DRIVERLESS LU TRAINS
Is the Underground ready for them?
BYE-BYE
BLETCHLEY Famous flyover is ‘deconstructed’
Essential reading for today’s rail enthusiast
LIFELINE FOR EMR HSTs
■ WOLVERTON BOOST
CLEAN UP BEGINS following Stonehaven and Llangennech accidents
MODELLING SECTION
Printed in the UK
New focus sees bright future
■ 'CLAYTON' IN 'N'
EFE Rail Class 17 reviewed
■ WAGONS GALORE! New models in 'N' & 'OO'
■ HORNBY Mk.1s
Departmentals announced
No. 293
RAIL EXPRESS No. 293 OCTOBER 2020 £4.70
Slam-door sets to continue in service
CONTENTS
Issue No. 293 October 2020
YARMOUTH SHUNTER: It has been many years since a shunter was out-based at Great Yarmouth, and yet here on August 10 is RMS Locotec’s No. 08762 with Mk.3s Nos. 11095, 10413, 11078, 12021 and 12098 in the reactivated carriage sidings outside the town’s Vauxhall station, which is a new base for Eastern Rail Services. Richard Vitler,
FEATURES
NEWS
10
6
78
84
BYE-BYE BLETCHLEY
‘Deconstructing’ the famous 1950s flyover.
THE RETRO YEARS: OCTOBER
Classic diesel and electric scenes from 1970s through to the 2000s.
LU WORLD SPECIAL
Driverless trains on London Underground have become something of a political football recently, but are they even a realistic possibility in the near future?
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16 24
26
Stories from the last 50 years.
MODELLING The surprise of the month, indeed of the summer, is the release of EFE Rail’s ‘N’ gauge Class 17, which we review in depth. Elsewhere this month there is something of a wagon theme, with new announcements from Accurascale and Irish Railway Models, plus reviews including Cavalex’s BBA bogie wagons and Bachmann’s HKA hoppers.
HEADLINE NEWS
RAIB investigates Stonehaven and Llangennech accidents as clear-ups begin; Dates of major engineering works on Isle of Wight announced; Formal start for main HS2 construction; Emergency rail funding deal extended; Heathrow southern access plan wants go-ahead; Rebirth for Chart Leacon depot; Brighter future for reborn Wolverton Works; Stevenage bay opens.
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POWERSCENE
Notable workings, Name Game, and Spectrum.
POWER BY THE HOUR
GBRf to acquire five more Euro ‘66s’; DBC active fleet grows; Freightliner’s colourful ‘90’s return to traffic; Loram coaches on tour.
UNITS
Latest ‘Pacer’ developments, as Welsh fleet given until the end of the year.
30
COACHES
32
SHUNTERS
33
WAGONS
34
RAILTOURS
36
PRESERVATION
40
IRISH ANGLE
A focus on EMR's HST Mk.3 fleet.
Another RSS fleet swap.
Scrap likely for Llangennech tankers.
LSL turns back the clock; a treat in store for Class 20 fans next year.
‘Goyle’ re-enters preservation; LSL hires CFPS ‘40’; Diesel running days on the increase; Work restarts on WLA ‘Westerns’; IDRS donor ‘58’ arrives at Wirksworth.
DMU tour offered upmarket ‘staycation’.
EMR’s ‘older’ HSTs should have been pulled from service by now, but the direct and indirect effects of Covid-19 mean all the TOCs’ HSTs have now been given permission to continue until at least the end of the year – see page 30 for full details. Phil Chilton
Editor’s Comment PRINT & DISTRIBUTION
Newstrade & distribution Marketforce (UK) Ltd, 3rd Floor, 161 Marsh Wall, London E14 9AP. 0330 390 6555 Printed by William Gibbons and Sons, Wolverhampton Published Third Friday of every month This issue September 18, 2020 Next issue October 16, 2020 Advertising deadline September 30, 2020 ISSN No 1362 234X
Paul Bickerdyke Rail Express Editor
© Mortons Media Group Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage retrieval system without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Use it or lose it
T
HE coronavirus crisis has given the railways a problem they have not faced for decades: there is now far more capacity than actual passenger demand. Six months on from the initial countrywide lockdown, most trains are still carrying only a fraction of pre-Covid numbers. The success of home working, and the lack of space for social distancing in many offices, mean commuters have not yet returned in large numbers, while leisure travellers are still nervous about the perceived risk of train travel as well as other factors such as having to wear a mask throughout long journeys. With fare income still nowhere near covering costs, the Government has announced it is to continue the emergency agreements to fund rail services. But now it will also incentivise operators to attract more passengers back onto trains, while encouraging employers – and starting with the civil service – to return to office-based working where possible. No one yet knows how long we will have to live with coronavirus, but long-term is a real possibility, and we might therefore have to learn to live with it rather than hope for a return to the ‘old’ normal. Railway operations
are not cheap and the Government cannot continue supporting them for ever, so service cuts are a real possibility and – taken to extremes – this could even lead to closures. STONEHAVEN REMEMBERED The tragedy at Stonehaven happened just after we went to press last month, but I wanted to put on record that the thoughts of the entire Rail Express team are with those affected by it. Our readers – not least the many train crew, rail staff and managers amongst them – will know the rarity of such events, as Britain’s railways are amongst the safest in the world, but that does make it any easier to report the sad loss of three lives. Now as this issue goes to press, clear-up at the remote site is getting underway and we await the full report by the RAIB. Paul Bickerdyke
Rail Express is pleased to consider contributions for publication
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EDITORIAL
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Christopher Westcott
Nigel Burkin Editor Rail Express Modeller
David Rapson
Gareth Bayer Power by the hour Wagons
Alistair Grieve
LU World (with Piers Connor)
Powerscene
William Watson Irish Angle (with Alan McFerran)
Shunters
‘Industry Witness’ News Writer
TIME TRAVELLER YEARS AGO...
50
OCTOBER 1970
■ COMFORTABLE UNITS: 4-COR
(Class 404) EMUs, displaced from the Portsmouth line by new rolling stock, were put to use on the ReadingWaterloo line instead from October 5 – replacing 2-BIL (Class 401) and 2-HAL (Class 402) sets previously in use. British Railways’ Southern Region stated that the 4-COR sets were released from the Portsmouth main line to make travelling on the Reading services more comfortable until completely new stock is ready in 1972. By reason of their corridors, however, the 4-CORs had fewer seats than the 2-BIL and 2-HAL sets they replaced.
YEARS AGO...
40
OCTOBER 1980
■ LIVERPOOL STREET GOES 25KV: During the weekend of October
11/12, the overhead wires leading into Liverpool Street were converted from 6.25 to 25kV AC. This completed conversion of the Liverpool Street to Southend Victoria line to the higher voltage, paving the way for the first of 61 new four-car Class 315 innersuburban EMUs to enter service. The Southend via Shenfield and Chelmsford lines were electrified at 1500V DC in 1949-56, and converted to 6.25kV AC in 1960. Subsequently, reductions in electrical clearances needed for 25kV led to a decision to adopt the higher voltage throughout all BR overhead lines.
■ SWINDON ‘WARSHIP’: The Diesel Traction Group’s Class 42 No. D821 Greyhound was partway through a restoration at Swindon Works when this photograph was taken in October 1980. The withdrawn loco was acquired in 1973, it first moving under its own power from Plymouth Laira to
Didcot, then to an open air site near Reading the following year, and finally Swindon (where it had been built) in 1977. The loco worked its first train in preservation at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway in April 1981, and today can be found based at Kidderminster on the Severn valley Railway.
YEARS AGO...
30
OCTOBER 1990
■ ARC ‘59S’ ARRIVE IN BRITAIN:
The four Class 59/1 locomotives for ARC Southern arrived at Newport Docks on October 20, after crossing the Atlantic from Halifax, Nova Scotia aboard the Jumbo Line vessel Stellamara. Rail staff from ARC Whatley, many of whom had turned up at Newport to assist the unloading, greeted the arrivals with excitement. The ship docked during the late evening of October 19 and was made ready to discharge its cargo at first light the following morning. Three of the locomotives, Nos. 59102-104, had been carried from Canada in the main hold, while the fourth, No. 59101, was conveyed as deck cargo. Off-loading began at dawn when the bogies of No. 59101 were lifted by one of the ship’s own cranes onto the dockside rail lines, overseen by the ship’s captain and crew, and received by staff from ARC Southern, General Motors and British Railways.
YEARS AGO...
20
OCTOBER 2000
■ FOUR KILLED IN HATFIELD TRAGEDY: A GNER express was
derailed at 115mph near Hatfield, Hertfordshire, on October 17, killing four people and injuring many others. The buffet car of the 12.10 King’s CrossLeeds was sliced open in the impact and lost part of its roof as it came to
88 RAIL EXPRESS October 2020
rest on its side. All four victims lost their lives in this vehicle. Five of the other eight carriages toppled over at varying degrees, but the Class 91 locomotive (No. 91023) and rear driving van trailer both remained upright. The locomotive and the first coaches travelled through the 76-chain-radius right-hand curve, but at some point under the train the lefthand rail fractured vertically and forced the successive bogies off the track. The immediate cause was listed as rolling contact fatigue in the track, but the bigger picture was that infrastructure owner Railtrack was not in full control of its assets, and this accident eventually led to its downfall in 2002.
YEARS AGO...
10
OCTOBER 2010
■ ICE ICE BABY: A Deutsche Bahn
Inter City Express (ICE) set spent the day at St Pancras on October 19, as a vision of a possible future for international rail travel from London. ICE-3 set No. 4685, (a Siemens-built Class 406 compatible with four national rail systems) travelled through the Channel Tunnel, where evacuation
exercises were carried out successfully en route. It was then dragged along HS1 to St Pancras by a pair of Eurotunnel Mak diesel locos. Further safety approval measures were due to be carried out in subsequent months.
LETTERS & REVIEWS Express Mailbag Your letters, emails, feedback and other comments are always welcome. Contact us at Rail Express, Media Centre, Morton Way, Horncastle, Lincolnshire LN9 6JR; or email: railexpresseditor@mortons.co.uk The editor reserves the right to edit all letters, and the views expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of the magazine.
HENBURY LOOP FREIGHT UPDATE TO update the caption to my photo of No. 66047 in the September issue (repeated below), the Hallen Marsh (Avonmouth) to Filton/Bristol Parkway freight line (the ‘Henbury Loop’) is actually busier than implied. Two new freight flows from Cardiff
Docks (ash for asphalt and cement production in the dock area) and Penyffordd (cement for West of England building work) are the more recent to use this line in addition to the ongoing freight flows from Clitheroe (cement), Mendips (stone for construction of
Damaged T&W Metrocar No. 4022 at Bristol Barton Hill on April 29, 2018.
Hinkley C Power Station in Somerset) and containers (from Southampton or London Gateway) for wine production at Accolade Wines – the latter still believed ‘not for the long term’. Inward stone traffic (to supplement demand from the Mendips) by sea loaded at Belfast continues to arrive for rail movement to destinations such as West Drayton and Theale, this flow now nearing its 15th year of operation. The Bristol Bulk Terminal (pictured) is the actual location where there had been no booked traffic (due to what looks like the end of coal imports in early 2019) until the Severnside Sita refuse containers commenced using the location for the inward working towards the end of last year, having been re-timed in the London area (due to GWR timetable changes) and losing its path via Clifton Down and Avonmouth in Bristol.
TYNE & WEAR CONNECTION
Thanks also for the item on the Tyne & Wear Metro at 40, I wonder if this view could be of use showing the only withdrawn set No. 4022 in Bristol. The unit arrived there during the Summer of 2017 when the T&W network was transferring from DB Regional/Tyne & Wear Ltd to Nexus as an operator. The set was out of service with derailment damage sustained at South Gosforth, and was road-moved south to the LNWR facility at Bristol Barton Hill for repairs, this being a subsidiary of DB Regional. The set reappeared outside the depot in April 2018, and was eventually moved to a central siding at the site and covered in plastic sheeting. Departure to Nemesis Rail, Burton-upon-Trent, took place in midOctober 2019. Richard Giles By email
TYNE & WEAR DIESELS MENTIONED but not shown in your look back at the Tyne & Wear Metro (September issue) were the network’s original diesel-powered shunters – since replaced by battery-electric types. Photos are quite rare, but I managed to find this one available on the internet (a Creative Commons shot by Dr Neil Clifton at geograph.org.uk) showing Nos. WL3 leading an engineering train west at Kingston Park station in July 1981.
After working on the Channel Tunnel construction project and elsewhere, this loco is now
preserved at Peak Rail. David Rodgers Durham
NICELY FRAMED: A different view (taken on an iPhone) of Shrewsbury Crewe Junction signal box on July 22, framed from a window of passing unit No. 175001 and showing the socially-distanced seating arrangements then in place. Brad Joyce
Got something to review?
Class 40 Locomotives
Send any books, DVDs or other items to the editor at: Rail Express, Media Centre, Morton Way, Horncastle, Lincolnshire LN9 6JR
By Simon Thomas Published by Amberley www.amberley-books.com 96 pages, colour, softback. £14.99
FOR serious Class 40 fans, there is probably not that much new in the text of this book. But for those less familiar with ‘Whistlers’, there is a useful summary of the fleet’s working life with British Railways from the 1960s to 1980s – covering the main phases from their introduction and renumbering to
various accidents, notable workings and withdrawal. However, where this book scores more for both experts and novices alike is in the photographs. It includes a great selection of black & white and colour images, taken mainly in the 1970s and 80s, but also with a good
few taken in the preservation era. There are up to three photos per page, all well-produced, which add up to a useful record of how these charismatic locomotives were put to work. With the wide appeal of Class 40s, this book should earn a place on any fan’s bookshelf.
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October 2020 RAIL EXPRESS 89
BACHMANN HEAVY HOPPE ERS
No. 198 DIESEL AND ELECTRIC ERA MODELLING
‘N’ gauge
‘Clayton’ Type 1 The new Class 17 launches EFE Rail
3
Newsdesk: New HYA hopper wagons
Accurascale has already cut metal on its newest ‘OO’-gauge model, the modern HYA/IIA bogie coal hopper wagons. Dapol, in the meantime, re-runs its ‘OO’ YCV ‘Turbot’ wagons.
4
Newsdesk: CIÉ '121' livery samples
Progress on the Murphy Models Class 121 reaches the livery stage with imminent arrival of the new models reported, and Heljan displays ‘OO’ models of early Class 86s.
6
Newsdesk: Rolling stock rolls in
Hornby re-runs various Mk.1 stock in departmental red and blue livery, while Irish Railway Models releases its
new three-wagon weed spraying train. The ‘O’ gauge YCV ‘Turbot’ wagon rolls in from Dapol.
10
Modelling: Painting HDL No. 1001
Kit Corner: Building a Hastings main line DEMU from a plastic kit - part 3: Painting, detailing and finishing.
17
D&E Files: BBA steel carriers
BR Railfreight’s standard steel-carrying wagon in pictures showing adaptations and weathering.
20
Review: Cavalex Models ‘OO’ BBA
The first bogie wagon model from Cavalex Models is a significant new release and builds on the success of its PGA aggregate hopper.
24
Review: ‘OO’ HKA coal hopper wagon
25
Mini-D&E Files: JMA and HKA wagons.
28
Review: Class 17 in ‘N’ gauge
Brand new models of the large former National Power coal hopper wagons arrive from Bachmann in ‘N’ and ‘OO’ gauge, with the latter carefully examined.
Changing fortunes for the JMA wagons.
Announced as part of the Bachmann Autumn programme of releases, the brand new EFE Rail Clayton Type 1 Class 17 is put through its paces.
RAIL EXPRESS MODELLER EDITOR Nigel Burkin
REMeditor@mortons.co.uk
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