Tabla de contenidos para October 2022 en Rail Express

Editor’s Comment OUR railways are in a bit of a mess. There, we’ve said it. As a pro-rail publication, it pains us to have to point out when things are not right with the network we are all so attached to. But we also believe that honest thinking and straight talking (and vice versa) offer the best chance of sorting out problems and sadly there doesn’t seem to have been much of either in the rail sector in the last few months. The current industrial relations turmoil hasn’t come out of nowhere. Christian Wolmar’s clear exposition of the pre-Privatisation railway in his latest book (see Reviews, last issue) is brought up to date by Tom Haines-Doran’s soon to be published Derailed (see Reviews, p88) which makes some salient suggestions on,…

REPORTS indicate that despite strike action, passenger numbers during August were within touching distance of the total recorded in 2019, which was the last year before lockdown restrictions impacted on travel opportunities. An indication of the trend is an unusual social media posting asking passengers to avoid the weekday 10.51 from Inverness to Edinburgh because a combination of passengers who have pre-booked and those who arrive to travel on a turn-up-and-go basis have exceeded the capacity of the train. ScotRail has said it has no resources to provide additional seating and is offering lower priced tickets on alternative services, although a change of train is required. Large scale concerts and festivals continue to drive rail demand at times that do not fit well with the timetable, often because of late…

DIRECT Rail Services’ intention to divest itself of its Class 37 fleet, while retaining use of a certain number of the 60-year-old ‘heritage’ machines on a daily basis, has proved to be a difficult contract to finalise. The company had planned to sell 10 of its remaining 12 English Electric Type 3s, Nos. 37218, 37401, 37402, 37407, 37419, 37422, 37423, 37424, 37425 and 37716, under a two-year ‘wet lease’ agreement. This would have lasted until at least the end of Network Rail’s CP6 delivery plan, which ends in March 2024, and would have placed the responsibility on the new owner for keeping a contracted number of the maintenance-intensive locomotives in service on a given day, likely with penalties if this target was not met. While DRS has not officially commented…

WHILE Land Recovery’s road vehicle fleet is a common sight in the Potteries and into the Midlands and North West, the 30 new 101.6-tonne bogie box wagons illustrated here (see also Wagons, July issue) will be the company’s first foray into rail transport. The number series for the new boxes (with the usual Ealnos UIC code) is 81 70 5932 697-726, which follows on from the 236 JNAs being constructed for VTG Rail by Greenbrier/ Astra Rail in Eastern Europe. They will be used on the Colas Rail-powered flows into the former Esso sidings at Pinnox, Longport, which were taken over by Land Recovery for dealing with spent ballast from around the network. This includes trains from Carlisle New Yard, Crewe Basford Hall, Derby Chaddesden, Doncaster Wood Yard, Lowestoft (Coke…

A single PEP prototype two-car set and two four-car sets were extensively tested and evaluated on the Southern Region in the early 1970s, resulting in a new fleet of trains for BR suburban services. From 1976, when Class 313s were introduced, they became a common sight on many urban rail networks. Although their numbers have been eroded in many areas, with one class technically extinct, they remain in daily service in parts of England. They differ from Mk.1 EMUs in having a flatter roof profile for use in restricted gauge tunnels such as the lines into Moorgate on the Great Northern (GN) suburban network and Merseyrail. Further changes from convention included the couplings and lack of side buffers. Although power doors existed on some first generation EMU stock, the universal…

MODELLING FEATURE CLASS 59/1 locomotives painted in original ARC mustard and grey livery were very much part of the 1990s freight scene, being introduced in November 1990 following the success of the five locomotives built for Foster Yeoman. At the time of writing, the only Class 59/1 model available in ‘OO’ gauge is the former Lima model, at least until Dapol releases its brand-new models of all three Class 59 subclasses. The project to date aims to make the best of the model, now sold by Hornby (R30070), to re-create one of the four locomotives operated by ARC Southern, dressed in ARC mustard yellow and grey livery which was applied from new. Dual motoring and conversion to ‘EM’ gauge was demonstrated in REM219. Detailing and corrections made to the body…

RETRO YEARS LET me take you back 30 years to August 10, 1992. It was a wet, warm and muggy summer and we were deep into the Barcelona Olympics. Number one in the charts was ‘Rhythm is a Dancer’ by Snap. I was in my video phase and was engaged in an epic road trip, travelling around the country filming the last knockings of Class 20 activity. I had written to Jim McWilliams at MC Metals to ask for permission to come to his scrapyard in Glasgow to film the day-to-day activities and he agreed. His yard had picked up a late surge of locos for disposal due to a major fire at Vic Berry in Leicester. MC Metals was also licensed for handling asbestos. The yard utilised part of…

THROUGHOUT the period when several refunding agreements for London Underground (LU) were negotiated, very public comments were made on social media regarding the performance of TfL and LU by Government ministers and Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London. Even before TfL announced that on August 30 acceptance of the latest refinancing offer made by the Department for Transport (DfT), public comments have been made about driverless trains. Matrix-like, there are two realities. THE BLUE PILL The notion of full railway automation, removing the need for drivers, has been in the public consciousness since the 1970s. An Evening Standard headline on October 10, 1977 proclaimed “Driverless Tubes by 1990”. The same article predicted that the entire LU network would be driverless by 2010, with a reduction of 3000 staff. In recent…

PORTERBROOK, GB Railfreight and Greenbrier have marked the completion of the prototype JNA-X box wagon at the production plant in Romania. No. 81 70 5932 757-4 is the first of 50 new box wagons announced in March this year. The first batch of these wagons is expected to arrive in the UK during September. (See also Wagons Special, p78) Charter operator steps in to provide Manchester capacity THE inability of Avanti West Coast to operate its advertised timetable as a result of a significant shortage of traincrew has prompted an intervention by the charter operator Locomotive Services to provide special trains between London Euston and Manchester on Friday evenings during specified dates in August and September (see The Gen, p12). LS is using its InterCity brand to operate the trains…

So this is a charter train, that runs on Fridays? We can tell nothing gets past you. Yep, this is Locomotive Services’ latest foray into running trains that blurs the line between one-off charters and Open Access, using its rake of InterCity ‘Executive’-liveried First Class Mk.3s that typically run at weekends on its InterCity railtours. Does that mean it is aimed at the general public rather than enthusiasts then? Good question. That certainly seemed to be the intention, though the chance to sample loco haulage on the WCML with LS’s stable of classic AC traction has attracted more than a few rail fans. There are two trips: a nonstop mid-afternoon Crewe-London Euston run, which is essentially a positioning move for an early evening departure from the capital to Manchester Piccadilly…

AUGUST 21 saw LNER’s second Mk.4 set emerge from Wabtec, Doncaster. Set NL15 (formation in table below), along with No. 91101 Flying Scotsman, was shunted out of Wabtec into Doncaster West Yard by No. 67016, before the Class 91 took the rake back to Neville Hill. The 10 vehicles which make up the set had been at Doncaster for attention since July 8. Later the same day, set NL13 was sent away for repainting, No. 91130Lord Mayor of Newcastle being used for its transfer (the 5E23 12.12 Neville Hill-Doncaster West Yard). Five sets remain in traffic in the old former Virgin Trains red/white colour scheme, while NL15 re-entered service on August 31. Locomotive Services’ new acquisitions ADDITIONS to the ever-expanding Locomotive Services fleet are a pair of Mk.4 barrier vehicles,…

REVIEW 00 GAUGE 1987 to present ERA MGR family survivor A TOTAL of 124 CDA wagons were built at BREL Doncaster in 1987 and 1988 to replace ageing wooden-bodied OOV vacuumed braked china clay tipplers known as ‘Clayhoods’. Whilst the passing of the ‘Clayhoods’ was mourned by enthusiasts, the longevity of the CDA wagons has given them a cult status of their own. They have outlived the MGR coal wagon by some time and continue to be used daily on the traffic they were constructed for, which is to convey china clay to the docks at Fowey from various Cornish clay dries. The CDA has become very much part of the Cornish china clay landscape since introduction. Traction has evolved from the famous St Blazey Class 37/4 (374xx and 376xx)…

CONSIDERING the age of the original Lima Class 47 tooling, it remains a reasonable starting point for a budget detailing and repainting project, especially with the upgrading made by Hornby. It was chosen for a low-cost project to model an Immingham-based Class 47 which was associated with the depot for over 20 years: No. 47222 Appleby-Frodingham. It’s longest spell at Immingham (IM) was between 1971 and 1991, during which time it was renumbered from D1872 to No. 47222. Its long association with Immingham was concluded when it was transferred to Railfreight Distribution, with a return to Tinsley. By this time, No. 47222 had lost the Appleby-Frodingham nameplates applied in June 1982 and was repainted in Railfreight Distribution livery alongside the removal of the bufferbeam fairing during 1991 and eventual fitting…

WHEN TfL announced in June it was bringing forward the opening of its Barking Riverside extension (see also First Looks, December 2021 issue) it obviously hadn’t checked the long range weather forecast. The official opening day – July 18 – was slap bang in the middle of an unprecedented 40°C heatwave and Rail Express heeded TfL’s advice not to travel. Services were operating normally a week later and the busy early afternoon train from Gospel Oak emptied out at Barking, leaving just a handful to make the quick onward shuttle to Barking Riverside. (The seven minutes officially allowed for this journey are extremely generous – the RE stopwatch clocked us comfortably within five minutes.) It may be that word still has to get around that the line is now open,…

RAIL Operations Group (ROG), which bought the five former Heathrow Connect Class 360/2 EMUs in early 2021, has sent two of the units for scrap. The first to go was No. 360205, which was hauled from Bicester where all five were stored, to Sims, Newport, by No. 37611 on August 23. The unit was less than 17 years old (being delivered in November 2005) and spent around 15 years in service. Classmate No. 360204 made the same journey the next day, hauled by the same loco. At the time of their purchase from Heathrow Airport Ltd, Rail Operations Group said “ROUK have identified the potential of this well-maintained multiple unit fleet to assist in our transformation of UK rail freight logistics.” However, to date, the firm’s ‘Orion’ high speed freight…

CLASS 20 Another month with much passenger action for the English Electric Type 1s started with Vintage Trains’ ‘Jolly Fisherman’ on August 12. Nos. 20142+ 20189 provided the motive power for the 1Z60 08.16 Tyseley Steam Centre-Skegness and the 16.31 return. Two days later the same locomotives substituted for the planned steam locomotive on the ‘Shakespeare Express’, undertaking two return trips between Birmingham Snow Hill and Stratford-upon-Avon. Next up, on Bank Holiday Monday August 29, was the ‘Scarborough Spa Ramble’ run under the LS InterCity banner. The outward journey ran as the 1Z20 07.36 Crewe-Scarborough behind Nos. 20096+20107, with No. 47828 bringing up the rear. CLASS 33 All three of West Coast Railways’ ‘Cromptons’ were active during the first half of August, with No. 33207 handed its first employment since…

A ‘OO’ gauge Class 37/0 in BR blue livery with 1970s and early-1980s features is one of the collection of four brand-new Bachmann Class 37 models set for release in the autumn, supplementing the brace of new Class 37/4s which appeared in July. No. 37034 (35-301) is modelled with original bufferbeam cowlings, round buffers and steam train heating which will appeal to 1970s Eastern Region modellers because No. 37034 was alternately allocated to March and Stratford in the represented time frame until its train heating boiler was isolated in 1983. A sample of the model has arrived for our usual thorough testing and examination, with the review to follow in the next issue of REM. The pictures offer a tantalising glimpse of the quality of the Class 37s models to…

REVIEW 00 GAUGE 4mm:1ft 1970-1982 ERA More wagons for the A Class locomotive ANNOUNCED at the start of February 2022, models of CIÉ magnesite hopper wagons have arrived promptly, much to the delight of Irish railway modellers. They are the perfect wagon for IRM’s A Class locomotive models which powered the daily trains of 12 to 22 wagons of processed magnesite between 1970 and 1982. Quigley & Co., an international company which specialised in refractory products, saw the potential of an Irish refractory brick operation based in Tivoli, near Cork and a coastal site in Ballinacourty, Co. Waterford which was ideally located for a supply of seawater necessary to process dolomitic limestone to produce magnesite. Magnesite is an important component of refractory bricks for lining blast furnaces. They were manufactured…

OUTLINED in our last issue (Wagons, p30), a total of three different types of wagon for engineering trains were displayed by Wascosa at a special event at London’s Victoria station. While platform 2 is normally home to passenger trains, not least the Belmond British Pullman, on June 28 it hosted six bright yellow wagons (three FEA flats, one MLA low box and one JNA high box), topped and tailed by GB Railfreight Class 66s Nos. 66720 (at the London end) and 66729 (at the country end), with the former named Wascosa on the day. The wagons are part of a multi-million pound 10-year contract to provide a total of 570 vehicles for Network Rail, to be operated by GB Railfreight. Speaking to Rail Express at the event, Wascosa chief executive…

PERFORMANCE It is not unusual to return disappointed from long journeys, but sometimes a bonus turns up. My trip to Romney Marsh had nothing to do with 0-60mph timing, so it was a surprise to suddenly realise that Class 171s had not yet been covered and here was one approaching Rye with the 09.39 from Eastbourne to Ashford International. The unit was a four-car Class 171/8, housing a 422hp MTU engine under each coach. As with all the Bombardier units the units weigh in at higher figures than one might expect, in this case 180.4tonnes. That produces a figure of only 9.37hp/tare tonne and healthy Marshlink patronage on a sunny August weekday brought the gross tonne ratio down to below nine. I had not researched the gradients but surely this…