Innholdsfortegnelse for July/August 2022 i Traction

Welcome to July and August 2022 issue of TRACTION. We start with an article by David Hayes about a type of freight service that has almost completely disappeared from Britain’s railway, the trip freight train. In ‘T-FOUR-TWO’ he looks at operations in the West Midlands where Bescot Yard’s Trip 42 would run to different freight terminals dropping off and picking up wagons before returning to the main yard. We have two articles about railways in the north east of Britain. The first, by the editor, recalls a night spent on Newcastle Central in 1975 revealing just how much passenger, parcels, freight and mail traffic could be seen during hours when few enthusiasts ventured out. Alan Taylor looks at the early years of diesel multiple unit operations on the North Eastern…

RAIL ONLINE The1955 British Railways Modernisation Plan envisaged the introduction nationwide of a fleet of 4,600 diesel railcars, mainly for local branch line work (but also including units designed for certain express and cross country routes) which, it was anticipated, would not only achieve significant economies in operation but would also provide a faster and more frequent and comfortable service, particularly on the country’s many (and for the most part unprofitable) branch lines, replacing steam – hauled rakes of often antiquated pre-war non-corridor compartment stock. Experience gained in diesel multiple unit operation in two areas, the London Midland Region’s 22.5 mile long rural branch from Carlisle to Silloth on the shores of the Solway Firth (which was the first branch line in the country to be converted to diesel multiple…

JOHN DEDMAN Despite several Anglo-Scottish trips in the heyday of this machine, my memory of ‘Crepello’ involves a trip from Peterborough to London not long before the loco received white cabs in 1979. She was hauling a scratch set of coaches on a York to Kings Cross job and I was in the leading brake second open which, unusually for a south bound train, placed me immediately behind the locomotive. With the brake van and guards compartment between the seating area and the rest of the train, other passengers must have been deterred from walking through as I had all thirty odd seats to myself. As we powered south the low sun made a perfect silhouette of ‘Crepello’ in shadow on the down fast line. The outline was so perfect…

DAVID BLOWER. As we all well know, there was a time when trip workings were an important and everyday part of railway operations in most parts of the country, especially for wagonload freight. Such diagrams could be quite complex and keep a single locomotive busy for twelve hours or more tripping traffic to and from a multitude of locations, some of which could be visited at least twice or more times during the course of the day. In addition to servicing the heavily industrialised regions, they could even be found visiting some of the more remote parts of the network where they were perhaps regarded as a lifeline for many communities reliant on rail for the collection or delivery of such commodities as animal feed, fresh produce, machinery and a…

Accurascale has previewed the first decorated sample of its Class 37 locomotive in OO gauge/4mm:1ft scale. It received samples for assessment ahead of the recent Model Rail Scotland, with some BR liveries previewed on its stand at the show. Its latest arrival sees a limited-edition Accurascale Exclusive model of Network Rail 97301 in yellow with radar equipment previewed to the public. Commenting on the images, Accurascale said, “While the crispness of the decoration and detail is broadly satisfactory, there are still minor tweaks to fit and finish required, particularly in the roof area and some tampo printing. Overall, the Accurascale EEType 3 is shaping up to be the definitive Class 37 locomotive in OO gauge/4mm:1ft scale.” Further decorated samples are expected to be previewed in the coming weeks, with delivery…

About 12:15 26011 arrived from the north with a departmental working followed by yet another Class 37, 37373 in the attractive red stripe Railfreight grey livery with MDV loaded scrap wagons. Next up was 86439 which arrived from the south with limestone hoppers from Hardendale Quarry which was destined for Ravenscraig steelworks; the ‘86’ was replaced by a blue Class 26, which was probably 26042 but was too far away to confirm. Then came yet another northbound Freightliner, this time diesel hauled by 37358 ‘P&O Containers’ and 37077; 37358 was sporting its one off livery of BR blue but with large bodyside double arrows. In the opposite direction was our first MGR working behind 37092 and 37010 with 45 HAA hoppers. By now it had clouded over and started to…

CRAIG OLIPHANT It’s the Friday evening of 30th May 1975 and, after a day teaching my class of ten and eleven year olds, I’m heading off to Newcastle to spend the night watching trains at this busy station. Over the last few years I’ve discovered what a fascinating place big railway stations can be at night and have already spent several long chilly nights at Carlisle and York; now it’s Newcastle’s turn. Armed with copious amounts of food and drink for the night ahead, I catch the 17:18 Whitby to Newcastle train from Middlesbrough and arrive in Newcastle at 20:18. On the way I pass West Hartlepool stabling point with its complement of Class 03s, 08s and 37s while at Sunder land there is another ‘03’ on duty for handling…

Dapol has revealed new identities that are to be applied to its Class 08 0-6-0 diesel electric shunter tooling for O gauge. The 7mm:1ft scale models have already appeared in common livery guises, from BR blue, to EWS, Railfreight triple grey, Freightliner, and Intercity. The artwork for seven new guises is said to be under review, and deliveries of the new models are expected in late-2022/early-2023. The new liveries are as follows: • (7D-008-018) Class 08 D3156 BR green late crest no warning panels• (7D-008-018U) Class 08 BR green late crest no warning panels – unnumbered• (7D-008-019) Class 08 D3201 BR green late crest with wasp stripes• (7D-008-019U) Class 08 BR green late crest with wasp stripes – unnumbered• (7D-008-020) Class 08 08538 BR blue wasp stripes• (7D-008-020U) Class 08…

GAVIN MORRISON Between 1959 and 1961 ninety-one three car electric multiple units were built by Pressed Steel at Linwood near Paisley for use on the Glasgow area electrified suburban lines. Originally classified as AM3 (Nos. 001-91) they became Class 303 (303001-091) under the TOPS renumbering scheme. They were maintained at Shields Road depot, for services operating out of Glasgow Central, and at Hyndland for the north Clydeside services. They were dual voltage trains, as parts of the North Clyde Line and the Cathcart Circle were originally electrified at 6.25 kV, rather than the standard 25 kV. The units had to be withdrawn from service over the weekend of 17th and 18th December 1960 following a number of transformer explosions, with the steam operated services having to be reintroduced. It wasn’t…