invitation to Tender was issued in September 2013, a timetable specification was issued even though it had not been agreed with NR and, when the five bids received were analysed, a number were considered to be completely unworkable. The successful Govia…

THE long-expected exodus of locomotives from Washwood Heath finally occurred during January, ahead of the former Alstom site being handed over to HS2 for redevelopment, the land eventually being destined to house the high speed route’s Birmingham depot. As a result, Boden Rail has now transferred its maintenance and overhaul activities to Nottingham Eastcroft, where the company will share the site with incumbent user East Midlands Trains. The former track machine maintenance buildings will house Boden’s operation with investment expected in the site in order to improve facilities. The first convoy of locos arrived on January 16, when Nos. 50017 Royal Oak and 50050 Fearless ‘top and tailed’ Nos. 37418, 37521 and 56049 from Washwood Heath. The three locos continue to undergo preparations for a return to main line use…

THE very first containerised ‘Binliner’ service was introduced in 1977, when a new train formed of 20 ex-Freightliner bogie flat wagons, each carrying three 20ft compaction rubbish containers, began running between the Greater London Council’s RTS (refuse treatment station) at Brentford and the old Amey Roadstone quarry at Appleford, near Didcot. This train, which was scheduled to run six days a week, was followed in 1980 by two similar workings – one from the GLC’s Northolt RTS to the London Brick landfill site at Calvert (Buckinghamshire), and another from its Hendon RTS in Cricklewood to the old brick clay pits at Stewartby on the Bedford to Bletchley line. As the Stewartby train had to reverse at Bedford, however, it was initially limited to 15 wagons and ran twice daily Mondays-Fridays.…

IT is now 15 years since a Class 58 last ran under its own power in Britain. The date was March 19, 2003 when Nos. 58041+58043 ran light engine from Eastleigh to Dollands Moor on their way for use in Spain. The last Class 58 had been switched off by EWS in September 2002 after Nos. 58020 and 58024 worked the farewell ‘Bone Idol’ railtour from King’s Cross to Skegness and return. At that time, the ‘58s’ were less than 20 years old – the class doyen No. 58001 having been handed over to British Rail at the end of 1982 and the last, No. 58050, in March 1987. The fleet was built for use on Merry-Go-Round coal trains, but such traffic was already in decline before the last of…

UK RAILTOURS boss John Farrow has had to relinquish using the ‘Northern Belle’ set of carriages for his luxury-end tours. This has come about because of the sale of the carriages by Belmond to a new company called Northern Belle Holdings Ltd. This has resulted in a change of motive power, and will see non-100mph traction used in future. The problem has arisen because UK Railtours’ trains start predominantly from King’s Cross or Euston, and require 100mph capable motive power to keep to the allotted timetable paths. It appears that the ‘Northern Belle’ will in future be using West Coast Railways power in the form of Class 47 or Class 57 locos. Northern Belle Holdings is owned by two directors, David Pitts and David Smith, the latter also owning West…

THE Class 40 Preservation Society has signed an agreement with the Severn Valley Railway for No. 40135 to stay on the line for a 12 month period beginning in May. The split-box ‘Whistler’ will arrive from the East Lancashire Railway in time to participate in the line’s diesel gala on May 17-19, after which it will be used on a number of footplate experience events (on July 9 and August 19/20). While the Class 40 does not currently have any booked passenger turns on the line during the summer, it is planned that it will see use on such workings during the winter months. With this in mind, its steam-heat boiler is to be reinstated before it leaves Bury, thus enabling heated diesel services to be operated. D05 ‘37’ ARRIVES…

EIGHT HST power cars had arrived in Scotland by the end of January, all in ex-Great Western condition, with Nos. 43012, 43135, 43163 and 43179 joining the already transferred Nos. 43021, 43037, 43126 and 43132 during the month. Taken off-lease with GWR during December, Nos. 43012+43163 departed St Philip’s Marsh late on January 3, bound for Leicester overnight. After depositing some of their Mk.3s at the depot, the remainder were taken on to Wabtec, Doncaster, before the power cars headed back south to Brush Traction. However, Nos. 43012 and 43163 did not remain at Loughborough for long, departing for Haymarket (Edinburgh) in back-to-back formation on January 18. Meanwhile, Nos. 43135+43179 left Bristol for Ely in the small hours of January 5 by way of Cheltenham, Burton-upon-Trent and Peterborough, where again…

CLASS 20 THE three Direct Rail Services Type 1s recently put out to tender have an interesting pedigree. Nos. 20304/08/09 were originally Nos. D8120, D8187 and D8075 respectively. The latter is the eldest, having entered traffic in July 1961 followed by No. D8120 in March 1962. Considerably younger is No. 20308 (D8187) new in January 1967. Prior to becoming part of the DRS Type 1 fleet in 1994, No. 20304 had worked in France in the RFS pool (as No. 2009) during the construction of the Channel Tunnel. As Nos. 20075 and 20187, these examples made up half of the quartet of British Rail Telecommunications Type 1s (Nos. 20128 and 20131 were the others) during the 1990s, sporting a livery of grey and green. Towards the end of January, the…

PHASE TWO of the Lisburn-Lurgan Ballast Rehabilitation Project commenced on January 9 and it is planned to last a total of 12 weeks. As with Phase One, which ran from February 14 to March 26 last year, the project is being undertaken at night in order to minimise disruption to train services. The work is being carried out on Tuesdays to Saturdays under a total engineers' possession, and late evening services on the Belfast to Portadown line have been altered on these days during the project’s duration. The 20.50 Dublin Connolly to Belfast Central ‘Enterprise’ calls additionally at Lurgan and Lisburn as the 22.35 ex-Portadown does not operate, while passengers from Moira are transported to Lisburn by bus. Both the 20.50 and replacement bus connect into a 23.00 Lisburn to…

FEBRUARY 1 saw Accurascale become the latest manufacturer to enter the UK-outline ready-to-run market, with the unveiling of its first ‘OO’ gauge model. Run by the same four modellers behind Irish Railway Models, Accurascale promises to bring the same very high standards, both in terms of models and custom service, to this side of the Irish Sea. The company’s first model takes the form of the 24½ ton coal hopper, later coded HUO on TOPS and best known for carrying coal and coke in industrial heartlands between the 1950s and 1980s. It is by no means a ‘glamour’ release but instead one that will sell in high numbers to many modellers, both steam and diesel. The model will portray the diagram 1/148 wagons of lot 2069 and has been developed…

1. Since 2000 the refuse traffic from Brentford and Northolt has been carried on EWS-owned (now DB) 68-tonne capacity FCA bogie flat wagons, such as No. 610126, which is seen loaded with three West Waste compaction containers at Calvert in May 2005. All photographs by the author unless stated 2. DB-owned FCA sets are also now employed on the Knowsley to Wilton ‘Binliner’, including a handful fitted with slightly smaller diameter wheels that have been recoded as FXA. One of these modified examples, No. 610237, passes through Northwich station while heading to Wilton in August 2016. 3. The start of the 21st century brought further new wagons for ‘Binliner’ workings when, in 2002, Freightliner introduced its 66.2-tonne capacity FRA container flats on the services from Bristol, Cricklewood and Dagenham. Captured…

ONE of the most highly anticipated models of recent times, in the form of the first two examples of Oxford Rail’s new ‘OO’ gauge Mk.3a coach range, arrived in mid-January. Their appearance brings a further step up for the manufacturer in the world of D&E modelling, it having previously dabbled around the edges with the Warwells in their original form and the Carflats. With the Mk.3a coaches though, Oxford is now tackling one of the most significant gaps in terms of ready-to-run D&E era stock and one that more demanding modellers have wanted to see closed for a very long time. While Mk.3 coaches have been available for many years from different manufacturers, it is only Jouef back in 1979/80 that has produced a true representation of the loco-hauled Mk.3a…

THE collapse of Carillion with debts of £2.2 billion will have a significant impact on the rail industry as it was one of Network Rail’s largest suppliers and a future contractor for building HS2. The root cause of the collapse is that firms who provide outsourcing services are under great pressure to submit bids that sustain a pipeline of work, and the temptation is to set prices below the cost of delivering the required outputs. This problem has been seen previously, as Jarvis acquired a number of the original rail infrastructure renewal and maintenance companies but, like Carillion, fell victim to poor cost estimation as work expanded. At the time of privatisation in the mid-1990s, it was decided that Railtrack, the infrastructure owner, would contract out renewal and maintenance services…

TRANSPORT Secretary Chris Grayling has announced that the East Coast rail franchise is to end much earlier than planned, with Virgin Trains East Coast continuing to run the intercity services from King’s Cross to the North and Scotland for “a small number of months”. The franchise – which began on March 1, 2015 – was originally due to run until 2023, but at the end of last year this was cut back to 2020 as the operator admitted it would not meet its premium payments target. The Government said the operator had “got its numbers wrong”, and that it was set to lose about £200 million. Martin Griffiths – the chief executive of Stagecoach, which owns 90% of VTEC – said: “While passengers and taxpayers have benefited hugely from our…

THE Rail Safety and Standards Board has announced that from January 1,all new rail vehicles are required to display a standard European Vehicle Number (EVN). This applies to new locomotives, carriages and wagons, as well as existing vehicles that operate across borders in Europe. EVNs are designed to provide consistency to operators, maintainers and suppliers as trains increasingly operate across national borders. In Britain, this will mean the end for the traditional five or six-digit TOPS number, which has been used since the early 1970s. In a typical 16-digit EVN, the first two indicate the type of vehicle (for example diesel or electric), the next two a country code for where the vehicle is registered, then seven digits for the serial number (in Britain this usually will be a 0…

ON a siding to the south-east of Shenfield station sits a ‘Shark’ ballast plough brake van. From platform one, the everyday passenger can clearly see it is slowly deteriorating. The van’s grey and yellow paintwork has faded and peeled, while its metal frame appears to be rusting away and a couple of wooden planks that make up the body are missing. Its appearance suggests the van has been forgotten, but it has become so recognisable that it even has its own name: the ‘Shenfield Shark’. The vehicle’s distressed appearance always catches my eye whenever I pass through Shenfield, and I have often wondered what it was like inside. One acquaintance enthused: “It’s been there so long, it’ll be listed soon!” – an observation I could not disagree with. After all,…

TRANSPORT for London is to sell and lease back the Class 345 Elizabeth Line (Crossrail) fleet to fund ‘New Tube for London’ trains for the Piccadilly Line. TfL has been under increasing pressure to find new funding approaches following a reduction in Government subsidy and a levelling off in fares growth. Leasing trains is a standard approach for main line train operating companies, including London Overground, and the scheme should raise the £875 million needed for the Underground trains. The contract should be awarded before the summer. ‘New Tube for London’, first announced in 2014, is intended to replace the 1972, 1973 and 1992 Tube Stock operating on the Bakerloo, Piccadilly and Central Lines respectively during the 2020s. The Piccadilly Line stock will be the first to be replaced. NEW…

OUT of traffic for 14 years, No. 50033 Glorious is to be returned to operational condition to enable it to appear at the Severn Valley Railway’s Class 50 Golden Jubilee Gala in October. A number of preservationists with vast experience of Class 50s are to tackle the restoration of the loco, which has been located at Tyseley since 2007. An initial examination of No. 50033 has already been carried out and its power unit has been barred over without any issues. Radiator repairs, which are being undertaken at Tyseley, are required due to corrosion, and one traction motor may need attention. On the body, some welding will be necessary before the loco is prepared for painting into large logo livery. The loco will also require an ultrasonic axle test to…

DELAYS in finishing the overhaul of the first generation DMUs for use on Wareham services have caused the Swanage Railway to postpone the second year of trial services to and from the main line station. The heritage railway says that the 2017 trials, which used hired-in locos and stock from West Coast Railways and London Underground, cannot be repeated owing to the financial losses it made. All being well they should recommence later this year and in 2019. Four DMU cars – Class 117 set Nos. 51356+59486+51388 and Class 121 ‘Bubble Car’ No. 55028 – are being overhauled to main line standards at Eastleigh Works for use on services between Wareham and Corfe Castle/ Swanage. It was originally intended these would enter service in 2017, but delays in the arrival…

ALREADY short of motive power, Rail Operations Group could have done without the incident at Barrington on January 18 that saw Europhoenix hire-in No. 37884 collide at low speed with No. 47815. The Type 3 had arrived with the 6T01/03.49 Wembley-Barrington that morning, while No. 47815 had been left behind the previous day after failing on the same duty. The ‘37’ came off worst, suffering deformed bodywork around the nose but seemingly little in the way of frame damage, while No. 47815 was left with minor buffer damage. The pair were moved to the exchange sidings at Foxton the next day to await recovery, which eventually arrived on January 31in the form of No. 47848. This hauled No. 37884 to Wembley Yard and then, after an overnight stay, onto Eastleigh…

THE first of the recently transferred diesel units from St Philip’s Marsh (Bristol) to Newton Heath (Manchester) entered service with its new operator, Northern, at the beginning of January. Still carrying First Group colours of blue with pink doors, but having had its branding removed, No. 150122 was put into service on January 2. It is one of three sets that were transferred to Northern in December, the other two being Nos. 150102 (at Wabtec, Doncaster for overhaul) and 150124, which is now at Newton Heath after having Northern colours applied at Crewe. A further seven Class 150s were due to leave GWR for Northern over the weekend of February 3/4, following the introduction of Class 165/166 units on services to/from Weymouth on January 29. All but two of the…

JANUARY saw two more HST sets leave the GWR network, LA05 and LA06 both having being stopped in late December – although their TRFB catering cars (Nos. 40707/713) have been retained for the time being. The first to depart (LA05, comprising Nos. 41094, 42107/183-185/567, 44001 along with 44025 which was also taken off lease on December 31) were moved from Laira to St Philip’s Marsh on January 3 by power cars Nos. 43012/163, continuing north later the same day as the 5Z59/22.50 St Philip’s Marsh-Leicester. Here, the coaches were split, with Nos. 41094, 42183/184/567 heading to Doncaster on January 4, where they are to be rebuilt for use by ScotRail. The remaining four are destined for Ely, but as of January 24 were still at Leicester. Movement of LA06 was…

THE Class 57/0s have proven to be interesting workhorses, being an amalgam of the Class 47 body and the once unfamiliar EMD 645E-3 engine. Converted between 1998 and 2000 at Brush Traction in Loughborough, the locos initially worked for Freightliner and carried the operator’s green and yellow livery. With the arrival of additional Class 66s, the 12-strong sub-class became redundant with three quarters of the fleet, Nos. 57002-04/07-12, snapped up by Direct Rail Services during 2007/08 and soon repainted. Over the years, they have seen use on most of DRS’ portfolio of services, including nuclear flask trains, intermodal and infrastructure workings and the seasonal Network Rail railhead treatment trains. However, from 2015, the use of the Class 57/0s declined significantly with six locos, Nos. 57004/08-12, stored at MoD Longtown, north…