Rail Express January 2017 preview

Basford Hall TMD

Inside Britain’s newest depot

SOUTH WALES

METRO

Plans to transform rail services in the Valleys

Essential reading for today’s rail enthusiast

■ Celebrating 60 years of ■ D-TRAIN the first main line fleets STARTS MAIN LINE TRIALS

RAIL EXPRESS No. 248 JANUARY 2017

First Vivarail Class 230 gets ready for service

40 PAGES

OF MODELLING ■ ALBION METALS

A compact layout in ‘OO’

■ ‘O’ GAUGE 08

Dapol's low-cost shunter

■ WARLEY R OUND-UP

All the latest new products

■ GW electrification postponed – again! ■ Open access for Waterloo

CONTENTS

Issue No. 248 January 2017

ALL IN A SPIN: Nearly 50 years after the end of steam, and there is still sometimes a need for a new turntable to be built. In this case, it is at the back of the Hitachi factory in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, where an unidentified IEP driving car is pictured resting on wheeled-stands on November 28. James Garthwaite 8

15

16

20

27

HEADLINE NEWS

Chancellor promises more funding for key rail projects; Chiltern reaches Oxford station; D-Train starts main line testing; Great Western electrification postponed to 2024; Hull Trains orders Class 800 bi-modes; New open access plan for Waterloo to Southampton; Vintage Trains seeks operator’s licence; Overspeeding caused fatal tram crash in Croydon; Finalists announced for prestigious HRA Awards.

INSIDE BASFORD HALL TMD

Freightliner’s newest depot is now open for business in Crewe, and was used for the remembrance-themed naming of one of its '66s'.

SOUTH WALES METRO

The Welsh Assembly wants a revamp of rail services to better connect communities in the Valleys with the cities of Cardiff and Newport.

28

REVIEWS

29

EXPRESS MAILBAG

30 71

72

74

DAWN OF THE DIESELS

Celebrating 60 years since the first diesel fleets entered traffic with British Railways under the pilot scheme resulting from the 1955 Modernisation Plan.

0-60: CLASS 314

The ‘314s’ are now the oldest EMUs in traffic in Scotland, but how does their performance rate?

MODELLING

Including a full round-up of news and products from the recent Warley show in Birmingham; a look at how to model railway scrapyards; and in-depth reviews such as Dapol’s ‘O’ gauge Class 08, Bachmann’s 4mm Class 43 ‘Warship’ and Heljan’s Sarah Siddons.

New books on Class 17 'Claytons', Class 20s, and the route from Plymouth to Penzance.

The ‘Forgotten prototype’; ‘Nightstars’ at Wolverton; and Class 306 publicity.

TIME TRAVELLER

January news from the past five decades.

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LU WORLD

Frank Pick memorial unveiled; Whitechapel arches go for reuse at the Epping Ongar Railway.

RAILTOURS

A round-up of new trips and a full tour diary for January and February.

PRESERVATION

North British rebuild planned for Class 27; Trawsfyndd track clearance; ‘Calder Valley’ DMU returns to East Lancashire Railway.

78

POWER BY THE HOUR

80

POWERSCENE

90

UNITARY AUTHORITY

92

SHUNTER SPOT

94

COACH COMPARTMENT

95

WAGONS ROLL

96

IRISH ANGLE

Final sleeper ‘73/9’ delivered; More locos for sale.

Key workings from around the network.

More ‘442s’ stored at Ely; c2c ‘387s’ start work.

DB Cargo shunter sale suffers delays.

BARS hires coaches for ‘Polar Express’ duties.

Greenbrier and Astra Rail to merge.

End for final semaphores on NIR main line.

2017 marks the diamond jubilee of the first main line diesel fleets, which included the Type 1s built by BTH (Class 15) and NBL (Class 16). Lined up at Stratford depot, East London, in 1968 are BTH No. D8226 (which was part of the later production run) and NBL No. D8409, both in plain green livery. DC Collection

HEADLINE NEWS

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New Basford Hall TMD unveiled with remembrance naming Freightliner’s new depot in Crewe played host to the first of the Project Railway Honour namings on Armistice Day.

Freightliner’s pair of remembrance Class 66s pose in the autumn sun outside the new Basford Hall TMD on November 11. Nos. 66418 Patriot (right) and 66614 Poppy 1916-2016 were joined in an all-green line-up by a MAN HX60 general utility truck from the Mercian Regiment. All photographs by Simon Bendall

By Simon Bendall THE historic links between the railways and the military were strengthened further on November 11 when Freightliner named one of its Class 66s in honour of the 20,000 railwaymen that lost their lives in the First World War. The venue for the event was the freight operator’s new maintenance depot at Crewe Basford Hall, the multi-million pound facility being shown off for the first time.

Just after 11.00, the new Patriot nameplates on No. 66418 were unveiled, this being preceded by a remembrance service and observation of the two

minute silence. A guard of honour was provided by the Mercian Regiment, with the unveiling performed by Freightliner's managing director Adam Cunliffe along with Graham Wood, whose grandfather and LNWR employee Wilfred Wood was awarded the Victoria Cross in 1918.

The new nameplates are cast in the same style as the LNWR’s Crewe-built Claughton Class steam loco No. 1914 Patriot, which was the company’s official memorial locomotive.

The naming of the GM is the first in a planned series of three under the Project Railway Honour banner. Devised

by Corporal Gareth Atkinson, who serves with the 1st Battalion of the Mercian

Regiment, the intention is to bestow two further names – Remembrance and Valour – on locos belonging to other freight companies over the next two years. With Patriot having been named in conjunction with ABF - The Soldiers’ Charity, which is the national charity of the British Army – it is planned that the Royal Navy and RAF will be involved in the future.

IN-HOUSE MAINTENANCE

The new depot within Basford Hall yard has been built over the past 18 months, and is part of a substantial investment

by Freightliner’s parent company Genesee & Wyoming to improve

maintenance facilities. It is part of a plan to see Freightliner take the vast majority of its maintenance requirements in-house for the first time, with the new depot now being the home of the company’s Class 86 and Class 90 fleets.

The new building consists of five single-loco roads, and is equipped with a heavy-lift crane over two roads. It will also feature loco jacks and light lifting equipment for changing pantographs once fully fitted out. Although primarily intended to service the AC electric fleets, Basford Hall will also be used to maintain Freightliner’s diesel types, although heavy work will continue to be directed to Leeds Midland Road. E

The nameplates attached to Nos. 66614 (above) and 66418 (below).

No. 66614 Poppy 1916-2016 was named on October 28 at Tarmac's Tunstead site in the Peak District. It stands under the heavy lift crane inside the new Basford Hall TMD, the removable tape barriers protecting the maintenance pits being much in evidence. The name commemorates 15 young employees of Buxton Lime Firms who were killed at the Battle of the Somme 100 years ago.

Maintenance work was already taking place at the new depot in mid-November, despite it still not being fully fitted-out. No. 90045 is undergoing pantograph attention in this shot, with No. 86628 alongside.

January 2017 RAIL EXPRESS 15

FLEET FOCUS

DAWN of the

DIESELS Sixty years ago in 1957, and after nearly a decade of dithering by those in charge, the first of the new diesel fleets entered traffic as part of the Modernisation Plan for British Railways. Rail Express looks back to those heady days of hit and miss designs in the rush to start replacing steam.

T

HE idea of replacing steam with diesel power after the Second World War was not a new one, as plans by each of the ‘Big Four’ railway companies to do so were already well advanced when British Railways came into existence on January 1, 1948.

The dying days of the London, Midland & Scottish Railway had seen its first main line machine introduced to traffic

in the form of Co-Co No. 10000, which was fitted with a 1600hp English Electric engine, with its twin – No. 10001 – due to follow soon after along with many diesel shunting engines.

The LMS had also ordered No. 10800 in 1946 as a prototype for use on secondary routes, which had a single cab located off-centre like the later Class 15/16 locos. This was delivered by

the North British Locomotive Company (NBL) in 1950 fitted with a 827hp Paxman power unit.

There was a further LMS prototype built at Derby – No. 10100, the infamous and unique ‘Fell’ loco – which was introduced in early 1951. The idea behind this unusual machine was that smaller power units aggregated together could produce higher overall power for a given

weight. So two 500hp Paxman engines were incorporated under the bonnets at both ends of the locomotive, which provided a total mechanical power of 2000hp for a weight of 118 tons in a 4-8-4 wheel arrangement.

Although few realised the potential at the time, the ‘Fell’ loco was the forerunner of the type of distributed power seen in main line high speed rolling stock today,

The ‘Baby Deltics’ (later Class 23) were English Electric’s entry in the Type 2 category of loco. They turned out to be too heavy for their original purpose of cross-London freights via Farringdon, so they were switched to suburban services out of King’s Cross instead. This is a view of rebuilt No. D5905 – made obvious by its central headcode box on the nose end instead of disc indicators – at King’s Cross on March 18, 1969. The loco would survive another two years before being withdrawn. DC Collection

20 RAIL EXPRESS January 2017

PERFORMANCE

0 to 60!

Just how nimble are today’s locos and units, and what’s the quickest off the mark?

Neville Hill revisits Clydeside to track down the oldest EMUs still in service in Scotland.

T

HE prospect of racing starts by the powerful Siemens-built Class 380s, ranged against the buffers of Glasgow Central’s higher-numbered platforms, tested my resilience to temptation. But resist I did, as on this occasion I had come to sample the square-ended Class 314s, which entered service way back in 1979, rather than Scotland’s splendid fleet of semi-streamlined sets.

My problem lay in where to get an uninterrupted level start, especially in view of the dearth of gradient information for branch lines. It was a pleasant surprise then for No. 314214 to make an appearance on one of the Gourock semi-fasts, which make only three stops over the first 23 miles to Greenock Central.

It was interesting to note that the Class 314 was no more than ½min late at any point on the round trip to the coast, implying that the route’s staple Class 380s have power and performance to spare.

The best level start is eastbound from Paisley Gilmour Street, but the ‘314’ was eased between 30 and 40mph here, taking 79sec to reach 60mph. The next best sections are the ones involving rises or falls of no more than 1-in-313 both ways from Bishopton or westbound from Gilmour Street. The best of these times was 61sec to 60mph on the latter – although a compromise with the 69sec against an opposing gradient west from Bishopton needed consideration.

Eastbound from Port Glasgow begins with a short 1-in-185 dip but it is then mainly level. Here the same unit and driver combination took 65.86sec to 60mph, so 66sec has been used for our calculations.

This is the second slowest of 11 EMU types recorded in our league table so far, but also a new highest RE factor, which results from a relatively quick time from a relatively low-powered train. E

PORT GLASGOW TO BISHOPTON Unit Vehicles/tare/ gross tonnes Train Date Recorder/Position

314214 3/102/105 13.54 Gourock-Glasgow Central November 5, 2016 Neville Hill/2nd of 3

Miles

Timing Point

Sch

MS

MPH

0.00 0.02 0.05 0.10 0.26 0.40 0.65 1.33 4.15 8.14

Port Glasgow d

0

0 00 0 10 0 16 0 22 0 39 0 50 1 06 1 45 4 05 8 12

½L 10 20 30 40 50 60/64 62 75/76

Woodhall Langbank Bishopton a

8½

Timed to 1⁄100th of a second and rounded to nearest full second.

0-60 time RE FACTOR** COMMENT

66 seconds 18116 Packs a punch

Note: **The RE (Rail Express) Factor provides a weighted comparison of performance, taking into account time, load and rated horsepower. A higher score is better.

Well into its fourth decade in traffic, and still wearing the late-1990s livery of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport carmine and cream, No. 314214 arrives at Glasgow Central on May 20, 2016 with the 10.30 from Neilston. Given a main line run in our test, this unit hit 60mph in 66seconds. Stewart Armstrong

TIMES AND SCORES SUMMARY Rank

No.

0 to 60 RE Factor** Location time (secs)

Issue

Notes

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17 18.

19.

20.

21.

22 23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

32.

33.

34.

395xxx 380022 700111 357017+357033 323224 220xxx 350403 365529 387111 222020 334021+334029 333013 314214 185113 375606 57603 68007 172103 180110 90002 450126+450019 43285 / 43321 158860 166205 175104 168003 91125 170114 143603 66184 153369 D1015 67006 40145

38 39 46 50 51 53 54 56 56 59 60 63 66 68 70 76 79 83 83 87 91 96 98 102 103 103 108 114 117 148 156 174 179 325

Aug. 2016 Nov. 2015 Nov. 2016 May. 2014 Aug. 2014 Sep. 2016 Nov. 2014 Jan. 2015 Jul. 2015 Aug. 2015 Jan. 2016 May 2015 Jan. 2017 Oct. 2014 Jul. 2014 Oct. 2016 Feb. 2016 Jun. 2016 Jan. 2014 Jun. 2015 Jul. 2016 Jan. 2014 Mar. 2015 Mar. 2014 Apr. 2016 Jun. 2014 Dec. 2014 Sep. 2015 May 2016 Oct. 2015 Feb. 2015 Jul. 2014 Feb. 2014 Jan. 2015

Fastest EMU

16302 12939 13470 15673 14658 12264 12294 17515 14137 11181 14687 15755 18116 11088 12715 11078 9999 11000 8514 10376 7043 9050 11630 11391 11297 10640 7806 9878 9895 10122 10144 10110 8030 9430

East from Ebbsfleet South from Troon Nth/Sth from Harlington East from West Ham SW from Chelford East from Taunton Nth/Sth from Lockerbie South from Watlington Nth/Sth from Harlington West from Long Eaton East from Blackridge North from Steeton East from Port Glasgow Nth from Northallerton North from Wye East from Dawlish West from Haymarket South from Haddenham North from Grantham South from Diss West from Farnborough South from Burton West from Brough West from Tilehurst East from Bridgend Sth from High Wycombe Nth from Northallerton South from Burton East from Newton Abbot SW from Highbridge East from Newton Abbot South from Banbury North from Tamworth South from Darlington

Fastest DMU

Fastest diesel loco

Fastest electric loco HST

January 2017 RAIL EXPRESS 27

REALTRACK UNVEILS NEW CLASS 156 ‘SPRINTER’ IN 4MM

No .1 53 DIESEL AND ELECTRIC ERA MODELLING O G

Albion Metals

Building a West Midlands scrapyard

Dapol shakes up ‘O’ gauge with release of budget ‘08’

YOUR

40 PAGES

OF MODELLIN G

START

HERE!

Veteran Metropolitan electric Sarah Siddons released in 4mm

Left: Warley finally brought confirmation of the DMU projects that Realtrack Models has been working on for the past couple of years, the Class 156 being displayed in pre-production decorated form with the Class 142 ‘Pacer’ to follow. The erstwhile ‘Super Sprinter’ will be released in a number of liveries, including First Group’s ‘Barbie’ colours, as shown here by First ScotRail’s No. 156496 as it ambles across Rannoch Moor with the 06.03 Mallaig-Glasgow Queen Street on June 13, 2009.

Below: The Sealink-liveried Mk.1 coaches deployed on the Glasgow Central-Stranraer boat train services in the early 1980s were a strong contender for the gaudiest livery created by British Rail. In model form, Bachmann has now followed up its Collectors’ Club twin-pack limited edition with a further second class vehicle, allowing a full set to be modelled. On August 27, 1984, No. 47206 crosses Pinmore Viaduct bound for the Scottish port. John Chalcraft/Rail Photoprints (2)

Editor’s comment

Simon Bendall 7

Newsdesk: Latest developments

26

Warley brought several new announcements, including the Class 142 and Class 156 DMUs from Realtrack and HOA hoppers from Revolution, not to mention the unveiling of more of Hornby’s 2017 range.

January is traditionally a quiet time for exhibitions, but not in 2017 as another small-scale all D&E event is set to take place just outside Nottingham. There is also a look at David Larkin’s latest wagon book.

11

Newsdesk: Warley pictorial

As ever, the UK’s biggest model railway show saw plenty of new models and liveries on display from many manufacturers, the highlights being illustrated here in our traditional pictorial round-up.

29

Reviews: Hornby

Several new D&E models from Hornby have made it into the shops in recent weeks, these including the Drax-liveried Class 60 and the Virgin East Coast Mk.3 coaches. The colourful models are examined here.

16

Scrapyards offer all sorts of modelling potential for layouts, especially if well executed. One such example is Albion Metals by Richard Coleman, the compact layout being set in Sectorisation days.

Layout: Albion Metals

32

Bachmann also has several new models on the way, including the second batch of North British Class 43 ‘Warships’ and more weathered wagons in 4mm, including the ‘Queen Mary’ brake van in Satlink garb.

Reviews: Bachmann

24

Reviews: Dapol Class 08

33

Reviews: Heljan/Bachmann

Eagerly awaited for several years, Dapol’s ‘O’ gauge model of the Class 08 shunter could be the entry point for many modellers to the scale, its highly competitive price making for an attractive proposition.

Rail Express Modeller editor

Exhibition diary

At long last, the Metropolitan electric loco that many have been waiting for is here as Sarah Siddons is released in ‘OO’ by Heljan. There are also further new Mk.1s from Bachmann, including the Sealink livery.

S

O, that was 2016. A modelling year that will perhaps be best remembered for the rise of numerous small manufacturers, all promising, and in some cases delivering, highly useful models that will plug several important gaps. Their focussed approach and willingness to listen to customers is also refreshing, resulting in benefits all round.

On the downside, the year ends with the spectre of significant price rises hanging over the hobby as a result of the poor exchange rate. With Dapol and Hornby having already recently increased prices as a result of this, 2017 could get even worse as the Brexit process gets underway. Model railway retailers are already reporting a noticeable drop in sales as prices spiral ever upwards and with record numbers of new models on the way, can the hobby support them all?

EXPRESS RATING A breakdown of our Express rating system

good

poor

excellent

average

outstanding

Editor: Simon Bendall REMeditor@mortons.co.uk Contributing writer & modelmaker: Alex Carpenter Publisher: Tim Hartley Designer: Tim Pipes Reprographics: Jonathan Schofield, Paul Fincham Advertising: Fiona Leak Tel: 01507 529573, fleak@mortons.co.uk Customer services, back issues and subscriptions: Telephone: 01507 529529 (24hr answerphone) Fax: 01507 525263 Email: railexpress@mortons.co.uk

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LAYOUT

Albion Metals Rail-served scrapyards once came in all manner of sizes, particularly in former industrial conurbations. This makes them a good subject for small freight-only layouts with, Richard Coleman describing his highly-detailed model of just such a terminal. Photography by Dennis Taylor with trackplan by Gareth Bayer.

The gantry crane of the Albion Metals scrapyard dominates the scene as No. 08428 arrives with empty SSA scrap wagons for loading. Once shunting has been completed, the Class 08 will depart with the Sheerness Steel JXA, loading of which is nearing completion by the electro-magnet.

I HAVE always been interested in the small rail-served scrapyards in the industrial West Midlands and the local trip workings that served them. The grotty sidings, diverse wagons types, loading machines, various scrap loads carried and shunting moves undertaken have always fascinated me. After amassing a large fleet of scrap carrying wagons for use on other layouts, I decided to build a small shunting layout to cater for these interests.

There were several terminals in the West Midlands that despatched scrap

by rail in the late 1980s, these including Kingsbury, Tyseley, Small Heath, Bilston and Handsworth. These would receive empty wagons in the morning using a feeder service from Bescot or Washwood Heath and be loaded during the day. They would then be picked up in the afternoon and taken back to the main marshalling yard for making up into overnight trains to assorted steelworks.

Inspiration

Albion Metals is very loosely based on

the operation circa 1990 at Bilston, which was a small terminal run by Norton Metals. This was situated near Wednesbury, at the end of the truncated former Great Western Railway main line from Birmingham Snow Hill to Wolverhampton, which was now relegated to a long siding.

The Wednesbury steel yard Class 08 pilot would bring in empty wagons in the morning for loading. These would have arrived during the night on steel services from Cardiff or be tripped in from Bescot. The shunter would return

to Bilston in the late afternoon, pull the loaded wagons out of the yard and propel them back to Wednesbury.

At Wednesbury, loads for Allied Steel & Wire or Sheerness Steel would then be forwarded to Cardiff while scrap for British Steel would be taken to Bescot for onward movement to South Yorkshire. Class 08s from Bescot were the usual motive power for the Bilston workings but Class 20s and Class 31s were also recorded on the trips from time to time.

Much research was carried out by studying books and magazines while online searches also proved very useful, turning up several interesting photographs of locos and wagons. Studying the local terminals, I discovered that Tyseley and Kingsbury both used industrial locos for their internal shunting. I was also lucky to discover that a work colleague used to be a shunter at Wednesbury yard and he told me all about the local workings and operations.

Layout particulars

There are plenty more wagon loads of scrap to go as two POA ‘Blackadders’ await collection. These attractive wagons were built from the long-discontinued Appleby Model Engineering kit but a similar resin kit is also available from Wizard Models.

M16 RAIL EXPRESS Modeller January 2017

The layout simply consists of two reception sidings and two scrap loading sidings. The empty wagons are brought into one of the reception sidings, with the industrial shunter then dropping onto the rear and moving them into one of the loading sidings. This frees up the BR loco to couple onto any loaded wagons in the second reception siding

Supplement No. 153

❯

RAILTOURS

Midlands freight meander UNUSUAL backwaters branches are the selling point of UK Railtours’ ‘Midland Meander’ on February 18, as it takes a tour from Euston to Stratford-upon-Avon via a circuitous route through the industrial heartlands of the Midlands.

Kicking off at Euston at a provisional 07.45, the route follows the West Coast Main Line (picking up at Watford Junction) as far as Bletchley, where a further pick-up stop will be made. It then branches off towards Bedford and heads north through Kettering to Knighton South Junction, near Leicester. Here, the train joins Britain’s longest freight-only line, the Leicester to Burton branch, which largely follows the route of the historic Leicester & Swannington Railway of 1832.

This rural line mainly serves stone traffic from Bardon Hill and Stud Farm quarries, but may one day form part of an extended Ivanhoe Line.

SUTTON PARK

Just shy of the brewery town of Burton-on-Trent, the train swings south westwards for a short way as far as Wichnor Junction, then due south through Wilnecote and Kingsbury Junction to Whitacre Junction to Water Orton. Here, the special begins its anti-clockwise skirt around north Birmingham via the 12-mile freight-only Sutton Park route to Ryecroft Junction and Walsall. It then proceeds through Bescot, Perry Barr North and West Junctions, Soho East and South Junctions to Birmingham New Street, then via Proof House Junction and Bordesley Junction to Tyseley. From here the train joins the North Warwickshire Line to Stratford-upon-Avon, where a break of around two and a half hours will be taken.

The return run to London goes via Claverdon, Hatton North Junction, Tyseley and Birmingham New Street, then on through Five Ways, Lifford Curve, Camp Hill, Landor Street Junction to Water Orton. This time Nuneaton is the destination, where the WCML is re-joined for the southbound run, reaching Bletchley at 20.45, Watford Junction at 21.15 and back into Euston at 21.40.

Tickets start at £69.50 for adults in Standard Class, and £59.50 for children. First class dining and non-dining seats are also available, details of which can be found at: www.ukrailtours.com.

IN THE PRE-DAWN LIGHT: The ‘Festive Capital Express’ on November 19 ran from Bishop Auckland to

King’s Cross, and was only the second loco-hauled railtour to use the County Durham branch this year.

The trip was also the first organised by Bishop Trains, which plans more tours in 2017. It was ‘top-andtailed’ by West Coast Railways’ Nos. 57313 and 57316, with the outbound leg pictured picking up at Shildon around 07.00. Dafydd Whyles

FORTHCOMING TOURS FOR JANUARY AND FEBRUARY JANUARY

Date

Tour Name

From-To

Motive Power

Promoter

2 7 14 14 21 28

Mince Pie Special Scunthorpe Steel Works Mersey Weaver II Vossloh Voyager Winter Cumbrian Mountain Express Winter Cumbrian Coast Express

Belfast-TBA Scunthorpe Steel Works Westbury-Merseyside freight lines Waterloo-SWT Depots Manchester-Carlisle Euston-Carlisle

Steam: 85 TBA Class 66 x 2 (DBC) Class 455 x 2 (SWT) Steam: 45690 Steam: 46115, Class 86

RPSI BLS PT BLS RTC RTC

FEBRUARY Date

Tour Name

From-To

Motive Power

Promoter

3 4 5 11 12 14 14 17 18 18 18 18 24 25 25

Murder Mystery Lunch Golden Age of Travel by Steam Brunch and Afternoon Tea Red Rose Spirit of Travel/Valentines Lunch Golden Age of Travel – Kent Spirit of Travel/Valentines Lunch Spirit of Travel/Valentines Lunch Midland Meander Valentines Diner Cumbrian Mountain Steam Express Historic Bath & Longleat Six Nations Rugby Special Western Glory Murder Mystery Lunch

Victoria circular Victoria circular Victoria circular Victoria-Shrewsbury Birmingham International circular Victoria circular Preston circular York circular Euston-Stratford-upon-Avon Tyseley-Castle Donington Stevenage-Carlisle Victoria-Bath Carmarthen-Edinburgh Paddington-Cardiff-Plymouth Victoria circular

Unspecified (DBC) Steam: 60163 Unspecified (DBC) Steam: 60163 2 x Class 57 (DRS) Unspecified (DBC) 2 x Class 57 (DRS) 2 x Class 57 (DRS) TBA Steam: 4965 Class 47/57 (WCRC), Steam: TBA Unspecified (DBC) TBA D1015 Unspecified (DBC)

BBP BBP BBP UKR BNB BBP BNB BNB UKR VT WCRC BBP PT PT BBP

Promoter Codes: A1SLT – A1 Steam Locomotive Trust; AGA – Abellio Greater Anglia; BBP – Belmond British Pullman; BGH – Belmond Grand Hibernian; BNB – Belmond Northern Belle; BRS – Belmond Royal Scotsman; CR – Charity Railtours; GBRf – GB Railfreight; HR – Hertfordshire Railtours; NER – North East Railtours; NT – Nenta Traintours; PMRT – PMR Tours; PRU – Papyrus Rail UK; PT – Pathfinder Tours; RM – Railway Magazine; RPSI – Railway Preservation Society of Ireland; RTC – Railway Touring Company; SCTR – ScotRail; SD – Steam Dreams; SR – Statesman Rail; SRPS – Scottish Railway Preservation Society; TEL – Torbay Express Ltd; TfL – Transport for London; UKR – UK Railtours; VT – Vintage Trains; WCRC – West Coast Railways

January 2017 RAIL EXPRESS 73

PRESERVATION

76 RAIL EXPRESS January 2017

PRESERVATION RIVER ‘RAT’: The last diesel gala of the autumn was held

at the South Devon Railway on November 4-6, with the star attraction being visiting Type 2 No. 24081 from the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway. Other home fleet locos in action were Type 2 No. D7612 (25262), Type 3s Nos. D6501 (33002) and 6975 (37275), as well as Class 04 shunter No. D2246 and Class 09 No. D3721 (09010). The ‘24’ is pictured on the middle day running alongside the River Dart at Hood Bridge with the 11.15 Buckfastleigh to Totnes. Ron Westwater

January 2017 RAIL EXPRESS 77

TRACTION & ROLLING STOCK A great autumnal view of one of Northern’s Cumbrian loco-hauled diagrams, as DRS No. 37403 has just passed Furness Abbey tunnel, near journey’s end, with the 10.04 Preston-Barrow on November 24. Jenny Westwater

SPECTRUM AFTER only a few weeks operating in BR blue, No. 37099 was despatched to Cardiff Canton on November 4 for repainting in Colas house colours. By the end of the month, the work had been completed, the Type 3 sporting yellow and orange, complete with black headcode boxes.

The only other loco repainted in a quiet month was DRS’ No. 57304 at Eastleigh Works, this now carrying the latest version of the ‘compass’ scheme.

Slightly surprisingly, the application of the new TransPennine Express livery has resumed, Nos. 185131 and 185144 appearing in the silver and blue vinyls in quick succession in late November. To the disquiet of traincrew and enthusiasts alike, the set numbers are now carried low down on the cabsides rather than

by Simon Bendall on the cab fronts.

Mentioned last month, the application of vinyls to promote the work of local artists has now been completed on South West Trains ‘Desiros’ Nos. 450112 and 450118.

Initially released to traffic with just New Forest artwork in place, No. 450118 now also carries Jurassic coastline images, with No. 450112 similarly also finished with both, the vinyls adorning the centre sections of all cars.

Destined to become a Northern unit in the near future, No. 319450 was released from overhaul at Wolverton in late October sporting plain white with dark blue doors. The basis of the Arriva franchise’s new white and blue livery, the EMU was briefly returned to service with TSGN carrying Thameslink logos.

LOCOS

Repaints Colas Rail: 37099 DRS revised ‘compass’: 57304

DMUs

Additions Vivarail: 230001 Repaints Chiltern Mainline: 168326/27 Great Western Railway green: 158957 ScotRail: 170408 TransPennine Express: 185131/44

EMUs

Additions c2c: 387305/06 Crossrail: 345002 Great Western Railway green: 387138 Plain grey: 800005

Sheffield Supertram: 399207 TSGN: 700009/27/30 Repaints First Group plain blue: 377519 Greater Anglia Renatus: 321304 London Midland: 319429 London Overground: 317889 Northern unbranded white: 319450 Royal Mail plain red: 325012 ScotRail: 320411 Southeastern blue: 375802/04, 375906/09 South West Trains blue with New Forest/Jurassic coast landscape vinyls: 450112/18

COACHES

Repaints InterCity: 3354, 3402/25 Network Rail yellow: 96604/06

January 2017 RAIL EXPRESS 83