Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2024 i Rail Express

PIONEER Class 50 No. 50050 Fearless has joined the Locomotive Services Group fleet on hire. Owned by Boden Rail Engineering Limited (BREL), the ‘50’ moved to LSG’s Crewe Maintenance Depot on March 5, from Rectory Junction, where BREL has recently relocated to from Eastcroft. The ‘50’ will be used to cover for No. D9000 (55022) Royal Scots Grey, which is to be fitted with European Train Control System (ETCS), the first in its class, and which will then undergo trials. However, before the ‘50’ enters traffic with LSG it is being sent to Harry Needle Railroad Company’s Worksop facility for assessment and repairs. LSG has not confirmed what the ‘50’ will be used for, and as this issue of Rail Express went to press, there were no planned duties for…

HEADLINE NEWS RAIL Express editor Richard Clinnick presented Class 50 Alliance chairman Tony Middleton with the Heritage Railway Association Mortons Media Rail Express Modern Traction Award at a ceremony in Brighton on February 10. The C50A won the award for having supplied locomotives for 100 main line tours, with the 100th train running on September 16, 2023, when Nos. 50007 Hercules and 50049 Defiance hauled the 1Z50 05.30 Swindon-Edinburgh Waverley ‘Pilgrim Centurion’ (RE330); the first having operated on November 1, 1997, when No. 50031 Hood powered Past-Time Rail’s ‘The Pilgrim Hoover’ between Birmingham International and Plymouth. The event itself, the largest of its kind organised by the HRA, was attended by more than 250 of the country’s leading preservationists. Railway of the Year was won by the Volks Electric Railway,…

THE most recent six Class 777 Stadler electric multiple units to arrive in the United Kingdom from Poland have all been taken to Long Marston, where they are being held prior to being sent to Kirkdale for commissioning before entering service. The Merseyrail depot is only able to deal with a limited number of sets undergoing/awaiting commissioning and the six sets in store are likely to be moved to Kirkdale in pairs in the coming weeks. RailAdventure’s four High Speed Train power cars (Nos. 43465/484 and 43468/480) took No. 777029 and then Nos. 777043/045 from Walton Old Junction (Warrington) to Long Marston on January 30, and February 1 respectively. On February 14, DB Cargo UK No. 66142 Maritime Intermodal Three hauled Nos. 777037/039/041 from Dollands Moor to Wembley Yard, after…

CLASS 20 Still serving a real purpose in its 67th year, No. 20007 ran light from Kidderminster to Long Marston on February 5, to act as a standby during the main line test runs of Great Western Railway battery unit No. 230001 (see Headline News). The Type 1 returned to the Severn Valley Railway on February 16, on the 6Z79 09.30 Long Marston-Wembley behind RailAdventure power cars Nos. 43468/480. February 4 found Locomotive Services Nos. 37409 Loch Awe, D8096 (20096) and D8107 (20107) Jocelyn Feilding 1940-2020 travelling south with three coaches on the 5Z82 10.20 Crewe-Southall (see Coaches). Next day, the Type 1s left Southall with Mk.2 No. 17159 on a route learning journey to Canterbury West and back via Maidstone East, Ashford, Deal and Tonbridge. Similar trips ran on…

IARNRÓD ÉIREANN (IE) plans to build new suburban stations in west Dublin and a park and ride facility on the outskirts of Limerick. The proposed locations in Dublin are at Cabra, between Islandbridge Junction and Glasnevin Junction, and at Kylemore, near Inchicore, on the Heuston to Cork main line. The Limerick facility is planned to be sited at Ballysimon between Ennis Junction and Killonan Junction and located near to the Limerick Southern Ring Road. In order to progress the projects, IE has appointed consultants AtkinsRealis to investigate where the best site for each would be as well as the designs and costs. The company will also undertake a feasibility study into the possibility of increasing capacity on the single-track Limerick-Ennis-Athenry line which is the southern part of the Western Rail…

SIEMENS Mobility has confirmed that 80% of the 94 nine-car 24 Tube Stock trains due to enter traffic on the Piccadilly Line from next year, will be built at its new factory in Goole. Previously, construction was due to be split 50/50 between the firm’s Vienna site and the new factory, which has now been completed in Yorkshire. Dynamic testing of the first preproduction cars is already well under way, with the first completed prototype train being unveiled at Wildenrath, Germany, last November (RE332). Transport for London (TfL) is currently expecting to take delivery of the first train for testing in August. Meanwhile, TfL reports that the Estimated Final Cost (EFC) has risen beyond the Programme and Project Authority of £2994m, to £3050m. Whilst this increase is not enough for…

A MISSING livery from the first batch of ‘OO’ gauge Mk.1 suburban coaches has been announced by Accurascale, which incorporates some interesting changes made in coaching stock liveries by BR at the time. Lined maroon livery was applied to coaching stock from around 1956 onwards, with suburban stock receiving the livery by 1959, with lining being applied depending on regional preferences. Livery changes also saw the introduction of the yellow stripe for First Class accommodation which is offered on some models of the Composite stock. Midland Region coaches in both lined and plain maroon are added to the range including Second Class, Brake Second, Composite and Open coaches. Scottish Region vehicles will include Second Class, Brake Second and Composite vehicles, with the composite sporting a yellow First Class stripe. Delivery…

EM 4mm:1ft GAUGE FIVE MINUTES is the time it should take to completely regauge a Cavalex Models Class 56 to either ‘EM’ or ‘P4’ gauge – at least according to a video produced by Cavalex Models itself. The company kindly submitted a set of its drop-in wheels to fit to the model of Trainload Coal No. 56023, allowing the conversion to be tested by someone who has no connection with the design and development of the model. Once completed, the model was performance tested on ‘EM’ gauge track with heavy loads. Before tackling the project, the drop-in wheels were checked for gauge and assembly quality. Further, in the same manner as decoder fitting, the project locomotive was reliability tested with its supplied wheels before the conversion. One of the advantages…

TRIALS involving Great Western Railway three-car battery unit No. 230001 have begun on the Greenford branch. These are expected to last for 12 months, during which its performance will be tested in all four seasons. GWR engineering director Dr Simon Green told Rail Express on February 29, that although the trials do not necessarily need to carry passengers, the operator hopes that the ‘230’ can be used in passenger service. He also confirmed that initially RailAdventure will drive the ‘230’ while GWR negotiates with unions regarding the operator’s staff driving the set. The talks were described as positive and he said they mainly related to the cabs fitted to the unit. The ‘230’ had been carrying out testing between Long Marston, Evesham, Honeybourne and Moreton-on-Marsh. During this period, on February…

THE long-running saga of the ‘Shenfield Shark’, No. DB 993733, has come to an end with its disposal after around 35 years. Having been seemingly forgotten after being detached with a hot box at the Essex station in the late-1980s, various attempts had been made to recover the ZUW ballast plough brake van over the past decade for preservation. However, with the adjacent platform roads being wired at 25kV ac and the questionable structural integrity of the 1956-built wagon, owner DB Cargo UK was left with no choice but to cut it up on site. This was completed over the weekend of February 24/25. DEVELOPMENTS ■ DB CARGO UK: While some of the ancient YKA ‘Osprey’ and YWA ‘Salmon’ track panel carriers have recently started to go for scrap (RE332),…

OFFERED for sale towards the end of 2023, the Dean Forest Diesel Association’s two Brush Type 2s, Nos. 31210 and 31235, have moved to a new base at the Great Central Railway (Nottingham) after being placed in the custodianship of the Type 1 Locomotive Company rather than being sold. The pair of ‘31s’ left Lydney Junction by road for Ruddington during the first half of February. The two Class 31s have very different futures in store. No. 31210, which had been at the Dean Forest Railway since 2002, has undergone an extensive and thorough restoration over the past 10 to 15 years and now sports 1980s Railfreight grey but requires wheelset replacement before it can run again. It is planned to use the bogies currently under No. 31235 to return…

THE run down of the Class 50 fleet began in 1987, when No. 50011 Centurion was taken out of traffic for use as a testbed in connection with Class 50 power unit overhauls at Crewe Works. British Rail had introduced a new Cost Effective Maintenance (CEM) regime, whereby instead of being dispatched to a BREL Works for overhaul, locomotives would undergo a major exam at a depot, with components being sent away for attention. For many years, Class 50s had been traditionally overhauled at Doncaster, but under the new procedure, they would undergo an F-exam at Laira, with power units being sent to Crewe. By the end of 1989, the fleet had been reduced further, with 13 more ‘50s’ having been withdrawn for various reasons; among these were major failures,…

PERFORMANCE THE headline statistics announced for the new Merseyrail Class 777 units, purchased to replace British Rail Class 507 and ‘508’ stalwarts, were impressive. Manufactured by Stadler using aluminium, and featuring articulated bogies, their weight is a mere 99 tonnes for a four-car formation. With horsepower grossing 2820, the 28½hp/tonne power/weight ratio for these 75mph suburban units was over three times higher than the outgoing classes, but would a network with a maximum permissible speed of 60mph over most of its distance mean their prowess would be wasted? Lines such as the 19 miles from Liverpool Central to Southport have 15 intermediate stations and the 17 miles southbound to Chester have 13. Heading back north towards Liverpool, whilst still in Cheshire and before the onset of urban sprawl, there is…

REVIEW 00 GAUGE 4mm:1ft 1970-1999 ERA Not just reliveried UK-outline coaches IRM has tooled bespoke bodyshells to correctly represent the coaches supplied in 1970, including those types unique to NIR: a First Open, two BDTS driving trailers, and a catering vehicle, the only bespoke one to be constructed (Grill-Bar No. 547) other than BR Mk.2 Pullman stock. The Second Open coaches are outwardly similar to the TSOs constructed for BR. They were fitted with B4 bogies adapted for Irish 5ft 3in gauge and finished in a smart blue and maroon livery. The modelled coaches include some additional Mk.2bs purchased from BR to strengthen the ‘Enterprise’ fleet. They include accurate models of the BGV generator coaches built from five second-hand Mk.2b BFK stock acquired in 1980 to supply train power when…

N GAUGE 2mm:1ft 2017 to present ERA WHEN power stations were closed or switched to biomass fuel, freight operators started to look for a new use for coal hopper wagons as coal traffic declined. Wagons constructed for EWS and other operators were transferred to meet the growing demand for rail borne aggregate distribution. The long hopper wagons built to carry coal are not ideal for heavy aggregate and could not be loaded to their full volume, making the load to train length ratio less than desirable. DB Cargo UK has undertaken a programme of shortening part of its HTA wagon fleet inherited from EWS to improve their efficiency for carrying aggregate in the same manner as the GB Railfreight HYA cut-down hopper wagons. Effectively, one bay was removed reducing the…

MUCH of Cornwall’s semaphore signalling infrastructure has been swept away in a modernisation process that was under way as this issue of Rail Express went to press. From March 11, trains between Largin and Penwithers Junction, Truro will be controlled from a workstation at Exeter. Siemens has installed more than 60 miles of new cabling and signalling while Network Rail has overseen alterations to trackwork, mainly in the Truro area. The Falmouth branch and freight lines to Parkandillack and Fowey will also be controlled from the same workstation. However, the freight lines will retain a staff to be collected by a driver. Conventional track circuits and first generation axle counters have been replaced with state of the art axle counters detecting trains along sections of line. The work has resulted…

THE long sojourn of the Clayton-built Class 18s at Wolverton Works finally showed signs of coming to an end during February, with the departure of two locomotives. First to leave, on February 5, was No. 18003, which moved to British Steel’s Scunthorpe Steelworks, while No. 18002 left around a week later for the former Brush workshops at Loughborough. No. 18003 is the first of the Beacon Rail-owned locomotives to find employment since the trial of No. 18001 at Whitemoor Yard concluded a year ago. It had been in residence at Wolverton since April 2022. The use of one of the class by British Steel is unexpected as the company’s management had previously indicated it was not interested in the locomotives. However, as well as allowing the firm to promote its…

DISCUSSIONS with interested parties, which will see a newcomer to the railtour scene, are well under way. GB Railfreight is the planned operator for these services with the stock hired from Eastern Rail Services. The new operator clearly has southern England in its sights, although Rail Express understands that it will be considering destinations north of the Thames as well. The intention is that the stock, air-conditioned Mk.2s, will carry blue and grey livery. The new tour promoter is currently seeking paths and has tabled proposals to use the former international platforms at Waterloo, used by Eurostar until 2007. Network Rail has yet to adjudicate on this request. RE understands that privately owned traction will be sought, as well as utilising the main freight companies’ power. There is no planned…

00 GAUGE 4mm:1ft 1976 to present ERA First impressions SLIPPING THE TIGHT cover from the bright orange box revealed a soft foam liner and an immaculate model of No. 56023 secured to a transport cradle. Immediately, the model’s crisp and tidy appearance formed the first of many good impressions of the first Cavalex Models diesel locomotive. Exquisite levels of detail applied to a correctly proportioned bodyshell revealed that Cavalex Models has a winner on its hands. It represents exceptional value priced at £190 for a DCC-ready version, including working cooling fans and sophisticated electronics. The sample model is of Trainload Coal No. 56023, one of the first series of Class 56s constructed in Romania in the 1970s which externally differed from the BR built locomotives. The new model enjoys all…

TT:120 GAUGE 2.54mm:1ft Early 1960s to circa 2020 ERA A neat replica HORNBY has produced a very neat replica of the TTA tank wagon for its ‘TT:120’ range which shares all of the features of the 4mm scale model including the underframe type which is a close replica of that used on Diagram TT088 TTA wagons. The green BPO version of the ‘TT:120’ model matches those built by Powell Duffryn in 1966/7, including the top walkway and end ladders. The other two models are fitted with end ladders are a very close fit to the model. The level of detail is commendable given the smaller size of the scale and Hornby has also succeeded in replicating the character of the monobloc design by incorporating an impression of the curved tank…

THERE WAS LITTLE glamour surrounding the Class 423, 4-VEP third rail multiple units at any time in their lives and they attracted little railway glory, except perhaps No. 3417 Gordon Pettitt which is the only 4-VEP to have survived the cutting torch as a complete set. 4-VEPs were reliable, day in and day out, providing a large number of seats for peak hour services on many routes with their two by three standard class seating. The following selection of images taken in their twilight years gives a flavour of their duties right to the end when the last trains were withdrawn from daily service in 2005. THE CLASS 421, 4-CIG: A MISSING LINK FOR SOUTHERN MODELLERS Any takers for the 4-CIG? THE return of the upgraded Hornby 4-VEP has been…