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Editor: Nick Pigott Deputy editor: Chris Milner Assistant editor: Nick Brodrick Designers: Tim Pipes and Rosie Ward Reprographics: Simon Duncan Publisher: Tim Hartley Editorial assistant: Sarah Wilkinson Sub-editor: Nigel Devereux Steam & Railtour News: Nick Brodrick Classic Traction News: Peter Nicholson Operations News: Ashley Butlin Narrow Gauge News: Cliff Thomas Metro News: Paul Bickerdyke World News: Keith Fender Chief correspondent: Phil Marsh 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 © 2015 Mortons Media ISSN 0033-8923

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East Coast: Can the operators overcome the perceived lack of real competition?

S

TAGECOACH and Virgin have their detractors. Of course they do – what train operator doesn’t? Their owners and managers would be the first to admit that they haven’t got everything right over the years – but the statistics speak for themselves; alone among the former InterCity passenger operators, they are the only two that have been in their present roles since the start of the Privatisation era; Stagecoach in charge of South West Trains and Virgin (despite a close shave in 2013!) at West Coast.

It’s easy to find fault if you really want to – and those who use the services every day will doubtless have numerous valid reasons to do so – but I have to say that my own experiences of travelling with Virgin, SWT and Stagecoach’s other operation, East Midlands Trains, in recent years have on the whole been positive. The trains I’ve caught have run to time on most occasions and the customer service has been efficient, friendly and trouble-free.

Now that a joint bid from the two companies has won the East Coast franchise, I don’t doubt that they will endeavour to run the King’s Cross services in a similar way.

My concern over the DfT’s surprise decision to make this award is the fact that the same companies now effectively control the two most strategically important arterial routes in the country and that passengers are bound to wonder whether the necessary Anglo-Scottish competition between them will be as stiff as it would be if a rival company had won the contract.

I am put in mind of the ‘Races to the North’ and of the intense rivalry between the LMS and LNER during the streamliner years of the 1930s.

Admittedly, much of the traffic on the two routes is today generated south of Manchester and

TRAIN OFTHOUGHT

Editor’s Comment

Leeds/Newcastle, and one could always argue that a similar monopoly existed between 1986 and 1997 when InterCity ran both routes.

Life as we know it didn’t come to an end then, but that was the only time the operators had anything less than the best reasons to try to outdo each other in terms of publicity and Anglo-Scottish custom ...for the London Midland and Eastern Regions of British Railways enjoyed a healthy spirit of competition in the years before the InterCity sector was created.

In the future, most members of the public will perceive West Coast and East Coast as being controlled by the same operator due to both train fleets being in Virgin liveries, but Stagecoach will be very much the dominant player in the new franchise with 90% of the financial interest, whereas ownership of West Coast is 51% to 49% in Virgin’s favour. It is the difference in the relationship that has persuaded the Competition & Markets Authority to allow the Government to proceed with the award.

Sir Brian Souter and Sir Richard Branson promise us the best possible services on both routes and will no doubt battle like knights of old to prove it – but will the public see it as mere jousting?

I just hope, given the massive premiums involved, that the curse of the East Coast doesn’t claim a third victim.

Wolverton: An intriguing historical poser

T

HE impending demolition of Wolverton Works is extremely sad, but the fact that a modern (albeit much smaller) building is to be erected on part of the site for the continuation of train refurbishment has raised an interesting question: Assuming the transition of work from the old to the new went ahead seamlessly, would the operators of the brand new unit still be able to claim that Wolverton is the longest

continuously operating railway works in the world, even if none of the original buildings were to survive?

Over to you, readers. Is there a historical precedent or quasi-official ruling in such cases?

L

AST but not least, I would like to wish you all a Happy New Year and I hope 2015 turns out to be a successful and prosperous time for the railways and all who have an interest in them.

NICK PIGOTT, Editor

January 2015 • The Railway Magazine • 3

Contents

January 2015. No. 1,366. Vol 161. A journal of record since 1897

Headline News

Bicester chord taking shape – see page 6.

Stagecoach/Virgin joint venture is awarded the East Coast franchise; GBRf finds way to order seven more Class 66s; Windermere branch to be electrified; Record numbers travel by train; Blackpool and Shrewsbury get direct London services; Rusty signal falls onto track and is hit by HST.

On the cover

MAIN IMAGE: Chiltern Railways-liveried Type 5 No. 68014 had the honour of being the first of its class to haul a railtour on December 6. It is seen at Stafford, en route from Leeds to Newport.

See page 8. BRAD JOYCE INSET 1: Two Talyllyn engines have been repainted in original Fletcher Jennings works livery for the first time as part of the railway’s ‘150’ celebrations. See page 95.

BARBARA FULLER

INSET 2: No. 34051 Sir Winston Churchill has been repainted for the 50th anniversary of the wartime leader’s death. With it are fireman Jim Lester and Ian Harrison of The Friends of the NRM. See story, page 56. PETER ZABEK

Track Record The Railway Magazine’s monthly news digest 79 Traction Update

Scrapped, sold, renumbered, repainted? Full details here.

80 Traction Portfolio 83 Network

Daylight shines into New Street; Parkway proposal for Bath; £120million revamp for Gatwick Airport.

86 Metro 87 Railtours

More than 50 steam trips for S&C in 2015; Firebox problems for Nunney Castle; LUL steam plan for Watford.

90 Classic Traction

Class 37 passenger debut;‘Baby Deltic’in charity donation request; Electric rarity at Beamish.

“Traindeer”: Virgin’s festive contribution – see page 77.

93 Narrow Gauge

New carriage for Ffestiniog‘150’; Talyllyn revives‘lost’livery.

64 Steam & Heritage

96 Miniature

74 Freight 76 Traction & Stock

Traction change in Mosel Valley; Centenary for Tokyo station; Italian Railway to privatise?

‘Duchess’for major Midland gathering; Lack of powerful locos at Kent & East Sussex; All new bridge for Loughborough gap.

Class 387/1s begin service; Loco named after Jack Mills; Class 68s start with Chiltern; Virgin shows off“Traindeer”.

97 World

100 Operations

News from the train and freight operating companies.

12 Multiple Aspects 12 Railways in Parliament 26 Location, Location

This month’s location is Arnside viaduct, Cumbria.

Details of railway society meetings near you.

The Railway Magazine’s audited circulation of 37,853 copies per month makes it by far the

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Regulars 28 Subscription offer 30 Readers’Platform 50 Ten-minute Interview 50 100Years Ago 54 Panorama 107 Meetings

Reflected in the River Trent at Newark, GWR No. 4965 Rood Ashton Hall hauls the 'Lindum Fayre' Vintage Trains excursion from Tyseley to Lincoln on December 6. MIKE SPENCER

Location – page 26.

109 Heritage Diary

A comprehensive listing of dates when heritage railways and steam centres will be open.

113 Reader Services 114 Prize Crossword

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Features

14 North Eastern Pacifics

In this month’s Practice & Performance, John Heaton looks at the work of LNER Pacifics and crews between Leeds and Newcastle, thanks partly to one train-timer’s practice of asking for drivers’ names!

20 How a railway is built

Nick Pigott makes an exclusive underground visit to see a Crossrail tunnel-boring machine at work under the streets of London and explains how railway tunnels are constructed.

POWER OF THE PACIFICS: Practice& Performance-p14

32 Cecil J Allen - a giant among railway writers

In the third of our series on great railway authors, Robert Humm reviews the life of Cecil J Allen, often looked upon as the ‘Godfather’ of popular railway journalism.

39 Rail Holiday Guide

Thinking about a railway-based holiday in 2015? Our special holiday guide provides some suggestions, from popular to more unusual destinations.

AT THE CUTTING EDGE: BuildingCrossrail tunnels-p20

50 10 Questions, 10 Minutes

On the receiving end of questions from Steve Knight is the director of Statesman Rail, Nick Dodson.

56 The day the people lined the lineside

Recalling the day the public stood on the lineside to watch Sir Winston Churchill’s funeral train – and how No. 34051 will mark the occasion 50 years on.

61 A Preservation Powerhouse

Peter Elson reviews the remarkable career of David Morgan, former chairman of the HRA.

MOVING TRIBUTE: Churchill’sfuneraltrain-p56

January 2015 • The Railway Magazine • 5

HeadlineNews

Stagecoach/Virgin bid wins East

THE three-cornered battle for the lucrative East Coast franchise has been won by a joint bid from Stagecoach and Virgin Rail. The venture, entitled InterCityRailways (ICR), is 90% Stagecoach and 10% Virgin, but will operate under the ‘Virgin East Coast’ brand.

The decision by the Department for Transport was made on November 27 and came as a surprise to many, as financial experts and industry insiders had predicted right up until the day before that a joint bid from Eurostar and Keolis would win.

Since November 14, 2009, the East Coast franchise has been run by Directly Operated Railways, the Government’s ‘operator of last resort’, and there had been calls from unions and the Labour Party not to re-privatise the franchise.

The third bidder was First Group, which has now lost out on five successive franchise bids or re-bids and is left with only Great Western and TransPennine.

Discretion

ICR will take over from March 1, initially running services from London King's Cross to Leeds, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inverness. The franchise term is for eight years and one month, expiring on March 31, 2023 with a one-year extension option at the Department for Transport’s discretion.

During that term, the new franchisee has undertaken to give the Government premium payments of between £2.3billion and £3.3billion (depending on whether it is measured in 2014 or in forecast 2023 values). Critics of the award point out that Directly Operated Railways put only £200m a year into the coffers, that GNER had only committed to £1.3bn over 10 years and that National Express had defaulted on the franchise in 2009 after getting into trouble with repayments of £1.4bn over seven years.

ICR is confident it can generate the extra income by increasing by 50% the number of seats, helped partly by the retention of some short-formed Class 91-powered sets even after all the ‘Super Express Trains’ have been

introduced. In 2020, by which time a greatly improved timetable will have been in force for a year, there will be an additional 3,100 morning peak-time seats. More people could be encouraged to travel by a commitment to reduce all long-distance standard Anytime fares by 10%, which could knock off about £15 from the cost of an average Edinburgh-London ticket.

By reducing the number of coaches in each IC225 rake to five, the acceleration ability of the older trains could be brought up to the standard of the new trains, enabling them to run in the same paths if necessary.

Use of the newly upgraded GN/GE Joint Line between Peterborough and Doncaster for freight trains will help the ECML cope with the increased number of trains, but additional high-speed paths on the ECML could still be at a premium when open-access operations are taken into account.

During the new franchise, ICR (which is formally formed of Stagecoach Transport Holdings Ld and Virgin Holdings Ltd), will work with the Agility Trains consortium, which is financing and manufacturing 65 Hitachi-built ‘SET’s for the IEP (InterCity Express) project.

These will begin to be introduced on East Coast from 2018, replacing the Class 91/Mk4 and HST fleets. The European Rail Traffic Management System of signalling (ERTMS) is also due to be introduced at the southern end of the East Coast route from 2020.

As part of its franchise commitment, and subject to final approval, ICR plans to introduce direct services from London to Huddersfield via Dewsbury, and from the capital to Middlesbrough via Thornaby, along with direct two-hourly services from London to Bradford, Harrogate and Lincoln plus an additional London– Sunderland train.

There are proposals to accelerate London-Leeds services to two hours, and London-Edinburgh to four hours.

From December 2015, ICR will also introduce a direct King’s Cross-Stirling service and will follow that from May 2016 with a half-hourly London-

The new look on the East Coast... how ‘SET’ No. 801001 will look in 2018. STAGECOACH

Edinburgh clockface timetable. In addition to the new trains being introduced from 2018, ICR is to invest £140m into the franchise. This will enable complete refurbishment of the existing train fleets to keep them in presentable condition until the SETs begin to enter service.

The finance will also improve ticket offices, pay for the introduction of 170 more ticket machines, create 500 additional car parking spaces (plus 400 extra cycle spaces), improve wi-fi connections and create a training fund for apprenticeships, internships and staff development.

On-train catering could be revolutionised by the ability to order a personalised at-seat meal or snack in advance via a smartphone ‘app’.

Stagecoach owner Sir Brian Souter has been involved in Anglo-Scottish train travel since as early as 1992, when he and his sister, Ann Gloag, won the right to add a privately funded and managed carriage to some of British Rail’s West Coast trains.

Virgin Group’s senior partner, Patrick McCall, said: “Our long-term partnership with Stagecoach has seen a revolution in customer service standard and timetables on the West Coast, We plan similar success on the East Coast.”

DfT’s Peter Wilkinson said: “First Group and Keolis/Eurostar also submitted superb bids. It was not easy finding a winner!”

(On the West Coast franchise, the split between Stagecoach and Virgin is 51-49% in favour of the latter).

VIRGIN BEGINS SHREWSBURY AND BLACKPOOL SERVICES Left: Coun Hilda Rhodes, Telford & Wrekin Council’s cabinet member for Transport (left), and Toni Williams (who suggested The Wrekin Giant) at the naming of Virgin ‘Super Voyager’ No. 221117 at Shrewsbury on December 15.

Farewell train raises £20k for British Legion

BOB SWEET

ON DECEMBER 2, a cheque for £20,000 was presented to the Royal British Legion for its Poppy Appeal, this being the proceeds from the Virgin Trains Mk 3 farewell charter train to Holyhead. From left: Steve Finn, John Humphries and Rhian Taylor (DRS), Tom Robin (RBL), Richard Stanton (Virgin Trains) and Chris Milner from The Railway Magazine, which helped organise the farewell train. STEVE KNIGHT

6 • The Railway Magazine • January 2015

DIRECT Virgin Trains services from Shrewsbury and Blackpool resumed from the December timetable change.

Virgin, which withdrew its original Shrewsbury service in 1999, is now running two trains a day from the Shropshire county town to Euston and back, formed of a Class 221 ‘Voyager’.

The service gives the town direct access to the capital for the first time since the Wrexham & Shropshire open access operation ceased in January 2011. That train took four hours due to a circuitous route caused by exclusivity clauses on existing Virgin services, whereas the new ‘Voyager’ service will take 2hrs 36min.

Departure times from Shrewsbury are 06.39 and 15.24, calling at Telford Central, Wellington, Wolverhampton,

Birmingham New Street, Birmingham International, Coventry and Rugby (mornings only). The return from Euston is at 10.23 and 18.23.

Blackpool has not had a regular direct London service since 2003 when Virgin stopped running an HST to and from Euston, so the return of a single direct return service, again formed of a Class 221, is welcomed by the thousands of north-western residents who campaigned for it.

Departing at 05.25, the service calls at Kirkham & Wesham, Poulton-leFylde, Preston, Wigan North Western, Warrington Bank Quay, Crewe and Nuneaton, before arriving in London at 08.34. The return service from London Euston departs at 16.33 and arrives back in Blackpool at 19.31.

Have you got a story for us? Email: railway@mortons.co.uk

Coast franchise

Class 68 builderVossloh to sell locomotive and rolling stock operation THE German-based company Vossloh has decided to sell its transportation division after the company’s board decided it was no longer part of its core business.

The company, which builds locomotives (including Britain’s Class 68s) and produces stock components and rolling stock, says that none of its transport operations can achieve the necessary size and international positioning while they are under the umbrella of Vossloh.

Vossloh has locomotivemanufacturing plants at Kiel, in

Changes to stop ‘Voyager’slides

Germany, and Valencia, Spain, plus a subsidiary company, Vossloh Kiepe, which produces traction equipment.

Together, they contribute €500million to group sales.

Vossloh says it is to focus on rail infrastructure and that it will split that business into three sectors in 2015.

The company is, however, still contracted to deliver 20 more locos to Direct Rail Services... 10 more Class 68s and 10 of the all-new bi-mode Class 88s, which are electro-diesel versions of the 68s and share bodyshell, bogies and other components.

Chiltern’s Bicester chord nears completion

VIRGIN Trains is to fit automatic sanding equipment to its fleet of Class 220s and 221s as a result of a bufferstop accident at Chester in November 2013.

The recommendation that such equipment replace the driver-operated ‘one-shot’ sanders currently fitted to VT’s DEMUs came from the Rail Accident Investigation Branch, which found that the driver of the Class 221 involved in the Chester accident released sand too late to prevent his train sliding along greasy rails and mounting the top of the platform.

There were no serious injuries to passengers on the service, the 10.10 from Euston, but a glass screen was demolished and the platform and front-end of the train were damaged.

The equipment to be fitted automatically detects when wheels are sliding under heavy braking conditions.

Windermere branch to be electrified THE Government has confirmed that it is to wire the 10-mile Oxenholme to Windermere branch.

The project will cost £16million and has been partly justified to rid the network of an isolated pocket of DMU operation. The project will permit direct electric services from Manchester to Windermere and the intermediate stations of Kendal, Burneside and Staveley, although local Oxenholme shuttles are expected to continue running too.

Indications from Network Rail are that the work could be completed as early as 2017

A KEY component in Chiltern Railway’s ‘Evergreen 3’ project to operate services from Oxford to Marylebone is the construction of an all-new chord to connect Bicester Town to the Banbury-London line. On December 18, both tracks had been laid on the new formation and fettling touches were being added as a Class 168 cruised past towards Banbury. PHIL MARSH

Northern LineTube extension gets the go-ahead

WORK is to begin on tunnelling the Battersea extension of the Northern Line this year following final approval by the Secretary of State for Transport.

The three-mile branch, which will add two new stations to the London Underground map – Battersea and Nine Elms – will have a junction with the main part of the Northern Line at Kennington and will serve the Battersea power station redevelopment area, which is to see 18,000 homes, plus shops and offices, built over the next few years.

The full £1billion cost of the line is to be funded by the developers and the branch is due to open in 2020.

An unfamiliar look for one of the most familiar maps in Britain: How the Northern Line’s Battersea extension will be depicted on the London Underground map. It is not yet known whether the hatched nature of the line indicates peak-time operation only.

January 2015 • The Railway Magazine • 7

HeadlineNews Borders Line track-laying halted after accident

A SERIOUS accident involving a tracklayer on the new Borders Railway resulted in work being temporarily suspended until additional safety procedures had been put in place.

In the incident, the worker lost a leg when a concrete sleeper fell from a crane working in advance of the rail-laying machine.

Work on the project resumed in December but as we closed for press, track-laying was not scheduled to resume until the week beginning January 12, with the date for completion at Tweedbank station now revised to early February as long as the mild weather holds.

The revised timescale is not expected to impact on the overall project deadline. Construction work is still on time to be completed in June with the first passenger services on September 6.

Class 68 hauls a railtour for the first time

A DRS Class 68 has become the first of its class to haul a first railtour (see front cover photograph).

No. 68014, in Chiltern livery, worked Pathfinder Tours‘Yuletide Yorkshire Explorer’from Newport to Leeds and back on December 6.

DRS had an agreement with Pathfinder that it would haul the first railtour, and this had been planned for July from Eastleigh to Crewe for the DRS open day, but technical teething problems – now resolved – grounded the Class 68 fleet.

Photographer Michael Mensing dies at 80

ONE of the best-known British Railwaysera photographers, Michael Mensing, died on December 6 at the age of 80. He began taking pictures of steam in his native West Midlands in the 1950s but was equally well known for his diesel photographs, especially those of ‘Western’diesel-hydraulics in Birmingham and Cornwall.

GCR bridge to be all-new

THE plan to use two redundant bridge beams retrieved from Reading to bridge the Great Central Railway gap over the Midland Main Line has been abandoned in favour of using an all-new bridge.

Full story, see page 68.

ELR sells resident permits

THE East Lancashire Railway has introduced permits to local residents.

Applicants must live in the boroughs of Bury, Rochdale or Rossendale and can save about 60% on train fares.

The ELR is also offering an all-day photographic course, including camera tips and access to depots.

‘Astronaut’ at St Albans

COMMUTERS waiting for trains at St Albans City station on December 4 were amazed by the sight of a passenger wearing a full space suit and helmet with NASA branding, who travelled to City Thameslink. Next day the mystery man revealed himself as the manager of a PR agency.

New Northallerton station

THE Yorkshire town of Northallerton gained a second station on November 22 when the Wensleydale Railway opened Northallerton West. See page 90 for details and picture.

Gravity trains at Corris

THE Corris Railway is to run gravity slate trains this year, the first on Saturday, May 2, followed by the first Sundays of the month from May to September.

Rutland builds new centre

WORK has started on construction of an ironstone exhibition centre at the Cottesmore headquarters of Rocks

by Rail.

Passenger figures hit new heights (but complaints are up too)

THE number of passengers travelling on franchised train services reached an all-time high of 407.7 million between July and September – a rise of 4.4% on the previous year. The figures, published by the Office of Rail Regulation, are the highest since data collection began in 2002 and show that: ■ 284.1 million journeys were recorded in the franchised London & South East

sector, a 4.3% rise on the same period last year.

■ There were 33.6 million journeys in the long-distance sector, a 3.5% increase.

■ The franchised regional sector had 90 million journeys, a rise of 5.5%.

■ Non-franchised passenger services rose 16% to 0.54 million journeys.

With the increase in passenger journeys, however, came a rise in

passenger complaints – 5.8% up for July to September compared to the same quarter in 2013, and 27.6 complaints per 100,000 train journeys compared with 26.1. Eleven operators reported a rise in disputes, while seven operators saw complaints fall.

The main grumbles were about performance, which includes punctuality and represented 30.7% of all complaints.

World’s oldest works to be replaced by‘visitor centre’ PROPERTY developer St Modwen, owner of Wolverton Works, has released details of the development project that will result in the plant’s demolition, writes Phil Marsh.

When the scheme was announced (RM October issue), there was huge local anger that St Modwen planned to demolish the Victorian-era buildings, especially as it is the world’s longest continually open railway factory and also lies in a conservation area.

Following local lobbying, the owning company has therefore revised the plans slightly to include a visitor centre to remind people what is about to be lost.

St Modwen proposes that the centre would be at the east end of the vast lifting shop, which would have a modern frontage to aid the so-called “visual transition” between the old building and the smaller replacement factory it intends to build on the site, along with new homes.

Many of the people who attended the consultation said they were “horrified” at the prospect and have asked for the whole workshop to remain.

The new train-assembly and maintenance structure will be located at the east end of the current site, adjacent to a huge supermarket that was built on other former works land 25 years ago.

Rail industry experts who have viewed the property developer’s plans have doubts that the proposed new track layout will be feasible, because it would require a new or refurbished multiple unit to be split into its component carriages in order to get it off the site and onto the main line – something that does not happen now and which is not acceptable in the current train acceptance process.

St Modwen was planning to submit a detailed planning application to Milton Keynes Council as this issue was published. If planning consent is obtained, work would start in the summer for completion by 2020. It is not yet known if a final public open day will be held.

FOUR DEPOTS AND A WORKS DEMOLISHED IT is proving to be a bad time for old works and depots. Another famous plant – the Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Co’s works in Smethwick, Birmingham, was demolished in December and so was the ex-Great Northern Railway engine shed at Doncaster Carr.

Also swept away that month were the former Pullman sheds at Old Oak Common, which are to make way for a‘Super Express Train’depot.

The former London Brighton & South Coast Railway steam shed at Newhaven Town has become another

victim in recent months and so has the large diesel depot at Bescot, which has been knocked down only months after demolition of the adjacent ex-LMS steam shed there. A single-road servicing shed is expected to replace it.

The BRCW works bore the full name of the company in concrete, along with a star motif, which appeared on the worksplates of all BRCW locomotives.

Between the late 1950s and mid-1960s, the company built British Railways’ Classes 26, 27, 33 and 81, along with the famous white-liveried prototype Lion.

Left: Still bearing the full title of the firm in concrete, the buildings of the Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Company – builders of numerous BR diesel classes – in the process of demolition on December 15.

DANIEL CARTWRIGHT

Old Oak Common’s Pullman car sheds prior to demolition. PHIL MARSH

‘Home to the new Crossrail trains’: This large sign now stands at the entrance to the former Old Oak Common steam shed. PHIL MARSH

Only the water tower still stood at Bescot on December 2 as the yard’s diesel depot followed its steam shed into oblivion. BOB SWEET

France agrees to pay Nazi holocaust compensation A COMPENSATION package has been agreed for Jewish holocaust victims transported to concentration camps by French state railway SNCF in the Second World War. The French and US governments have agreed a £40million fund (US $60million) to be provided by France to cover the 76,000 Jews moved by SNCF during the

8 • The Railway Magazine • January 2015

Nazi holocaust campaign. Only 3,000 survived.

Although SNCF’s lawyers, backed by historians, agree that the railway had little option but to transport the prisoners under the orders of the occupying German army, the fact that the issue has remained unresolved for so long has led to some US lawmakers trying to prevent SNCF from

bidding for rail contracts in America.

So, as part of the deal, the US Government will attempt to end several pending law suits against SNCF that are outstanding in at least four states.

Holocaust survivors might receive as much as $100,000 each, while their spouses or descendants could receive compensation of at least $10,000.

Have you got a story for us? Email: railway@mortons.co.uk

GW wiring delays GBRf finds a loophole to order seven more Class 66s affect stock cascades ELECTRIFICATION of the Great Western route is falling behind due partly to problems with a £40m high-output factory train, writes Tony Miles.

A plan for the wiring of Bristol Temple Meads station is also said to be impossible without a change to the track layout, which means that this project is also running around a year late.

The need to retain HST sets for longer will not only affect the introduction of ‘SET’s for the IEP project but also the cascade of 27 sets for use by Abellio in Scotland, which it originally promised would be in service by December 2018.

With this timescale now considered unlikely, Abellio is talking to Transport Scotland about a change to its franchise commitment timetable.

Talyllynengine tostaratNEC caravanshow

THE Talyllyn Railway’s Hughes 0-4-2ST No. 3 Sir Haydn will return to its home line in February after nearly two years way from Tywyn.

Sir Haydn was placed on display in the Severn Valley Railway’s Engine House at Highley in late 2013, following a tour of standard gauge heritage line galas.

En route from Highley to North Wales, it will make a public appearance at the February 17-22 Caravan Show at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre, helping to promote tourism in Snowdonia.

Once back on the TR, the out-of-ticket loco is set to be put back into working order.

GB Railfreight has managed to find a legal way around the diesel emissions ban, enabling it to order a minimum of another seven Class 66s for delivery after the end-of-year deadline set by the European Union.

The announcement of the new locos was made by GBRf managing director John Smith at the naming of No. 66753 at Doncaster Roberts Road maintenance depot on December 8 – see page 77.

Mr Smith said the company had managed to buy five new EMD 710 power units for delivery to the UK before the end of 2014 so as to qualify for use ahead of the emission rules change on January 1.

In addition, the company is to re-use the engine from scrapped No. 66734 (which was derailed on the shore of Loch Treig in 2012) and has obtained the power unit from a damaged Continental-based 66-type locomotive.

The complex EU rules on emissions have been moderated slightly since first being announced, but still forbid the manufacture of non-compliant power units after the end of 2014.

The re-use of the two power units makes them exempt from the new-build restrictions and the fact that the engines of the others will be built before the end of the year (even though the locos’ frames, bodyshells and bogies won’t be) allows seven more members of the class to be constructed and delivered beyond the end-of-year deadline.

Erecting the locos in Britain, either at the EMD premises in Doncaster or Stoke-on-Trent, was at one time considered, but they will now be built at EMD’s main works in Muncie, Indiana, sometime over the next 12 to 18 months. In the meantime, GB has not ruled out trying to source additional (i.e. existing) Class 66s from European operators to add to the five it has already imported.

The seven new locos are expected to be numbered 66773-779. In early December, GBRf took delivery of Nos. 66766-772 (the final batch of seven of 21 complete locomotives that were ordered last year).

Regulated rail fares freeze extended CHANCELLOR George Osborne has confirmed that regulated train fares, including season tickets, will not rise in January by more than 2.5%.

He also said that the ‘flex’ rule, which allows train operators to increase other ticket prices by up to 5.5%, would in future be capped at 2%.

The DfT said the move would save season ticket holders about £75 a year, but many holders are unhappy that they are paying several thousand pounds a year and are not guaranteed a seat.

A locomotive hat-trick for Lincoln city

THE highly unusual sight of three locomotives in Lincoln’s Terrace Siding was possible on December 6 when A4 No. 60009 Union of South Africa and ‘Hall’ No. 4965 Rood Ashton Hall, stabled between duties, lined up alongside DB Schenker No. 66039 on the Lincoln-Cardiff scrap train. DUNCAN LANGTREE

The convoy of seven new Class 66s – Nos. 66766-772 – being hauled from Newport Docks to Doncaster Roberts Road by No. 66709, attracts the attention of rail enthusiasts at it passes through Gloucester on December 9. BRIAN PERRYMAN No. 66769 – one of the penultimate batch of Class 66s delivered in 2014 – sits inside Roberts Road shed with No. 66741.

RICHARD TUPLIN

Doncaster’s Roberts Road depot is an impressive structure worthy of the town’s rich railway heritage.

This is the exterior viewed from the north-east.

NICK PIGOTT

Ivanhoe Line could benefit from councils’HS2 trade-off plan

LEICESTER City and Leicestershire County councils are supporting a move in which they would drop opposition to phase 2 of the HS2 line running through the north-west of the county as long as the LeicesterBurton line is reopened to passenger traffic.

The first phase of the Ivanhoe Line, between Leicester and Loughborough, opened in 1993 with the reopening of stations at Syston, Sileby and Barrowupon-Soar, along with the creation of a third platform at Loughborough Midland, but since then the project has been stalled.

Plans for phase 2 from Leicester though Coalville to Burton became a victim of privatisation and rising costs, and were finally dropped in 2009 following a consultants’ report that put the reopening cost at £53million.

The report was controversial as its opponents argued that it underestimated the number of passengers expected to use the line

and overestimated the running costs, resulting in an alleged £4 subsidy per passenger.

At the time, the UK was sliding into recession, but since then, thousands of new homes have been built in the area and many businesses have relocated. The area between Leicester and Burton is also now the centre of the National Forest and is attracting increasing numbers of visitors.

HS2 opponent and Conservative MP for North West Leicestershire Andrew Bridgen said: "I have been supporting the reopening of the Ivanhoe Line for as long as I have been in politics. It's right we take a pragmatic attitude, and if HS2 has to go ahead and go through North West Leicestershire, we don't want to take the pain for none of the gain."

The leader of Leicestershire County Council, Nick Rushton, said the Transport Secretary was "positive" about the idea and that council officers were once again working on a plan.

January 2015 • The Railway Magazine • 9

HeadlineNews Backing for Dawlish alternative route EVEN though a report into several alternative rail routes that would avoid Dawlish decided that all were poor value for money, Network Rail has received Government approval to look further at the options.

Following the storms of February 5, 2014, which ripped several holes in the line between Dawlish Warren and Teignmouth and took eight weeks to repair, MPs from Devon and Cornwall, along with chambers of commerce, business leaders and stakeholders are unhappy that the line remains at risk of further damage with no alternative routing.

Floods minister Dan Rogerson said: “I believe there is a real opportunity to do something more imaginative to restore rail connection across the middle of Devon and bring it closer to communities like Launceston and Bude, which haven’t had it for generations."

The estimated cost of reopening the Okehampton line as a through route has been put at £875million.

With Devon County Council pushing hard to get the Bere Alston-Tavistock section reopened, and the Exeter end of the line still extant as far as Meldon, the sensible option would be to rebuild the link between the two, and the next stage will be a feasibility study into that project.

Even if agreement to reopen the line is given, the project will not figure in Network Rail’s plan until 2019-2024.

Double-decker trains for Wessex?

CONTINENTAL-style double-deck trains are among solutions to deal with overcrowding on the inter-city routes radiating from Waterloo.

South West Trains is already carrying 220million passengers a year and that figure is set to rise significantly, according to the SWT/Network Rail Alliance. Flyovers at Woking and Basingstoke and increased line speeds of up to 125mph are among other options being considered.

Kiwis in fire risk appeal to UK heritage railways

THE Federation of Rail Organisations in New Zealand is seeking advice from Britain’s HRA and individual UK heritage railways following a ban on the running of heritage locomotives and stock through Kiwi Rail tunnels as a result of a colliery fire disaster in 2010.

The federation needs advice on fire-retardant materials for carriage seats, window frames and sealants.

Railways are asked to contact Trevor Burling (+64 4234 7199 or trevor.burling@xtra.co.nz)

Tram-train delay

THE start of the SheffieldRotherham tram-train service has been delayed and will not now take place in spring 2016. Problems making the heavy rail track compliant for a light rail operation have caused the delay.

Rail replacement bus tries to take to the rails

A RAIL replacement bus service lost its roof after hitting a low bridge in Rock Ferry, Wirral, on December 6.

Northampton open date

THE £20million station building at Northampton is to open on January 12. The new footbridge and lift were opened on December 14.

Heritage awards for NorthYorks Moors, Moseley, Statfold and‘Project Miller’ THE North Yorkshire Moors Railway has won the top accolade in the 2014 Heritage Railway Association awards.

The prizes are nominated by the editorial staff of Britain’s leading railway magazines.

The NYMR won the HRA Annual Award (Large Groups) for opening a second platform at the Whitby station it shares with Network Rail. Re-erection of the former North Eastern Railway signal gantry from Falsgrave (Scarborough) was a further deciding factor in granting the award.

The Small Groups award was given jointly to the Moseley Railway Trust and the Downpatrick & County Down Railway.

The Moseley Railway Trust, which is based at the Apedale Valley Light Railway in Staffordshire, was honoured for amassing a unique collection of industrial locos and for re-creating a Somme-style trench railway system as part of last year’s First World War centenary events.

The Downpatrick line shared the award in recognition of its involvement of young people and its excellent building and museum development.

There were two awards for the Moseley

Railway Trust, for it also won the prestigious John Coiley Locomotive Award for the funding and restoration of British-built Hudswell Clarke 2ft gauge ‘G’class 0-4-0WT No. 1238 of 1916 and its return to showpiece condition after lying in a swamp in Ghana for 48 years.

The engine is now part of the Apedale Valley Light Railway fleet.

The Railway Magazine Annual Award for Services to Railway Preservation was made to Graham Lee, founder of the Statfold Barn Railway, for creating, from a greenfield site, a superb mixed gauge operation.

The site, near Tamworth, Staffs, includes workshops and field railways and is a base for the Hunslet headquarters and archive and also for narrow gauge locos repatriated from overseas (including the last non-heritage loco built in Britain).

The Mortons Media (Heritage Railway magazine) Interpretation Award went to the Colonel Stephens Museum at Tenterden station, Kent & East Sussex Railway, for highlighting a unique dimension of British railway history.

The Mortons Media (Rail Express magazine) award for modern traction was

made to the‘Project Miller’team for the overhaul to running order of prototype HST power car No. 41001, which has recently hauled a production Class 125 set on the Great Central Railway (Nottingham).

The Steam Railway Award was made to the Foxfield Railway, for its efforts in growing from small beginnings to become a serious national visitor attraction, integrating the industrial legacy with a new tourist passenger operation with restored rolling stock.

A Special Award for a Meritorious Project was made to the P2 Steam Locomotive Company – currently in the throes of building No. 2007 Prince of Wales – for its excellent business case, phenomenal rate of fundraising and early manufacture of components.

The awards will be presented at the HRA annual dinner at the Museum of Science & Industry in Manchester on February 7.

(The Peter Manisty Award for Excellence has already been presented, going in 2014 to the National Railway Museum for the‘Mallard 75’events at York and Shildon.)

Corrodedsignalfallsontolineandishitbytrain THE Rail Accident Investigation Branch is probing an incident in which a Great Western HST struck a signal post understood to have been so rusty that it rotted through and fell onto the line.

The extraordinary accident occurred at Newbury on November 17 when the Truro-Paddington HST, travelling at 110mph, struck the junction indicator of colour light signal T2685, which had collapsed across the down line and was fouling part of the up line. The train suffered cab damage and a broken air pipe.

There had been no indication to the signaller of a problem as the cables were still attached – and even the aspect was still showing.

A freight train on the down line had passed the still-upright signal 15 minutes before the incident.

The post had been examined in June 2014 and no defects reported, but its base, hidden by ballast, had not been examined and the hidden corrosion is what is understood to have caused it to collapse. RAIB’s inquiry will focus on the examination and maintenance regime for this and similar structures.

Wight steam to return to Ryde?

AN Island Line Task Force is to be established by the Government in an attempt to secure the future of the Isle of Wight’s Ryde-Shanklin railway.

The island’s pro-railway MP Andrew Turner and other lobbyists will form a committee in early 2015 to propose de-electrifying the eight-mile route and replacing its 1938 ex-Underground stock.

Simultaneously, the task force is to present a case for running Island Line as a social enterprise partnership once SWT’s franchise expires in 2017. The Isle of Wight Steam Railway was drawn into the debate in December after media reports suggested it could take over the running of the railway, but the IoWSR’s Jim Lowe said:“We are not going to run Island Line – our resources wouldn’t stretch that far.”

The MP’s move could boost the IoWSR’s aspiration to run alongside Island Line trains as far as Ryde St Johns, but it would only contemplate extending to Ryde Esplanade“if Island Line was closed”.

Steam trains are too heavy to traverse the pier without civil engineering work.

10 • The Railway Magazine • January 2015

Signal at danger... but not in the accustomed manner!

Penninewiringcouldbethreeyearslate ALTHOUGH official statements from Network Rail suggest that its electrification programme is still on time, delays in completing the next phase of the North West electrification scheme are beginning to have an impact on the franchising programme and rolling stock cascades, writes Tony Miles.

While Phase 2 of the project (Edge Hill to Earlestown, Huyton to Wigan and Ordsall Lane Junction to Manchester Victoria) was originally scheduled to be ready in time for electric services between Manchester Airport and Liverpool Lime Street on December 14, NR is now aiming for completion of most work by February.

The section between Ordsall Lane Junction and Manchester Victoria will be even later, possibly May. Even bigger problems are said to lie further ahead, with industry sources suggesting that the electrification of the North TransPennine route between Stalybridge and Leeds, due for completion in 2018, is expected to be between two and three years late.

Network Rail’s inability to give a firm date for this work has now impacted on

the issuing of the Invitations To Tender (ITT) for the next Northern and TransPennine franchises, which were due to be released in December 2014. Without a firm timetable from NR, the DfT is unable to specify key dates for the franchises, which in turn means bidders would be unable to provide clear plans for the introduction of electric rolling stock and the cascade of existing diesel units.

NR is blaming the delay on a contractor’s OHL train being taken out of service on safety grounds, plus former mine workings in the Huyton area and unexpected ground conditions.

In addition to the delay, bidders have been told that when the ITTs are issued, they are to assume that the northern Trans-Pennine route will not be electrified during the franchise period, and that the TPE Class 185 fleet will be concentrated on this route to maximise capacity.

Consequently, bidders for Northern are being told that there will be no Class 185s available for cascade and that they must devise an alternative rolling stock strategy.

A cascade would have enabled the withdrawal of many‘Pacer’units.

Multiple Aspects

with Lord Berkeley

Hitachi DMUs: Suddenly the impossible is possible!

H

ITACHI recently won an order for diesel multiple units from Transport Scotland.

This was special, since it was the first time that a manufacturer had committed to building a train with the new Euro IIIb emission limit engine.

It is interesting that the UK passenger industry has been saying for a long time that this was impossible due to the space needed to fit scrubbers, and that they needed derogation from this regulation. They did not get it and now we see that it is not necessary anyway.

One can argue that there are so few diesel multiple units around causing pollution compared with cars and lorries, but that argument is not sustainable, particularly when recent figures from Clean Air London indicate that 55,000 people die prematurely from the combined impact of nitrogen dioxide and fine particles. This is more than half the number who die from smoking-related diseases, according to ASH. More passengers and freight by rail is an obvious solution to this but, to be credible, the rail industry must also play its part in putting its own pollution house in order.

Electrification with appropriate generation is, of course, a great help, but diesels will be with us on some lines for a very long time and 100-year-old ‘Pacers’ (with ‘grandfather rights’ to pollute) are not what we want for our scheduled rail services.

Gatwick ticket confusion a Eurostar passengers’ disgraceful state of affairs ‘nightmare’eight hours stuck inside a train DURING a recent visit to Gatwick –

with the intention of buying a ticket to London – I was reminded of the problems for visitors to the UK facing not only a multitude of fare options, but also two alternative services to London Victoria, one of which (the Gatwick Express) gets there a few minutes earlier and costs a little extra.

It took me 20 minutes to reach a ticket machine, whose age probably explained why it then took three attempts for it to accept my credit card.

Around me were many people with little understanding of English completely baffled by the machines, but trying to avoid the even-longer queue to speak to a human being selling tickets.

Seeing what looked like an Oyster symbol on the barriers, I tried to use mine to beat the queue, but no! Although the symbol looks very like the Oyster, obviously designed to confuse, it is in fact Southern’s own system.

Nowhere on it could I see that it was so.

Gatwick station is a disgrace; it is not welcoming, although the staff do their best in trying circumstances.

I know there are plans for rebuilding it, but in the meantime there is space to install another 20 ticket machines and make all fares from there to Victoria the same, regardless of the type of coach you travel in.

The new franchisee should do this urgently.

Railways in Parliament

ERTMS hidden costs

LORD Bradshaw asked Her Majesty’s Government for the latest cost estimates for the installation of the European Rail Traffic Management System in each cab of UK trains.

Baroness Kramer replied:“Our estimates are based upon information and assessments carried out by industry, which has used data from UK and EU deployments.

“The Government uses these estimates as a benchmark only, to be used during the evaluation of those new passenger franchises affected by the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) deployment.

12 • The Railway Magazine • January 2015

NR closer ties

LORD Berkeley asked what savings the Government has made from alliances between passenger train operators and Network Rail.

Transport Minister Baroness Kramer replied:“Network Rail’s Strategic Business Plan for the period 2014-2019 concluded that savings of between £438million and £1,128m could be made from closer working between NR and operators.

“The Department for Transport and the Office of Rail Regulation will be monitoring progress made towards securing these efficiencies as Control Period 5 progresses.”

IMAGINE what it must be like to spend eight hours on a train in total darkness, with no heat or working toilets.

That was the fate suffered by Eurostar passengers in France on November 25.

The unpleasantness, fear and helplessness of passengers must have been awful. The delay was caused by the wires coming down in the highspeed line between Calais and Lille.

There may have been similar delays in the UK on other lines in the past, but eight hours in such conditions is surely unacceptable.

SNCF, with its integrated tracks and trains, frequently claims that our separated structure of Network Rail and train operators is complicated, unreliable and expensive, but to take eight hours to find a diesel loco, an EMU or DMU capable of using the high-speed line or, in extremis, buses, says little for SNCF’s ability to look after passengers.

We should not be smug either; it is time that our integrated Rail Delivery Group ensures that, whatever the cause and whoever was at fault, passengers’ needs come first and that there is a contingency plan to deal with the inevitable occasional problems in an acceptable manner. berkeleyafg@parliament.uk

■ (The independent views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of The RM or the Rail Freight Group, of which Tony Berkeley is chairman).

Flood defences

LORD Berkeley asked for the estimated cost of the works near Cowley Bridge to improve the resilience of the railway by removing three weirs from the River Exe. Baroness Kramer said:“Network Rail has allocated £13.4million from the geoenvironmental resilience programme.

Their preferred option involves the removal of three weirs close to Stafford’s bridge and Cowley bridge.

“The Environment Agency is not providing financial assistance, but supports it as it complements the Exeter Flood defence scheme and the policy of returning rivers to their natural state.”

PRACTICE & PERFORMANCE

A classic scene from the era in which train-timer Noel Proudlock was active with his stop-watch. Gresley A4 No. 60020 Guillemot makes a storming getaway from York station on March 17, 1957. COLOUR-RAIL

NORTH EASTERN

I

While commuting from York to Leeds in steam days, Noel Proudlock didn’t merely time the trains but asked the drivers for their names, being obliged on 169 out of 172 occasions. e result is a unique view of performance by East Coast thoroughbreds and their crews, as John Heaton FCILT reports

T is a clear summer’s late afternoon at York station in 1958. A young man marches towards the south end of platform 8 of the sun-dappled station, assessing the weight of the adjacent train that is standing there and keenly anticipating what locomotive will be at its head. It is usually a Gateshead Pacific and tonight he is delighted to discover one of the best – A4 No. 4-6-2 No. 60005 Sir Charles Newton.

The recorder is Noel Proudlock, who boldly asks the driver his name, notes it down and boards the train, fervently hoping that the performance of engine and crew will match his high expectations. He was not to be disappointed.

It has been some time since Practice & Performance examined Noel’s logs of his regular travel on ‘The North Briton’ from Leeds to Newcastle behind Neville Hillallocated A3s during his time as a North Eastern Region management trainee. For 16 months from June 1958, he commuted 14 • The Railway Magazine • January 2015

between Leeds and York, returning on the 5.10pm on 172 occasions. He obtained the driver’s name on 169 of these journeys and took a detailed log. The result is a unique view of 1950s North Eastern Region steam locomotives and the men who drove them.

“Fervently hoping that the performance of engine and crew will meet his expectations” Unlike ‘The North Briton’, a greater pool of drivers was to be involved and, instead of a handful of picked A3s, the 5.10pm was a secondary service employing a wide variety of locomotives. This secondary nature emanated from the fact that the train originated as the 10.15am from Edinburgh. No, this is not a

misprint. It meandered its way south calling at most stations to York, where it remained long enough to provide a comfortable train home for North Eastern Region HQ staff and give them a final sprint back to Leeds.

This was a job for York enginemen and a ‘Gateshead Pacific’, a term one could expect to have been interpreted loosely by running foremen, who might well have preferred to save their best locos for the prime turns. The result is surprising as the booked locomotives turned up on 149 (72%) of occasions. Sixteen Pacifics from foreign depots were provided on 17 occasions, A1 No. 60146 Peregrine of York being the only one of these to appear twice.

Fifteen of the capable V2 2-6-2s were also used on 29 occasions with Gateshead’s No. 60964 The Durham Light Infantry being the favourite substitute, appearing eight times.

The most commonly used Pacifics were A1 No. 60137 Redgauntlet with nine trips and A2 No. 60538 Velocity with eight. There were only eight other locos that appeared more than

e world’s longest-running railway series, established in 1901

PACIFICS four times. One Heaton V2 and two Heaton A3s were used; ‘begged, borrowed or stolen’ by neighbouring Gateshead.

Gresley A4s appeared 11 times, every one being a Gateshead loco and all but No. 60018 Sparrow Hawk having a double chimney.

No. 60005 was the most frequent of the A4s with three instances.

The more unusual choices were A3s Nos. 60046 Diamond Jubilee and 60055 Woolwinder of Grantham and King’s Cross respectively, A1 No. 60117 Bois Roussel from Copley Hill, and V2 No. 60840 of St Margaret’s – the only Scottish loco in the survey.

It is believed that the 5.10pm loco went light to Neville Hill for turning and servicing after arrival at Leeds, returning to the station to work the Liverpool-Newcastle express that had left Merseyside at about 5pm. The York men had relieved a Gateshead crew at York and would alight at York from the Liverpool train; not an especially productive diagram even allowing for steam conditions. Any further information about these workings would be appreciated.

Of the 169 times the driver’s name was noted, 17 regular link drivers covered 127 turns with 13 spare link drivers covering 42 turns; the pattern one might expect. The highest number of appearances were all achieved by link

Above: A fine panoramic view of the Copley Hill district of Leeds on August 16, 1962, as a smartly turned-out A2/3, No. 60512 Steady Aim passes with a secondary passenger train. Although based at York at the time, the loco appears only once in the survey and perhaps one of the spotters in the foreground is congratulating his companion on gaining a ‘cop’?

Four months later, No. 60512 was transferred to Scotland. COLOUR-RAIL

LNER A1 No. 60119 Patrick Stirling makes its presence known at Leeds Central while attaching the Harrogate coaches to the Leeds portion of the 11.20am to King’s Cross in this undated 1950s scene. ERIC TREACY/RM ARCHIVE

January 2015 • The Railway Magazine • 15

PRACTICE & PERFORMANCE

A pair of A1s, each of which make a single appearance in this survey, share shed space inside York motive power depot on October 13, 1963. They are No. 60138 Boswell and No. 60140 Balmoral, the latter in the process of a cylinder stripdown. RAIL ONLINE

locomen – drivers Errington (12), Buck (11), Stapleton (11), Burton (10) and Fleetham (10). At the other end of the scale, regular link drivers Armstrong and Fennymore worked this train just two and three times, respectively.

Driver Walton was the most frequent spare link driver, but six other spare drivers covered this diagram no more than twice.

Leaving York, the load was sometimes down to a featherweight 200 tons, but the

TABLE 1: LOCOMOTIVES APPEARING IN THE SURVEY One appearance, unless shown in brackets A1 60115 [4] 60117 60119 60124 [7] 60129 [4] 60132 [5] 60135 [2] 60137 [9] 60138 60140 60142 [3] 60145 [2] 60146 [2] 60147 [3] 60150 [2] 60151 [2] 60154 [4] 60155 [5]

A3 60036 60038 [4] 60040 [5] 60042 60045 [4] 60046 60051 [5] 60053 [2] 60055 60060 [3] 60070 [4] 60071 [4] 60073 60075 [2] 60076 [3] 60077 60081 60082 60088 60092

A4 60001 60002 60005 [3] 60018 60019 [2] 60020 60023 [2] A2 60501 60502 60512 60514 60515 60516 [6] 60518 [3] 60521 [6] 60538 [8]

V2 60805 [3] 60808 60810 [2] 60833 60840 60860 60877 60901 60904 60923 [4] 60939 60946 60947 60964 [8] 60969 [2]

16 • The Railway Magazine • January 2015

range varied from 191 tons to 360 tons.

Seasonal requirements and special events accounted for some of this variation, but the main cause was the attachment of that afternoon’s output from York Carriage Works that required distributing to the West Riding.

It is worth pausing to describe the 25-mile route during the late 1950s. After clearing the complex pointwork at Holgate Jct, Leeds-bound trains normally travelled on the north side of the layout. Two miles out of York at Chaloner’s Whin, the East Coast Main Line peeled away towards Doncaster.

Four tracks continued towards Church Fenton, differentiated by destination rather than fast/slow. The south side tracks were termed the ‘Normanton lines’, with the ‘Leeds lines’ on their right as far as Church Fenton, where the two sets of tracks diverged. Although the latter pair was aligned for 70mph, there was an unwelcome 60mph permanent restriction at the west end of Church Fenton station at the foot of a four-mile 1-in-133/146 climb to Micklefield, where there was a 60mph trailing junction with the line from Hull. This had been reduced to 50mph by 1960 after a strange re-modelling that clearly did not cater for dieselisation. It has since been improved to 70mph, but Class 185s could surmount the bank at 90mph if permitted to do so.

Back in the 1950s, steam locomotives could then accelerate towards 70mph before being restricted to 45mph by curvature at Neville Hill and then progressively reduced limits as the train approached its destination.

At this time of day, clear runs between York

and Leeds were at a premium. Several busy junctions could cause trouble and 39 runs were delayed by adverse signals approaching Leeds.

A temporary speed restriction (t.s.r.) at Chaloner’s Whin affected 37 trains and one at Garforth was similarly troublesome with some trains having the misfortune to suffer both.

However, 110 of the 172 runs were unchecked to Cross Gates, and these have been analysed in detail.

Although none of the trailing loads were onerous for a Pacific, or even a V2, three categories of tonnage have been created; 191-240, 241-290 and 291-360, covering 83%, 22% and 14% of the journeys, respectively. The average time to Cross Gates (21.05 miles) for each of the categories was 25min 28sec, 26min and 26min 8sec – a relatively small range.

Noel felt that a time of 24min to Cross Gates and 31min to Leeds represented an excellent run and marked them with an asterisk in his records. Eighteen managed to achieve the first target and 13 the overall start-to-stop target. As far as Cross Gates, 11 out of the 17 regular drivers and six of the 13 spare drivers achieved the target, but the only regular driver to manage it more than once was driver Hindson, who made nine attempts. In contrast, drivers Stephenson and Hopkinson managed it twice from only five and four respective attempts.

Switching to the Leeds target, 31min was beaten on eight occasions by regulars and six times by spares, more than double the regulars in percentage terms. Regular driver Rhodes made it on two of seven occasions and spare

e world’s longest-running railway series, established in 1901

Running past premises typical of an industrial city in post-war Britain, A3 Pacific No. 60082 Neil Gow approaches Leeds Central off Marsh Lane viaduct with the 9am Newcastle to Liverpool express in the mid 1950s. KENNETH FIELD / RAIL ARCHIVE STEPHENSON

driver Walton three times from seven. The spare men would be younger than the regular men and having charge of a Pacific would have been more of a special event.

The most impressive locomotive performances came from two runs with No. 60005, driver Fleetham reaching Cross Gates in 22min 40sec and Leeds in 30min 2sec, with the A4 hauling 256 tons tare, and driver Atkinson managing 23min 8sec to Cross Gates, with 289tons tare and after suffering the Chaloner’s Whin slack, and going on to achieve the fastest time to Leeds of 29min 24sec.

Another outstanding locomotive was doublechimney A3 No. 60060 The Tetrarch, which managed to beat both target times twice. One was with driver Walton, who achieved 22min 25sec to Cross Gates and 30min 45sec to Leeds with 231 tons tare and the other was 23min 35sec to Cross Gates, terminating in 30min 40sec with driver Wetheral on 302 tons tare.

The fastest V2 run was achieved by driver Rhodes with No. 60964 with times of 24min 13sec and 30min 30sec.

Table 1 lists all the locomotives involved and the number of appearances made by each one. Table 2 shows similar information for the drivers and the number of ‘starred’ fast times they achieved. Table 3 shows a selection of 10 good runs, featuring at least one of the classes

involved. No 60005 attained both the highest speed (77mph) and the fastest run (29min 24sec). V2 No. 60923 on 298 tons acquitted itself well with driver Hall making Bolton Percy to Osmondthorpe in 15min 6sec and beating the 32 min schedule to Leeds by 32sec, despite a 15mph t.s.r. at Copmanthorpe.

There is also a rarity of A2/2 No. 60501 Cock o’ the North, which made a good start with driver Walton and then ran with relative ease before a fast 6min run from Cross Gates into Leeds, arriving 2min early. As ever, there was another story to be told where the running was disappointing. This includes a run with No. 60060, handled by driver Buck, with whom Noel had some very good runs including one of Cross Gates/Leeds in 23min 10sec/29min 54sec with roller-bearing A1 No. 60154 Bon Accord on 230 tons.

No. 60060 features in the Table 3 ‘good runs’ and it was in the hands of a skilled driver.

Perhaps the fireman was inexperienced or the coal was poor. The possible causes of poor steam performance are manifold.

Table 4 shows five ‘poor runs’, selected relatively randomly, but featuring two locos on two occasions each. Drivers Hindson and Hall both struggled with Gateshead V2 No. 60979.

In fact, Noel recorded the regulator being shut by driver Hall at Ulleskelf and again at

“Some drivers liked to make a fast start, others an industrious climb, and some liked to run consistently”

TABLE 2: DRIVERS' NAMES AND TURNS WORKED Surname Regular Link Errington Burton Shepard Fleetham Fennymore Hall Parker Ritchie Atkinson Armstrong Watson Stapleton Rhodes King Buck Hindson Lloyd Spare Link Hopkinson Stephenson Yule Jobling Lees (or Lee) Weddle Walton McGhee McKenna Shotton Hilton Wetheral Bogie Not recorded Total

Turns (see text)

Star Runs

12 10 9 10 3 7 2 4 5 2 9 11 9 7 11 9 7

1 1 1 2 2

5 4 1 1 2 4 7 6 3 2 1 5 2 3 172

3 3

2 1 3 2 2 3

4

2 31

January 2015 • The Railway Magazine • 17

PRACTICE & PERFORMANCE TABLE 3:YORK TO LEEDS 'GOOD' RUNS.ALL WITH 10.15AM (10.20AM FROM MAY 1959, 5.10PM FROM YORK) EDINBURGH-LEEDS.ALL TIMED BY JND PROUDLOCK Loco Name

60005 Sir Charles Newton

60005 Sir Charles Newton

Tare Tons Load Driver Date

289 Atkinson August 11, 1958 MS 0 00 6 22 10 02 11 05 12 42 17 43 20 23 23 08 24 42 25 16 27 16 29 42

Miles 0.00 3.66 7.55 8.80 10.70 15.70 18.20 21.05 22.74 23.26 24.70 25.50

Timing Point YORK d Copmanthorpe Bolton Percy Ulleskelf Church Fenton Micklefield Jct Garforth Cross Gates Osmondthorpe Neville Hill East Jct Marsh Lane LEEDS a

Sch 0

13 19 26

32

Loco Name Tare Tons Load Driver Date Miles 0.00 3.66 7.55 8.80 10.70 15.70 18.20 21.05 22.74 23.26 24.70 25.50

Timing Point YORK d Copmanthorpe Bolton Percy Ulleskelf Church Fenton Micklefield Jct Garforth Cross Gates Osmondthorpe Neville Hill East Jct Marsh Lane LEEDS a

MPH ½E-/tsr45 56 70 73 66 58/54 59 64 65 48/50 42

45mph tsr Chaloner's Whin

60060 The Tetrarch 231 Walton July 1, 1959 Sch 0

13 19 26

32

MS 0 00 5 58 9 24 10 23 11 54 16 56 19 34 22 25 25 39 26 30 28 58 30 45

Garforth, the only two occasions he noted this on all the runs.

As we have seen in Table 3, driver Hall certainly knew how to handle a V2 as he was clearly to demonstrate with No. 60923. The other doubly-poor performer was A2/3 No. 60518 Tehran with drivers Burton and Lloyd. The latter driver has not been mentioned so far in the article, but he seems to have been relatively disadvantaged by being

MPH T 60 74 76 65/55 56 58 62/63 -/sigs15 38/30 36

60154 Bon Accord

60538 Velocity

256 Fleetham July 16, 1958

60964 The Durham Light Infantry 244 Rhodes September 3, 1958

230 Buck May 26, 1958

231 Hopkinson February 27, 1959

MS 0 00 6 20 9 31 10 30 12 02 17 00 19 42 22 40 24 23 25 00 27 13 30 02

MS 0 00 6 17 10 04 11 10 12 45 18 12 21 18 24 13 25 45 26 14 28 20 30 30

MS 0 00 5 54 9 28 10 29 12 03 17 10 20 03 23 10 24 57 25 34 27 40 29 54

MS 0 00 5 52 9 30 10 37 12 22 17 50 20 40 23 38 25 21 25 55 28 10 30 35

MPH ½E 60 75 77 65 60/55 57 60 58 46 30 30

MPH 1½L 56 67 70 64 48/45 55 63/70 68 41/45 31

60038 Firdaussi 198 Hindson January 27, 1959

60516 Hycilla 232 Shepard June 23, 1959

60501 Cock o' the North 196 Walton February 23, 1959

60923 298 Hall July 8, 1959

MS 0 00 6 31 10 13 11 18 13 07 18 16 21 01 23 53 25 29 26 05 28 15 31 05

MS 0 00 5 52 9 32 10 40 12 25 17 43 20 39 23 50 25 35 26 18 32 45 35 47

MS 0 00 5 55 9 37 10 42 12 20 18 10 21 11 24 15 25 52 26 25 28 20 30 15

MS 0 00 7 12 10 59 12 04 13 48 19 00 21 50 24 36 26 05 26 41 28 48 31 28

MPH ½L 54 70 69/61 64 55/54 60 62/65 63 48 32

MPH T 60 65 67 65/60 53/50 52 56 58 41 sig stop/27

paired with five A2s and one A3 in his seven runs. The seventh was an A4, but it was singlechimney No. 60018 which also suffered a signal check. Driver Burton’s second poor run was with A3 No. 60070 Gladiateur, which could not be coaxed into reaching even 60mph.

It is also noticeable that in the 15 logs in Tables 3 and 4, the latest start was 3½min and only four were over half a minute late. Of the 32 runs that achieved at least one of the ‘star’

Although this article is mainly about Pacifics, a few V2 2-6-2s also appeared on the turns, sometimes as substitutes.

This is No. 60969 alongside the magnificent timber coaling stage at Glasgow’s St Rollox MPD. COLOUR-RAIL

18 • The Railway Magazine • January 2015

MPH T 60 73 74 62 56/50 53 57 57 44/47 38

MPH T 59 69 71 65 49 53 61 65 53 36

MPH 1L 58 68 68 60 51 56/60 59 60 44 30

MPH 2½L-/tsr15 54 69 71 64 54/52 57 67/70 65 48/50 35

targets, 47% were made by double-chimney locomotives, although only 10% of the total were so fitted, a clear indicator of just how effective this arrangement could be.

Turning to the start from York, there were 15 runs that passed Copmanthorpe in under 6min, seven of which were A1s, four were A2s and four were A3s, the fastest falling to driver King and York A1 No. 60146 on a 267-ton load.

It is probably significant that driver King also claimed second place, this time with Gateshead A1 No. 60145 Saint Mungo.

In fact, on five runs that week he averaged 5min 52sec on this stretch, this average time being bettered only by one other run, by driver Bogie with A3 No. 60051 Blink Bonny on a lightweight 196 tons. No A4s managed this 6min goal.

Looking at the top 20 climbs from Church Fenton to Micklefield, all of them exceeded a pass-to-pass average of 57.6mph, the fastest of which was 4min 48sec, averaging 62.5mph with double-chimney A4 No. 60023 Golden Eagle on 232 tons and driver Hindson. Both he and driver Burton managed three Top 20 climbs out of nine and 10 attempts, respectively.

Some drivers liked to make a fast start, others an industrious climb and some liked to run consistently through the middle part of the journey, so Noel has also analysed all the runs that averaged 60mph from passing Bolton Percy (7.55 miles from York) and Osmondthorpe (22.74 miles), which was the

e world’s longest-running railway series, established in 1901

With its long rake of mostly carmine & cream coaches showing up attractively in the sun, A4 No. 60005 Sir Charles Newton passes Chaloner’s Whin, south of York, on August 4, 1957. This particular “Streak” appeared three times on York-Leeds trains timed by the subject of this article. COLOUR-RAIL

braking point for the Neville Hill curve. There were 16 such journeys, with the top three slots falling to A4s. Pride of place goes to driver Stephenson with 14min 32sec by No. 60020 Guillemot on just 197 tons. Driver Hall appears once again, achieving the highest number of entries with four runs, remarkably with an A1, two A3s, a V2…. and no A4s.

Finally, the dash down from Cross Gates to Leeds City provides an interesting finale. My commuting on this route was in the early 1970s when it sometimes felt as if we were taking the Neville Hill curve much in the way a ‘Pendolino’ might do nowadays on a similar curve.

Looking at my fastest overall Class 185 run of 20min 58sec between York and Leeds, the set took 5min 27sec from Cross Gates into Leeds, the booking being 5½min having passed Cross Gates at 90mph, rather than a typical mid-60mph figure by the steam locos in this article which, Noel recalls, often rattled in over the points at Leeds East Jct at a faster speed than their modern counterparts. In his records, there were 25 occasions on which a time of

6min 25sec was beaten in this sample of 172 runs. The fastest run over this final section was made by driver Rhodes with No. 60077 The White Knight in 5min 57sec, and a full list features names that have been highlighted before, such as drivers Buck (4 times) and

“It sometimes felt as though we were taking the Neville Hill curve much as a ‘Pendolino’ might do nowadays!”

Hindson (3), demonstrating their confidence at running fast through a congested and densely signalled area.

In diesel days, the quickest runs in from Cross Gates were often with Class 40s needing to make up time they had lost en route. In 1958/59 one might have expected the same of

the V2s and they feature in 32% of the sub-6min 25sec trips, but constitute only 17% of the total. The V2s seem to have been able substitutes for the more auspicious classes and it is interesting to note that No. 60964 appears three times, perhaps implying it was a smooth runner. Of particular note were the examples of 6min 3sec by both driver Buck, with Gateshead No. 60923, and driver Wetheral with Heaton No. 60901.

The media spotlight normally tends to focus on the spectacular exploits of crack express trains with well-known drivers, blinding us to the sheer endeavour of those engaged in the safe and conscientious performance of their duty on less celebrated workings – in this case, the York crews in charge of the 5.10pm to Leeds.

Being able to examine the performance of a single, relatively humdrum, train service from the steam age in such detail allows a rare insight into everyday performance back in the ■ late-1950s.

■ Thanks are due to Noel Proudlock for permission to use the original recordings and for his subsequent analysis.

TABLE 4:YORK TO LEEDS 'POOR' RUNS.ALL WITH 10.15AM (5.10PM FROM YORK) EDINBURGHLEEDS.ALL TIMED BY JND PROUDLOCK Loco Name Tare Tons Load Driver Date Miles 0.00 3.66 7.55 8.80 10.70 15.70 18.20 21.05 22.74 23.26 24.70 25.50

Timing Point YORK d Copmanthorpe Bolton Percy Ulleskelf Church Fenton Micklefield Jct Garforth Cross Gates Osmondthorpe Neville Hill East Jct Marsh Lane LEEDS a

Sch 0

13 19 26

32

60518 Tehran 267 Burton February 20, 1959

60979 233 Hindson September 24, 1958

60979 219 Hall July 17, 1958

60070 Gladiateur 200 Burton February 19, 1959

60518 Tehran 198 Lloyd February 2, 1959

MS 0 00 7 41 12 13 13 33 15 30 22 25 26 25 29 52 31 45 32 25 34 35 37 00

MS 0 00 6 56 11 40 13 03 15 03 21 10 24 50 28 13 30 00 30 36 32 23 34 23

MS 0 00 7 17 11 39 13 02 15 10 21 48 25 30 29 35 31 42 32 20 34 25 36 20

MS 0 00 6 58 11 30 12 50 14 49 21 00 24 16 27 44 29 50 30 28 32 50 35 25

MS 0 00 8 00 12 50 14 13 16 18 23 14 27 53 32 04 34 18 34 58 37 13 39 10

MPH 3½L 48 54 57 60 38/35 44 54 54 45/48 26

MPH ½L 48 53 55 61 40/38 41 57 57 48/53 38

Bad blow L/H cylinder

MPH T-/34/tsr20 50 54 55 53 42/38 40 46 50 46 38

Regulator shut Ulleskelf and Garfoth

MPH ½L 50 55 57 58 45 48 50 48 51 sigs26

MPH ½L 45 54 54 55 35/32 36/52 43 50 44 35

January 2015 • The Railway Magazine • 19

CROSSRAIL EXCLUSIVE

The RM goes to the cutting edge Tunnels are an integral part of the railway network, but how exactly are they constructed today? To find out, editor Nick Pigott was granted exclusive facilities

by Crossrail to visit a tunnel-boring machine deep beneath the streets of London.

T

HE thin metal gate on the building-site elevator clanged shut and we began to descend into the bowels of the earth.

One by one, the concrete galleries that form the sides of the shaft receded and the patch of daylight above us grew smaller. Then, with a slight bump, the lift reached the ground.

I stepped out into a vast underground cavern.

In three directions, newly bored tunnels stretched away into the distance while narrow gauge locomotives fussed with trains of supplies and concrete-lining segments.

This was Crossrail’s Stepney Green shaft, which in a couple of years will form the junction for the Shenfield and Abbey Wood lines. To my left was part of the nascent main line section running towards central London and a couple of miles along that route was the extraordinary mechanism responsible for creating it… tunnel-boring machine Elizabeth.

To reach this 980-tonne, 150-metre long metal ‘mole’, my two Crossrail guides and I had to walk for half an hour westwards along a narrow gangway perched a third of the way up the curved side of what will become the eastbound tunnel. Below us was a 900mm gauge railway, alongside us was an 11,000-volt electric cable and above us was a large tube conveying ventilation air. On the other side of the bore were cooling and waste water pipes plus a conveyor belt transporting newly dug earth to the surface.

Strapped to our waists were industrialstrength respirators – compulsory equipment for all people entering the tunnelling system.

On and on we walked, through a wide section that will one day become Whitechapel station and then back into the normal diameter tunnel, heading towards the deepest part of the whole Crossrail route, almost 40 metres below ground

level. Every now and again, the gangway would be blocked by contractors’ machinery, forcing us to climb down vertical ladders, walk along the deck of the tunnel and then clamber up again beyond the obstruction.

After what seemed an age of single-file walking in dusty, humid conditions, we spotted our quarry in the distance. Partly hidden by the curve of the bore, she appeared like a huge mother ship, an eerie droning noise permeating the labyrinth as we drew closer.

Back in June 2000, I had been privileged to stand in the centre of North Downs tunnel, on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, to witness the dramatic breakthrough of a tunnelboring machine (TBM) and ever since then I’ve wondered what it would be like to stand behind the cutter head of one and see at first-hand how such an extraordinary mechanism works.

Elizabeth is quite literally a huge moving ‘factory’, powered by the high-voltage cable KEY TO DIAGRAM ABOVE: 1 Rotating cutter head; 2 Screw conveyor auger; 3 Rotating ringerecting arm; 4 Hydraulic propulsion rams; 5 Concrete ring (in position on tunnel wall); 6 Belt conveyor system for earth spoil; 7 Delivery system for pre-cast concrete segments; 8 Trailing gantry (also known as the‘back-up train’).

Stepney Green Junction: The tunnel curving to the left will be for Shenfield trains and the Caption one on which the narrow gauge train is running leads towards Abbey Wood. NICK PIGOTT

20 • The Railway Magazine • January 2015

trailing along behind it. The length of 14 London buses laid end-to-end and weighing as much as three fully-laden jumbo jets, she is one of eight machines employed on the construction of Crossrail and carries the number 3, the others being 1 Phyllis, 2 Ada, 4 Victoria, 5 Mary, 6 Sophia, 7 Jessica and 8 Ellie.

They work in pairs and are named after ladies as that is considered in tunnelling tradition to bring good luck. Phyllis Pearsall was the creator of London’s A-Z maps, for example, while Mary and Sophia

1

3

2 4

(whose names were proposed by Railway Magazine reader Ray King) were the wives of Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Marc Isambard Brunel respectively.

All except Mary and Sophia are classified as Earth Pressure Balanced Type machines and are used for cutting through the thick clay on which London stands.

Their class name refers partly to the fact that the chamber behind the cutter head is pressurised to prevent the tunnel face from collapsing before the concrete-lining segments can be attached, and partly to the fact that the volume of earth entering the chamber has to be exactly balanced by the amount being taken away at the rear of the machine in order to maintain that pressure.

The strong steel cylindrical shield of the TBM also helps support the tunnel wall and provides a safe area for the crew to work in.

Mary and Sophia are Slurry, or Mixed Shield,