CLASS 91s HEADING TO EUROPE
BRITAIN’S BEST-SELLING RAIL TITLE November 2019
Northern to revert to
state ownership?
Sir Peter Hendy:
NETWORK RAIL’S
■ Autumn Gala round-up
STRATEGIC RAIL FREIGHT INTERCHANGES
BATTLEFIELD LINE MARKS 50 YEARS
ROUTE MASTER
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF THE ‘HIGHLAND CHIEFTAIN’
‘PACERS’ GET A LIFELINE ■ CHURNET VALLEY GALA WASHOUT
Contents
November 2019. No. 1,424. Vol 165. A journal of record since 1897.
Headline News
TransPennine Express ‘Nova 1’ No. 802201 arrives at Liverpool Lime Street with the 06.03 from Newcastle on September 28, the first scheduled passenger train to be worked by the 125mph bi-mode units. TONY MILES
RAIB Romney report, Class 313s bow out with charity railtour, world’s oldest engine shed, Porterbrook donates two HST power cars to 125 Group after prototype recalled to NRM, Lincoln joins LNER ‘Azuma’network,TPE‘Nova 1’in service, axe hangs over HS2 eastern leg and Euston terminus.
Features
On the cover
14 Network Rail’s Route Master
MAIN IMAGE: Western Region ‘Warship’ diesel hydraulic No. D821 Greyhound looks well at home on a rake of chocolate & cream Mk1s as it leaves Loughborough behind with a train for Leicester North during the Great Central Railway Diesel Gala on September 8.
Nick Pigott interviews Network Rail chairman Sir Peter Hendy and discovers his passion for transport encompasses both modern and heritage subjects.
ROBERT FALCONER
INSET 1: Making the case for Strategic Freight Interchanges INSET 2: Battlefield Linee half-century.
22 Early Days with Diesels
INSET 3: Riding LNER's Highland lifeline.
Track Record The Railway Magazine’s monthly news digest 70 Steam & Heritage
28 Northern Unit Refurbishment
Wightwick Hall stars at Battlefield Line 50th anniversary gala, ‘Patriot’ to be re-wheeled, Pitchford Hall debuts in BR black, Moorsline ‘Schools’ autumn gala visits, ‘P2’ reaches two-thirds of £5m target, ‘Duke’ set to return in autumn 2020.
76 Industrial 78 Steam Portfolio 80 Irish 82 Narrow Gauge 86 Metro 87 Freight 88 Network
As well as taking delivery of new trains, Northern is undertaking an extensive upgrade of its older trains, as Chris Milner discovers.
32 Railtours Remembered: Launceston Branch Centenary EE Type 1s are still earning their keep on freight more than 60 years after the class was introduced. Here, HNRC Class 20s Nos. 20132 and 20118 depart Crewe on September 27 with a new DCRail flow of ballast from Crewe to Longport for recycling. BRAD JOYCE
Philip Horton recalls this Great Western Society special, which ran over the Launceston branch in Cornwall in September 1965.
92 Classic Traction 95 Classic Traction Portfolio 96 World 99 Miniature 100 Railtours 104 Traction & Stock
38‘Whisky Nine Six’: LNER’s Highland Lifeline
Beacon blue for GBRf ‘60’, export beckons for up to 20 Class 91s, Bombardier working on 100th Anglia ‘Aventra’ vehicle, first Merseyrail ‘777’ in Germany for testing. Former Irish Rail Bo-Bos Nos. 146 and C231 stand side by side at Inch Abbey during the afternoon of October 12.They were part of an event celebrating 30 years of the Irish Traction Group at the Downpatrick & County Down Railway. MIKE BECKETT
Regulars 10 Railways in Parliament 36 Subscription Offer
Subscribe today to receive your monthly copies of The Railway Magazine – from only £20.
51 Christmas Gifts and Reviews 58 Readers’ Platform 60 Meetings 64 Panorama
Our regular gallery of the best railway photography from around the world.
68 From The RM Archives 68 RCTS
In his latest Practice & Performance feature, Keith Farr looks back at the diesel prototypes built by the LMS, Southern and BR in the 1940s and 1950s.
107 Stock Update 108 Traction Portfolio 111 Operations Panorama: DB Cargo Class 60 No. 60066 crests the rise as it approaches Beeston with the 10.34 Kingsbury Oil SidingsHumber Oil Refinery tanker train on February 28, 2017. GEOFF GRIFFITHS
116 Heritage Diary 124 Magical Christmas Experiences 129 Reader Services 130 Crossword and Where is it?
Put your knowledge of railways to the test in our monthly brain-teaser.
As LNER’s‘Highland Chieftain’ prepares for the introduction of new trains next month, Ben Jones takes a trip from London to Inverness by HST to experience the changing scenery and atmosphere on board.
46 Strategic Rail Freight Interchanges
Strategic Rail Freight Interchanges have become a key part of the language of rail freight. Chris Milner visits an SFRI, and looks at their remit, along with the controversy they seem to be courting in more densely populated areas.
The Railway Magazine's audited circulation of 34,543 copies per month makes it by far the UK’S TOPSELLING rail title! Subscribe today and save money on every issue. Call 01507 529529 or see page 36 for our latest offers
The
EDITORIAL
Editor: Chris Milner Deputy editor: Gary Boyd-Hope Consultant editor: Nick Pigott Senior correspondent: Ben Jones Designer: Tim Pipes Picture desk: Paul Fincham and Jonathan Schofield Publisher: Tim Hartley Production editor: Sarah Wilkinson Sub-editor: Nigel Devereux Editorial assistant: Jane Skayman Classic Traction News: Peter Nicholson Operations News: Ashley Butlin Narrow Gauge News: Cliff Thomas Metro News: Paul Bickerdyke World News: Keith Fender By post: The Railway Magazine, Mortons Media Group, Media Centre, Morton Way, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6JR Tel: 01507 529589 Fax: 01507 371066 Email: railway@mortons.co.uk © 2019 Mortons Media ISSN 0033-8923
CUSTOMER SERVICES
General Queries & Back Issues 01507 529529 Monday-Friday: 8.30am-5pm Answerphone 24hr help@classicmagazines.co.uk www.classicmagazines.co.uk Archive enquiries: Jane Skayman 01507 529423 jskayman@mortons.co.uk
ADVERTISING
Group advertising manager: Sue Keily Advertising: Craig Amess camess@mortons.co.uk Tel: 01507 529537 By post: The Railway Magazine advertising, Mortons Media Group, Media Centre, Morton Way, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6JR
PUBLISHING
Subscription manager: Paul Deacon Circulation manager: Steve O’Hara Marketing manager: Charlotte Park Publishing director: Dan Savage Commercial director: Nigel Hole Published by: Mortons Media Group Ltd, Media Centre, Morton Way, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6JR
SUBSCRIPTION
Full subscription rates (but see page 36 for offer): (12 months 12 issues, inc post and packing) - UK £54. Export rates are also available - see page 129 for more details. UK subscriptions are zero-rated for the purposes of Value Added Tax. Enquiries: subscriptions@mortons.co.uk
PRINT AND DISTRIBUTIONS
Printed by: William Gibbons & Son, Wolverhampton Distribution by: Marketforce UK Ltd, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HU 0203 787 9001
EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTION
Accepted photographs and articles will be paid for upon publication. Items we cannot use will be returned if accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope, and recorded delivery must clearly state so and enclose sufficient postage. In common with practice on other rail periodicals, all material is sent or returned at the contributor’s own risk and neither The Railway Magazine, the editor, the staff nor Mortons Media Ltd can be held responsible for loss or damage, howsoever caused. The opinions expressed in The RM are not necessarily those of the editor or staff. This periodical must not, without the written consent of the publishers first being given, be lent, sold, hired out or otherwise disposed of in a mutilated condition or, in any unauthorised cover by way of trade or annexed to or as part of any publication or advertising, literary or pictorial matter whatsoever.
This issue was published on November 6, 2019. The next will be on sale on December 4, 2019 .
Catch them while you can: The network’s oldest passenger trains on the Isle of Wight are nearing the end of their career, the replacements will come in the form of Vivarail ‘D’ stock. Here on October 13, 1938-built Class 483 set No. 6 is stabled at Ryde St John’s station. JACK BOSKETT
Are YOU being served? W
HEN you operate in the service sector, you are expected to provide the service advertised. In the case of railways, passengers rightly expect trains to turn up, on time, so they can plan their day and go about their business. In order to run the advertised timetabled services, one of the key components is to have a full complement of staff to cover all the diagrams, along with contingency to cover sickness, holidays, staff training and refresher courses. Of course, full staff cover should be embodied in the requirements of the franchise, yet several train operators that have never properly tackled the issue are guilty of cancelling trains at short notice because of ‘lack of train crew’. Passengers are fed up with arriving at a station for a train that has been or will be cancelled because no crew are available – a situation not helped by occasional abysmal communications. Some lines are getting more than a fair share of cancellations, too. Given we are 25 years into franchising, it may surprise you to learn several train operators are still reliant on the goodwill of rest days and overtime to manage daily train diagrams. It’s a practice that stems from BR days as contracts have rolled forward with successive franchise awards. Some franchisees bit the bullet and bought out the archaic contracts, others didn’t for a variety of reasons, which is part of why we are, where we are. Whatever your view, it’s a shabby way to treat customers. When you factor in the vast increase in services, the number of new trains being introduced, and the need to train staff for these new sets, who are taken off normal rostering, and you begin
TRAIN OF THOUGHT
Editor’s Comment
to appreciate the wider picture. When LNER’s predecessor Virgin Trains East Coast knew it was getting the Hitachi IETs, it embarked on a comprehensive recruitment drive. To cover the existing and planned diagrams right through an extensive driver training programme, while allowing for natural attrition, 65 additional drivers were recruited from 15,000 applicants. The industry has responded with the creation and launch earlier this year of the Train Drivers Academy, to recruit and train new drivers, which will start to help. However, it won't solve the poaching between operators, which can leave gaps in driver numbers. What I find disingenuous is how a train operator’s PR machine will wax lyrical about new trains and services, yet regularly cancel services on other lines to balance staffing needs, having not properly managed or poorly planned recruitment needs and retirements in the first place. Sadly, it seems to be another case of train operators not putting the passenger first and there are too many instances of passengers not getting the service they are paying for. If you have your own examples of poor service or are a passenger on a line which suffers frequent cancellations because of staff shortages, please do let us know.
“A shabby way to treat customers”
CHRIS MILNER, Editor
SIR PETER HENDY CBE
ROUTE MASTER NETWORK RAIL’S
Sir Peter Hendy, chairman of Network Rail and former Transport Commissioner for London, has a passion for transport, both day-to-day and of the heritage kind, as Nick Pigott finds out. 14 • The Railway Magazine • November 2019
T
HERE was a time in the 1970s and ’80s when train enthusiasts employed by British Rail tended to keep quiet about their interest for fear it might affect their promotion prospects even though their knowledge could only have been of benefit to the company. Happily, more enlightened views now prevail – so much so that a lifelong rail enthusiast now sits at the top of Network Rail. NR chairman Sir Peter Hendy is a nononsense, straight-talking businessman, holding down one of the toughest jobs in British industry, yet he’s so proud of his roots that a framed certificate and souvenir ticket for his journey on BR’s last main line steam run – the famous ‘Fifteen Guinea Special’ of August 1968 – hangs in pride of place on the wall of his office at Waterloo. “I was only 15 years old at the time, and I must be the only person on that train still employed by the main line railway,” he tells me.
SPECIAL READER OFFER
SAVE OVER 45% when you take out a subscription to The Railway Magazine
GREAT REASONS TO SUBSCRIBE TO >> Free UK delivery to your door or instant download to your digital device >> Save money on shop prices >> Never miss an issue >> Receive your issue before it goes on sale in the shops
EACH ISSUE FROM £2.42
VISIT www.classicmagazines.co.uk/trmdps
TERMS & CONDITIONS: Rates are based on UK orders only – for overseas please visit www.classicmagazines.co.uk/trm-overseas. Subscriptions will start with the next available issue. Offer closes 04/12/19. Direct debit payments will continue at the price you paid (on this offer) every 6 months thereafter unless you tell us otherwise. Full terms and conditions can be found at www.classicmagazines.co.uk/terms. Quoted savings are based on a 12-issue digital subscription when compared to the cost of 12 full-price printed issues.
FIVE GREAT OPTIONS Take advantage of these SAVINGS TO CHOOSE FROM... and don’t miss an issue of
PRINT ONLY
BEST OFFER
6thenissues FOR £20 bi » £20 everyy six months Direct Debit 12 issues FOR £42 Credit/debit card » 24 issues FOR £80 Credit/debit card »
DIGITAL ONLY
6Credit/debit issues FOR £15.99 card » 12 issues FOR £28.99 Credit/debit card »
BR ‘9F’ 2-10-0 No. 92214 gets a fitted freight train away from Loughborough Central during the GCR steam autumn steam gala on October 6, while visiting ‘Schools’ 4-4-0 No. 926 Repton waits its turn to haul the Travelling Post Office demonstration set. GEOFF GRIFFITHS
or PHONE 01507 529529 QUOTE REF: TRMDPS LINES OPEN 8.30am-5pm (Monday-Friday)
BRONTE STEAM 37
Panorama is brought to you in association with Following on from the last issue’s (RM Oct) feature on the Longmoor Military Railway (LMR), here is ex-LMR ‘WD’ 2-10-0 No. 600 Gordon in preservation as it works the Bridgnorth to Kidderminster empty stock at Northwood, Severn Valley Railway, on December 15, 1990. BOB GREEN
www.porterbrook.co.uk November 2019 • The Railway Magazine • 65
TRACK KRECORD The Railway Magazine news digest
The crew of Talyllyn Railway No. 4 Edward Thomas watch the road as the ex-Corris Railway 0-4-2ST makes an impressive start from Tywyn Wharf station with the 10.30 to Abergynowlyn on October 12. GARETH JONES
P70 STEAM P76 INDUSTRIAL P80 IRISH P82 NARROW GAUGE P86 METRO P87 FREIGHT P88 NETWORK P92 CLASSIC TRACTION P96 WORLD P99 MINIATURE P100 RAILTOURS P104 TRACTION & ROLLING STOCK P111 OPERATIONS
ENJOYED THIS PREVIEW? THE BEST ACTION IN TRIALS AND MOTOCROSS
DIRTb bike ke
VELO MAC MA S SPECIAL PECIAL NORTON RT RTON INTER AJS SCEPTRE SCEP E SPORTS! SCEPTR SPORTS POR ! PORTS
CLASSIC
#48
ISSUE
Forty-eight Autumn 2018
OCTOBER 2018
No. 330 October 2018 £4.30 UK Off-sale date 31/10/2018
MOTO MEMORIES // TECH TALK // MONTESA COTA 200 // BULTACO MATADOR
3.60
Running, Riding & Rebuilding Running, Rebuilding Real RealClassi RealC Classic C lassi Motorcycles
BOXER CKS TRIC
HOW THE LEGEEND BEGAN
SUPERMAC’S TRIUMPH DRAYTON
PRINTED IN THE UK
PLUS MOTO MEMORIES TECH TALK MONTESA COTA 200 BULTACO MATADOR AN HOUR WITH: GERRIT WOLSINK
£3.60 US$9.99 C$10.99 Aus$8.50 NZ$9.99 PRINTED IN THE UK
HOME, JAMES!
UNIVERSITY GRADUATE
#48
001 Cover_OCT.indd 1
AT THE CASTLE
DRUMLANRIG 2018 D 20
WINNER
SUPER PROFILE: ARIEL’S HT3
GREEVES ESSEX TWIN BUYING GUIDE // STRIP YOUR TWOSTROKE // BSA B31 RESTORATION // MALLE MILE // CAFE RACER CUP // SHETLAND CLASSIC // THE CLASSIC TT // MIKE HAILWOOD REPLICA
CLASSICS
65 PRE65 PRE
PRINTED IN THE UK
R 2018 ISSUE 174 OCTOBER
N48 2018 US$15.99 Aus$14.99 NZ$18.99 UK£5.50 UK Off-sale date 15/11/18
BUY SELL RIDE RESTORE
13/09/2018 10:34:50
001 CDB Cover_048.indd 1
02/08/2018 14:53:55
001 Cover_174.indd 1
03/09/2018 10:18:26
•SINGLE ISSUES •SUBSCRIPTIONS
CLICK HERE
www.classicmagazines.co.uk
ENDOFPREVI EW
I fy oul i k ewhaty ou’ v e r eads of ar ,whynot s ubs c r i be,ort r ya s i ngl ei s s uef r om:
www. c l as s i c magaz i nes . c o. uk