Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2019 i Rail Express

THE Government is under pressure to terminate the contract held by Arriva Rail North as a result of continuing poor performance of the Northern franchise, and transfer operations to the Department for Transport’s Operator of Last Resort. The issues that have arisen date back long before the current operator took over on April 1, 2016, as the earlier franchise (held by a consortium made up of Abellio and Serco from December 2004) was regarded as a steady state operation where little growth was expected – which proved to be an incorrect assumption. Ad hoc measures were taken to provide greater rolling stock capacity given that passenger numbers grew from 40 to 134 million in the North West alone during the two decades from 1997. Although the TransPennine Express franchise did…

ScotRail is converting five Class 153 units to carry up to 20 bikes each on services on the West Highland Line, providing racks for bikes, sporting equipment and large items of luggage as well as more seats. The trains will also support winter sports in Scotland during the winter months, accommodating large bulky items such as ski bags and rucksacks. The work is being done at Brodie Engineering in Kilmarnock and the first refurbished Class 153 (No. 153370, shown with an impression of the new interior) is due for delivery in 2020, which will be gradually rolled out into service on the completion of staff training. The ‘153s’ will be attached to the Class 156 DMUs that work from Glasgow Queen Street to Oban, Fort William and Mallaig.…

MOST slip/brake tests during the 1980s were carried out using a Class 47 locomotive – although, where tests involved heavier loaded or multiple coupled wagons, a higher-powered locomotive such as Class 86 was used. Sometimes, however, the locomotive power provided was less adequate – such as the occasion when British Rail Research-liveried Class 31 No. 97204 had to be used to haul a slip/brake test with two 102-tonne coupled hopper wagons. The amount of slip/brake tests achieved during the running on this particular day was less than normal due to the Class 31 being somewhat lacking in power, this was more noticeable because the two 102-tonne hopper wagons being tested were fully laden. Slip/brake tests were predominantly carried out on the Down Slow line between Crewe and Winsford north of…

ROUTINE maintenance checks by London Underground in October found cracks in the draw gear (part of the coupling) of several 1996 Tube Stock cars that serve the Jubilee Line. Significant disruption followed as services were part-suspended on October 18, while the entire fleet of 1996 TS trains was checked. The problem was ongoing into November, with three trains taken out of service as this issue of Rail Express went to press. LU needs 58 trains to operate a full service at peak hours, but availability was in the low 50s. Work to discover both the cause and a permanent fix was also ongoing. With some examples nearing 23 years of passenger service, the 1996 TS trains are currently near the end of receiving a mid-life refurbishment programme, with just a…

THIS year is once again said to be the final year of DRS Class 20 operation on autumnal Railhead Treatment Trains (RHTT), but perhaps this year looks more likely to be so as Pathfinder Tours has arranged ‘The DRS Class 20 Farewell’ on January 18, 2020, which is planned to take three of these veteran ‘Choppers’ from York to Crewe via a circuitous route. As is so often the case with Pathfinder’s tours, the special starts in the West Country at Bristol and picks up at stations to Derby before proceeding to York. A pair of Class 57/0s has been requested for this leg. The Class 20s then take over to run via Harrogate to Leeds. After a break, they then power on to Huddersfield and take the line to…

THE last diesel loco to be constructed by Peckett & Son before the firm’s takeover by Reed Crane & Hoist Co in 1961 has been donated to the Gwili Railway. The 0-6-0 shunter, works No. 5014, was constructed for the CEGB (Central Electricity Generating Board) in 1959 for use at Aberthaw Power Station. In recent years, the loco has acted as ‘gate guardian’ at Aberthaw, but with the impending closure of the power station in 2020, the loco has been gifted to the Gwili Railway by the current power station owner, RWE nPower. A full engineering assessment will be carried out over the coming months to develop ascope of work to return the loco to operating condition. ■ Peckett only built five diesel locos – No. 5014 and four 0-4-0s,…

THE last day of October was a notable milestone for DC Rail as the first of its four Class 60s was sent out on a test run. No. 60046 has been undergoing reactivation work at Toton, but ran light engine as 0Z60 to Loughborough and back having successfully completed load bank trials earlier in the month. It seems that plans for the triple-grey Railfreight-liveried locomotive to work a Toton to Boston steel working did not come to fruition, and it has now reportedly entered the Toton paint shop. The news was not so good for GBRf’s No. 60021, however, which caught fire at Bedlington on October 21 while working a train of empty biomass hoppers between Lynemouth and Tyne Dock. The loco was moved to Doncaster six days later on…

EMU CLASS 313 THE use of Class 313 EMUs on commuter services on Great Northern came to an end on September 30, some 43 years after the units were introduced on the route. The final working, the 2J83/23.33 Hertford North-Moorgate, was operated by Nos. 313048/049. Two sets (Nos. 313064/134), both of which last saw normal use on September 23, were retained for the GTR/UK Railtours farewell special on October 23. More ‘313s’ have been disposed of to scrap dealers. On the last day of regular workings on the GN (September 30), No. 37884 Cerpheus took Nos. 313037/051 away on their final movement, the 5Q78/10.52 Hornsey-Sims, Newport. The same loco took Nos. 313052/059 from Hornsey to C F Booth, Rotherham on October 7. Of the remaining units recently stopped, Nos. 313033/047/060…

AV Dawson’s yellow-liveried No. 08598, which has been at the Railway Support Services yard in Wishaw for repairs since July, was moved to Tyseley for tyre turning at the end of September. A month later it was still at the depot, along with RSS’ own No. 08568, which has been present since June for tyre turning and repairs. October saw the transfer of No. 08738 from Eastleigh to Felixstowe, where it replaced collision damaged No. 08939, which was moved by road to Wishaw for repairs. No. 08939 had only been on site at Felixstowe since mid-July, arriving after undergoing overhaul and tyre turning. Made redundant of St Rollox Works (Glasgow), No. 08730 made the lengthy journey from Glasgow Works to Wolverton (including a weekend stop at Wishaw) in October. It…

THE 1980-built Londonderry station closed to rail traffic on Tuesday, October 8, after the departure of the 21.38 service to Belfast Lanyon Place, which was worked by three-car DMU No. 3002. The terminus opened in February 1980 to replace the original 1875-built Grade B listed Waterside station. The 1875 station has now been converted into the centrepiece of the new North West Transport Hub, which became operational from start of service on Monday, October 21. The £27 million project is planned to be totally complete by mid-2020, when the 1980 station will be demolished and the site used for a bus turning circle and car park. The new hub features a fully signalled track layout, a platform with two faces, and the fully refurbished former train shed and station building.…

THE Downpatrick and County Down Railway hosted a diesel gala on October 12 to celebrate the formation of the Irish Traction Group 30 years ago in 1989. The event, which was sponsored by the ITG and supported by the Irish Railway Record Society, featured train rides over most of the D&CDR track using ex-IR locomotives Nos. A39R, 146, C231 and G617. The highlight of the day for many visitors was the multiple working of Nos. C231+146 on a three-coach passenger train. These two locos also hauled ex-NIR DBSO No. 8918 (as a translator) and three-car ex-NIR DEMU No. 458. The D&CDR’s ex-NIR 80 Class DEMU vehicles had only a cameo role. ■ Elsewhere, work continues at Inchicore Works on returning the RPSI’s ex-IR GM No. 134 to full working order.…

DEVELOPMENT of the latest version of Heljan’s ‘OO’ gauge Class 86 had reached the pre-production stage at the time of writing. The models have been approved for tooling with decorated samples expected early in 2020. Heljan’s Version 2/3 of the Class 86 represents the 100-stong class of AC electric locomotives from introduction in 1965 when painted in an early BR blue scheme with white roofs, until renumbering under TOPS as Class 86/0. The model does not feature (pre-dates) the fitting of ‘flexi-coil’ suspension, intended to reduce track damage caused by the higher unsprung mass resulting from the use of axle-hung traction motors. Seven different liveries Heljan has released details of the first liveries to be applied in its brand-new AL6 and Class 86/0, which includes three models finished in early…

In the beginning, all railway locomotives were experimental. Railways and the vehicles that worked on them were developed over decades of trial and error, with ideas ranging from, quite literally, world-changing to the downright dangerous. While railways worked by horses are thought to have been around in the north-east of England since the mid-17th century, they were traditionally limited to the load that could be pulled by a horse. French inventor Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot was the first to develop a self-propelled, mechanical land vehicle in 1769. Significantly he was the first to employ a device for turning the reciprocating motion of a steam piston into rotary motion to turn the wheels of his machine. While the machine was said to be unstable, dangerous and slow, it laid the foundations for other…

Having gathered useful experience with the Beyer-Ljungström steam turbine locomotive (see page 27) in the mid-1920s, the LMS returned to this technology under William Stanier almost a decade later. When his first two ‘Princess Royal’ 4-6-2s, Nos. 6200/01, were constructed at Crewe Works, a third set of frames was cut at the same time and used as the basis for an experimental steam turbine locomotive that became known as the ‘Turbomotive’. Taking its place in the ‘Princess Royal’ number series as No. 6202, the locomotive certainly looked more conventional than the Anglo-Swedish machine of the 1920s, and had a similar domeless boiler to the 1935 batch of ten additional ‘Princesses’ (Nos. 6204-13) but was very different below the running plate. Using steam turbines rather than conventional cylinders, No. 6202 could…

While diesel locomotives with electric transmission have been commonplace since the 1940s, the technology was still unproven in the 1920s, and various other new forms of traction were being devised in parallel to challenge it. One of the most unusual to modern eyes was the Kitson-Still steam-diesel hybrid locomotive, which was tested on the LNER in 1933-34. Proven in marine and stationary use, the Still engine featured double-acting pistons with one side operated by diesel fuel and the other by steam. The engine was started by steam, and diesel fuel was injected into the diesel side of the cylinders once the engine was running at sufficient speed – starting at around 5mph. The steam starting principle allowed direct propulsion without any form of transmission. The design also allowed steam to…

Even while the railways were enjoying their heyday in the late-19th and early 20th centuries, there were clouds on the horizon. Many lines had been promoted and developed in the frenzied time of the ‘railway mania’ when every settlement of any size demanded a link to the network. Add to this the competition between companies for traffic in the major towns and cities and, after the First World War, the introduction of cheap, army surplus road lorries competing with the railways for goods traffic and it was inevitable that some lines would struggle to cover their costs. While railway companies had (almost) always sought to work economically and efficiently, many of the less prosperous operators identified the need to cut costs by the early 20th century. The earliest steam railcars…

By the 1940s, the internal combustion engine was proving its worth in railway applications across the world. In North America, the flexibility and lower operating cost of diesel traction was eagerly adopted by railroads under attack from road haulage, the private car and air travel, but in Britain, diesel traction was limited to a few demonstrators and a fleet of shunters introduced by the LMS, as we’ve seen. Newcastle engineering giant Armstrong Whitworth in particular was promoting the use of diesel traction for railways. A-W was famous around the world for its industrial and manufacturing prowess. Involved in many areas that were, for the time, cutting edge technology, the company forged its reputation manufacturing armaments, railway locomotives (including many of the LMS ‘Black Fives’), aircraft and motor cars, as well…

Probably the most unusual diesel locomotive ever to work for British Railways was the multi-engined, diesel-mechanical No. 10100, devised by Lt. Col. L.F.R. Fell, authorised by the LMS in 1947 and delivered in 1950. Fell had been an apprentice at Doncaster Works and an advocate of diesel power since the early-1930s. No. 10100 was 2-D-2 (4-8-4) machine powered by four 500hp Davey Paxman RPHX V12 supercharged engines housed in the nose ends. These were coupled via a common gearbox to the two intermediate driving axles and each engine ‘cut in’ as speed increased. Two 150hp AEC engines were also installed for providing auxiliary power and air supply for the superchargers. Two Laidlaw-Drew boilers were fitted for carriage heating, with feed water being pre-heated by the main engine exhausts. Boiler water…

English Electric DP2 It may have looked like a Deltic, but it had the 16-cylinder heart of what would later become Class 50. English Electric’s Diesel Prototype 2 (DP2) was regarded as the most successful of the three ‘second generation’ Type 4 demonstrators tested by BR from 1961/62. Even after the decision to build hundreds of Brush Type 4s (Class 47s), the locomotive was retained by British Railways and worked alongside the Eastern Region’s Deltic fleet until it was written off in a collision in July 1967. By that stage, BR had already asked English Electric to supply 50 locomotives developed from the DP2 concept to help accelerate West Coast Main Line Anglo-Scottish expresses prior to electrification. Dissatisfied with its first generation of Type 4 (2,000hp+) diesel locomotives, BR made…

In 1921 Scottish engineer George Bennie proposed a suspended high-speed monorail powered by a propeller.A demonstration line was eventually built over an LNER goods line at Milngavie,north of Glasgow, in 1929.Test and publicity runs commenced in July 1930,creating interest around the world but,in the long run,no firm orders.Ambitious schemes for a London-Paris/Brussels route,and a line running at up to 200mph across the Sahara Desert and the Middle East were later proposed.…

More closely resembling a steam locomotive than any modern form of traction, the origins of English Electric’s Gas Turbine 3 (GT3) lay in the early-1950s. However, by the time it was completed in 1961, experiments with BR’s first two gas turbine locomotives, Nos. 18000 and 18100, had already been terminated. GT3 was built as a demonstrator at EE’s Vulcan Foundry between 1958 and 1961 to a design by J.O.P. Hughes. The unique concept combined a 4-6-0 locomotive chassis similar to a BR Standard 5MT and a tender built to carry kerosene fuel for the gas turbine and the steam heating boiler. An EM27L gas turbine of 2,700hp was installed on the strengthened loco chassis, which was designed to cope with the greater torque of the power unit. GT3 weighed 123.5…

PARTY manifestos for the general election on December 12 had not been published by the time this issue went to press, but media briefings have already been revealing the rail industry strategies that are likely to be followed by the two main parties. The Conservatives are proposing a new nationwide organisation described as ‘Rail for Britain’, which infers that the devolved powers given to Scotland and Wales will be brought back under the control of a single rail body that would award future contracts to provide services. A concession model, similar to that used for Merseyrail and London Overground, is favoured over franchising. This results in the operator holding a contract to run services at an agreed price without responsibility for fare revenue, which is paid to the authority granting…

NORTHERN has confirmed that a number of its Class 142s will continue to be used in service in the North West during the first few weeks of 2020. The late delivery of Class 195 ‘Civity’ units, which has caused knock-on delays in staff training, means that Northern needs to retain a number of units to prevent a large number of services from being cancelled or short-formed. The Class 142s are expected to be used primarily on four routes: Rochdale to Blackburn/Clitheroe (via Manchester Vic); and Manchester Picc to Sheffield (via Hope Valley), New Mills and Rose Hill/Marple. The retention of the ‘142s’ around Manchester is in addition to the Class 144s being kept until May for use on services in West and South Yorkshire. As of late October, just one…

ENTER Dereham station on the Mid-Norfolk Railway heritage line and you are transposed into the 1950s, but walk through the booking hall onto the platform and it is more like the 1970s. Three Mk.2 coaches are standing behind Tinsley no-heat favourite No. 47367 (or No. D1886 in ‘old money’). But that is not what I am here to see. I am greeted by MNR diesel traction inspector Mick Barstow, whom I am going to accompany in the cab of 600hp Class 101 former Bradford Hammerton Street stalwarts Nos. 51434/51503. We have two round trips planned on the 7½ mile run to the southern terminus of the railway’s operation at ‘Wymondham Abbey’ station, which is 1½ miles or so from the railway’s connection to the national system on the Norwich-Ely line.…

PORTERBROOK has announced it is to donate a pair of its surplus HST power cars to the 125 Group when they are handed back by East Midlands Railway. Once they pass into 125 Group ownership, Nos. 43048 T.C.B. Miller MBE and 43089 will be based at Ruddington, Great Central Railway (Nottingham) where they will operate with the group’s fleet of Mk.3 coaches. The two power cars were chosen on account of their engineering condition. The announcement regarding the donation came on October 11 – just two days after it had been revealed that the Science Museum Group had decided not to renew the loan of prototype power car No. 41001, which will instead be returning to the National Railway Museum (see story below). GRATITUDE The 125 Group has expressed its…

THE Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway has taken delivery of a Mk.3 Sleeper for display in the Museum of Scottish Railways. No. 10580 arrived on October 15, being moved by No. 73966 as the 5D73/04.46 Polmadie-Bo’ness Exchange Sidings. No. 47643 then took the coach down the branch. The Mk.3 will form part of a new exhibition in 2020 showing how sleeper travel has been transformed. It will be displayed alongside LNER Gresley sleeper No. 1211, which was the last wooden-bodied sleeping car in UK main line service. Originally based at the Strathspey Railway, No. 1211 has been restored at Bo’ness in blue/grey livery, which it carried when withdrawn in 1972. As well as being used on overnight services between London and Scotland, the Mk.3 sleeper fleet was used on the last…

HN Rail’s Class 20 pair Nos. 20311 and 20314 continued working South Yorkshire railhead treatment train duties on behalf of DRS until the middle of October, before the Kingmoor-based operator’s own locomotives were ready to take over. Nos. 20302 and 20303 only managed a week on the circuit before No. 20303 suffered a wheel flat, requiring the substitution of No. 20314 on October 17. DRS’ third ‘cover’ Class 20/3 No. 20305 finally made the trip from Crewe Gresty Bridge to York on October 23, the last leg of the journey behind No. 66425. However, it too needed the attention of the wheel lathe – reportedly sustained on the Crewe-Derby section of its journey – before it could be put into service. It moved to Doncaster Roberts Road for this work,…

CLASS 20 TYPE 1 No. 20189 had a run out on October 12 when ‘tailing’ the 1Z71/08.27 Dorridge-Chester Vintage Trains charter, which was hauled by steam locomotive No. 7029 Clun Castle and routed via Stafford and Crewe on the outward leg and back via Wrexham, Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton. Earlier in the month, on October 2, another privately-owned Type 1 No. 20227 ‘top and tailed’ Class 4 2-6-0 No. 76084 on a ‘fish and chip’ special running on the national network between Sheringham and Cromer. Four days later the same pair handled the 1Z10/16.00 Sheringham-Cromer and the 1Z11/16.50 return. Another turn of events saw Nos. 20007+20205 running light from Leicester to Bristol on October 30, ready to assist No. 57305 with a stock move to Crewe the following day. Having taken…

THE first week of October saw 25 more GB Railfreight JNA ‘Ealnos’ wagons shuttled through the Channel Tunnel, bringing the total fleet of the Ermewaleased big blue boxes in the country to 75. Nos. 81 70 5500 554-7 GB-ERSA to 81 70 5500 578-6 were recorded at Wembley Yard on October 10, and were expected to move to Wellingborough a few days later. They were joined on this side of the English Channel by the first batch of VTG Rail UK’s new JNA boxes, also built at Greenbrier-Astra Rail’s workshops at Turnu Severin in Romania. Nos. 81 70 5500 604-633 GB-VTGUK are painted all-over silver and numbered directly after the GBRf/Ermewa wagons. The VTG wagons were initially thought to be part of Touax’s forthcoming order of 55 vehicles for the…

THE Railway Preservation Society of Ireland’s ‘Cobh Rambler Railtour’ on October 5 featured, for the first time, multiple working of an 071 Class locomotive and a 201 Class locomotive on a passenger train. Approval from Irish Rail for this historic event followed the successful RPSI ‘Munster Double’ and ‘West Awake’ railtours of October 14, 2017 and April 13, 2019 respectively. On each of those occasions, a pair of 071 Class locos was used in multiple with no issues being reported. On September 3, a test to confirm the plan was feasible was undertaken and featured Nos. 073 and 220. However, it was Nos. 078 and 232 that were chosen to work the ‘Cobh Rambler’ tour train, which consisted of ‘BR’ van No. 3173 and seven Cravens coaches. ROUTE AND TRACTION…

ADVANCED orders of the brand-new ‘OO’ gauge PTA/JTA/JUA iron ore tipplers announced by Accurascale in June this year have been brisk, according to the company as it revealed engineering prototypes of the models, including an ‘inner’ and an ‘outer’ wagon. It is little wonder that a scale ‘OO’ gauge model of the Redpath Dorman Long constructed bogie tippler wagons would be a success, given that a large number of them were constructed for several iron ore flows hauled by a wide variety of BR traction. Their appeal increased with the transfer of redundant wagons to aggregate traffic for both Foster Yeoman and ARC, working from the Mendip quarries and loading terminals in Kent too, adding two more liveries to the mix and the potential for operations in other regions with…

THE first ‘OO’ gauge locomotive to be produced by Accurascale, the iconic Class 55 ‘Deltic’, broke cover recently in the form of an engineering prototype model which will be used by the company to evaluate assembly, performance and the overall design of the model. Reports from Accurascale suggest that it is satisfied with the shape of the model including the shoulder, cab roof and bonnet front profiles. As the released photographs show, the subtle taper of the body at the cabs is well represented alongside the distinctive tumblehome at the base of the body shell. Bogies are fitted out with several layers of detail including footsteps with etched metal treads and brake rigging fitted as separate details. Brake shoes will be aligned with the wheels. Performance of the engineering prototype…

HELJAN has finalised the CAD stage of the development of its brand-new ‘O’ gauge Class 56 and has authorised the design for tooling. Specification for the new Class 56 model includes one motor and flywheel assembly fitted to each bogie which should produce enough traction to haul a long rake of Dapol’s HAA wagons. Working head, tail and cab lights will be fitted using LEDs, whilst DCC-users will welcome the simple screw terminal connection for decoder installation. The CAD pictures released by Heljan depicts a late Doncaster or Crewe-built variant of the locomotive with exposed bufferbeam, surface mounted marker lights and a raised air horn grille applied to the cab fronts. To the side, the standard cab side window arrangement is included alongside the correct pattern of radiator grilles for…

FIDDLE YARDS or staging yards are an integral part of layout design because they provide essential storage for a (usually) large number of trains which can be fed on to the scenic area of the layout in a realistic manner. Staging is an essential operating feature which represents the rest of the railway and can take many forms depending on the type of layout. Terminus-to-fiddle yard layout designs frequently rely on sliding traversers or rotating sector plates which are built with sufficient length to accommodate the longest train working the layout. Lift-out cassettes are also common on such layouts where space is tight, allowing complete trains to be removed from the layout for storage on an adjacent table. A great deal of effort is put in to avoid handling of…

WAGONS disappear from the railway network seemingly without a ripple, unlike locomotives where almost every component removed is closely documented. Wagons are quickly disposed of, sometimes in a quiet corner of a yard somewhere, in a couple of days’ work for two men armed with a cutting torch. A good example is the humble MGR wagon – where did they all go? Taking photographs of routine, run-of-the-mill rollingstock builds up a reserve of important reference material for modellers. Whilst locomotives (and multiple units) are important to document, the humble wagon is equally so. The subject of this month’s D&E Files is a wagon type very much accepted as part of the railway landscape. After all, the humble OBA air-braked general merchandise wagon has been around for decades in one form…

SAFETY is vital when spraying with an airbrush or aerosol ‘rattle’ can. Most modellers will to do some spray painting from time to time, including refinishing of models and weathering effects and the resulting paint particles will drift from the immediate spraying area to cover surrounding surfaces, no matter how short painting bouts are. A spray booth fitted with an extractor unit and filters is an essential piece of equipment for controlling solvent fumes and paint overspray. Once you start using one, you will find that keeping your modelling environment clean of paint becomes very much easier and the SB-88 Sparmax hobby spray booth is ideal for the occasional painting session. Hobby spray booth The Sparmax spray booth is a low-cost unit suitable for the hobbyist, making it the perfect…

Known as the ‘Paget Locomotive’, or ‘Paget’s Folly’ by its critics, 2-6-2 No. 2299 was an experimental steam locomotive constructed at Derby Works in 1907/08 to the design of MR General Superintendent, Sir Cecil Paget. His novel concept, with many ingenious features could have played a greater role in shaping the future of steam locomotives, but internal politics at Derby Works reduced it to little more than a footnote in British railway history. In 1906 Paget, son of MR chairman Sir George Ernest Paget and Derby Works manager, had been widely tipped to replace Samuel Johnson as Locomotive Superintendent but the job instead went to Richard Deeley. Cecil Paget remained as his assistant until 1907 when he was promoted to become the company’s first General Superintendent, responsible for train operations…

As we have seen over the last few pages, engineers and railway companies all over the world were constantly looking for ways to improve steam traction in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. As trains got heavier and schedules were accelerated, the demands on locomotives increased and ever more power was needed. While larger machines were part of the answer, new technologies promised to deliver greater efficiency and greater power within the existing infrastructure – this was particularly important in Britain, where the early Victorian loading gauge was much smaller than that found in mainland Europe and North America. In 1929, the North British Locomotive Co. completed No. 6399 Fury for the London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) at its Hyde Park works in Glasgow. A joint venture between the LMS,…

By the 1940s, it was becoming increasingly obvious that the steam locomotive’s days as the primary form of railway traction were coming to an end. Diesel and electric traction had proved their worth after several decades of gradual development and were seen as clean, efficient and less labour intensive than dirty, polluting steam locomotives. However, not everyone agreed that steam was doomed, and work continued to make steam locomotives more efficient, more powerful and easier to operate, especially in countries with large reserves of good quality coal. In Britain, Southern Railway Chief Mechanical Engineer O.V.S. Bulleid was already well-known for his innovative approach to locomotive and rolling stock design, which had produced a series of ‘Pacific’ locomotives with highly efficient boilers, improvements to existing SR steam types, the unusual ‘Q1’…

While British and Irish railways saw railcars as a way to operate lines more economically, elsewhere in the world lightweight railcars were used for high-speed trials. The German Schienenzeppelin was an experimental railcar designed and developed by aircraft engineer Franz Kruckenberg in 1929. It used an aircraft engine and two-bladed propeller at the rear of the vehicle, which on June 21, 1931 pushed the railcar to a remarkable 143mph on the Hamburg-Berlin main line. This speed was not beaten on rails until 1954 and remains a record for a petrol-driven rail vehicle. However, due to safety concerns (not to mention its numerous other impracticalities) it was sidelined and dismantled in 1939. As with aircraft, jet technology replaced propellers after the Second World War and two extraordinary railcars were built in…

The two main line diesels commissioned by the Southern Railway actually pre-dated the LMS English Electric pioneers (page 64) by several years but due to leisurely construction they did not enter traffic until 1950. Thus the SR machines never really received the prominence which they deserved. A joint exercise by the SR Chief Mechanical Engineer, O.V.S. Bulleid and English Electric, they were distinctive machines whose rounded body shape matched the Bulleid coaches which were coming on stream at the same time. Despite their EE electrical and mechanical design the Southern’s influence was evident in the flush cab front, devoid of English Electric’s trademark ‘noses.’ The eight-wheel bogies, with outer carrying axles giving a 1-Co-Co-1 wheel arrangement to reduce the weight on each axle, were an innovation which would subsequently appear…

For lighter mixed traffic duties on secondary and branch lines, replacing Stanier/Ivatt 2MT 2-6-2T steam locomotives, the London Midland & Scottish Railway worked with British Thompson-Houston (BTH) and the North British Locomotive Co. (NBL) to design and build a small four-axle diesel-electric locomotive. The companies devised a North American style ‘hood’ unit with a single cab positioned between a long bonnet containing the power unit and a shorter bonnet housing a steam heating boiler. Although designed by H.G. Ivatt for the LMS in 1945, the locomotive did not emerge until 1950, by which time the LMS had been absorbed by British Railways. The locomotive was built at NBL’s Hyde Park factory in Glasgow and employed an 827hp Davey Paxman engine and BTH electrical equipment. The Paxman 16RPXHL turbocharged 16V diesel…

The High Speed Train – or InterCity 125 HST – is a true railway icon. Its distinctive appearance – with an almost aggressive ‘no nonsense’ sloping nose – has made it a familiar sight to just about everybody who lives in the UK. There are likely to be few who have not travelled on one. After more than 40 years, the HST is still in the front line and looks set to be so until at least the late-2020s. Simply, it is too good a train to go to the scrapyard. When it was introduced, it was an immediate success on the Western Region and helped BR win back many of the passengers lost to road and air in previous years. East Coast Main Line (ECML), West of England, Midland…

Often thought of as modern development, the first monorail was actually proposed in 1820 by Ivan Elmanov in Russia. For as long as railways have been around, engineers and inventors have been proposing single-rail alternatives to conventional railways, either to reduce construction costs or reach locations not possible with two rails. The first British monorail was a horse-drawn system patented by Henry Palmer in 1821 and employed at Deptford dockyard in south-east London. Another short line was built for moving stone from a quarry near Cheshunt in Hertfordshire to the River Lea and was not just the first monorail in the world to carry passengers but also the first railway in Hertfordshire. Various schemes were proposed throughout the 19th century, but the city of Wuppertal in Germany was the first…

THE TECHNICAL Specification for Interoperability covering the use of heavy rail services by Persons with Reduced Mobility (PRM) was adopted by the European Railway Agency in 2014, to come into effect at the beginning of 2020. In the intervening period, new rolling stock in Britain has been built to the standard required, with the intention that older vehicles would either be converted to comply with the regulations or withdrawn from service. The franchised operators have been required to adopt one of these options, but planning went astray when the Government cancelled a number of electrification projects as a result of cost overruns, which meant the use of intended vehicle types on the routes concerned changed. MML SUFFERS The principal route affected is the Midland Main Line, which has a fleet…

CONSTRUCTED in 1962 at Wolverton Works, No. 35386 was built as a Mk.1 Brake Second Corridor (BSK) coach using Commonwealth bogies as part of lot number 30699. It was ‘borrowed’ temporarily in 1974, joining the Department of Mechanical & Electrical Engineers (DM&EE) and renumbered No. ADB975397. Its predecessor No. DB995000, a former LNER Test Car 2 dating back to 1951, had been part of a slip/brake test between Crewe and Winsford that had not ended well! Accepted into the test equipment role, the interior was modified in 1976. An electrical generator was installed and several internal layout alterations were made. It is likely that this is around the time that the car was repainted into the traditional departmental red and blue livery of the DM&EE. LAYOUT A Perkins three-cylinder 20kVA…

IN 1934, Mars Confections acquired Chappel Brothers Ltd, a Manchester concern that canned meat offcuts for sale as pet food. In 1951, the operation was moved to Melton Mowbray, and by 1972 the company had changed its name to Pedigree Petfoods. Annual production had increased to around 400,000 tonnes, which included the market-leading brands in both dog (Pedigree) and cat food (Whiskas). During the 1960s and early 1970s, Pedigree received deliveries of empty canstock and dispatched finished pet foods by rail. This used both standard BR ‘Vanfits’ and various designs of ‘Palvans’, including some of those built originally for Izal and Heinz traffic, but by the early 1980s the only freight traffic being handled at Melton Mowbray on behalf of Pedigree was a weekly delivery of offal. Much of the…

A serious collision occurred at Eccles, Greater Manchester, on December 4, 1984 when the 10.05 Liverpool Lime Street-Scarborough (headed by No. 45147) crashed into the 09.00 Ellesmere Port-Leeds oil train (headed by No. 47310). The passenger train passed a signal at danger – a semaphore type not fitted with AWS protection – hitting the rear of the freight and setting light to escaping fuel oil. The driver and one passenger died on the scene, and one other passenger died later from their injuries. The rescue and clean-up operation (pictured on December 5) used the adjacent motorway, and the ‘45’ was written off. Just over two weeks later on December 20, the 01.40 Haverton Hill (Teesside) to Glazebrook oil train derailed in Summit Tunnel between Todmorden and Littleborough, setting fire to…

TRANSPORT for London has launched a 10-week public consultation online for its amended plans to extend the Bakerloo Line from the current southern terminus at Elephant & Castle to Lewisham. This would help meet the needs of the capital’s growing population, which is forecast to exceed 10 million people by 2030. The plans now include the construction of a new Elephant & Castle station to be integrated with the Northern Line and aligned with the Old Kent Road. The idea of building a new station at the Bricklayers Arms roundabout has been discounted, but two stations will be constructed along the Old Kent Road plus an interchange with London Overground at New Cross Gate and a terminus at Lewisham. TfL is also asking for views on proposed names for the…

AFTER a staggering 43 years providing commuters to the capital with outstanding service, the York-built Class 313 EMUs bowed out of public service on September 30, after being fully replaced by new Siemens-built Class 717s. To mark this longevity, UK Railtours ran a charity tour on October 24, taking two Class 313s on a run over their regular stamping grounds. It was titled ‘Gerry’s Class 313 Farewell’ – being dedicated to Gerry McFadden, the Fleet Engineer of Govia Thameslink Railway who had these units under his care and has now moved on to pastures new. Units Nos. 313064 and 313134 were selected, the latter being the sole survivor with the low back seating. As a nice surprise, one vehicle of 313064 (No. 62656) was decked out in a version of…

A SECOND former GWR green ‘celebrity’ is in the news (see also Class 60 story on opposite page) with the scrapping of No. 47500 at Carnforth. The former Great Western was one of four Class 47s repainted into lined Brunswick green in 1985, along with Nos. 47079, 47484 and 47628 to celebrate 150 years since the formation of Brunel’s famous railway. It was stored after catching fire at Windsor Bridge Junction, Salford, while working an empty stock move on January 23, 2013 and eventually moved back to WCR’s Lancashire home for use as a spares donor. As for its three former colleagues, No. 47079 was rebuilt as No. 57009 and is currently stored by its owner DRS at Longtown (near Carlisle); the Pioneer Diesel Group’s No. 47484 is languishing and…

CLASS 153 THE first Class 153 to be released from Long Marston following full PRM (Persons of Reduced Mobility) modifications, No. 153325, was released on October 5 and re-entered service on October 21. Now carrying Transport for Wales livery, the vehicle has had its new toilet fitted at the opposite end of the car, resolving the access restrictions caused by the small cab that was created during its conversion from a Class 155. Tip-up seats have been fitted in the area previously occupied by the toilet, and the seating capacity reduced from 75 to 59. CLASS 156 ‘SUPER SPRINTER’ MORE units have made the journey between Scotland and South Wales for interior work to be carried out at Landore (Swansea). September 28 saw No. 156513 leave Glasgow Shields for Landore,…

THE number of industrial diesel locomotives in preservation has fluctuated over the years, as they often get bought by industrial concerns and returned to active working life. A good example of this is Andrew Barclay 0-4-0 No. 400, which was built in 1956. It worked at Bardon Hill quarry, Leicestershire, before entering preservation at the Great Central Railway where it became the yard pilot at Rothley for many years. Two years ago, however, it was purchased from the GCR by Mike Mazurkiewicz of Georail Services (Warrington), and since then the shunter has been undergoing a full overhaul including a complete engine and transmission rebuild, and additional air tanks and twin air supply on the front and rear buffer beams. When complete in early 2020, it will be named Duke of…

MANUFACTURERS, particularly the new and emerging ones, have become more aware of the need of 4mm finescale modellers to be able to convert ‘OO’ gauge models to either ‘EM’ or ‘P4’ gauge and are making provision in new models for simple installation of closer-to-scale wheels. Contrary to that goal is the use of some more unconventional current collection systems in ‘OO’ gauge which are well thought out and effective. The Bachmann third rail Mk.1 EMU range is a good example. Its ‘4-CEP’, ‘2EPB’ and ‘MLV’ models are fitted with split axles incorporating end of axle (stub axle) current collection in the trailer bogies, providing current collection in all the vehicles making up a unit. Power bogies are also fitted with split axle wheels with the drive gear doubling up as…

The Olympic motto ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’ could just as easily be applied to the development of railways over the last two centuries. What follows is the story (so far) of our constant search for machines that will run faster, carry more people or freight more efficiently and reach places denied to existing technology. Many of these machines were initially top-secret, hidden from sight to prevent rival nations or competitors from stealing the advantage, while others were famously high-profile, both in success and failure. Some have gone on to change the way we travel and move goods, many others proved to be technological dead-ends, while some continue to be under development after several decades, waiting for technology and materials to catch up with the idea. From high-pressure steam to magnetic levitation…

The Reid-Ramsey Turbine-Electric As far back as 1910, the advanced Reid-Ramsey Turbine-Electric was the first steam turbine locomotive built in the UK. Built by the North British Locomotive Company (NBL) to a design devised by the company’s Deputy Chairman and Chief Managing Director Sir Hugh Reid, the machine featured a conventional superheated locomotive boiler feeding an impulse turbine running at 3,000rpm. This was coupled to a dynamo producing between 200V and 600V DC to power four 275hp axle-mounted traction motors. In modern terms it was a miniature coal-fired power station on wheels, and considerably ahead of its time. Theoretically, a steam turbine is much more efficient than a reciprocal steam engine but only when the turbine vents into a near vacuum, and when it is running at high speed. A…

In the drive to create more efficient steam locomotives, many different ideas were tested in the first half of the 20th century. As we saw on the previous pages, a great deal of effort was directed at high-pressure boilers, which were predicted to deliver higher power and greater fuel efficiency than conventional steam traction. At the end of 1924, the USA’s American Locomotive Co. (Alco) produced the world’s first main line locomotive with a marine type high-pressure water-tube boiler. This 2-8-0 goods locomotive, No. 1400 Horatio Allen, was built for the Delaware & Hudson Railroad. It used two-cylinder compound expansion and had a 350psi boiler, built by Alco with assistance from Clyde shipbuilder Yarrow & Co. Alco built three more locomotives with successive increases in boiler pressure, culminating with No.…

As events such as the global economic depression of the 1930s and the steady growth of competition from road transport ate into the dominance of railway companies, they inevitably looked for ways to save costs and find more efficient ways of working. The success of the early diesel and petrol railcars in Ireland and elsewhere did not go unnoticed and as engine technology improved, the potential of larger locomotives for heavier work became apparent. As well as saving staff costs by eliminating the fireman, diesel shunters offered the potential for working almost 24 hours a day, whereas small steam locomotives needed to stop much more regularly for water, coal and servicing. Although the principles of internal combustion had been known since around 200BC, and various inventors had experimented with piston…

Like Nos. 10201-203, this quirky 0-6-0 diesel-mechanical prototype had its origins with the Southern Railway but did not emerge until after Nationalisation. Completed in 1949 at Ashford Works, it was built to the design of O.V.S. Bulleid – the last SR Chief Mechanical Engineer and first CME of British Railways Southern Region. Construction started in 1947 but this one-off machine was not taken into BR stock until February 1950. No. 11001 was powered by a Paxman Ricardo RPH Series 1 500hp engine powering a blind rear axle and crankshaft which drove the six wheels via coupling rods. A Vulcan Sinclair fluid coupling and sychro self-shifting (SSS) Powerflow gearbox provided three forward and reverse gears in either high or low range, with top speed ranging from 5mph first gear and low…

Even before the Second World War, many branch lines around Britain were failing to cover their costs. For rural districts where passenger traffic was sparse, railway companies developed many different solutions to reduce operating costs; from steam railmotors and push-pull trains to railcars powered by internal combustion engines – at the time a relatively new form of traction for railways. Necessity, as always, proved to be the mother of invention and some of the poorest railway companies – most notably those running narrow gauge lines in north-west Ireland – devised cheap, efficient diesel railbuses that eventually inspired the British railcar revolution (see page 52). But, as car ownership increased and passenger numbers continued to dwindle, more radical solutions were needed if lines were to stay open. Under similar circumstances, simple,…

BR’s Early Gas Turbines Although diesel power was starting to prove itself as a viable alternative to steam traction before the outbreak of the Second World War, no single unit locomotive of the time could match the power of large main line locomotives. Where a GWR ‘King’ 4-6-0 in ‘good nick’ could deliver around 2,500hp to the rails, and the LMS ‘Princess Coronations’ were capable of more than 3,000hp, the LMS/ LMR and Southern Region diesel prototypes (Nos. 10000/01 and 10201/202) could only manage 1,600hp, reducing to around 1,300hp at the rails after transmission losses. Multiple working equipment meant that one crew could drive two locomotives on heavier trains but this was an expensive solution and the search was soon under way for more power. Rather than developing its own…

It was sleek, secretive and fast, with technologies imported from previously unknown sources. No, not a US spy plane from the Cold War, but BR’s secret weapon in the fight against road and air transport in the late-1960s and early-1970s. The Advanced Passenger Train (APT) concept was first mooted in the early-1960s and over the next 20 years developed from an idea to a working prototype and eventually pre-series trains that BR hoped would help it to win passengers back from the motorways and airlines. It’s a fascinating story, packed with imagination, intrigue, triumph and, ultimately, disappointment. Fifteen years after its creation, British Railways was in financial turmoil and facing ever-growing competition from air travel and mass car ownership. Around the same time, BR’s research, development and engineering teams were…

While in the UK we consider electric trains to be a relatively modern development, the first electrically powered rail vehicle moved under its own power in Britain as early as 1842 – just 13 years after the legendary Rainhill Trials. Scottish scientist and inventor Robert Davison tested a rudimentary locomotive powered by electro-magnetism on the Edinburgh & Glasgow Railway in September 1842. This was 37 years before Werner von Siemens presented what is generally regarded as the world’s first electric train. However, Siemens’ little exhibition train of 1879 was indeed the first to employ electric motors powered by an external source – in this case 150V DC – and was therefore the direct forerunner of the electric trains we see today. Over the next few years, Siemens went on to…

Britain’s Only Double-Deck Trains Just like today, the Southern Railway’s suburban electric routes suffered from chronic overcrowding at peak times. Extending platforms to accommodate longer trains is hugely expensive in built-up areas, particularly in central London. Faced with an estimated £10m bill to extend platforms on the lines from Charing Cross/Cannon Street to Dartford, SR Chief Mechanical Engineer O.V.S. Bulleid suggested double-deck trains to increase capacity without lengthening trains. Full scale wooden mock-ups were built under conditions of strict secrecy at Lancing Works in 1948/49 to test Bulleid’s design. Two prototype sets, Nos. 4001 and 4002, were built at Lancing (underframes) and Eastleigh (bodyshells), each formed of two Driving Motor Brake Second and two Trailer Second cars. The units had what would become the standard SR traction package of EE507…