Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2026 i Railways Illustrated

THE FIRST main line haulage behind a re-engined Class 37/9 ‘slug’ for nearly 27 years was available on October 25 when EPR’s 37901 Mirrlees Pioneer worked UK Railtours’ ‘Brick and Tile’ charter. The loco, in retro Trainload Metals livery, worked from Cleethorpes to Barton-upon-Humber and later from Cleethorpes to Doncaster. It top-and-tailed with 50007 Hercules and 50008 Thunderer, which had worked the train from Finsbury Park. The 37/9 was added to the rear of the train at Doncaster. Six Class 37/0s were rebuilt in 1986 with trial engines – 37901-904 had Mirrlees 6MB275T engines, while 37905/906 had Ruston 6RK270T engines fitted. They were intended as testbed for a new Class 38 Type 3 that never saw the light of day. When EWS inherited all six locos, they were deemed as non-standard…

THE BRAND-NEW Beaulieu Park station opened to passengers ahead of schedule on October 27, backed by £141 million of Government investment, marking the first new station on the Great Eastern Mainline in more than 100 years. The new station is operated by Greater Anglia and offers passengers up to four trains per hour during peak times and two trains per hour during off peak periods, as well as direct rail access to Liverpool Street in just 40 minutes and Colchester in 25 minutes. It is also set to generate a £250m economic boost for the region.…

Everyone is now an expert on rail security… The one good thing to come out of the horrific stabbings on an LNER train at Huntingdon is that every MP and newspaper editor have suddenly become qualified experts on the railways. Sir Michael Wigmaster (Con, Danny-on-the-Wold) said: “It’s clear that every station needs airport-style scanners to stop people boarding trains who are intent on causing harm.” When asked about the costs and impracticality of doing that, it replied “Well, we’ll let Labour worry out that – we’re not going to be in power for a generation.” When asked if this was an immoral thing to say, he replied: “Gosh, is that the time? Got to go.” Reform was quick to seize on the awful situation in an attempt to score political…

Barnstaple testing for RHTT Class 153 Network Rail’s experimental conversion of 153317 into a railhead treatment unit has moved on a stage, the DMU finally seeing testing on the national network. Previously, the grey Class 153 was confined to trials on the East Lancashire Railway in 2023 and the West Somerset Railway this September. October 21 saw the unit delivered to St Philip’s Marsh by road from Derby and it then ran to Exeter two days later. Pre-dawn runs over the Barnstaple branch commenced from the following morning and continued on an intermittent basis into November. Meanwhile, Network Rail has added a sixth blue Class 153 to its infrastructure monitoring fleet, 153383 arriving at Derby RTC by road from Long Marston at the beginning of November for commissioning. It previously…

THE CLASS 37 Loco Group’s loco, 37003, has returned to its home on the Mid-Norfolk Railway after eight years away undergoing repairs. It was collected by 37218 and 37901 Mirrlees Pioneer on October 23 and, sandwiched between the two EPR locos, was moved from Leicester depot, where it has been since August 2017, to the UKRL site at Loughborough. From there it was loaded into a lorry on November 2 and moved by road back to Dereham, leaving on November 3 and arriving the next day. The remainder of its overhaul to return it to operational condition will now be completed. Another Class 37 on the move is 37263, which also returned to its home line on October 23 when it moved from Kidderminster to the Telford Steam Railway. The…

THE TRANSFER of Class 03 shunter 03179 back to the Isle of Wight was completed on October 22/23, when the loco was taken by road (and ferry!) from Rushden to the island. It is now based at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway, joining classmate D2059 and fellow former IoW BR shunter, Class 05 D2554. Resplendent in its freshly applied Network SouthEast livery, which it carried for the majority of its stay on the island in BR days from 1988 or 1996, the loco has already undertaken some test runs and was being prepared for its public passenger debut on November 22.…

FEBRUARY 7 sees the East Lancashire Railway hold its first diesel day of the year, with the expected line-up to be some or all of D9531, D5054, D7076, 40106, 832 Onslaught, 47765, 50015 Valiant and 56006, depending on what locos are available. The 40, 47 and 50 can all provide heating and will top-and-tail with other locos.…

One of the country’s newest train operating companies is Europhoenix. Already a ‘household name’ in railway circles, it has been in business for several years, firstly facilitating exporting of locos to Europe and then supplying traction to other UK operators, most notably Rail Operations Group. It bought a number of ex-DRS Class 37s and a couple of locos from DB Cargo which had been Spain, repatriating and returning them to main line use. Then, in January 2024, it bought four more Class 37s from DRS, but these were not for spot hire – they were for its own business. Its managing director is Glenn Edwards, and I met with him at UKRL’s Leicester Depot, where the company bases some its locos. We start by talking about the fleet. Of the…

Railway photography for me is about two things: a record for capturing a point in time to preserve a memory and an art form to create a great-looking image. Sometimes for me that is to recreate an essence of how things used to be. I’m always looking out for a composition that takes me back to when I was young, particularly the early 1980s. I like the challenge of capturing an image that looks almost like it could have been taken in the past. This is hard because modern details creep into the scene. It requires a suitable subject, an appropriate backdrop, often some tight composition to exclude modernity, and some compromises. It’s rarely going to be a perfect recreation of the past, but it is great fun trying to…

Colin Marsden One of the best-known names in railway photography, Colin Marsden takes up the mantle of this month’s 10 Pictures feature. The former railwayman is also a well-known author who during the last five decades has produced countless and, of course, edited Railways Illustrated from 2003 to 2006, starting the magazine from issue one. Now residing in Dawlish, he still enjoys getting out with his camera and makes many trips around the country and regular pilgrimages to the Isle of Man. “For the last 50 years,” he said, “I have had the great pleasure of photographically recording railways in the UK and overseas, taking more than 1.5 million exposures in the process. This started using medium format roll-film cameras, later 35mm film, and since 2001 digital systems. “It is…

PRODUCT OF THE MONTH Spotlight on the Class 20s AUTHOR: Gary Essex PUBLISHER: Totem Publishing ISBN: 978-1-913893-78-1  WEBSITE: www.ttpublishing.co.uk DESPITE BEING one of the most successful loco designs ever to run on the railways, there has been sadly too few books devoted to the Class 20s, certainly of late. This 80-page hardback A5 book in landscape format features, typically, a picture per page with an extended caption. The images, especially those from the early days, are excellent and as far as I can ascertain, not a single image has been published before. There are some superb photos from the early days – which are mostly black-and-white – such as D8002 at Birmingham NS in July 1968, D8127 at Busby, and a superb, crisp image of D8086 at Polmadie in June 1968,…

THE LONG-AWAITED entry into passenger traffic of East Midlands Railways’ new Class 810 Aurora Hitachi AT300 bi-mode multiple units is expected to occur in December, according to the TOC. As this issue of Railways Illustrated closed for press, an unconfirmed suggestion was that the first unit may actually have been put into passenger traffic on November 25. However, the first of the fleet should be in regular traffic at the December timetable change. EMR said: “Initially, we anticipate one unit per day will be in passenger operation. The other units remain in use for staff training to enable us to be ready for the new year as more units arrive.” Most of the 33-strong fleet of five-car trains has been built by Hitachi at its Newton Aycliffe site; the remaining…

THE NEW GBRf Stadler bi-mode Class 99s have been passed for use on the network by the Office of Rail and Road after the class was granted full APIS (Authorisation for Placing Into Service) approval. So far, just 99001/002 have been in the UK and are undergoing thorough testing, but the next two locos, 99003/004, were due to dock on November 28. Testing, route clearance and staff training continues on the fleet which have now been tested on the Southern Region, as well as visits to Wales and Scotland. The two locos have also had some minor tweaks to their livery, with the larger high bodyside numbers having been removed and the cab numbers being put in a cleaner font. This is the livery style that the later locos should…

BOTH THE West Coast and East Coast Main Lines are to change the operators providing Thunderbird cover to rescue stricken trains. The two Newark Thunderbirds will now be supplied by Colas for the ECML. This is a change from West Coast Railways, which has been supplying two Class 47s or 57s. It is likely Colas will use 67023/027 to cover the contract. Meanwhile, the WCML Thunderbird contract will also be changing supplier. Direct Rail Services, which has been operating the Class 57/3s, used to rescue trains on the line and has confirmed “the contract for to provide Thunderbirds will come to its natural conclusion on December 8.” What will happen to the four 57s it uses for the work, 57304/307-309, has yet to be decided. It is understood that NR…

A FLEET of at least 69 new EMUs and battery EMUs is being sought by ScotRail after it issued notice for invitations of tenders for two new fleets to replace its older DMUs and EMUs such as the Class 156s and 318/320. The contract requests bidders supply 69 new trains, with an option for a further 37 units. There will also be a contract for maintenance provision for the new trains. While ScotRail has some of the newest trains in its fleet – with the Hitachi Class 385s dating from 2016 and the Siemens Class 380s only 15 years old – it still has many ex-BR fleets of both DMUs and EMUs such as the 153/156/158s it uses and the 318/320 EMUs. The latter are approaching 40 years old. It…

SEVERAL OFF-LEASE Class 350/2s Siemens Desiro units have also been moved for store after their use with LNwR ended. These moves were undertaken by EPR as it is used by Porterbrook to take units between locations. On November 3, 350233/265 were hauled by 37407 Blackpool Tower as 5Q38, the 10.36 Northampton EMD-Long Marston, and the same 37 collected 350266/267 at Wembley on November 7 and moved them to Long Marston. ROG was used to move off-lease ex-WMT unit 323221 as 5Q94, the 12.42 Derby Litchurch Lane-Long Marston, on October 29. 37884 Cepheus did the honours. The retro-Centro Class 323 had been left at the works since its display at the August Greatest Gathering event. The unit will be stored until it is redeployed, which is unlikely, or sold for disposal…

AS EXPECTED, Freightliner has undertaken a loaded trial with a Rail Operations Group Class 93 to assess its feasibility of replacing pairs of Class 90s on intermodal trains. The test run was on November 5 when 93006 piloted 66512 (dead in train for insurance) on the 19.15 Daventry-Mossend. The train, which ran in conjunction with The Malcolm Group, was loaded to in excess of 1700 tonnes, with more than 1000 tonnes of payload. Freightliner’s intermodal operations director, Michael Leadbetter, said: “We are always looking at new and innovative ways to make rail even more sustainable for our customers and their supply chains, so this Class 93 trial is exciting for the future. From testing and trailing new technology to sourcing alternative fuels, we are driven by powering a greener future…

More Mk. 5 sets prepared for Chiltern Railways For a few days in late October, Long Marston was devoid of Mk. 5 sets following the removal of CH09 (11509, 12725-727, 12809) to Eastleigh Works by 37608 on October 21. However, with Chiltern not requiring all of the vehicles at this time, three sets have since returned for further storage. On October 27, 68031 brought back CH04 (11504, 12710-712, 12804) from Eastleigh, this still being in unbranded grey, while 68026 did likewise with CH06 (11506, 12716-718, 12806) on November 3 and then the aforementioned CH09 the next day, both of these formations carrying the new Chiltern livery. One location now cleared of Mk. 5s is Longsight, with the last three sets at the depot finally released from the protracted hand-back process.…

GB Railfreight’s Royal Scotsman 66746 was named after Iain Grant at the end of October in memory of a piper who worked on the luxury train for two decades but recently died. In a similar vein, 66605 was named Tribute at Crewe just five days earlier in memory of the 26 Freightliner employees who have died in the past five years. Also now part of the Freightliner fleet, Malcolm-liveried 90021 was officially rededicated in a ceremony at Daventry on October 8, although the nameplate, which continues to be carried only on one side of the locomotive, was refitted the previous month. The royal opening of the new Transport for Wales tram-train depot at Taff’s Well by King Charles saw 398028 become the first of the fleet to be named. It…

THE SOUTH Devon Railway ran a two-day diesel gala on November 8/9 andwassupportedbytwoClass56sfrom DC Rail and 47715 from Rail Engineering Solutions. Home fleet locos 25262 and 33002 Sea King were also in use, as well as Class 04 shunters D2246/71. Due to DC Rail only being able to send one driver, 56103 was used only on the Saturday and 56045 on the Sunday. The 47 also encountered some technical issues on Saturday and had to sit Sunday out. 56045 was making its passenger debut in the BR blue, which was reapplied in July after the loco was bought from the Class 56 Loco Group.…

THE DIESEL & Electric Preservation Group (DEPG) has bought 08401 from the Hunslet Engine Company and it has been delivered to the WSR’s North Yard at Williton to undergo inspection before being moved to the DEPG’s South Yard. The loco is in full working order but has not been in use for a while and needs a Vehicle Inspection and Brake Test (VIBT) before it can move under its own power. It was bought by HEC in 2011 for use as a spot hire loco and was sent to several industrial locations over 13 years until stopped with a main generator fault in January 2024. Having undergone repairs, which included fitting a newly refurbished main generator, a decision by the owner to pull out of the Class 08 hire market…

Standing at Shrewsbury station on a surprisingly mild Halloween morning, I feel like I’m in something of a timewarp. For a start, not only does the station itself have a pleasing number of ‘proper’ semaphore signals and some associated signalboxes (none more impressive anywhere in the UK – and possibly Europe? – than the Severn Bridge Junction), but an HST has just passed through. Once the New Measurement Train had glided past me, there was a short moment of peace, but it’s soon broken by the unmistakeable sound of a Ruston 16RK3CT engine. And that is the reason I’m here – to enjoy a cabride in a Class 56. A filthy 56078 comes into view and draws to a halt with its three-wagon railhead treatment train. On the rear is…

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THE WEEKLY Anglian PLPR test train was worked by Swietelsky’s 37422 Pegasus and EPR’s 37423 on November 3-8, but on the Friday, it developed an issue, and the set was stood down. Because the Saturday train, which visits the GNGE Joint line through Spalding, had been cancelled on its previous booked duty on October 11, a replacement train, with HST power cars 43257/274 was sent over form Derby to work 1Q86, the 11.23 March-Derby, via Doncaster. The plan was 37423 would then haul 37422 and the coaches back to Derby as 8Z87 from Cambridge at 15.09 that night, at a restriction of 35mph, but that was cancelled. It was rescheduled to run on the Sunday as 8Z87, the 09.10 Cambridge Reception sidings-Derby RTC, which ran without issue. 37423 was back…

DUE TO the ongoing lack of air-braked steam traction in the West Coast Railways fleet, Railway Touring Company has announced that its December 20 ‘York Yuletide Express’ will be hauled by two WCR Class 33s throughout instead of steam traction. The train starts at Victoria and the runs via Clapham Junction and Kew and joins the Midland Main Line at Dudding Hill Junction before heading north via Luton and Bedford to Leicester. The route to York is then via the Erewash Valley Line, the ‘old road’ to Rotherham, and continues through Conisbrough to Doncaster for a fast ECML run to York. WCR has three Class 33s in its fleet – 33025, 33029 and 33207 Jim Martin. A Class 47 or 57 will be on the rear for train supply. Last…

THE OFFICE of Rail and Road approved Virgin Trains’ application for access to Temple Mills International depot in East London on October 30. This is an important first step towards Virgin being able to operate cross-border train services using the Channel Tunnel. It allows Virgin to press ahead and order its new trains from Alstom, which will work between St Pancras and Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam. This decision unlocks plans for about £700 million of investment in new services and the creation of 400 new jobs. Virgin can now be confident it will have access to the light maintenance facilities it needs to run its planned international services. The ORR rejected applications from Evolyn, Gemini, and Trenitalia. Informed by independent analysis and having also considered Eurostar’s growth plans, the…

NOVEMBER 10 saw eight ex-BR heritage English Electric locos on the West Coast Main Line in a matter of hours, with two pairs of Class 20s and four Class 37s seen in seven moves during the day. Passing Rugby in order was 37501 Teesside Steelmaster (at 09.10) on 0J65, the 08.45 King’s Heath-Soho. That was followed at 10.05 by the retro sight of a pair of BR green Class 20s as 20096/107 worked 5Z20, the 08.36 Crewe DMD-Eastleigh Arlington hauling barrier coaches 6393/94 with HST trailer Pullman M41162 and 90002 Wolf of Badenoch. BR green 20s were a regular sight at Rugby in the late 1950s! The next train of interest was at 11.27 as EPR’s 37407 Black-pool Tower worked 5Q07, the 09.18 Wembley Yard-Long Marston hauling 350247/248. Then a…

CLASS 150 22/10 – 150217 5Z17 08.00 Cardiff Canton-Landore, now withdrawn. 11/11 – 150232 5V83 13.46 Wolverton-Exeter TMD. 13/11 – 150233 5H70 14.46 Exeter TMD-Wolverton. CLASS 153 22/10 – 153325 + 153921 5Z25 10.00 Landore-Cardiff Canton, ex-store. CLASS 156 30/10 – 156507 5S07 10.15 Wolverton-Corkerhill. 31/10 – 156509 5H70 11.04 Corkerhill-Wolverton. CLASS 158 20-21/10 – 158866 moved by road from Bristol Barton Hill to Derby Etches Park after refurbishment, carried out a test run the following day. CLASS 170 19/10 – 170102 5G70 10.56 Crewe Carriage Sidings-Tyseley, refurbished. 19/10 – 170114 5Z70 13.30 Tyseley-Crewe Carriage Sidings. CLASS 175 30/10 – 93005 + 175102 + 175116 + 93004 8Q70 08.03 Ely Papworth-Wolverton. 5/11 – 175001 5V84 10.14 Wolverton-Laira. CLASS 197 14/11 – 197040 moved from CAF, Newport to Donnington RFT by…

THE LONG-RUNNING saga over the future of 45015 has finally been resolved and the loco is set to go for scrap once its bogies have been recovered for possible reuse by Locomotive Services. The Peak was withdrawn by BR on March 3, 1986, but was never sold and languished at Toton for many years, effectively becoming part of the Mainline Freight fleet from 1992. At privatisation, its ownership passed to EWS, which had no use for it. An attempt to buy it for preservation by the D14 Fund, led by Andy Dickinson, was a drawn-out procedure as EWS wasn’t initially even aware it owned it, but it finally concluded and on October 23, 2002, the heavily stripped loco was moved to Shackerstone with restoration in mind. Once at the Battlefield…

THE NEWLY-FORMED Bury Chopper Group, based at the East Lancashire Railway, has bought 20069 from Harry Needle, securing the loco’s future after it had been earmarked for disposal. The loco was collected from Worksop on November 10 and taken by road to Bury and unloaded the following morning. A plan is now being drawn up to return the Type 1 to working condition. It is the second Class 20 to have been based at Bury, following on from 20087, which was at the railway from June 1999 until sold to HNRC in August 2015. It is the fourth 20 he has sold to preservation groups in recent years, following on from 20087, which is now at the Kent & East Sussex Railway, and 20110, now at the Embsay & Bolton…

THERE WAS a return to the 1960s when Shaun Wright’s Class 40, D213 Andania, was used for the Euston to Crewe legs of a charter on November 6. The train went forward to Carlisle behind steam loco 71000 Duke of Gloucester. The Saphos trip was offered at a bargain fare of just £99 and was 71000’s first public outing on a charter for several years. The use of a rake of Mk. 1 coaches behind the BR green Class 40 made the run even more nostalgic; class 40s worked on the WCML into Euston in the early 1960s before being displaced by electric locos following electrification of the line from Euston to Weaver Junction.…

07013 – Bury: A few steps forward were made in early August when the locomotive was lifted from its wheels. All wheelsets require tyre turning to restore their profiles, and the Class 07’s sole AEI RTA6652 traction motor was found to have fair insulation readings but significant insulating varnish deterioration. It was decided to have the traction motor professionally inspected and varnished at this stage. Two of three tyres have been turned; all being done in-house at the ELR. The loco is one of seven Class 07 survivors but has never worked as a preserved loco; it had previously been in industrial use with Dow Chemicals in King’s Lynn until 1994. D4106 – Sheffield Park: The engine in the Class 09 has worked tirelessly over the last 13 years and…

Running a rail timetable relies on the right number of locos, coaches, and staff being fit and in the right place. But on a network the size and complexity of British Rail, sometimes – in fact, often – the operation simply didn’t go to plan! And while passengers and observers alike often heard about passenger train failures, the freight network suffered just as much, if not more so. This week in February 1986 highlights the challenges the railway faced, with regions all vying for the resources they needed to run their trains, and hoping everyone played ball, which often they didn’t… Monday, February 17, 1986 On the Monday, Newton Heath depot advised that 45138 would not be available for 2F23, the 07.20 Manchester Victoria-Liverpool, due to it requiring new brake…

With the locomotive market in OO gauge now well and truly saturated, manufacturers have begun to turn to the still under-represented world of multiple units for new projects, with several key EMU designs now in active development. In contrast, a number of first-generation diesel multiple unit classes remain unclaimed, but the latest offering from Heljan at least fills one of the most obvious and long-standing gaps in the form of the Class 104. Built by the Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company (BRCW) during 1957/58, the sets were synonymous with DMU operations in the North West for more than three decades but could also be found in the North East and Yorkshire in large numbers from new. During the early 1980s, small numbers of Class 104s spread to other parts…

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