June ro web version

JUNE 2013

Britain’s Leading Railway Society

VOLUME 83 NUMBER 1012

rcts.org.uk

ISSN 0952 - 7133

THE RAILWAY CORRESPONDENCE AND TRAVEL SOCIETY Founded by: President: Vice-Presidents:

L. B. LAPPER and A. E. BROAD. A. H. GOULD, Flat 7D, Valebrook, 2 Park Avenue, Ilford IG1 4RT. Tel. 020 8554 1022.

D. F. COLE, E. V. FRY, R. A. LISSENDEN and J. B. SWEET. Details of other Society Officers appear in the Directory Supplement.

CONTENTS Regulars Over The Points Noticeboard National Network Operations Southern Western North Western & Midland Scottish Eastern & North Eastern Network – Infrastructure T&RS Locomotives T&RS Coaching Stock Urban & Irish Railways Preservation & Other Railways

361 362 363 366 372 381 382 388 393 394 398 401

International News Branch News Publication Reviews Query Corner Every Picture Tells a Story Observer’s Diary Nostalgia Corner

404 415 423 425 427 428 432

Features Centre Spread Freight Business Column - Power Station Coal In Control Part 4 What Happened to Steam?

- The RCTS Response Plumb’s Ramblings Part 7

396 406 408 410 412

SUBMISSIONS FOR AUGUST 2013 RAILWAY OBSERVER Press Day - News Reports

Monday 24th June

Notes must be received by the appropriate Editor or Ed. Rep. by this date.

Picture Submission Date

Wednesday 26th June

To be considered images, complying with the RCTS ‘Guidelines for Submitting Photographs’, must reach David Kelso at Al Mafrak, George Hill Road, Broadstairs CT10 3JT, e-mail: publicity@rcts.org.uk. by this date.

Letters to The Editor

Friday 5th July

To be considered these should be received by the Managing Editor by this date.

Front Cover – 92031 and ECR 66045 on the 6B37 Wembley-Dollands Moor empty china clay wagons at Shoreham on 29th March 2013.

Rodney Lissenden Back Cover – Ex-Port of Par Bagnall 0-4-0STs Alfred and Judy leaving Dilhorne during the Foxfield Railway’s Bagnall themed gala weekend on 6th April 2013.

Les Nixon NOTE – Views expressed in the RO by the Editor and other contributors are not necessarily shared by members of the RCTS Management Committee.

Printed by Amadeus Press Ltd., Cleckheaton, Yorkshire. Published by Mike Robinson, Ash House, Main Street, Carlton Scroop, Grantham NG32 3AU for and on behalf of the The Railway Correspondence and Travel Society.

Retail Price – £2.75

(RCTS Members £1.875 post free )

JUNE 2013 VOLUME 83 NUMBER 1012

OVER THE POINTS The Chairman’s View.

Each month I look forward to the three magazines that my friendly and efficient postman delivers through my letterbox. The RO is of course one, followed by Trains which arrives from the US; the third is The Railway Magazine (RM). The May RM, as always, was full of diverse articles, though I was somewhat taken aback when half way through the ‘What Really Happened to Steam’ article there was a determined RCTS bashing exercise.

Penned by ex-society member Roger Butcher, he criticised both the Society and the Publications Committee regarding the locomotive disposals information published in the BR Standards series. The article, which was economical with the truth, contains a number of errors and mentioning it in my Chairman’s address at the AGM in Coventry in April, it was clear from a show of hands that at least three-quarters of those assembled purchase the RM. The members attending were informed that a response was being produced and this, as the editor of the RM had promised the RCTS a right to reply, has now been sent to the RM. Of course, as you will know any material sent to a newspaper or magazine can be amended, shortened or in the worst case scenario not published at all, so to set the record straight, the full unabridged version of the response is published on p.410 of this edition of the RO. This letter is not an attack on Mr. Butcher or the HSBT group that he represents but a statement of facts to clear up the errors and put the record straight.

Mentioning the AGM, this event was a great success. I was delighted to see many members who had not attended a society AGM in the past. All enjoyed the tasty lunch and it is fair to say that as the AGM has become extremely popular with increasing numbers of members attending over the past few years, the MC is now looking for a venue with a rather larger seating capacity! Our two guest speakers were much appreciated by those in attendance. David Maidment, who incidentally is the founder of the Railway Children charity, gave a presentation on his ‘Early Years’ - both as a railway enthusiast and in his early railway career. David was waylaid at lunch time by branch officers eager to get him to speak at future branch meetings.

Richard Storer who is the Community Relations Officer for Crossrail followed with an excellent presentation on what is undoubtedly Europe’s largest infrastructure project.

Richard was also asked to attend future branch meetings and I am sure he will also be invited to a future AGM to give us an update on this massive project. Thank you all for taking the time to attend and very special thanks to our two guest speakers who gave up their time to be with us at this annual society event.

After a very long and horrible winter (and spring) the sun has at long last come out and temperatures are slowly rising which will mean that many of you will be dusting the camera off and journeying to locations both home and abroad to photograph locomotives and trains of all shape, sizes and colours. There are those of you hardy souls who of course never put the camera in hibernation for the winter months and brave the elements as aptly demonstrated in recent ROs. Don’t forget that the RO team are always on the lookout for good quality photographs and if you discover something or see the unusual don’t forget to send it in and get it published exclusively in your magazine.

Good hunting!

W Gordon Davies COPYRIGHT The content of this magazine is the copyright of this Society. No part of this or any previous issue of this magazine may be reproduced without the prior written permission of the Managing Editor.

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NOTICEBOARD Submission of Illustrated Articles.

Members will be aware that we are seeking to enhance the variety of material appearing in the RO by publishing more illustrated articles produced by members. This note is intended to clarify the procedure for submitting such articles that both source text and illustrations reach all relevant editors.

Time sensitive ‘stand alone’ images submitted to the RO are managed by the imaging editor, David Kelso, who collates all images submitted by members during a given period and passes the file to the managing editor for publishing selections to be made. By contrast, member articles are rarely targeted at a particular RO issue and, as it may be several months before publication occurs, the images accompanying such articles must both accompany the text of the article sent to the managing editor and be sent as cross-referenced image files to the imaging editor.

Each set of images must be submitted as freestanding jpg files adhering to the society’s photographic submission guidelines, and must not be supplied simply as thumbnails within the text document.

As an example, for an article incorporating two image: i) a total of three files would be forwarded to the managing editor - a text document and two jpg files and ii) copies of each of the two jpg files (fully cross-referenced to the intended article) should be sent to the imaging editor.

Hopefully adhering to this process should ensure that all files are received in good order so that no offence is created by omission of missing images.

LCGB Overseas Tours 2013. As part of the ‘Three Societies Agreement’ between ourselves, the SLS and the LCGB, RCTS and SLS members are again invited to participate in the LCGB's overseas study tours during 2013, with a nominal temporary membership fee payable with the tour invoice. Destinations planned for later in 2013 are: August to Hungary; a joint tour with the Industrial Railway Society.

September to Bulgaria; a joint tour with the Railway Touring Company.

September. A Germany and Poland rail tour.

October to Eritrea which is our seventh visit.

Autumn to Germany for Saxon narrow gauge.

November to Kenya with steam and/or diesel.

Itineraries and full details of each tour can be 362

can be found on the overseas study tour page of the LCGB website: www.LCGB.org.uk.

Corrections and Omissions.

March 2013 p.171 - 156449 is at Stranraer Harbour, not Kilmarnock as incorrectly stated in the caption. p.192 - Tanfield Railway - Santa’s Grotto was at Andrews House station - not East Tanfield as reported. p.202 - Armstrong Whitworth Article.

The following order numbers require correction as shown: E66 - Works No should read 938-87.

L86 - Original LNER K3 numbers should read 1100-2/6/8/17-9/21/5/33/5/7/41/54/ 6/8/62/4/6.

L87 - Works No should read 1131-55.

L88 - Add original LNER 2934-37. p.205 - In Praise of EU. - The PKP order had its origins in 1963 - not 1936 as stated.

April 2013 p.247 - The train has been diverted from the ECML between Northallerton and Newcastle and is passing Norton-on-Tees, north of Stockton; not as stated, using the Shaftholme Junction-Knottingley route.

2012 Index Rear cover lower photo. The location is Carrog, not Berwyn.

Photo Archive Assistants The society is looking for members with a knowledge of the post WWII era of BR to assist with sorting photographic collections held in the society archive store at Stevenage. Stage 1 is the need to sort railway from non-railway material.

Many collections we receive include road transport and shipping images. Stage 2 is the need to sort the railway material into good, poor and duplicate catagories. The objective is to take the good images into the permanent ‘Photographic Archive’ and to make them available for sale to members and others. Own transport is required and to be within easy reach of the archive store at Stevenage (travelling expenses will be paid).

This is not a time sensitive task and can be undertaken at your own pace. In the first instance contact David Pick by e-mail at northampton@ rcts.org.uk or by telephone on 01604 810613.

NATIONAL NETWORK OPERATIONS SOUTHERN South East Vandalism. On 12th April a 32 year-old Sidcup man was remanded in custody after being found guilty by Blackfriars Crown Court of causing £250,000 worth of graffiti damage to railway property over a seven-year period. The main victims were Network Rail and Southeastern but other TOCs and even the Bluebell Railway were targeted. Sentencing was due to take place on 17th May. London Marathon. As is normal for this event, which took place on 21st April, Southeastern ran a revised Sunday morning timetable with a number of additional trains from Charing Cross and London Bridge serving Greenwich, Maze Hill and Blackheath stations in order to get participants and spectators to the starting points, participants being allowed to travel free. Some other TOCs were also allowing participants free travel on early morning trains to London.

Orient Express. Victoria-Folkestone West workings noted were handled by 67026+67005 (4th April) and 67006+67026 (21st and 25th).

On 4th 67026 failed on the return working at Maidstone East; assistance being provided by 59204 sent from Hither Green as 67005 could not be run round. Is this the first time that a Cl.59 has worked the Orient Express?

A North Kent circular (Victoria-Maidstone East-Canterbury West-Whitstable-Gillingham Sole Street-Victoria) ran on 19th April topped and tailed by 67026+67006.

Hither Green. 950001 made an appearance here on 20th April arriving as 2Q08 from Reading. It departed as 2Z08 to Crewe on 21st.

Hoo Junction. The Eastleigh and Whitemoor departmentals still provide quite a variety of Cl.66s with 6Y42 to Eastleigh on 1st April (presumably as Freightliner drivers do not sign the road via Tonbridge) worked by GBRf’s 66739 and 6L37 to Whitemoor on 2nd worked by 66510 with 66729 dead in train. On 15th 6O36 from Whitemoor with 66555 had 66615 dead in train.

On 16th 66615 was noted working this train presumably having returned to Whitemoor on 6L37. 66615 was also noted on Eastleigh workings on 18th. These are the first reported use of a Cl.66/6 on these trains.

On 2nd April 66846/8 which had been in use on Easter engineering trains departed light coupled as 0Z66 to Rugby.

Normally Anglia route engineering trains operate out of Whitemoor but they do appear here occasionally as on 21st April when 66741 arrived with 6T11 from Coppermill Junction.

Grain. FHH’s 66511, which had taken over from 70008 on 4O88 from Lawley Street at Wembley on 29th March (see p.291, May RO) ran light on 2nd April as 0Z66 from Thamesport to Willesden, the driver later returning with 70008 as 0Z70. 70008 later worked 4M49 the 18.11 to Lawley Street.

An unusual working for 66543 on 4th April was 0O84 from Tilbury and 4Z86 return with empty wagons.

66739 tailed by 73119 and 73207 pass Upper Warlingham on the Victoria to Sheffield Park special "Project East Grinstead", the first through train to the Bluebell Railway on 28th March.

Rodney Lissenden

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Medway Valley.

On 13th April 5X47 Tonbridge West yard-Slade Green returning 465917 from Wabtec, Doncaster failed at Wateringbury with a brake defect on one of the translator vans. After a 90-minute delay during which time the level crossing was blocked the train, worked by 66721, was allowed to proceed at 5mph to Maidstone West where the defective vehicle was detached. One can only imagine the delays this caused to rail traffic and to local road users as it negotiated the level crossings at Teston and East Farleigh.

Dollands Moor. On 29th March 66045, the last ECR Cl.66 still in the UK, arrived in 6B45 from Wembley behind 92031 but hardly had it departed for France than 66222 arrived, its first appearance in the UK since December 2007, departing on 2nd April sandwiched between 92016 and 92002 as 0B20 to Wembley behind 66008. Another ECR Cl.66, 66195, arrived later in April going north on 24th as 0S94 the 03.05 to Carlisle behind 92003 in the pathway normally used for the Irvine clayliner.

On 23rd April 6E26 the 07.45 to Scunthorpe unusually departed behind 92016 with 66070 dead on the rear being diverted for reasons unknown via Wembley where presumably 92016 would have been removed.

Dungeness. Flask trains were worked by 37608+37402 (4th April), 37409+37603 (11th), 37402+37259 (18th) and 37607+37602 (25th).

For reasons unknown on 4th 37608 led in both directions.

St. Leonards. As with most of the GBRf fleet in this area the locomotives on the Crossrail spoil trains are fuelled and maintained at St. Leonards Railway Engineering, for example on 1st April when 66723/38, two locomotives that appear to have become semi-permanent fixtures on these trains, ran light coupled as 0Y72 the 09.23 from Northfleet via Sidcup, Orpington and Rye later returning as 0Y73 the 14.15 to Northfleet via Battle, Tonbridge and Maidstone West.

Orpington. Cl.376 units are normally only used on Charing Cross/Cannon Street services but on 28th April 376019 was noted on 2D52 the 17.06 to Victoria.

Central Engineering Work. With DBS and GBRf suffering from a shortage of drivers both Colas Rail and Freightliner are working odd engineering trains, one recent example being the use of 66568 in the Gatwick area on 21st April. It later worked 6Y90 Earlswood-Hoo Junction.

Orient Express. On 5th April 67005 and the British Pullman set worked the “Brighton Belle Experience� 1Y91 the 11.42 Victoria-Hove and 15.45 return. The outward route was via Herne Hill, Streatham, Wimbledon, Basingstoke,

166209 is seen approaching Redhill station on Tuesday 2nd April with the 07.34 Reading to Gatwick Airport service.

Geoff Dunster

364

Fareham and the West Coastway returning via Haywards Heath, Redhill, Selhurst and Stewarts Lane.

Cl.73.

Following one of their regular maintenance visits to St. Leonards on 15th April 73201+73107 worked back to Hither Green as 0Z73 the 16.07 from St. Leonards unusually routed via Eastbourne, Plumpton, the Quarry line and Clapham Junction instead of the normal route via Tunbridge Wells and Orpington.

South West Rail Tours. On 13th April “The Moonraker” 1Z76 the 07.05 Solihull-Salisbury and 1Z77 the 16.05 Salisbury-Solihull was worked throughout by 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe. The outward route was via Oxford, Reading West and Basingstoke returning via the same route.

Between the outward and return workings the stock was stabled in Salisbury East yard and 5043 and its support coach were turned on the Laverstock triangle. Also on 13th a NENTA return excursion 1Z71 the 16.07 Cardiff Central-Norwich worked by 47854+47826 was routed between Bath Spa and the North London line via Westbury, Salisbury, Andover, Chertsey, Kew East Junction and Acton Wells Junction. The outward working had run via the GWML. The 20th April was a busy day for rail tours.

The first leg of the “Great Britain VI”, 1Z82 the 07.45 Victoria-Exeter St. Davids was worked by 34067 Tangmere. This ran via Stewarts Lane, Richmond, Addlestone and the LSW main line.

1Z60 the 06.32 Skegness-Windsor & Eton Riverside and 1Z61 the 16.45 Windsor & Eton Riverside-Skegness were topped and tailed by 57314+57313. Between the outward and return workings the stock was serviced at Acton Lane sidings. Finally “The Wessex Express” 1Z64 the 06.44 Hooton-Weymouth and 1Z65 the 16.08 Weymouth-Hooton were worked by 67029.

Orient Express. On 26th April the British Pullman set double-headed by 67026+67006 worked 1Z11 the 09.43 Victoria-Truro via Bath and Bristol. The route to Westbury was via Brixton, Streatham, Wimbledon, Basingstoke, Salisbury and Warminster. The return working on 28th 1Z18 the 11.25 Truro-Victoria, returned via the same route.

Waterloo. On 7th April the GWML through Reading was again closed with West of England trains diverted from Westbury. Power cars used were: 43181+43012 3O35 the 06.00 ECS from St. Philip’s Marsh and 1V36 the 10.10 to Penzance.

43137+43034 1O36 the 07.53 from Exeter St. Davids and 1V73 the 12.10 to Penzance.

43187+43195 1O37 the 08.40 from Plymouth and 1V75 the 14.10 to Penzance.

43023+43053 1O38 the 08.35 from Penzance and 1V77 the 16.10 to Penzance.

43170+43191 1O39 the 11.01 from Penzance and 1V78 the 18.10 to Penzance.

43071+43030 1O40 the 13.44 from Plymouth and 1V79 the 19.10 to Plymouth.

43017+43040 1O41 the 12.56 from Penzance and 1V80 the 20.12 to Plymouth.

43168+43069 1O42 the 13.41 from Penzance and 1V81 the 21.10 to Exeter St. Davids.

43129+43160 1O43 the 14.40 from Penzance and 3V82 the 22.17 ECS to St. Philip’s Marsh.

43161+43126 1O44 the 16.11 from Penzance and 3V83 the 23.25 ECS to St. Philip’s Marsh.

Alton. In connection with the Mid-Hants Railway’s diesel gala on 27th/28th April 55009 arrived on 24th with 20087, 37901, D1501 (47402) and 33109 in tow as 0Z39 the 08.42 from Castleton, East Lancs. Railway. This was followed on 25th by 66738 towing 4-VEP 3417 as 5Z42 the 13.55 from Clapham yard.

66738+3417 returned on 29th as 5Z17 the 09.23 Alton-Clapham yard and 55009 with the ELR locomotives departed on 30th as 0Z20 to Castleton.

Eastleigh. On 2nd April a seven-locomotive convoy consisting of 47828 towing 37409, 37607 and 20301-4 departed from the works as 0X38 the 16.09 to Crewe Gresty Bridge. 47828 had just been outshopped after repairs, the Cl.37s had arrived on 28th March (see p.295, May RO) and the Cl.20s were being reinstated following a period in store. Whilst at the works 20303, which was the last operational Cl.20 in the old DRS livery, was repainted into the current livery. This leaves 37038 as the last DRS locomotive in the old livery.

On 3rd April 31465 was due to work 3Q02 the 02.35 NR test train to Hither Green but suffered a major failure resulting in the cancellation of the train and 31465 being returned to Derby by road. 37425 was despatched from Derby as a replacement working the train back to Derby on 6th as 3Z04.

On 4th April 47727 departed light as 0V87 the 13.10 Eastleigh yard-Taunton.

On 8th April 56303 arrived at the works as 6Z56 the 10.10 from Chaddesden sidings (Derby) with three JRAs for repair, later departing light as 0Z56 the 18.00 to Washwood Heath.

Southampton. 4Y19 the 12.19 MountfieldWestern docks gypsum empties and 4Y81 the 19.55 Western docks-Mountfield gypsum ran behind 66730 (2nd April), 66712 (10th), 66742 (15th) and 66733 (18th).

On 17th April coaches 64649 (508201) and 64712 (508209) were moved as 5Y08 16.01 Eastleigh Works-Western docks topped and tailed by 73141+73206 (front)+66742 (rear) and included four translator vans for brake force. It is understood that they have been acquired by Merseyside Fire & Rescue for training purposes and were moved north by road on 18th.

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WESTERN West of England Burngullow. The paragraph on p.158, March RO should have read “some weeks”, not “some years”!

Plymouth. On 18th March the 22.00 PenzancePaddington sleepers failed here with a brake fault. After some delay, passengers transferred to an HST and 57604 later took the ECS to Old Oak Common.

66053 worked an additional train from Ernesettle to Tavistock Junction at 23.24 on 10th April. On 12th 56303 arrived with 6Z57 the 09.47 (11th) Doncaster wood sidingsKeyham conveying Railvac machine wagon 99-70 9515 001/4, a Swedish vehicle not previously seen in this area. 56303 left light as 0Z56 the 09.00 to Long Marston.

Newton Abbot. Since the last RO, 12 trains have operated to/from the recycling site in Hackney yard, six up empty, three down loaded, two down part loaded and one unobserved; an equal number of light locomotive movements ran. 66514/46 were used four times, 66556/87 and 66606/15 once each. 66587 was the 399th Cl.66 noted at Exeter, the 99th Freightliner version and the 69th Cl.66/5.

Heathfield Branch. Only two Kronospan timber trains have operated since the last RO; on 21st March 66846 was used but on 11th April 56105 made its first appearance.

Barnstaple. The branch was closed between Crediton and Barnstaple on 11th-13th March and throughout on 23rd and 24th for scheduled repairs and maintenance, some of which had been postponed due to the winter floods. 150921 was working services to Barnstaple (and Exmouth) on Good Friday 29th.

Exeter. Locomotives noted here en route to and from an engineers’ possession between Newton Abbot and Plymouth overnight on 16th March and all day on 17th were 66082/9 and 66115/25/ 9/52/81. The 05.52 Paddington-Plymouth and 10.15 return new measurement trains passed respectively at 07.56 and 11.15 with 43013+ 43062 on 22nd and at 21.15 45407 arrived with its support coach, 35517, as 5Z93 the 09.46 Castleton Hopwood-Exeter depot. The Black Five left for Taunton at 08.57 next morning.

At 01.15 on 23rd March 66143+66172+66184 arrived light in Riverside yard. 66143 took out 6M60 the 02.00 to Bescot loaded china clay hoppers at 02.43 and the others later ran westwards on engineers’ trains. Later that day the 08.26 St. David’s-Waterloo had to be cancelled after its driver suffered a heart attack as he prepared to take the ECS in from New yard. Another driver took the stock (159006/01) to platform 2 bay from where his colleague was taken to hospital by ambulance after treatment by paramedics.

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At 10.02 150927 (with “Worcester Shrub Hill” displayed on its blind) called with the Branch Line Society’s “The Great Western Tracker” to Heathfield and Cattewater.

45407+34067 passed at 12.10 with the 06.48 Euston-Plymouth “Mayflower” charter; on its return as the 16.05 to Paddington, 45407 was detached at Exeter and Tangmere took water before departing at 17.51. 60163 Tornado followed at 13.05 with the 08.06 Paddington-Kingswear and again at 18.51 with the 17.10 return. 45407 and its support coach left at 09.10 on 24th as 5Z93 the 09.57 to Castleton Hopwood.

Finally, 66004/20/58 and 66138/62/72/84/92 were noted en route to/from the weekend engineering possession between Newton Abbot and Plymouth.

On 26th March at 13.06 950001 passed as 2Q08 the 09.16 Whites crossing-Plymouth; it returned at 07.49 on 29th as 2Q08 the 04.01 PlymouthDerby. On 27th 43042+43033 and HST set OC35 passed at 13.48 as 5Z77 the 11.30 Swindon-Laira; 43033 was reported to be fire-damaged. The 12.48 Paignton-Cardiff was formed of 153380+(two-car)158961 instead of a Cl.150/9.

On Good Friday 37409+37607 arrived at 04.37 with ECS for Pathfinders’ 05.15 St. David’s-Fort William/Pitlochry “The Easter Highlander”.

This special arrived back at 23.19 on Easter Monday 1st April and the ECS departed at 00.04 on 2nd as 5Z37 the 23.46 St. David’s-Eastleigh.

158882 was stabled in New yard at 15.15 on 2nd April and on 5th 158886+159105 formed the 09.26 St. David’s-Waterloo whilst 150244 worked the 12.48 Paignton-Cardiff. On 10th 31233+9701 arrived in Riverside yard at 06.05 with 3Q65 the 00.34 test train from Didcot. At 19.05 on 11th 56303 passed with its track machine (see Plymouth) making its first recorded visit as such or as 56125. With 56105 on the Kronospan timber train, this was possibly the first time two Cl.56s have ventured west of Exeter the same day (apart from open days or on charters).

The 44th series of aggregates trains from Westbury to the Hanson stockpile operated from 2nd to 12th April. Nine trains ran, hauled by 59205 (five times), 59101 twice and 59104 and 59202 once each. 59001 remains the most used locomotive with 31 appearances.

Highbridge & Burnham. A new footbridge was under construction at the Bristol end of the station on 27th March. It replaces the old precast sectional concrete footbridge that has been in use since the days of the SDJR Burnham-on-Sea branch and is an unusual shape taking account of the compact track layout.

The new passenger overbridge at Reading opened on Friday 29th March, though much work remains to be done to platforms, track layouts, the construction of the new flyover for the main lines to the west of the station and electrification for which some of the masts are now in place. Here 43041 departs from the new platform 8 with the David Jackman 16.15 Paddington-Cheltenham Spa on 20th April.

Bristol. On 27th March 97304+6263+999602+ 977969+31233 were stabled at the former Motorail siding next to platform 2 and 66125 went up at 18.00 on 6X52 Portbury-Mossend cartics. On 5th 47727 passed at 11.35 with 6Z47 the 10.10 Fairwater yard, Taunton-Cardiff Canton conveying track machines. 950001 was stabled in the former fish dock alongside platform 4 on 12th. 37425+20303 passed at 13.32 on 17th with 6M67 the 14.02 Bridgwater-Crewe nuclear flasks, a train that frequently runs early.

44871+45407 arrived at 17.02 on 21st April with the 09.40 Newquay-Cardiff charter via Gloucester which departed at 17.40 behind 34067 Tangmere. The Black Fives were serviced at St. Philip’s Marsh and departed light for Cardiff about 06.00 next morning to work the train forward to Preston.

St. Philip’s Marsh Depot. On 14th April 158798 (restored to three cars) was noted in the wheel lathe area, along with 57762 on its own, 153361 newly repainted in FGW blue livery (it returned to traffic next day), 08822 and HST coaches 42218 and 44100. On 21st 143611 was stabled near the wheel lathe.

Stapleton Road.

The newly constructed footbridge came into use in April and the old one was removed overnight on 13th/14th. Its successor spans only the two running lines currently in use but is expected to be extended

over the relief lines when Dr. Days Junction-Filton Junction is redoubled in 2014.

Bristol Parkway. The Bridgwater nuclear flasks were noted with 37409+37612 at 12.12 on 27th March, 37194+37611 at 13.15 on 3rd April, 37409+37603 at 15.15 on 10th and 20303+37425 at 13.45 on 17th. The Theale-Robeston empty tanks were worked by 60007 on 28th March, 60010 on 30th and 1st April, 60020 on 2nd, 60074 on 4th, 6th, 8th, 9th and 20th, 60040 on 11th and 13th and 60017 on 16th, 18th and 20th.

Westerleigh. The afternoon Robeston tanks were worked by 66192+66015 on 30th March, 66154 on 3rd April, 60017 between 9th and 12th and 60040 on 18th and 20th. The morning tanks from Lindsey were noted with 60017 on 25th March, 60059 on 9th and 10th April and 60099 on 16th.

Charfield. On 1st April 66118 was noted passing at 14.51 with the 08.30 Milford west sidings-Westbury conveying empty former National power wagons for use on stone traffic.

Sharpness Branch.

On 16th April 37259+37603 arrived from Crewe with two FNAs and a single empty PFA. They returned to Crewe with the FNAs, leaving Berkeley Road at 14.38. 37419+37611 arrived light at 15.56 to take the PFA, loaded with low level waste, to Crewe leaving Berkeley Road at 17.47. It is very unusual to see two trains on the branch in one day.

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Portbury. Clearance of undergrowth from the former trackbed between here and Portishead was taking place from early April.

Freightliner coal services continue with departures to Rugeley at 03.00 (02.48 on Saturday), 07.00, 08.25 (07.25 on Saturday) and 10.50 and to Uskmouth at 04.35 but with very limited use of Cl.70s. The 08.25 is occasionally diverted to Fiddlers Ferry and the 22.49 on Friday has ceased. The DBS-worked coal trains to Ferrybridge have ceased but a new flow to Fiddlers Ferry commenced on 22nd April.

The biomass train started running again from 3rd April (including Sundays), arriving around 16.00. 66746 was noted on 3rd-5th, 7th-9th and 12th, 66744 on 16th and 19th and 66702 on 21st.

The Warrington cars were noted with 66169 on 28th March and 66112 on 4th April.

Avonmouth. The set of HTAs which was moved to Westbury was intended for trials conveying stone but was moved empty to Bescot behind 66055 on 1st April. A new service to Ratcliffe commenced on 15th using a 23-HTA set; 66154 worked the first train which departed at 13.55. Seven 21-HTA sets are used on Aberthaw services, two of which usually stable at Avonmouth at weekends.

Melksham. During the Easter blockade at Reading the single track line was extremely busy with hourly Paddington/West of England HSTs in both directions from 2nd to 6th April, diverted Freightliners to/from Southampton on 29th March and a number of diverted and

regular Mendip stone trains. Engineers’ trains were also in abundance throughout.

Freshford. During April an old dark blue and cream enamel running-in board was re-erected on the up platform by the station friends’ group who acquired and restored it some time ago. It joins the wooden GWR nameboard placed on the down platform three years ago.

Bradford-on-Avon. Overnight on 13th/14th April the main span of the 1895 GWR footbridge was removed by crane and taken away by road to a specialist firm near Plymouth for refurbishment. It is expected to be reassembled in June and repainted in traditional GWR colours. The listed 1848 station buildings are also receiving some overdue care and attention including masonry repairs and repainting.

Westbury. From 29th March to 7th April FGW ran a Turbo shuttle between Reading and here.

They were worked by Reading drivers with FLHH drivers as route conductors between Bedwyn and Westbury and operated as DOO east of Bedwyn and with Westbury-based conductors. On 7th April all trains terminated at and started from a temporary platform 3 at Theale goods loop with road transport to Reading, Twyford and Maidenhead. West of England HSTs ran to and from Waterloo via Salisbury from 29th March to 1st April and again on 7th, reversing at Westbury.

66133 arrived at 18.00 on 13th April with a rake of former National Power wagons as 6V51 the 12.13 St. Pancras-Westbury down yard.

On 16th April recently reinstated Colas 56105 has just restarted its train in the yard at Briton Ferry. It is moving 16 wagons of logs towards the main line, running as 6Z51 the 15.55 Baglan to Chirk. The line to the bottom left leads down to the loading point at Baglan, a distance of less than ¼ mile and in the background may be seen Stuart Warr Briton Ferry station.

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For three weeks in April the line between Castle Cary and Cogload Junction was closed from Monday to Thursday for a programme of major renewals and maintenance. This resulted in a very busy afternoon on 22nd; in addition to the usual Cl.59s (10 were seen), 34067+support coach 35518 passed at 13.50 as 5Z18 the 10.40 Cardiff Canton-Southall via Salisbury, 66526 arrived at 14.40 with 6Y15 the 13.59 Castle Cary-Westbury conveying several flat wagons loaded with recovered LWR sections from the Somerton area, 66415 arrived at 16.50 on 6Z29 the 13.09 Hackney yard-Westbury via Bristol with LWR and 66599+66522 arrived at 17.00 with 7Y16 the 16.15 Castle Cary-Westbury consisting of two Colas cranes and wagons loaded with spent ballast. Another long train of spoil, 6Y17 the 19.00 from Castle Cary, arrived at 18.50 with 66515+66552.

Wales ATW Cl.67. 67003 returned to traffic on 2nd April but failed at Newport while working the 18.21 Cardiff-Holyhead which was replaced by 175005. Next day 67003 and stock made an unsuccessful test run to Newport and back and 175108 worked the 05.33 Holyhead-Cardiff and 18.21 return. The 18.21 was worked by 67003 on 4th but was cancelled at Newport because of stock problems. 175102 worked the 05.33 and 18.21 return on 5th. 67001 worked empty stock to Holyhead on 7th and services returned to normal on 8th.

Welsh Marches Line. Further to p.144, March 2010 RO and p.300, May 2013 RO, the signaller on duty at Moreton-on-Lugg at the time of the fatal incident on 16th January 2010 received a fine and costs totalling £2,500 and was ordered to do 275 hours unpaid work. Network Rail was fined £450,000 and ordered to pay £33,000 costs.

An inquest is yet to be held.

An 06.44 Hooton-Weymouth and 16.08 return charter ran via Hereford on 20th April behind 67029; timekeeping was exemplary in both directions.

37425 ran light from Crewe Gresty Lane to Eastleigh on 3rd April.

66619 worked Westbury-Tunstead empties via Hereford on 15th. 66704 worked stone trains from Moretonon-Lugg to West Drayton on 15th and 17th.

Severn Tunnel.

In connection with the Reading blockade, Swansea/Paddington services were diverted via Banbury from 29th March to 1st April and on 7th April. Monday to Friday Cardiff/Paddington services were cancelled from 1st to 5th April.

The Severn Tunnel was closed on Sundays from 14th April for engineering work and South Wales/Paddington services were diverted via Gloucester; Cardiff/Portsmouth services started from Bristol Parkway.

Newport. 66140 worked empty MBAs from Newport docks to Handsworth Queens Head

and returned with loaded trains on 4th and 6th April. Newport docks-Aberthaw coal trains recommenced on 2nd when 66148 worked the 16.00 departure. A second departure at 08.30 hauled by 66115 ran on 23rd and 24th. The only inward coil train ran on 2nd, from Llanwern.

An additional train has continued to run on Sundays at 20.37 from Newport ADJ to Didcot conveying discharged fuel tanks from Plymouth Laira and Penzance en route to Fawley. On 14th April it was worked by 66130 and 66168 which had come light from Oxford Hinksey after engineering work. 66054+66187 were used on 21st and the train was diverted via Gloucester.

Uskmouth. During March trains with coil ran from Margam to Bird Port at 09.35 and from Llanwern to Bird Port at 18.22; 60020 worked the 09.35 from Margam on 4th April. There were also two daily Freightliner coal trains to Uskmouth PS. Machen.

Stone trains to West Drayton included 59203 on 10th and 17th April and 59201 on 24th. 66155 on 2nd and 66134 on 6th worked grit stone trains to Westbury for Whatley quarry. On 3rd 59204 worked empty hoppers as far as East Usk and then returned light to Westbury.

Ebbw Vale Parkway. From 4th March the 06.35, 14.35 and 17.35 from Cardiff and 08.40, 15.50 and 18.40 have been strengthened by a Cl.153. The 11.50 from Ebbw Vale is extended to Bridgend and returns empty to Cardiff to form the 17.35. 999600/1 visited Machen and Ebbw Vale on the night of 11th April.

Cardiff Tidal. The GBRf Lindsey-Cardiff docks petroleum train continues to arrive on Tuesdays and sometimes Thursday mornings.

There have been no GBRf scrap trains to Tidal since one from Beeston on 20th March. The empty wagons which were worked to Beeston on 21st March were returned empty by 66744 on 20th April. The second set of wagons recently used for aggregate traffic returned to Tidal behind 66704 from West Drayton on 24th.

Trains of export coil which commenced from Margam on 25th March ceased after 10th April when 66187 worked the last train.

DBS scrap trains in April ran from Handsworth Queens Head, Kingsbury and Rotherham in addition to wagonload traffic from St. Blazey.

66155 on 18th and 66043 on 25th hauled trains of scrap from Swindon to Tidal and 66087 worked a one-off from Exeter on 25th. 66161 took empty MBAs to Handsworth on 22nd and continued with the loaded train to Liverpool Alexandra Dock whilst on 23rd 66127 arrived at Kingsbury with empties from Alexandra Dock and worked forward with the loaded train to Tidal. Handsworth-Tidal scrap trains ran throughout the month including 20th and 23rd with 66043 and 27th with 66103.

No DCR-worked scrap trains ran to Tidal during April (and therefore no scrap from Shipley, 369

Stockton and Tyne Dock) but the regular thrice-weekly MWFO trains from Dagenham Dock worked by Freightliner continued to run.

The additional Millbrook-Wentloog Freightliner did not run in April but the Saturday train from Southampton continued. 70007 failed when leaving Southampton on the 03.12 to Wentloog on 18th and a replacement train departed at 10.32 hauled by 66955. 70007 made a test run (with 70009 dead in the train) on the 03.12 on 22nd and worked the train alone on 23rd-25th.

Cardiff. On 5th April 47727 worked HOBC wagons from Fairwater yard, Taunton to Cardiff Colas where they are to be refurbished. 08683 had arrived at Colas by 16th and 08670 followed on 23rd. On 22nd 56105 arrived with three KFAs from Baglan Bay and next day took them to Long Marston for storage, joining three others already there.

47854+47826 worked a 16.07 charter to Norwich, the “Cheddar Gorge and The Welsh Capital”, via the Severn Tunnel, Bath, Westbury, Salisbury, Woking, London and the GE main line on 13th April.

31233 worked a recording train from Didcot to Cardiff and back via Gloucester on 18th April and 47501+47790 a charter from Liverpool on 20th.

Cardiff Valleys. 121032 has been withdrawn and the Cardiff Bay shuttle is now worked by a Cl.153. 999600/1 worked to Merthyr, Tower colliery and Treherbert on 9th April and to Cwmbargoed, Rhymney, Coryton, Maesteg and Bridgend Fords the following night.

There have been frequent Sunday morning line closures for engineering work and a number of engineers’ trains have run, including 66007/85/9 and 66193+66086 from Basford Hall to Bargoed on 13th April and 66113+66086 on a WestburyYstrad Mynach train on 20th. DRS 66425 worked a cable-laying train from East Usk to Bargoed on 22nd-25th. 37603+37601 worked a radio survey train from Newport ADJ to the City line, Rhymney, Penarth and Cardiff Bay on 22nd and 23rd.

Non-buckeye coupling-fitted 66001 worked the Cwmbargoed-Earles sidings coal train on 26th April (which usually runs on Mondays and Fridays), the first time that it has been used.

Coal trains from Cwmbargoed to Margam for Tata increased in April from the weekly Saturday train to weekdays; 66055 was used on 17th, 66124 on 20th, 66213 on 24th, 66120 on 26th and 66023 on 27th. Two coal trains ran daily from Tower to Aberthaw throughout April at 10.54 and 18.17 with one on Saturdays at 10.54 from 13th.

Vale of Glamorgan Line. The line was closed between Barry and Aberthaw at night during the weeks commencing 14th and 21st April and trains to and from Aberthaw PS were diverted via Margam while the trains from Newport ADJ 370

to Fords, Bridgend were topped and tailed, reversing at Bridgend and Ford’s junction.

From 8th April there was a further increase in coal trains to Aberthaw with up to 14 trains per day, using up to seven sets of 21 HTAs. Coal has arrived from Avonmouth, Cwmbargoed, Cwmgwrach, New Cumnock, Newport docks, Onllwyn and Tower. 60079 arrived on the Lindsey-Aberthaw petroleum train on 15th and departed at 15.59 with the discharged train.

66164 worked the Dollands Moor-Barry docks silica sand train on 19th April.

On 27th April 20308/12+47802 worked an 07.00 Huddersfield-Swansea and 15.35 return with stops in both directions at Barry to give rail tour participants an opportunity to travel on the Barry Heritage Railway. The train was turned via Swansea west loop.

Tondu. 950001 ran from Margam via the OVE to Maesteg and back on 14th April and 66107 worked a ballast train from Westbury to Tondu on 28th.

Margam. 66710 hauled a one-off train of slag from Margam Grange siding to Acton on 4th April. 66111 on 5th and 66059 on 18th worked trains of slag to Pendleton, a new destination for this traffic.

Slab trains from Margam to Llanwern decreased during the month to three daily, departing from Margam at 02.45, 06.22, 13.51 or 18.17 using two sets of 24 BBAs. 66121 brought a one-off train of slab from Scunthorpe on 20th and 60074 returned the empties next day.

Redcar-Margam coke trains decreased during April; after running consistently to 11th they ran on 15th with 66120 and on 22nd and 23rd behind 66213. The train on 23rd left Redcar at 12.07 and the empties returned from Margam behind 66075 at 08.55 on 24th.

60010/20 were at Margam at the beginning of April. 60010 left on 2nd on the LlanwernImmingham service and 60074 arrived light from Didcot on 3rd. 60017 also arrived on 3rd, hauled by 66084 on the Tees-Margam steel empties and 60020 left on the 16.21 return to Hartlepool on 4th. 60040 hauled the 11.24 slab empties to Margam and the 17.22 Immingham-Llanwern on 8th. 60074 left on 21st working an additional 13.05 to Scunthorpe steel empties. 60063 arrived on 26th working the overnight steel empties from Tees. With up to three Cl.60s at Margam they were not confined to petroleum trains but also worked from Margam to Bird Port, Llanwern, Dee Marsh, Round Oak and Trostre..

Block trains of export coil for Rotterdam and Mauberge continued throughout April with up to four trains weekly to Dollands Moor.

A 23.54 Margam-Wolverhampton steel coil train ran up to three times a week throughout April and additionally started from Newport docks or Llanwern on other days.

66158, with 66023 and 66077 dead in tow, worked the 18.58 Margam (originating at Onllwyn)-Immingham coal train on 16th April.

MPV DR 98909/59 fitted with weed spray apparatus arrived at Margam from Bescot on 23rd April, ran back to Bescot on 26th and returned to Margam on 27th. Its first duty was to Llanwrtyd Wells on 28th.

Baglan Bay. 66850 worked an 09.50 Baglan Bay-Chirk timber train on 4th April. 56105 arrived later in the day with empty wagons which had been stabled at Gloucester and took four wagons which had been converted to timber-carrying from Cardiff Colas to Baglan Bay on 9th before working the loaded train forward to Chirk. It worked further trains to Chirk on 13th (the first Saturday one), 16th, 23rd and 27th.

Swansea. Following closure of the line between Swansea and Llandeilo Junction for the installation of a new Loughor viaduct and doubling of the line between Cockett and Duffryn Junction, the first westbound train over the new viaduct on 8th April was the 06.19 empty HST from Swansea to Carmarthen to form the 07.58 to Paddington and the first eastbound was the 05.50 Carmarthen-Cardiff worked by 175009.

Llandarcy ground frame was closed on 27th April and all points were disconnected. 66221

and 66068 worked engineers’ trains from Westbury to Llandarcy where the eastern connections to the loop were replaced by plain line.

66085 worked the Onllwyn-Scunthorpe coal train on 23rd April, recessing at Llanwern before working forward next day. Coal trains from Cwmgwrach to Aberthaw have increased to two a week, usually on Thursdays and Saturdays.

Heart of Wales Line. The following services have been worked by a Cl.150 from 4th March, releasing a Cl.153 unit for Ebbw Vale services: 05.19 Shrewsbury-Cardiff, 13.15 SwanseaShrewsbury and 18.06 return.

Llandrindod Wells was a scene of activity on 13th April when two charters were scheduled to cross, the first time in recent years. First to arrive was an RTC special from Cardiff via Oxford which was steam-worked by 45407+ 44871 from Shrewsbury. They were replaced at Pengam by 57314+57601 (which ran light from Shrewsbury via Hereford). The second was Pathfinders’ “Heart of Wales Wanderer” hauled by 67017 from Tame Bridge via Newport; its 13-coach length caused some problems, delaying departure of the steam train.

45407+44871 hauled the northbound “Great Britain VI” from Cardiff to Preston on 22nd April.

On strange territory on 30th March 43146 and 43141 forming 1B40 the 12.27 Paddington-Swansea passes the beginning of the divergence north of Saunderton and almost at the summit on the Chiltern (formerly GW&GC Joint) main line. The service was diverted via Banbury and Didcot due to extensive rebuilding works at Reading over the Easter weekend. The lower alignment of the up line can be seen; this was the line constructed on John Cowlishaw doubling and has a constant climbing gradient of 1 in 167.

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West Wales.

Additional Sunday evening petroleum services continued to run during April from Robeston to Westerleigh and Theale.

On 21st 60017 worked the Westerleigh train and 66040 hauled the Theale train as far as Margam where 66001 took over, 66040 returning to Robeston to work the 05.04 to Westerleigh.

66075 worked the Theale service on 22nd. The Robeston-Bedworth and return trains ran TThO in April; 60074 was used on 16th.

The 09.20 from Fishguard Harbour and the 13.09, 19.19 and 21.09 from Pembroke Dock have been worked by a Cl.150 from 4th March, releasing a Cl.153 to work the Cardiff Bay branch (see Cardiff Valleys).

Cambrian. 97302/3 hauled the weedspray MPV DR 98909/59 from Bescot to Aberystwyth and Machynlleth on 17th April and Machynlleth to Pwllheli and back on 18th, returning to Bescot on 19th.

Wrexham. 66850 worked the first timber train of 2013 from Ribblehead on 22nd April.

Engineering trains continued to run nightly between Wrexham and Penyffordd until 18th.

Chester. The area was busy with charters on 20th April; 67029 worked an 06.44 HootonWeymouth (see Welsh Marches Line), 57601+ 57316 an 05.45 Holyhead-Carlisle and 60163 an 07.45 Euston-Holyhead “Cathedrals Express”.

However, problems following a brake failure at Rhyl resulted in 67002 replacing Tornado on the return journey which arrived at Chester 183 minutes late, severely disrupting trains from the coast and some from Manchester and Crewe.

North Wales. 67002 worked an additional Holyhead-Crewe and return on 1st April as the Cardiff service does not operate on bank holidays. 37423+37612 on 10th, 57003/7 on 15th and 17th and 37603/12 on 25th worked Valley nuclear flask trains.

NORTH WESTERN & MIDLAND Chiltern FGW Diversions. Over the Easter weekend the diversion of Paddington-Bristol/South Wales trains via Banbury was largely incident free.

However on 29th March the 06.29 Bristol TM-Paddington with power cars 43174+43181 was delayed for 20 minutes at Banbury with difficulty raising air, causing congestion on the down line. Later the 09.00 Paddington-Bristol TM with 43079+43192 was stopped at Heyford at 10.50 after smoke was reported to be coming from one of the coaches. A fitter sent to the site discovered dragging brakes on 40804, which were isolated and after a rotational test the train went forward at 11.35. On 1st April the 08.27 Paddington- Swansea with 43024 leading came to a stand at West Ruislip at 09.00 with a brake problem. Fitters from Old Oak Common isolated faulty ATP equipment in the cab of the rear power car, allowing the train to go forward, reversing at Didcot so that 43024 would be leading to South Wales.

LUL Stock Deliveries. Only three workings have been noted in the period under review, on 25th and 27th March and 15th April, the first train powered by 20096+20107+20901+20905, the second by 20901+20905+20311+20314 and the last with 20311+20314+20096+20107, all running from Old Dalby to West Ruislip.

Hampstead Tunnel. The tail end of the evening peak was badly disrupted on 9th April when 165022 working the 18.29 MaryleboneWest Ruislip came to a stand at 18.45 with loss of power. The 18.32 Marylebone-Aylesbury was used to assist at 19.00 to Wembley Stadium where both trains terminated and ran to the LMD. As a result eight trains were cancelled and 59 delayed.

Neasden. 20096, 20107, 20311/4 were noted stabled in the LUL depot at 11.50 on 18th April.

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Wembley LMD. 67014 arrived from Doncaster Works on 21st March with Mk.3 coaches 12605+ 12625+12627+12621+12623+10271. 67012 was subsequently used on 25th and 26th to work a test train, with the four latest conversions, to Birmingham Moor Street, leaving at 09.43 and returning at 14.50.

Calvert. Flyash trains from the now closed Didcot power station have continued to run with either 56303 or newcomer 56091 used. Cl.66/6 locomotives continued to appear on the Cricklewood Binliner, with 66610 frequently appearing. From 9th April 31190 was used on route learning duties for BAR in connection with their taking over the spoil workings from Willesden to here.

Bicester North. On 6th April 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe working “The Marylebone Flyer”, 09.57 ex-Birmingham Moor Street caused a series of embankment fires stretching from Ardley to Princes Risborough. The train was stopped at West Ruislip to check the spark arrestors, but went forward to Marylebone as booked. In the meantime various fire brigades were on the different sites putting out the fires with normal services on the line not being resumed until 15.00 with the cancellation or part cancellation of 19 trains. The locomotive and train were taken to Southall for servicing by 33207, but the return working at 17.20 from Marylebone was topped by 47245 to prevent a re-occurrence of the problem. At 13.20 on the 8th the 12.18 Marylebone-Stratford upon Avon was involved in a suicide north of the station.

The up line was not re-opened until 14.30, with the down line blocked for a little while longer to make temporary repairs to the unit.

Banbury. 33207 passed in mid-afternoon on 21st March with DBSOs 9705+9707+9713 en route from Eastleigh Works to Derby RTC. On

350110 speeds past South Kenton on 5th March on the 15.49 London Midland service from Euston to Birmingham New Street. 350110's centre coaches are in a unique livery, to publicise the completion of modifying 30 Cl.350/1 Bill Turvill sets for 110mph running which were unveiled to the press on 27th February at Euston.

23rd 66089 left at 06.33 with “The Scenic Settler� Pathfinder tour bound for Carlisle and due back at 21.35.

The following day 67001+67002 worked 1P52 the 09.15 Wrexham General-Wembley Stadium football special formed by the ATW Holyhead-Cardiff set, specially strengthened, passing at 11.45. The return working passed at 19.30. The train ran to Marylebone to reverse before stabling on Wembley LMD. On 27th March 47727+47749 double-headed 6Z56 the 13.00 Toton-Eastleigh yard, with 20 IOA wagons, passing in the late afternoon. The next day a 05.39 Crewe Gresty Bridge-Eastleigh formed by 37607+37409+20305+47790 with restaurant car 1671 left at 08.50.

On 2nd April 47828 hauled 37409+37607+ 20303+20301+20302+20304 north at 19.05 on an Eastleigh-Crewe working.

56303 appeared on 8th April at midday with three JRA wagons en route from Chaddesden to Eastleigh, returning in the evening to Washwood Heath. 57311 was seen on 11th passing at 10.25 en route light from Crewe to Eastleigh. The next day FLHH 70016 made one of its first appearances here when it assisted 70020 on 4O22 the late running 01.47 Trafford Park- Southampton and 4M61 the 12.54 return.

5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe appeared on 13th with 1Z76 the 07.05 Solihull-Salisbury, stopping to pick up at 08.25 and returning at 19.10.

Track Assessment Unit 950001 arrived at 15.22 on 15th April as 2Q02 the 09.34 Derby RTC-

Didcot. 47749 worked 6Z47 the 03.39 Basford Hall-West Ealing Plasser on 19th and returned in the mid afternoon as 6Z27. A pair of Cl.20s, 20227+20189, passed later running light from Butterley to West Ruislip via Didcot.

WCML South Diversions. Several freight services from the Southampton area were diverted via London and the WCML over Easter due to the Reading blockade. On 29th March 4M69 the 02.39 to Birch Coppice was noted behind 66184 at Hemel Hempstead at 06.10. Easter also saw diversions of Scottish services, including postal and sleeper services, via the ECML due to engineering work north of Preston.

Virgin. WB64, the Mk.3 set, now sees very little use but it was turned out on 8th April for a special, for London-based Manchester United supporters, to Manchester with 90044. Rather oddly it stabled during the match in the down refuge at Crewe rather than going to Longsight.

It has also made a number of Friday afternoon forays to Crewe and back, to maintain staff competence.

London Midland. With reference to 110mph workings, although some Birmingham trains are shown as timed at 110 mph south of Northampton, this of course only applies where they run on the fast lines, northbound to Milton Keynes and south from Ledburn. It is also believed that 110mph running may not be permitted north of Rugby, but other enquiries suggest it is permitted for single units anywhere that line speed permits.

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Euston. 34067 Tangmere visited on 23rd March leaving in the early morning with a special for Plymouth.

DC Line. There were delays at Harrow & Wealdstone from 17.30 on 30th March after the points leading to the turnback siding failed, requiring Bakerloo services to turn at the down platform and then use the crossover at the south end. As delays built up several LUL services were terminated at Queens Park, until 19.00, when northbound LOROL trains could be signalled normally reducing the overall delay.

Overnight repairs allowed normal working to resume on 31st.

At 06.20 on 18th April a lineside fire at Queens Park resulted in a points failure affecting both the up and down Bakerloo lines, stopping all services on the DC line. Temporary repairs allowed Watford-Euston services to run normally while for the rest of the day LUL operated a Harrow-Kilburn High Road shuttle.

Repairs were carried out overnight with normal working then being possible. No fewer than 382 different trains had to be cancelled as a result.

Willesden Junction. On 14th April detection on the points leading from the down fast to up fast line was lost at 11.00 and the 10.45 Euston-Preston was brought to an emergency stop. As the driver was badly shaken by the incident the train was returned to Euston, at 11.50 once S&T staff had regained detection.

The fault then recurred at 13.10 with two trains trapped which had to return to Camden to cross to the slow line. The fault was eventually traced to a defective module which was replaced but

113 trains were affected, eight of which were cancelled.

A further points failure took place at West London Junction at 08.40 on 19th April affecting the up fast line. All trains used the slow lines until the points had been clipped up to allowing the two trapped trains to be talked by the protecting signal. The fast lines re-opened until 09.55 when a further blockage was taken to allow full repairs, with normal working from 10.40. This incident affected 134 trains.

Mitre Bridge. At 18.00 on 17th April following reports that the OLE was on fire an immediate isolation was taken and subsequently a burnt cable was found hanging down at the side of the line. Arrangements were made for passenger trains to either be diverted or turned round, or in the case of Southern completely suspended.

The line re-opened for diesel traction at 19.25.

Repairs to a defective section insulator were carried out overnight, with booked freight services diverted, and normal working was resumed at 04.00.

No sooner had this problem been resolved than the locomotive on 6A50 the 22.57 TunsteadWillesden, which had been diverted on to the West London line at 06.00 to reverse to the cement terminal because of an OLE problem at Acton Lane, became overpowered on the steep gradient approaching North Pole Junction. It took until 08.40 to clear the line with an assisting locomotive, with other services badly affected.

WEFOC. The only ECR locomotive to be recorded recently en route from France to Toton

Pendolino 390103 arrives at Coventry station with the 10.11 departure to Euston on 13th April, the morning of the David Kelso society AGM.

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for maintenance has been 66222, which came up from Dollands Moor on 2nd April and went forward the following day via Crewe. 31190 was noted in the yard at 10.55 on 4th.

Wembley Central. A stray piece of wire which had been collected by the pantograph of 350115 working the 11.13 Euston-Birmingham on 23rd March caused an ADD at 11.20, stranding the train on the down fast and trapping the 11.10 Euston-Chester service which had to set back to Willesden West London Junction. The unit booked to work the 12.04 Euston-Tring was used to assist forward at 12.40, with both units going to Kings Heath depot. The Johnstone Paints cup final at Wembley Stadium on 7th April produced 47828+47501 on an 08.46 special from Crewe, returning at 17.20 as well as an extra Pendolino from Crewe to Euston and back.

Watford Junction. A signal failure on the up fast north of the tunnel on 28th March from 11.35 to 15.10 caused considerable delay while a faulty relay was replaced and all trains used the slow line. On 10th April whilst problems at Drayton Road were continuing (see Bletchley) 86638, the inside locomotive on 4M37 the 21.25 Tilbury-Garston failed on the down slow at 23.05, eventually going forward powered by the leading locomotive just after midnight, causing substantial delays, as this was the only line open due to overnight engineering work. A number of passenger trains were affected including the lowland sleeper.

On 18th April in addition to the problems at Mitre Bridge and the DC line at 11.20 Watford PSB lost all signalling, coinciding with a report of a large flash and bang near the south end of the fast line tunnel. After 20 minutes the power to the signalling returned but by this time services were being held as far back as Crewe.

A down Liverpool service, used to examine the area, found nothing unusual so power to the up fast was restored and trains passed at slowly increasing speeds while OLE staff monitored the site. Several small defects were found so a temporary speed restriction was introduced until repairs could be made. The incident affected 307 services, of which 66 were cancelled.

The following day the doors on 321417, working the 07.55 departure to Euston from platform 9, could not be opened so to prevent further delays the train was sent ECS to Euston at 08.22.

St. Albans Branch. On 26th March a fault on the Cl.321 due to work the 14.16 from Watford Junction resulted in the cancellation of four round trips while a fitter from Kings Heath depot carried out a repair. 321412 failed just before working the 10.24 from Watford Junction on 15th April and two round trips were cancelled while repairs were made.

Leighton Buzzard. On 8th April 37667+31285 were noted with test vehicles 977969+999606+ 72630+9708+C460000+DB975081+975280 at 13.40 on a Derby-Willesden working. Certain

vehicles were used later on overnight test runs between Euston and Milton Keynes Central, before the train retired to Old Oak Common.

Bletchley. The first incident affecting the new Drayton Road Junction occurred at 10.40 on 10th April when a cracked crossing prevented the use of the up fast line and meant that the 09.50 Birmingham New Street-Euston had to return to Milton Keynes to cross to the up slow.

Further inspection, with specialised equipment, confirmed the fault, which could not be repaired until the early hours of 11th. As a result Southern services to and from South Croydon turned round at Watford Junction for the rest of the day. Normal working was eventually restored at 04.40.

On 11th April 90043 working 4M88 the 09.18 Felixstowe-Basford Hall suffered a loss of power and the train was diverted into relief 1, the former down goods, but unfortunately the locomotive expired completely before the train was inside clear. The 13.33 Birmingham New Street-Euston was trapped on the up slow line at Denbigh Hall and had to set back to Milton Keynes to cross to the fast. At 16.05 90043 managed to clear the train inside, and was able to continue north at 16.20.

At 21.15 on 16th April the down slow OLE tripped and shortly afterwards a report was received from staff in the carriage sidings that something was burning on the roof of one of the containers on 4S88 the 16.15 FelixstoweCoatbridge, hauled by 66420. This was stopped at Denbigh Hall for inspection with all lines except the down fast blocked to allow NR staff and BTP officers to carry out their work which confirmed a body on top of a container towards the rear of the train, which was eventually removed at 01.00 and the train taken forward to Milton Keynes Central for photographs to be taken. After the shocked driver had been relieved the train went forward at 03.50. The incident affected 112 trains, 15 of which were cancelled and badly disrupted the overnight engineering possessions.

Following examination of CCTV records it appears that the man had joined the train at Camden Road.

Bedford Branch. 31233 was noted on 8th April traversing the branch both ways on a Derby-Acton test train, via Milton Keynes and the MML. A GSM-R failure on 153364 due to work the 10.05 Bletchley-Bedford on 19th April resulted in two round trips being cancelled while repairs were made.

Milton Keynes Central. On 21st March the Inverness-Euston sleeper was noted passing 110 minutes late at 08.55, behind 90024. Later 70019 was noted working 4M54 the 10.10 Tilbury-Crewe with 66537 dead inside, followed shortly by 70004 working 4M88 the 09.18 Felixstowe-Crewe, with 90043 also dead inside.

There was an unusual routing for an engineers’ train on 23rd when 66061 was noted passing at 13.35 from Crewe bound for Kettering North Junction.

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6A42 the 14.42 DIRFT-Wembley empty water vans was worked by 90018 on 28th March in place of the usual Cl.66 or Cl.92. 37194+47802 passed at 13.30 on 4th April hauling 90004 from Crewe to Norwich. FLHH 70003 appeared later with 4L71 the 18.41 Ditton-Felixstowe and returned north the next morning with 4M45 the 02.54 return. Another Heavyhaul locomotive, 70006, was noted on 9th with 4M88. The first appearance of a pair of Cl.37/4s on 6K51 the 20.25 Willesden Brent-Crewe flask train was on the 12th, when it was double-headed by 37402+ 37405.

57313+57316 worked 1Z62 the 05.38 charter to Carlisle on 13th April. At 11.30 on 17th Colas track machine 70033, en route from Watford to Rugby, came to a stand north of the station with the driver reporting it was unable to exceed more than 5mph. Unfortunately the machine could not be reversed thwarting the initial plan to shunt it to the bay platform 2A so 6B41 the 11.43 Wembley-DIRFT was put inside at Bletchley and the locomotive detached to haul the defective machine to platform 2, where it arrived at 13.30. In the meantime Colas arranged a locomotive from Rugby, which departed with the failed machine at 14.10.

Wolverton. Cl.332s continue to arrive for refurbishment, with 332009 arriving on 25th March behind 67016. 332007 now reformed as a five-car set including the demonstration coach, had left on 22nd behind the same locomotive.

The Bletchley-based ‘Drain Train’ was noted on 24th at midday returning from Hillmorton Junction with 66604+66621. On 29th 47804 passed at 11.50 on a Carnforth-Southall working, including 57315.

Another test run for Royal stock to Crewe on 4th April was powered by 67006. 86501 made a return to the main line on 15th when it was noted working 4L90 the 12.21 CreweFelixstowe. Quite how welcome this was is a moot point as it failed again before the end of the month.

On 19th 4L22 the 15.19 Hams Hall-Felixstowe was unusually headed by a pair of Cl.66/7s.

Hanslope Junction. At 08.00 on 25th March the 06.53 Euston-Northampton came to a stand just north of the junction following an ADD operation. As the train was formed of two sets and it was the rear set’s pantograph which had caused the activation the driver was able to raise the one on 350106 and move off after only 25 minutes delay. As the cause was later found to be an air leak fault and inspection of the OLE found all was in order normal working resumed fairly quickly.

Northampton. The training trips with test coaches from Derby via Crewe continued into early April, with 67022+67023 noted on 4th.

Daventry. 86622 working alone arrived in the early afternoon of 2nd April with 4Z51 the 09.10 from Tilbury, working back almost immediately with a return working.

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The DRS shunter, 37038, departed north in the company of 37608+37402 on 9th April. Its temporary replacement was 37194. After examination at Crewe 37038 returned south on 10th with 37194 returning north light.

Rugby. On 17th April it was noted that the six Colas vans, stated to be for a Daventry-Euston service, had departed from storage in the former carriage sidings. Stabled at platform 3 was DRS 57307 in “Cable Theft” prevention livery and still carrying its pink Lady Penelope nameplate.

It was also there on 22nd. On 19th newly re-liveried 20227 plus 20189 went south en route to West Ruislip.

West Midland-WCML Central Chiltern. A fourth silver set entered service during April. With only five coaches it is formed 12625+12627+12621+12623+10271 with DVT 82305. On 19th it worked the 10.55 Moor Street-Marylebone with 67015. On 22nd only one set, with DVT 82303, was available and this worked the 10.15 Marylebone-Moor Street and return. The 08.45 Marylebone-Moor Street and 10.55 return was 168004. This did not retire to Wembley on arrival at Marylebone as would have the silver set but worked the 13.15 to Moor Street and return. In the morning four sets, including the blue/grey set with 67014 and DVT 82304, were at Wembley.

Present were 67013-15 and EWS-liveried 67017. One set left and went ECS north and was seen passing Leamington around midday.

The Cl.168 working continued on 23rd, 24th and 25th.

168005 worked on 24th when 67010 with DVT 82302 worked the 10.15 from Marylebone. On 26th two sets were seen in use 67012 with DVT 82303 on 10.55 from Moor Street and 67010 with DVT 82302 on the 10.15 from Marylebone.

Advance notice of the 19th May timetable shows little change to the winter schedules. The 17.50 from Marylebone is shown as the blue/grey set and extended from Bicester to Banbury and although the report of a ‘meet the manager’ session stated the 18.47 from Marylebone, now running to Kidderminster instead of the 19.15, would be a silver set although this has not been confirmed.

Coventry. On 11th April a signal fault south of Birmingham International caused delays during the morning. 390151 with the 09.23 Euston-Wolverhampton left five minutes late and arrived at New Street 45 minutes down. A swift turnround meant it called at Coventry only five minutes late on the return working.

West Midlands. On 15th April 66613 passed Walsall at 13.38 with 6Z65 the 10.41 Earles sidings-Walsall Midland yard which has replaced the former Tunstead train. The usual crop of engineering works continued to cause diversions and bus replacements over the period under review. Particularly affected on 20th and 21st April was the New Street-Walsall/Rugeley line with bus replacement for the whole weekend. On 22nd 66113 passed through

221104+221115 (Bombardier branded) pass the site of Holywell Junction station on the 13.58 Holyhead-Euston on Good Friday, 29th March. Once a four-track section down the North Wales coast, the two outer lines are now only loops, which see very little use nowadays. The line trailing in on the left was a connection from the line from Holywell and the sidings for Courtaulds.

John Cashen

Walsall at 13.23 on 4G34 the 13.10MO Bescot-Birch Coppice and 6Z65 passed at 13.54 hauled by 70015.

North West-WCML North Crewe. On 28th March 390128 was noted working a 14.44 Preston-Euston relief while the 13.33 Euston-Preston relief was 390043. On 1st April 48151 arrived at 17.57 with the Shrewsbury-Crewe leg of a return charter to Bridlington which went forward worked by 47760+47854. Due to the failure of 4M44 the 08.47 Mossend-DIRFT at Balshaw Lane, the trapped 13.20 relief from Glasgow to Euston arrived at 19.08 and the 13.40 Glasgow-Euston arrived at 19.27 behind 57308 after running via Manchester, going forward 188 minutes late under its own power having been overtaken by the 14.40 which passed at 19.25 and the 15.40 which passed at 19.31.

On 3rd April 37425 was stabled at platform 8 at 13.15 blocking in 57302. Next day 37405 arrived from Barrow Hill at 12.59 hauling 57008 and 37603. 66847 left at 15.58 with 6S96 the 12.42 Sinfin-Grangemouth and two minutes later 66850 passed with 6M37 the 09.35 Baglan Bay-Chirk, quickly followed by 90026 arriving from Warrington with 325012 for the ETD. Unusually 6H50 the 12.59 Willesden-Tunstead hauled by 66136 ran into the station for relief at 16.44, leaving at 16.53 just as 6M48 the 10.48

Southampton Eastern Docks-Halewood, also normally routed via the independent lines passed through.

On 5th April 31106 arrived at 12.30 hauling D9009 en route from Barrow Hill; the Cl.31 was being used to train DBS drivers, despite it having been suggested that they were to be retired from test train duties once NR commissioned its DVTs, and no-one had been available to conduct the driver on the Cl.55 from Derby. On the same day 57313+57316 arrived at 14.32 with the Statesman stock from Carnforth to stable in the down refuge for a charter the following day from Hereford to Carlisle via Cannock.

On 13th April 60092 passed at 14.47 on a Ratcliffe-Arpley at 14.47 and 56105 at 18.57 with a Baglan Bay-Chirk timber train. Next day 57314+57601 left at 14.42 with 5Z41 the 12.32 Coventry yard-Carnforth and 57313+57316 passed at 14.49 with 5Z65 the 12.08 Acton Lane-Carnforth, while 350118+350111+350104 left at 15.03 with a 12-car 110mph test for Euston; all three sets now had test equipment unlike when seen last month, but there did not appear to be any cameras to record the behaviour of the pantographs.

On 19th April 66711 passed at 20.16 with the 16.03 Doncaster Decoy-Ellesmere Port biomass empties, rather oddly still using the 4F22 reporting number applicable from Ironbridge.

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It is now customary to advise passengers joining Virgin services to check with platform staff where their reservations are. This would presumably have been pointless on 21st April when the 14.09 Voyager service to Glasgow rolled in, not only in reverse, but also formed by 390013. On the same day the “Northern Belle” ECS arrived at 13.52 worked by 47790+47501, and at 14.04 57316+57601 arrived with the Statesman ECS, also largely in Pullman livery, returning from Holyhead to Carnforth.

Liverpool. The Fiddlers Ferry PS-Liverpool Bulk Terminal (LBT) coal trains have been worked by 60015/45/63/92 from 25th February until 18th April with all of them also making trips to Ratcliffe PS. 60091 then replaced 60063 on 19th. On 29th March 60019 was seen working 6E14 the 16.10FO Seaforth to Tinsley.

Timings have appeared for the LBT-Ironbridge biomass workings, shown to run from 11th March, but it hadn’t materialised by 20th April.

It is not expected that all these paths will operate on a daily basis.

Departures from the Liverpool area are at Weekdays 00R24MX, 04.56, 07.49, 14.55 Saturdays 00.26, 04.40, 08.00, 14.55, 19w00 Sundays 11W03 or 11R22, 13T25, 15.00

Arrival times in Liverpool are at Weekdays 02T33MX or 02.33MX or 02.51MX, 05T25, 06R15MO, 12.56 or 12T56, 16t14MWFO, 16t28TuThO, 20.11FO, 21t55FX, 22T29 or 22.37FX

Saturdays 02R22, 04.52, 05T50, 12.57, 17.19, 18.14, 19.54, 22.29 / 22T35 Sundays 19.15, 21.37 R via Runcorn - all other workings via Huyton and Warrington Bank Quay except T from Tuebrook sidings - t to Tuebrook sidings W from Warrington Bank Quay sidings w to Warrington Bank Quay sidings

Over the Easter weekend Birmingham trains ran at xx.34 and xx.20 from Wolverhampton, with the units lying over in Lime Street for about 50 minutes, requiring only four diagrams instead of the usual eight. On Easter Sunday there were only three diagrams instead of four with services leaving at xx.35 each hour and returning from Stafford at 10.19, 11.17, 12.00 and then on the hour. On 3rd April the 15.36 from New Street was turned round at Runcorn returning at 17.34, presumably to cover for the 17.04 from Lime Street, whilst on 13th it was noted that the 19.04 and 20.34 were shown as cancelled. On 19th promotional-liveried 350110 worked the diagram which includes the 10.04 from Lime Street and the one including the 07.04 next day. The usual VSOE charter ran on ‘Grand National’ day, 6th April, from London Victoria to Runcorn, returning from Lime Street at 18.28 behind 67005 with 67006 at the rear.

However East Midland’s Cl.222 substitutions from Nottingham did not occur, presumably as it was felt unnecessary now most Saturday services are booked for pairs of Cl.158s.

DBS 60054 pauses at Leicester on 6th April for a driver change with 6E38 Colnbrook to Lindsey empty oil tanks.

Keith Sykes In the background is SK Rail Tamper DR 73940 awaiting its next duty.

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On 7th April Liverpool had its first through Edinburgh workings for over 10 years when, due to engineering works, TransPennine services were amended during the morning and afternoon.

Instead of alternate trains to Middlesbrough or Scarborough, the 08.22 went to Selby (starting at 08.32 from South Parkway because of overrunning engineering works somewhere between there and Lime Street), the 09.22, 11.22, 12.22 and 13.22 went to Newcastle in lieu of trains from Manchester Airport, those going to Middlesbrough or Scarborough and the 10.22 went to Edinburgh via the ECML. Inward trains did likewise with arrivals at 11.00 from York, 12.58 from Scarborough, 13.58 from Middlesbrough, 14.57 and 15.58 from Newcastle and 16.58 from Edinburgh. At other weekends from 30th March some Manchester AirportNewcastle services ran through to Edinburgh due to work in Scotland.

Warrington. 66850 continued to power most Carlisle-Chirk timber trains, although on 26th March the northbound 6C37 ran at 09.13 from Chirk, passing here at 13.40 with 56105 in charge, which returned with the following day’s 6J37 the 12.44 from Carlisle. The same locomotive worked south on 6J37 on 20th April.

The Tyne Dock-Ironbridge biomass workings did not run after 26th March and it is believed the material was sold to Drax, due to ongoing problems at the power station, although on 13th a train of empties was seen going to Ellesmere Port with 66746 (see Ellesmere Port). On 19th 66711 was on a similar working from Doncaster, passing at 21.11.

6S94 the 03.05WO Dollands Moor-Irvine china clay train was worked by 92011 on 27th February, 92031 on 4th March running as a Wembley- Carlisle and seen at 16.25 and 92019 on 10th, whilst 4M63 the 10.19FO MossendHams Hall had 92037 in charge on 5th and 12th April and 92019 on 19th.

The gypsum workings were seen in the hands of 66718 on 27th March, 66727 on 4th, 8th, 10th and 11th April, 66709 on 15th-17th and 66746 on 22nd. The initial incoming working started at Peterborough on 2nd, at Hotchley Hill on 5th and at Doncaster on 15th and 22nd. It has also been leaving Newbiggin at 04.22 after its return from Fiddlers Ferry, whilst on 3rd 4C77 the outward working was cancelled, apparently at the request of the customer. Since 8th/9th the timings have changed and 4F77 the inward working from Newbiggin has been booked to leave there at 04.22 and through here at 08.56 to Northwich for reversal, whilst 4C77 has been leaving Fiddlers Ferry at 15.35 or 16.20 and following its run to Ellesmere Port to reverse, has been booked to pass here northbound at 18.45.

On 1st April 70002+70016+70010+66605+66529 were seen at 12.50 running as an 07.30 CarlisleBasford Hall.

60092 powered 6F50 the 10.00WO Arpley-Wigan WRD (Springs Branch TMD to most members!) and 6F51 the 11.34 return on 3rd. Blue pair 57313 and 57316 worked 1Z68 the 05.10 Hereford-Carlisle and return on 6th, being seen northbound at 09.07 and then on 13th they appeared again at 08.55 working 1Z62 the 05.38 Milton Keynes-Carlisle.

Also on 6th Deltic D9009 Alycidon was seen at 06.35 on 1Z55 the 06.03 Crewe-Edinburgh “The Eidyn Burgh Scot” via Manchester Victoria.

87002 headed south at 14.50 behind 47245 on 11th on a Carlisle-Willesden locomotive move.

On 16th 6C53 the 06.30MX Crewe-Sellafield was seen behind 57003+57007+37601+37612, whilst 6K73 the 17.18FX southbound working was seen behind 37194+37218+37688 the following evening.

Oakleigh Sidings (Northwich).

The workings to/from Tunstead were seen being worked by 60099 until 29th March and then by 60011/65 up to 21st April.

Acton Bridge. 66161+66171+66230+66098 passed at 17.53 on 29th March en route from Bescot to Carlisle, whilst on 12th April 6F60 the Arpley-Runcorn Folly Lane working passed here at 07.40. The southbound sleepers were heavily delayed on 19th April when 66075+90029 were seen at 07.13 with 5M11 from Preston, following the failure of 90029 at Penrith on the Glasgow train, booked to pass at 03.53, and four minutes later 90035 followed with 1M16 from Inverness running 194 minutes late. Both were sent via Northampton to avoid delaying Virgin and London Midland services booked to run via Weedon. The highland train eventually arrived at Euston 135 minutes late.

Ellesmere Port. 66746 was seen passing here at 13.45 on 13th April with an empty biomass working from Ironbridge PS, which returned the following day as 6G64 being seen here at 08.55 (see Warrington). It is believed that 66744 worked out of here on 17th and on 20th 66711 was seen at 08.40 on 6G64. 66001 newly in DB livery worked the Middleton Towers sand workings from here on 16th and 18th instead of FHH and they now appear to be centred on Arpley rather than Basford Hall.

Wigan NW. On 21st April 70015+66618+ 66513+66602+66517 passed at 16.55 on a Carlisle-Basford Hall light working.

Preston Area. 48151 was seen working 5Z49 Carnforth-Crewe with its support coach at Lostock Hall Junction at 07.55 on 30th March in readiness for working the Crewe-ChesterShrewsbury section of the “Welsh Borders Steam Special” from Bridlington. On 11th 86101 passed junction. 28 (Leyland) of the M6 379

motorway at 15.25 on a low loader en route from Carlisle to Willesden. 60054 worked 6E32 the 08.55 Preston Docks-Lindsey on 15th and on the following day 45699 Galatea with four coaches went north at 16.03 on a Carnforth-Carnforth via Hellifield loaded test run. It was expected to work another one over the weekend 20th-22nd, but both were cancelled. 97304 with 31106 at the rear worked a Derby-Millerhill inspection train on 22nd, passing here at 12.30.

Engineering Work. On Saturday afternoon and Sunday mornings from 30th March, due to work between Preston and Carnforth, as well as in Scotland, TPE did not advertise any services north of Preston, except to Blackpool and between Oxenholme and Windermere.

Although Virgin services were modified to accommodate the Scottish work they were shown in timetables to run through. In practice, apart from the 11.20 Birmingham-Glasgow and 14.00 return on Saturdays and the 09.20 from Birmingham on Sundays, which ran via Appleby, reversing at Preston, they were replaced by buses between Preston and Oxenholme.

Advance notice has been given of a nine-day blockade between Winwick Junction and Euxton Junction from 13th to 21st July while various junction speeds are raised, with Wigan served by buses and a Birmingham- Preston Voyager shuttle via Manchester.

Manchester Area.

4M01 the 01.48MX Felixstowe-Trafford Park and 4L18 the 12.25SX return were worked by 66714 from 26th-29th March, 66721 on 2nd-8th April, 66702 on 9th-20th and 66733 on 22nd. 66714 was seen at Piccadilly on 29th March at 12.05 returning light to Peterborough whilst 66721 made the reverse journey on 2nd April, again seen at Piccadilly, at 09.45. 66702 went light to Ironbridge on 20th at approximately 12.30 and 66733 did likewise from Hams Hall on 22nd.

60065 was in charge of 6J46 the 10.30 Peak Forest-Salford Hope Street on 28th March and on 3rd and 4th April, whilst 60011 performed this duty on 8th, 11th, 16th and 18th. 60011 worked 6J47 from Peak Forest on 7th April and 60065 was seen at Salford on 21st on the same working.

Stockport. The DIRFT-Mossend/Coatbridge intermodals were diverted through here during the Easter weekend. On 1st April 66428 was seen here at 08.20 working 4M30 the 19.54 exGrangemouth.

Wilmslow. 66432 passed through at 06.25 on 15th April with a diverted 4M30 the 19.54 Grangemouth-DIRFT and 66422 did likewise on 22nd.

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Midland Main Line Weather Related Items. The continuation of the cold weather from 25th to 27th March caused more problems with icicles forming under overbridges and in tunnels on the route, this being especially so where OLE equipment was involved such as in the tunnels at Ampthill and further north at Corby they were reported as being 6-7ft in length.

St. Pancras. A special to the Wensleydale Railway departed at 07.40 on 20th April, using an HST set with power cars 43050+43073.

Carlton Road Junction. Just after midday on 5th April when 6M09 the 11.40 Ferme ParkWellingborough had crossed from the down Tottenham line to the down slow line a track circuit failure locked the junction and prevented routes being set up in either direction to/from the Thameslink route.

6M53 the 10.54 Chelmsford-Mountsorrel was then used to try to clear the route, watched by S&T and PW staff, but it took some time to establish the cause.

Thameslink services from the south were turned back at either St. Pancras, Farringdon or Blackfriars, with those from the north at West Hampstead. A temporary repair was made by 13.30 which allowed services to resume.

Cricklewood. On 15th April 57301 and 57306 were noted in the sidings.

Elstree. At 18.40 on 20th April after a tripping of the OLE on the down slow line it was reported that the wires were on the ground so all lines was isolated to await an inspection, which revealed 30-40 metres of wire down between the down slow and up fast lines. The down fast line was re-opened at line speed at 19.50, with the up fast and slow lines at caution. A number of trains were trapped by the incident and some EMT services were turned at Bedford or further north, with FCC running from the north to either Luton or West Hampstead. Repairs took place overnight and normal working resumed on 21st.

Bedford. The Earles siding-West Thurrock cement trains (6L45 and 6L87) continue to be worked by a mixture of power, mainly Cl.66/6 and Cl.70. Those noted recently have included 66613/6/9 and 70005/13. 47786+57315 were noted passing at 21.00 on 31st March with 5Z69 the 19.25 Derby-Southall.

Kettering. 6V70 the 21.09 Lindsey-Colnbrook aviation fuel train was noted here on 29th March, diverted due to the Reading blockade.

Two of the remaining Cl.423 (4-VOP) units were noted behind 66705 at 13.50 on 26th March en route from Tonbridge to Barrow Hill.

Thanks to John Cashen, Dave Douglas, Alan Donaldson and Alan Turton

SCOTTISH Glasgow South Electrics.

During the commissioning of the new signalling in the former Cathcart PSB area, buses replaced trains from Saturday 30th March until approximately midday on Tuesday 2nd April. Driver training took place on the Tuesday morning, trains running without passengers to allow drivers to familiarise themselves with the new signalling.

Edinburgh. From 30th March engineering work at Midcalder from 11.00 on Saturday until around midday on Sunday blocked the lines to Carstairs and West Calder. Some Virgin services ran from Carstairs to Edinburgh via Falkirk Grahamston, while the 10.52 to Birmingham was replaced by a 10.12 departure, formed by a Cl.390 sent specially from Polmadie.

In order to maintain a service to and from Manchester Airport some TPE services were extended from Newcastle to and from Edinburgh and in one case Glasgow. On 20th April 185140 worked the 11.40 from Edinburgh, forming the 13.15 from Newcastle. The 12.05 from Manchester Airport was worked by 185141, returning at 17.04 from Edinburgh; it should be noted the non-stop runs shown in the NRT for some of the trains between Edinburgh and Chester-le-Street were erroneous!

66618 and 66597 were stabled at platform 3 at 10.00 and 67021 and 90018 were in the adjacent holding siding.

West Lothian & Fife. On 19th April a set of WCR coaches was noted standing on the connection to the SRPS line at Bo’ness Junction at 09.10, with 47786 on one end and 47804+47237 on the other.

On 21st SRPS Railtours ran two “Forth Circle” tours using 60009 Union of South Africa. The morning circuit ran as the 09.50 Linlithgow to Linlithgow and the afternoon one as the 15.20 Dalmeny to Inverkeithing, both anti-clockwise.

37685 stood at Bo’ness Junction during the day and then followed the second train to Inverkeithing yard to return the ECS to Bo’ness, making heavy weather of its nine-coach train when seen at Linlithgow at 20.30. The A4 ran direct from Inverkeithing to its base at Thornton Junction with its support coach.

Stirling. 66847 was in a siding at the south end of the station at 18.15 on 21st April.

Passenger Numbers. ScotRail has claimed a new record by carrying 83.3 million passengers in the year ended 31st March 2013, an increase of 2.6% on the previous year. An increase of one third has been achieved since First Group took over the franchise nine years ago. However it was admitted that they were unable to explain some of the individual increases, so it is possible that there is a substantial amount of guesswork involved.

With the breakwaters of Ayr harbour in the background, 380009 passes a deserted Falkland Junction yard with the 10.13 Ayr-Glasgow Central on 18th April. Whilst the line into Ayr harbour is still operational it is understood that Mike Robinson recent coal shipments have been infrequent.

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EASTERN & NORTH EASTERN ECML. Services were revised over the Easter holiday weekend with many of the services on Good Friday (29th March) and on Bank Holiday Monday (1st April) between London and Newcastle extended to operate between London and Edinburgh. To provide the additional train sets for these altered services, the service between London and Leeds was reduced, with most of the trains which call at Peterborough being cancelled. This meant that passengers travelling between the Eastern Counties/ Peterborough and West Yorkshire had an additional change at Doncaster. This was the same service which operated around Christmas/ New Year. However, things did not run totally smoothly as power supply problems in the Newark area early on 30th saw delays to many trains. These included three of the diverted ScotRail sleeper trains. Information showed that 1S25 Euston-Inverness, hauled by 90021, was not delayed but that 1S26 Euston-Glasgow, with 90036, was, being reported 100 minutes late at York. The southbound trains were noted at York at 03.30 and 04.45, but were then both heavily delayed, being noted approaching Peterborough only a few minutes apart just after 08.00, both with diesel assistance.

Somehow, 1M16 Inverness-Euston had managed to get in front of 1M11 GlasgowEuston, being noted at 08.02 with 66031+90024,

followed by 60079+90020 on 1M11 at 08.10. The diesel locomotives were detached at Peterborough. Later that morning, 67027 worked south on a failed Cl.91/Mk.4 set en route to Bounds Green depot, noted at Grantham at 09.50.

A few days later, on 3rd April, there were further power supply problems in the Newark area, causing delays to all trains through the area. The Ed. Rep. and his family just happened to be going to Scotland that day for a short break. They joined the 09.08 Kings Cross-York at Peterborough, leaving on time at 09.59. The train was delayed by an hour through the Grantham area, but then ran at line speed to Doncaster, but omitting the Newark stop. The train was terminated at Doncaster to pick up its return working from there, and passengers had to join the following 09.30 from Kings Cross forward to York. Whilst on the way to York, the conductor advised passengers for north of Edinburgh, including us, to change at York, as the following 10.00 Kings Cross- Aberdeen was right behind, and would overtake the 09.30 service before Edinburgh. They were going to change at York anyway, but in fact the Aberdeen service was over 30 minutes behind and never got near the earlier train! They eventually reached their destination over an hour late.

Semaphore signals still reign supreme at Barnetby. On 6th April 66077 Benjamin Gimbert GC passes Barnetby Keith Sykes East signal box with an Immingham to Scunthorpe coal train.

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On 5th April, there were OHL problems in the New Barnet area and some trains were diverted via Hertford North.

In April, engineering work on the route moved to the Doncaster-Leeds line, and has involved relaying work in the Wakefield area on Sundays. As a result, services have been diverted to run via the Hambleton south-to-west curve and arrive in Leeds from the east. All these trains have to be formed of HST sets and, as a result, the Sunday services to/from Hull and Lincoln have been cancelled.

On 2nd April, Mk.4 set BN27 was taken north to Wabtec, Doncaster for overhaul and repainting, thus bringing to an end the era of train sets in the dark blue ex-GNER livery, although spare vehicles 12200 and 82224 have yet to be done. Next day, repainted Mk.4 set BN30 returned to Bounds Green and was in traffic within a few days. Cl.91 locomotives continue to receive attention at Wabtec, but recent examples have not been repainted and six locomotives (91113/4/8/9/21/4) remain in blue livery.

Ferme Park. 59206 was noted in the yard at 08.50 on 9th April, having worked an aggregates train from Dagenham Dock.

Hitchin. 6L37 09.58 Hoo Junction-Whitemoor is a regular working for a FLHH locomotive, passing at about 13.15. This month, 66510 and 66555 have had almost total monopoly on this train, but on 2nd April, 66510 had 66539 dead in train, and on 15th, 66510 and 66555 double-headed, the return working having 66555+66615. Next day, 66615 returned north, this time with DBS 66156.

Peterborough. Closure of the WCML in Lancashire over Easter and on Sundays nights since then, has meant that the ScotRail sleeper services are running from/to Euston via Wembley yard, where they reverse, and the North London line to reach the ECML. These diversions were scheduled to continue every Sunday until the night of 16th/17th June. The first night was when there were delays in the Newark area (see ECML). On 7th/8th April, locomotives used were 90018 on 1S25, 90021 on 1S26, 90020 on 1M11 and 90029 on 1M16. On 14th, 90018 was on 1S25 but no reports have been received of the other locomotives that night. Then on 21st/22nd, 90029 was 1S25, 90020 on 1S26, 90035 on 1M11 and 90018 on 1M16. On 30th March, there were two diverted mail trains. The northbound working was affected by the OHL problems at Newark, and departed from here with 60079 assisting 90039 and EMUs 325014/11/03. Later in the morning, 90029 came south on the Shieldmuir-Wembley train, similarly formed of three Cl.325s.

There have been a number of charter trains and associated stock moves in recent weeks. On 9th April, 67005+67006 worked the VSOE British

Pullman ECS through here at 16.02, on its way to Nottingham to work a charter train to London. On 12th, 47826+47854 worked ECS from Carnforth to Norwich, passing at about 15.00. This stock was used on a NENTA charter on 13th from Norwich to Cardiff. The stock returned through here on 15th, with 47580 between 47826 and 47854, all on the front of the train, passing at 09.54. On 13th, 92039 worked a UK Railtours charter train from Finsbury Park to Immingham and Cleethorpes, picking up at 09.46 and dropping off at 20.57. Also that day, 60163 Tornado worked a Steam Dreams “The Cathedrals Express” from Kings Cross to York, going north soon after 10.00 and returning south at 20.00. Next day, 34067 Tangmere worked the RTC “The Peak Forester” from Kings Cross to Matlock and Rowsley, calling at 11.30 to pick up and at 19.54 to set down. On 20th, we saw the new order from West Coast Railways, when their “Windsor Charter” from Skegness to Windsor was worked by 57314+ 57313, passing at 09.13 going south, returning at 19.29 with 57313 now providing the power.

Stock moves have included 465917 going south behind a Cl.66/7 at 22.57 on 12th April.

However, the return working next day was cancelled due to a problem with one of the barrier coaches in Kent. There has been an increase in DRS Cl.47 movements between Crewe Gresty Road and Norwich in April, due to a shortage of DMUs at Norwich and the use of two of these locomotives on a short Mk.3 set on some trains between Norwich and Great Yarmouth/Lowestoft. Locomotives seen include 47818 going east at 16.57 on 1st, 47802 west at 11.42 on 3rd, 47805 east from Carlisle at 16.55 on 9th, 47810/28 east at 14.22 on 18th, 47802/ 10/8 west at about 14.00 on 22nd and 47818 west at 14.05 on 23rd. 156412 worked east from Wolverton to Norwich at 15.30 on 22nd after overhaul.

Engineering work on the line to Ely closed this route all day on 6th/7th, 13th/14th and 20th/ 21st April. On the first two weekends, the railway was closed whilst the road surface was relaid at Kings Dyke level crossing, where the main A605 road crosses the railway between here and Whittlesey. On 20th/21st, work was being carried out at Ely, which had no trains at all on those two days. All these closures meant that a considerable number of replacement coaches ran from here to Ely, Norwich and Cambridge, with train services from Birmingham and Nottingham all terminating at Peterborough and working back. Also, freight traffic to/from East Anglia had to run via the main line to London and the GE main line to Ipswich. Other engineering work closed the line between Lincoln and Sleaford from 7th to 15th April, with a shuttle service running between here and Sleaford, and buses forward to Lincoln.

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Once again, there have been a number of test trains reported. On 2nd April, 37667+97304 and test coach 977974 passed at 12.28 on a 10.50 Derby-Cambridge. The train returned to Derby next day, passing at about 14.30. Also on 3rd, 37423 arrived at the LIP from Doncaster at about 18.00. However, its test run on 4th did not run as it was at the LIP all day. It had gone by the next morning. Also on 3rd, 31190 worked light from Doncaster to Willesden, passing at 10.30. On 8th, 43014/62 worked the NMT south at about 18.00, returning north at 21.35. They returned on 15th, going south at 13.19, and returning north at 21.58. The longer time interval was due to the train having made a return trip from Kings Cross to Cambridge, where it was reported at 16.30. On 18th, 37409 made a short visit (from 14.25 to 15.00) whilst working a Newcastle to Derby test train.

Finally, on 22nd, 37667 passed at 11.25 on a Derby-Old Oak Common test train.

Following the blocking of its normal route through Stainforth, the Scunthorpe-Dollands Moor steel train and return empties have now been rerouted. The loaded train runs east from Scunthorpe to Immingham, where the locomotive runs round, before returning west to reach the ECML at Newark via Barnetby and Lincoln. The empties take the same route in reverse. Motive power is now a DBS Cl.66.

Another more recent change has seen DBS take over the TThO sand train from Middleton Towers to Ellesmere Port from FLHH from 15th April. The empties now run as 6L85 the 01.08 Warrington Arpley-Middleton Towers, passing at 05.50, and the loaded train is now 6M88 the 14.35 Middleton Towers-Ellesmere Port, due at 17.15. Prior to the change, 66522 worked the service on 26th March. 66001 worked the revised service during its first week. The SuO Peterborough-Langley Jct. SDT train and return empties continue to run with two locomotives in top and tail mode. Pairs noted have been 66041+66076 on 31st March, 66001+66158 on 7th April and 66030+66118 on 21st.

FLHH 66599 worked 4L87 the 08.47 LeedsFelixstowe on 26th March, whilst next day, it worked 4E83 the 00.27 the FelixstoweDoncaster and 4L85 12.28 return and then 4E64 the 18.19 Felixstowe-Wilton. On 30th, 66733 failed at Stamford at about 10.00 on 6L76 the 07.05 Stud Farm-Whitemoor ballast train, causing delays to the Birmingham-Stansted service. 66085 was sent from Peterborough to assist but it was 12.50 before the train was on the move. On 2nd April, 66955 failed before working 4L87 the 04.28 Scunthorpe-Felixstowe and was assisted by 66570. It was due to pass here at 09.10 but was reported at Lincoln at 11.45, running about five hours late. That afternoon, another double-header appeared with 66538/68 working 4E24 the 10.39 Thamesport384

Leeds. On 4th, 66745 arrived on 4M21 the 03.23 Felixstowe-Hams Hall and went into the yard, where 66739 was attached in front to work to Hams Hall, where 66728 had failed on 4L02 the 03.55 Hams Hall-Felixstowe. On 6th, 66567/71 worked 4E22 the 06.14 Felixstowe-Leeds, the same train being worked by 66537/92 on 10th and by FLHH 66508 on 13th. On 18th, 66846 worked 6L76, whilst next day, the same train had 66848+66716.

There have been few Cl.60s this month; 60099 worked 6L84/6E04 the 21.43 DoncasterWhitemoor and 01.34 return on 10th/11th April.

Then 60035 worked 6L15/6M15 the 17.52 TotonWhitemoor and 22.34 return on 19th, with 60049 working these trains on 23rd. The most unexpected visitor was 56312 at 17.07 on 21st, a Sunday, on empty scrap metal wagons from Chaddesden to Willesden.

Lincoln. Route learning has been in progress for diversions during the summer. This has involved Cl.67 locomotives working from Peterborough, 67019 being the most frequent visitor. Freightliner has also been involved, with Cl.66/5s working through on LeedsNewark route learning trips. On 10th April, 70008 appeared on this working, this apparently being the first visit by a member of the class, unless anyone knows otherwise! It reappeared next day.

Boston. The steel trains continue to run three or four times a week. 47727 and 47739 have been the most common locomotives, but 56087 was used on 27th March and 9th April, whilst on 8th, 47739/49 double-headed the train.

Kirton Lime Sidings.

The Manchester Piccadilly-Cleethorpes Trans Pennine Express service was badly affected by the landslip at Hatfield colliery, as the Cl.185 DMUs were barred from the diversionary route between Doncaster and Barnetby via Gainsborough Central and Brigg. However on 2nd April, 185147 was observed at 13.50 passing Kirton lime sidings en route to Gainsborough with the destination blind reading “not in service�, suggesting perhaps that it was running for route learning or gauging purposes.

Sheffield. On 28th March, the Earles sidingsDrax empty powder tanks service was hauled by 66613 and by 70004 on 5th April.

On 10th April, the 16.55 Manchester AirportDoncaster (Cleethorpes) before the Hatfield landslip arrived on time formed by two Cl.170 units. They were split and the rear unit left behind. The service has been retimed from the previous departure at 18.24 to 18.13 which conflicted with the TV screens also showing the scheduled 18.13 Leeds service. The Doncaster service left first at 18.16 followed by the Leeds at 18.19.

Traffic Flows. Small operator DCR gave up its Tyne Dock/Stockton-Cardiff Tidal scrap contract

On 6th April DBS 60059 Swinden Dalesman heads a convoy of four Cl.66s (66014/93, 66109/99) through Lincoln station en route from Immingham to Doncaster. This train was diverted via Lincoln because of the long term closure of the Scunthorpe route at Hatfield & Stainforth due to a major landslip.

Keith Sykes

at the end of March and it remains to be seen whether another operator will take this up. The DCR blended coal contract mentioned last month has continued with Cl.56 haulage though the timings have changed. Operations have mainly been concentrated between Kellingley and Thoresby using York Holgate as a staging point and the working to Butterwell now appears to be TThO. Mail traffic was expected to return to the ECML on 9th April when the service between Low Fell and Willesden resumed with one nightly train in each direction. As far as is known the trains will be made up of up to three Cl.325s hauled by a Cl.90. The southbound train will leave Low Fell at 21.47(FX) and running non-stop to Willesden arriving at 01.52.

Details of northbound arrangements are not yet known known. Up to press day there have not yet been any reports of this train!

Diversions. Some traffic was diverted from the West Coast on 30th/31st March. This was mainly the Caledonian sleepers and intermodals. Most interesting on 30th were two locomotive-hauled postals. Firstly was newly repainted DBS red 90029 hauling three Cl.325s seen passing Heaton at 09.05 on a ShieldmuirWillesden trip, then 90039 was noted departing Newcastle at 12.58 with a northbound working with 325003+325011+325014.

York. A DRS-operated civil engineers’ train passed through on the avoiding line at 12.00 on 13th April, running as 6Z66 Darlington to Doncaster, headed by 66305+66434 and tailed by 20304/6. The Cl.20s quickly returned and were based here for a few days afterwards and found useful employment.

The 13th April provided another ‘treat’ when 60163 Tornado arrived from Kings Cross on time at 13.07 with the “Cathedrals Express”.

This train was originally intended to run on to Durham, but this leg had unfortunately had to be cancelled due to engineering operations near Doncaster.

Thirsk. Deltic D9009 passed here at 09.21 on 6th April with 1Z55 the Crewe-Edinburgh charter. Next day Black Five 44871 with two support coaches and sister engine 45407 on the rear passed at 10.37, running from Grosmont to Shrewsbury.

Lindsey-Jarrow oil traffic has continued at the rate of generally 4/5 trains per week and noteworthy was DBS red 60019 seen for the first time in many months, passing on the 14.20 empties from Jarrow on 9th June.

Northallerton. A Doncaster-Tyne yard civil engineers’ train passed at 17.03 on 16th April surprisingly hauled by 60049.

Redmire. “The Wensleydale Rambler”, a charter from St. Pancras ran on 20th April using an East Midlands HST set and 43050/73.

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Darlington. The Oxwellmains-Hunslet cement train ran on 19th April passing at 11.36 with 66618 in charge.

Plawsworth. Less than an hour’s observation at this spot four miles north of Durham produced four coal trains on 16th April.

19.22 19.58 20.03 20.07

56311 66514 66103 66711

17.40 Butterwell-Thoresby 15.17 Drax PS-Hunterston empties 09.56 Greenburn-West Burton PS 19.08 Tyne Dock-Wilton PS.

Newcastle. 66739 The Bluebell Railway still in pristine condition after its exploits to the Bluebell Line was back to mundane duties on 17th April when it passed through here at 13.52 with 6H80 the North Blyth-Drax loaded coal running via the Durham coast line. This locomotive then reappeared two days later at 10.30 with the Kellingley-Potland Burn empty KEA wagons.

Morpeth. Royal Mail EMU 325001 passed here at 17.14 on 8th April on a refresher run from Shieldmuir to Low Fell prior to the restoration of services.

Hexham. The use of DRS locomotives on civil engineering and PW trains has greatly increased the number of light locomotive and convoy movements between Carlisle and points on the ECML. A Doncaster-Carlisle convoy passed at 13.55 on 9th April consisting of 66430, 66303 and 20308. A further working on 15th saw 66434 leading 66305/2 and 20303/9 on a

similar trip from Doncaster going through at 16.45.

66735 passed at 12.50 on 17th April with 6Z58 Hardendale-Lackenby loaded lime hoppers.

The Seaton-Sellafield flask train did not run on 5th April but resumed on 12th with 57003/07.

On 19th April 37409+37611 did the eastbound journey with two flasks, but returned light as there was no return traffic.

The Wansbeck Rail Tour. This steam-hauled rail tour ran from Newcastle on 30th March hauled by K4 2-6-0 61994 The Great Marquess with K1 2-6-0 62005 on the rear. The tour was operated by The Railway Touring Co with an 11coach Mk.1 train of WCR stock; both engines coped well. 47760 was used for ECS duties before and after the rail tour and as it was not required on the tour, it spent the day at Heaton depot.

The highlights of the trip were advertised as a stop at Whitby and a trip down the Boulby branch, but sadly neither of these were achieved. Fortunately all passengers were aware of this before departure. Apparently NR declined access to Whitby (for “operational reasons”) and it was decided on Saltburn instead as an ‘attractive’ alternative. As well as this, access to Boulby had been denied by Cleveland Potash. However it was established that the refusal was due to some temporary trackwork in the works area which was considered unsuitable for coaches by NR.

Instead of being on its usual west coast route 4M48 Stobart Rail's Mossend-DIRFT 'Tesco Express' CO2 saver is seen at 14.52 on 31st March with DRS 66431+66426 passing through Manors and approaching Newcastle John Turnbull Central station on the ECML.

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On 16th April 66541 passes Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park towards Channelsea curve, Stratford on 4L41 the Bill Turvill 09.03 Bristol FLT to Felixstowe.

The tour started from Newcastle Central at 08.50 with 61994 leading northbound on the ECML to Morpeth and on to the Blyth and Tyne line via Hepscott to Newsham. Reversal took place here and at Marcheys House before the train went forward towards North Blyth as far as Freemans crossing. Unexpectedly, local permission had been given for the train to continue the short distance from here into North Blyth past Battleship Wharf, a loading point for local opencast coal and for coal arriving from overseas and then on to the approach to the Alcan terminal. Here reversal took the train back to Newsham, continuing on the B&T line running parallel to the Tyne & Wear Metro line from Northumberland Park to join the ECML at Benton North, then running via Newcastle Central, King Edward Bridge and past Tyne Yard on the through freight line and then main line to Ferryhill for a water stop.

Both engines were successfully watered from a road tanker next to a goods siding on the east side of the line. The train then took the Sedgefield line through Stockton and Thornaby and made a brief stop at Middlesbrough before continuing through Redcar and Saltburn West Junction to Crag Hall signal box, a few miles short of Boulby and the limit of authority. The train then retraced its steps back to Grangetown for the final reversal to reach Saltburn station on the much rationalised trackwork. Saltburn,

a terminal station has only two, albeit long platforms but only one was in use. The rail tour had to wait for the half-hourly Northern Pacer DMU to arrive and depart before being allowed to enter the platform. The rail tour passengers were offloaded quickly as the stock had to be removed to a siding to enable it to be watered and for the next DMU to arrive and depart! The rail tour passengers then had 45 minutes to enjoy the delights of Saltburn in the dark and, fortunately, there were a couple of pubs, a cafĂŠ, a few fish and chip shops and a supermarket for amusement!

Another DMU was allowed to arrive and depart before the rail tour was eventually backed into the available platform. The train then departed about 20 minutes after the scheduled time of 18.44 with 61994 again leading.

At Middlesbrough 62005 was detached to enable it to run on to the NYMR. 61994 took the train back to Newcastle unassisted, running via Darlington and Durham and arriving only a few minutes late.

47760 then took 61994 and the coaching stock to York straight away.

ANGLIA Norwich. Standing in the carriage sidings alongside the station at 16.30 on 23th April were 47805+47828 with 11100+11080+82139. Both locomotives were ticking over but there was no train crew in evidence.

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NETWORK – INFRASTRUCTURE MAJOR PROJECTS Birmingham New Street. In preparation for opening the first part of the new entrance, NR published at the end of February a plan of the new arrangements. The hoarding along the approach road to the present entrance also featured details of the arrangement expected in April. Platform 9 is now closed with 8 having been re-opened.

Over the weekend 6th/7th April, half of the new concourse was opened but only to about 200 volunteers, including those with disabilities, drafted in to test facilities such as signage and platform access. Staff also had ‘live’ training.

Public opening was on 28th April, along with closing the Smallbrook Queensway entrance and opening the Stephenson Street one.

Borders Rail Link. BAM Nuttall began excavations on 18th April in Monktonhall (to clear the new alignment) and Shawfair (to prepare the station site).

Crossrail. Contracts. The last major contract (fitting out the new tunnels with track, OLE, ventilation and drainage) was awarded in April to consortium ATC (Alstom/TSO/Costain).

Acton Yard.

The new dive-under foundations were started on 29th April.

Slough. Middlegreen Road, Trenches and Old Stockley Road bridges (the latter in Hillingdon) were lifted into place over the Easter weekend, replacing those removed last Christmas. Conversely, Horton bridge was demolished; its replacement was installed at Christmas. All four will open to the public between April and June.

Three notices were put up in April outside Slough Estates’ main office (which is due for demolition) on the corner of Leigh Road and Bath Road stating ‘apologies for any disruption to your journey while important works are carried out’, ‘Crossrail is creating a new link to central London opening 2018’ and ‘so you can travel direct to Tottenham Court Rd in just 32 minutes’.

Leigh Road bridge has re-opened, and Stoke and Wexham Roads still show slow progress (see p.177, March RO). The latter had some more coping

On 16th April 2013 one of two 107 tonne beams is lifted into position adjacent to the new Pudding Mill Lane station which is being built to replace the existing one due to the alignment of Crossrail as it joins the Great Eastern main line. This is programmed for completion in April 2014. The beam was made in Ireland by Shay Murtagh Precast, Raharney, who are also making concrete segments for part of Crossrail tunnel construction.

Bill Turvill

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stones added (almost complete by 11th April), and also some openings for viewing the trains have been created.

Stockley Flyover. Over Easter the foundations for the flyover extension were put in place, made from 24, 30m-long, reinforced concrete piles.

Evergreen 3. Bicester North. Vegetation was being cleared on 9th April, believed to be where the new link towards Oxford will be built.

HS2. Euston. When the new line reaches London it will serve the existing terminus suitably modified rather than a brand new station on the current site.

Reading. Station. Further construction detail is available (see p.316, May RO). As Easter approached contractors fixed finishing touches to the new and existing platforms such as off indicators, lights, intermediate stopping markers (dividing platforms into A and B ends) and posters.

The new footbridge was opened mid-morning on 29th March, four days early. The north side booking office is open 05.30-21.00 during the week with a later start at weekends. New gates

were also operational from that time. There were no shops available although overnight on 4th April a coffee kiosk started to appear in the centre of the bridge between platforms 11 and 12. New WH Smith branches should have opened on 15th May. On platforms 12-15, country end buildings have a waiting room and toilets (and on 12/13 a cleaners’ room too); at the London end there is another waiting room and dispatch staff accommodation. The country end buildings on platforms 8/9 and 10/11 lack toilets, but have waiting and cleaners’ rooms.

Platforms 7-11 and 16 did not open along with new 12-15 on 2nd April. Track relaying at the London end was underway, with the down main line through platform 7 still in place south of the new works. By that afternoon further track was in on the up main side as well. By 5th the new main line-side track layout was nearly in place.

A new up direction signal was installed at Tilehurst on the down relief line to allow trains to reverse there for Reading West.

Platform 6 re-opened on 7th. The connection between platform 8 and the new down main was commissioned, with a new signal on the former up through line formation. Platform 11 should open in August, when platform 10 will close for straightening. Platform 3 remains closed for another year or so.

The station offices moved on 15th April from the Portacabins in the station forecourt to their new location under the Caversham end of the footbridge.

Windsor. The individual proposing to link the two branches by tunnel (see p.178, March RO) admits that his timescales have slipped, but still hopes that he will receive NR’s blessing in May. If forthcoming he must produce a financial and investment plan. A survey claims a 92.5% positive response from locals.

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS Network Rail. Cable Theft. Attempts to prevent theft appear to be working as NR announced recently that delay minutes, theft incidents and total industry cost all show significant reductions over last year. Initiatives include targeted BTP investigations, easier to identify new cable types and legislation banning scrap dealers from paying with cash.

Stations. General. Waterloo has retained its position as Britain’s busiest station and has become 2.5% busier, according to the ORR’s 2011-12 usage estimates. Similarly, Victoria remains second busiest, and outside London, Birmingham New Street is busiest despite the ongoing major rebuild.

Sponsorship. Many Great Western stations have, or had, sponsored name signs, mainly in a band at the bottom of the sign but sometimes covering the whole sign. Those known so far are:

Bristol Parkway.

Exeter St. Davids.

The home of Friends Life (white in blue shape on right) (formerly) Home of the Met Office (blue text to right of ‘Exeter’ with logo below, ‘St. Davids’ on second line) Exeter Blue Chip holidays (blue/green St. Davids. band on pebble image) Plymouth. Discover with Plymouth University (to right) Reading.

ING Direct Reading.

University of Reading Redruth.

Bill Bannister estate agent (red/blue all over) St. Austell. Stephens Scown Solicitors (on main part next to name). The home of Stephens Scown solicitors (in lower band reminiscent of Wessex Trains pink) Taunton. Home of King’s Hall School (white name on dark blue background) Tiverton.

Home of Petroc one of the south west’s leading colleges. Train with us www.petroc.ac.uk/train (small text at bottom of sign, multicoloured vertical bands on each edge) Truro. (same as St. Austell).

Details of any others (including other TOC’s stations) are welcome.

In addition, some (but not all) signs at Camborne have FGW ‘swoosh’ branding rather than the usual dark blue/purple band.

Scotland.

Tearooms, generally popular throughout the country, are experiencing a revival on stations. During April funding was announced for tearooms at Dumbarton Central and Inverurie, and another is planned for Tain.

46 stations away from city centres now have independent refreshment facilities, many starting with Railway Heritage Trust grants.

Aigburth. Plans to remove the platform 2 canopy and waiting area and replace them with modern types were put on hold in late March after representations made to NR’s chief executive. He instructed the regional director to review options, which may or may not ultimately lead to the original outcome.

Albrighton. Two years of civic society pressure should be rewarded this summer when station restoration is completed. The station master’s house should follow suit (converted into an arts and crafts centre, museum and tourist information point), although funding must come from other sources for that. The station building was, until recently, used as an Indian restaurant.

Banbury. Chiltern Railways wants to move or cover a mural, commissioned by Railtrack in 2001 and showing the station on opening 150 years earlier, to make way for a coffee kiosk.

The civic society hopes it can be retained.

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ALL CHANGE AT READING

The fruits of the Reading station rebuild are now becoming increasingly visible and although operationally the station was closed over Easter, the two new entrances and transfer deck were opened over the Easter weekend.

The above external view looks south west from the station car park showing the new transfer Maintaining the infrastructure in deck. the Devonian hills. .

Busy scene at Brent on the GWML

The entrances themselves are light and airy, each making great use of glazing to let natural light in.

Below is the escalator bank and stairs at the western entrance, whilst at right the escalator bank at the northern entrance is seen.

All photographs

by David Goddard

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Castleford. The long disused footbridge, not needed since all trains call at the same platform, has been removed.

Coventry. The full Nuneaton line project is in danger of going over budget. As a result the new Ricoh Arena station is unlikely to open before autumn 2014.

Crewe.

Platforms 7-10 were temporarily shortened in April. Platforms 7/8 had lost their hydraulic buffers for refurbishment; platforms 9/10 will follow suit.

Derby. The £2.2m facelift project was completed in early April; the transport secretary/local MP was expected to carry out formalities in the forecourt later.

Energlyn. At a public exhibition in Churchill Park on 10th April, NR showed off plans for a new station. It will be between Aber and Llanbradach and will cost £5.2m. To limit road traffic, station car parking will be limited to 18 spaces. This will be a new station, there never having been one here before.

Exeter. NR has submitted planning applications for Marsh Barton and Newcourt stations (see p.116, February RO). As yet there is no funding though if permission is forthcoming contributions are likely from Devon county council, developer contributions and the Department for Transport.

Gatwick Airport. Platform 6 was returned to use (see p.251, April RO) late on 26th April.

Gravesend. By the time this appears in print, groundwork should have started extending the platforms and creating a third (see p.414, August 2009 RO). A full closure is already planned for 22nd December to 6th January for the major track changes. The majority of the work is C. Spencer Ltd.’s responsibility and should be complete in May 2014.

Huntingdon. Refurbishing the grade II-listed station began on 29th April. It will take night shifts until 10th June to renew the wooden panels, remove redundant fittings and add heritage-styled lighting.

Ilkeston. The secretary of state for transport has strongly hinted that this is one of the winners for a share of the new stations fund (see p.317, May RO).

Kensington (Olympia). Work started on 15th April to install ticket gates. In addition, to maintain public access across the station between Olympia Way and Russell Road, the footbridge was segregated into ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ gate line sides. Work should be complete in July.

Kings Lynn. This is the first station selected by First Capital Connect to be redecorated in an historical style. It will receive British Railways totems applied to a Victorian paint scheme.

Work began on 11th April for completion in September. The visible alterations will wait until the station is rewired.

Manchester Victoria. On 8th April physical work started on building a new £44m roof.

Later, new facilities will be built on the concourse, and the historical (listed) parts will be restored. NR, Manchester city council and Transport for Greater Manchester are paying for the work and expect it to be complete by December 2014.

Oxford. NR has appointed design consultant Aedas to come up with ideas for the station and surrounding area. A plan, expected later this year, will include the forecourt and transport interchange, Beckett Street car park, Roger Dudman Way and Botley Road bridge and link with the council’s Frideswide Square plans; the solution must receive NR, Oxfordshire county council and First Great Western’s blessing.

Peterborough. The temporary stairs to platform 3 were brought into use in late March, and within a week the old ones were demolished.

The space thus vacated has been excavated for foundations for another building. Also on platform 3, temporary lighting between the two bridges replaces the original lamp posts that were removed. Also removed was the signal post from the original signal P799 on the two-way goods line; this stood in the middle of the new platform. The new P799 remains in place and in use and is the only structure preventing the completion of the walls for the new island platform. Work has continued on the foundations for the lift tower on platform 4/5, and on the new island platform structural steelwork for the bridge pier is now in place for the extension to the ramped bridge at the north end of that platform.

Port Talbot. Design for the station upgrade (see p.40, January RO) has started, but no date has yet been set for physical work. However, NR is confident that it will be complete within two years. The steel needed will come from the nearby steelworks.

Rochester. NR has submitted a planning application for a new three-platform station (see p.179, March RO). It could be open by winter 2015.

Seer Green. Platform extension was underway on 9th April.

Stapleton Road. A new second footbridge was being installed on 24th March, replacing the ageing old one. It spans the running lines with provision to extend over the empty relief line track bed, and was in use by 14th April. The old bridge was lying nearby.

Stafford. New paving slabs were being laid on platform 6 in mid-April.

Stonehouse. A study has been undertaken into re-opening the Gloucester-Bristol line station.

Taunton. The forthcoming station rebuild will be a little more extensive than most. It will include a new entrance, bus interchange and bus gate on the south side. To the north, there 391

will be business development, glazed entrance and commercial delivery area. Some allotments will relocate to Obridge yard. Groundwork will not start before July.

Tirphil. A loop and new down platform are being built. From the end of April track panels started to arrive on site.

Worcester. Foregate Street rebuilding began on 24th April and should be complete by October.

Two 1970s canopies will be replaced and automatic doors added.

Other Structures. Bath. Devonshire and Combe Down tunnels were re-opened at a party on 6th April as part of a cycle path to Midford on the former Somerset & Dorset Railway track bed. Combe Down, Britain’s longest cycle tunnel, is illuminated throughout except late at night.

Keadby. The canal bridge closed on 29th April for major maintenance, and should re-open on 9th June. Trains were not affected as the line was closed anyway because of the Hatfield landslip.

Engineering Works. Walsall. At 22nd April a new overbridge at Moors Gorse level crossing had been lifted into position. The ‘ironwork’ at Mid-Cannock ground frame had been removed and not replaced although the uncommissioned signal immediately south of it on the down Cannock line has a subsidiary aspect. At Walsall North Junction the down fast line had been extended to join the down Cannock line with a fixed diamond crossing.

Routes. Hatfield & Stainforth. At 5th April it was expected that removing the offending spoil heap (see p.318, May RO) and reinstating the railway could take until early September. Some planned blockades, notably the Great Northern/Great Eastern ‘joint’ line, have been altered to ensure that sufficient alternative freight routes remain available. NR hoped that between 29th July and 9th September passenger trains between Doncaster and Goole could run via Knottingley, but this proved impractical so planned Selby swing bridge work is postponed.

Madeley. The Silverdale branch’s ‘out of use’ status has been extended to 30th April 2014.

Portishead. It would be interesting if the branch could re-open in 2017 (see p.318, May RO) as 18th April that year is the 150th anniversary of the original opening. North Somerset, Bristol city, South Gloucestershire and Bath & North East Somerset councils are now building the business case to re-open the line.

St. Andrews. Campaign group StARLink (St. Andrews Rail Link) has won the support of local councillors in its attempt to rebuild the link to the East Coast main line. StARLink will now present a formal report to the council; it estimates that building could be completed for £76m.

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Engineering Works. Old Street. The building incident where augers broke through the tunnel wall (see p.318, May RO) is being investigated by the RAIB. Neither the construction company nor the architect made statements to the local press.

St. Bees.

NR has asked the Marine Management Organisation for permission to carry out alterations to prevent future landslips.

Last year a slip here caused a minor derailment.

Sidings and Depots.

National.

Potter Logistics is extending sidings at Knowsley, Selby and Ely to handle 750m-long trains.

Farmland has already been bought at Selby to cater for the extension. At Ely, some points will be moved, hopefully when NR carries out its own upgrade. Greater investment will be made at Knowsley as a result of a waste transfer contract; the site will incorporate some council-owned wasteland.

Daw Mill.

The rail-served colliery near Nuneaton on the Birmingham line suffered a disastrous underground fire on 22nd February and it was announced on 7th March that production would end. It opened in 1965 and was the last working in the West Midlands.

Mossend. Partners P D Stirling Ltd. and Carnbroe Estates displayed expansion plans for the existing railhead site at this year’s Multimodal event. The scheme includes 775m of new sidings and ‘state-of-the-art facilities’ for national and international freight movements.

Wakefield Kirkgate.

The signalling & telecommunications engineer’s sidings have been relaid.

Signalling. Communications. The railway’s GSM-R network includes, by necessity, many masts across the country. The culture minister wants improved mobile phone coverage on trains, and wants NR to open its GSM-R network to public communications operators.

Part of the minister’s reasoning is that NR can install masts as ‘permitted developments’ and bypass certain planning regulations with which public operators must comply.

Falls of Cruachan. From 15th April, and taking up to eight weeks to complete, five of the Pass of Brander ‘stone’ signal posts were removed and refurbished. They were completed one at a time, and the work meant signals returned to danger.

Hest Bank. The gate box closed on 28th April; the crossing is now controlled from Preston.

Rugby. Demolition of the former PSB building started on 15th April, and could take until 12th July to complete.

Speed Restrictions. Stafford. The first phase of performance improvement began in April.

This consists of line speed improvements between Crewe and Norton Bridge to give three extra passenger and one extra freight path each hour.

Later phases cover Stafford area resignalling and a flyover at Norton Bridge (see p.33, January 2012 RO).

Level Crossings. Charfield. The public foot crossing was noted closed on 1st April. The closure/footpath diversion notices were dated September 2012 and cited safety issues. That said, the walkway decking appeared to have been replaced recently.

Gloucester. The path at Robinswood crossing (on the Bristol line, temporarily closed in June 2006 as it courted the highest trespass and vandalism statistics for the Western) will be diverted rather than re-opening the crossing.

Part of the new path must be raised to avoid a badger sett.

Track Layouts. Walsall. Work has started on re-instating the connection from the down fast (platform 3) line to the down slow line at Walsall North Junction.

Operational Matters.

Birmingham New Street. From 28th April, NR dispatch staff wear light blue vests in preference to the previous dark blue ones (still used by other NR staff).

This makes them easier to distinguish on busy platforms allowing TOC staff to deal with their trains more quickly.

Kensal Green. From 28th April wheel bearing monitoring equipment was applied on the Great Western main line to the up and down main lines at MLN1 2m 15ch.

Electrification. Ardwick. The depot had OLE masts when seen on 19th April; they carry MHX identification plates and should be energised from 19th May. Finally. The impossible journey. Did you know that it is possible to travel directly from a station to itself without passing through that station?

On closure, the two platforms at Cattistock halt were moved a few miles north and reused at Chetnole and Thornford stations. Thus one can travel from one Cattistock platform (at Chetnole) to another Cattistock platform (at Thornford) without passing (the site of) Cattistock.

Thanks to Bob Ballard, Alan Cooke, Richard Giles, Stuart Hicks, Phil Lockwood, Peter Robinson, William Turvill, David Warburton and members who don’t want to be named.

Phil Deaves

TRACTION & ROLLING STOCK LOCOMOTIVE STOCK - Alterations reported to 2nd May 2013 John Lewis who has compiled this section since 1976 retired a couple of months ago, handing over responsibility to Andrew Lait who had assisted him for some years. Our thanks to John for all his efforts in the past and to Andrew, who is based in Canada, for inheriting the overall responsibility. However John continues to support Andrew and all postal notes should continue to be forwarded to him at his address. Meanwhile Andrew can be contacted directly by e-mail at ourlocos@rcts.org.uk.

55022 has gone on hire to GBRf again for nine weeks, this time for moving units between Shields Road and Kilmarnock, Springburn and Yoker. When not required for these duties, it will be securely stored at Railcare, Springburn.

Seven Cl.56s, two at the Battlefield Line and five at EMR, Kingsbury, have been reregistered to the WNSO pool.

The first Cl.66, 66001, was unloaded at Immingham docks 15 years ago on 18th April 1998. GBRf are leasing two more Euro-spec.

Cl.66s, this time from Germany.

70099 has, at last, left Brush, Loughborough, initially to Crewe Basford Hall en route to Crewe LNWR for tyre turning.

DB Schenker Operating Pools. Locomotive allocations, (for details of pool code definitions, see the society’s website).

Cl.59 WDAK 59201-6 Cl.60 WCAI 60010/9/35/40/5/63/74/9/99 WCAK 60011/59/65 WCBI 60015/7/20/91 WCBK 60092 Cl.67 WAAN 67004-6/8/16/9-24/6/7/9

WABN 67007/11/30 WATN 67001-3 WAWN 67010/2-5/7 Cl.90 WEFE 90018/20/1/4/6/8/39 Cl.92 WTAE 92002/12/9/30/7/9/41 WTHE 92003/15/6/31/6/42 DBS Super Shunter Pool 60049 WSSK Toton 60071 WCBK Eastleigh yard Hired to pool WSSK European Pools (Locomotives in the UK) WBEN 66195 at Toton, 66222 at Warrington en route to France.

Cl.08 08888 CE WSSI-WNYX Cl.09 09201 CE WNYX-WSSI Cl.20 20087 HQ MBDL reregistered 20305 KM XHSS-XHNC Cl.37 37423 KM XHND-XHAC 37603-5/10/67/8 KM XHND-XHNC Cl.47 47501 KM XHAC-XHNB 47790 KM XHAC-XHNB 47813/32 KM XHAC-XHNB Cl.56 56031/2/7/69/77 TO WNSO reregistered 56087 RU COLO-COFS 56094 RU COLO-COFS 56104/6 TO WNSO reregistered 56302 RU COLO-COFS 393

Correction. In the April 2012 RO the entries for 56087/94 should have been HQ-RU WNSO-COLO Cl.57 57002/12 KM XHSS-XHCK 57302/4/7-9/11 KM XHAC-XHVT New Pool Codes.

XHNB DRS Cl.47 Northern Belle XHVT DRS Cl.57 VTWC Thunderbirds Named.

26038 Tom Clift 1954-2012 (27/4, named after its former owner) 90004 City of Chelmsford (23/4).

Name Removed.

60001 The Railway Observer (by 1/3) 90004 Eastern Daily Express 1870-2010; name expected to be fitted to another Cl.90.

Sales: To Crewe Diesel Preservation Group – 47712.

Sold to GBRf – 73136.

Hire: On hire to Pullman Rail – 08683.

Store: Crewe IEMD – 08888.

Returned to service – 09201, 20305, 57002/12.

Movements: Barrow Hill – 57012, then returned to service.

Bluebell Railway – 09018.

Cardiff Canton – 08670/83.

Colne Valley Railway – 08503.

Crewe Basford Hall – 70099.

Crewe Heritage Centre – 47712.

Crewe TMD – 47747.

Cut up: Crewe LNWR: 4/13 – 86621.

Locomotive Liveries. Changes reported are: BR green – 37905 (D6836).

BR green with small logo – 37075.

DB Schenker red – 60039.

East Coast grey – 43238/99.

Freightliner Powerhaul – 66412 (reliveried in Poland and carries Polish number 66015), 66504 InterCity – 87035.

WORKS REPORTS Brush Traction, Loughborough. Here on 16th April were 08645, 56201, 66536/7, 70014/8/99,73204/9 (to become 73902/1 after re-engineering), 92045/6, RFSK V336/1991, shuttle locomotive 9804, Eurostar E3308, DVTs 82111, 82302, DMU 150002 and EMU coaches 67901-8/11-8 and hauled coach 12605. V336 was named Earl of Yarborough by 15th April, and has been allocated rebuild works plate HE9383.

Railcare Limited, Glasgow.

Arrivals –156508 C6, 170476 C6 and livery change, coach 9805 C8.

Departures – 170394, 170473 and 9805.

On 30th April 156508 and 170476 were present under repair.

Stored 08568.

COACHING STOCK (including LUL) HAULED STOCK. Stock Alterations. The following were reported during March and April: Allocations: 9713-DF RVCO. Renumbered: 11019/30/46/54 to 12623/5/1/7 respectively.

Disposals: Epping & Ongar Railway: 3132.

Gloucestershire-Warwickshire Railway: 4986, 5023. West Somerset Railway: 3131, 977165.

For Sale: 6321-3/5.

Mk.4s: Set BN30 (10329, 11330, 11430, 11999, 12227, 12331, 12471/2, 12534, 82205) is now in ECML grey livery. The last rake in blue, BN27, was moved from Bounds Green to Wabtec, Doncaster for overhaul on 2nd April, and spare 12200 was moved there by road on 4th. This just leaves 82224 in GNER blue.

Mk.3s: Newly converted 12621/3/5/7 are in Chiltern livery. 12605 and 10271 were moved to Aylesbury on 23rd March. 10272, 12603/5-9, 82302 were moved from Wembley to Wabtec, Doncaster on 12th April with 82302 then moving on to Loughborough.

Porterbrook has awarded a contract for the C6 overhaul of Greater Anglia Mk.3s to Railcare, Wolverton. Work will start later this year and all 111 vehicles will be completed by 2016.

10596 and 12142 are now stored at Railcare, Wolverton.

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At Brush, Loughborough on 16th April, 12605 (which had returned there on 9th), 82111, 82302 were present, Mk.2s: 9705/7/13 were moved to RVEL, Derby on 21st March – 9713 has been sold by the Mid-Norfolk Railway to RVEL. Mk.1s: 3131 is now based at Minehead, 3132 at Ongar, 4986, 5023 on the G-WR at Toddington.

1813 is now in chocolate & cream livery.

35457 has been newly outshopped in maroon as a support vehicle for 76084.

Royal Scotsman: In this set, Pullman 321 (99960) has replaced 1999. 321 has been rebuilt incorporating Mk.1 parts and has two toilets.

This is the second use of the number 99960.

Charter Train Formations: The following have been reported: 3rd April: Compass Railtours “Yorkshire Coast Express”, Preston-Scarborough: 99312, 99723, 99371, 3136, 3058, 3093, 99352, 1861, 4994, 5222, 4940, 4973.

9th April: VSOE British Pullman NottinghamKensington: 99545, 99536, 99543, 99546, 99530, 99531, 99535, 99534, 99537, 99541, 6313.

13th April: 1Z61 Steam Dreams “The Cathedrals Express”, Kings Cross-York: 35333, 4836, 1859, 4831, 13230, 35185, 4832, 4856, 3115, 1730, 3150, 3096.

37409 passes through the remains of Wakefield (Kirkgate) with 1Q13 the 06.26 Doncaster-Healey Mills NR test train on 16th April. The train was en route to Castleford prior to reversal back to Healey Mills.

Steve Batty 13th April: 1Z70 NENTA “Cheddar Gorge & Welsh Capital”, Norwich-Cardiff. 9496, 6115, 6103, 6012, 1201, 3395, 3392, 3350, 99679, 3431, 3313.

13th April: 1Z73 UK Railtours “The Lincolnshire Coaster”, Finsbury Park-Cleethorpes: 35469, 3068, 3149, 1651, 3069, 3066, 1832, 5292, 5341, 5322, 4946, 5366.

13th April: 1Z62 Milton Keynes-Carlisle: 6000, 5912, 5991, 3352, 99673, 1211, 99671, 99676, 1659, 3312, 3231, 17080.

13th April: 1Z39 Cardiff-Llandrindod Wells: 3136, 99128, 99316, 3058, 3093, 99352, 4905, 1861, 4994, 21266.

14th April: 1Z68 Railway Touring Co. “The Peak Forester”, Kings Cross-Matlock/Rowsley: 35518, 99121, 99125, 99712, 99127, 99122, 99350, 99348, 99311, 4984, 99304.

20th April: West Coast Rly Co “The Windsor Charter”, Skegness-Windsor: 3058, 3143, 99679, 99122, 99674, 3313, 3431, 99677, 1861, 4940.

20th April: 5Z82 (ECS) Southall-Victoria: 99723, 99121, 99125, 99712, 326 Emerald, 99127, 3136, 3093, 99128, 99316, 99371, 35518.

21st April: 1Z60 from Victoria: as 13th April less 1730.

21st/22nd April: “Great Britain VI” NewquayCardiff-Preston: 35517, 35508, 3128, 3130, 13321, 3096, 3136, 3117, 326, 18893, 3113, 3105, 35469.

22nd April: 1H69 Edinburgh-Keith “The Royal Scotsman” (BT55 set): 99965, 99967, 99961, 99962, 99963, 99964, 99968, 99969, 99960.

26th April: 1Z11 Victoria-Truro: 6313, 99541, 99537, 99534, 99535, 99531, 99530, 99532, 99546, 99543, 99536, 99545.

27th April: 1Z07 UK Railtours LetchworthShrewsbury: 5322, 5292, 1832, 3119, 3097, 1691, 3123, 3066, 3069, 1651, 3149, 3068, 35469.

HIGH SPEED TRAIN. Stock Alterations.

None were reported during March and April.

DIESEL. Stock Alterations. None were reported during March and April.

Cl.121: Arriva Trains Wales has withdrawn 55032 and sold it to Chiltern Railways. 977873 (ex-55022) is stored at Aylesbury.

Cl.122: 55012, presently on the Weardale Railway, has been offered for sale.

Cl.150: 002 was still at Brush, Loughborough on 16th April.

ATW’s 251 left LNWR Crewe on 4th April in new ATW livery, 236 replacing it there that day.

Cl.153: 381, which suffered collision damage on 4th December 2012, was outshopped from repairs at Neville Hill on 14th March.

Cl.156: 412 was outshopped from Railcare, Wolverton in GA livery on 22nd April.

508 went to Railcare, Glasgow Works on 13th April.

Cl.158: 715 once again has two Haymarket nameplates.

Cl.170: 201 was outshopped from Brush, Loughborough on 18th March and 203 on 8th April.

473 left Railcare, Glasgow on 7th April and 476 went there on 14th. 394 left on 16th.

Cl.170, 171, 172: Porterbrook is having Leader ® Driver Advisory System equipment on its 23 LM Cl.170s, 16 Southern Cl.171 and 27 LM Cl.172. It is aimed to improve train handling performance, saving fuel.

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CLASSIC LMS POWER RETUR

With snow still visible on the distant mountains, Black Fives 44871 leg of the “Great Britain VI” tour on 27th April 2013. For the second with this outstanding image of steam in the Scottish Highlands.

RNS TO THE THE HIGHLAND LINE

and 45407 storm through Dalwhinnie with the Inverness-Edinburgh month running DPG member Keith Sanders scores a centrespread 397

ELECTRIC. Cl.315: 802-4/6/9/12/22/7 were noted in the new GA livery on 1st May, and 813 is reported done as well.

Cl.317: 667/8 are now in Greater Anglia livery.

Cl.319: 364 has temporarily lost its Transforming Blackfriars nameplates.

Cl.321: Greater Anglia has completed its upgrade for units 421-37 at Clacton, the last being 430 which returned to service on 30th March.

Cl.357: 227 has been named Southend United.

Cl.395: 020-2 have been named Jason Kenny, Ed Clancy and Alistair Brownlee respectively.

001 hit the buffers in Ramsgate depot on 16th March and car 39016 is at Brush, Loughborough with cab damage, noted there on 22nd April.

Cl.405: 975601 (ex-10843) was cut up at Etches Park, Derby in March.

Cl.444: 038 was named South Western Railway at platform 20 at Waterloo on 29th April.

Cl.455: The rebuilt 5913 is now formed 77837+ 67301+71726+77838. Would members please confirm by observation that 67301 is the number carried by the power car.

Porterbrook has signed a contract with Vossloh Kiepe to fit a.c. traction equipment to the SWT fleet. The first will be done late in 2014 and the last is due in February 2016. Two units will be in works at one time and each unit will take six working days to complete.

Cl.458: The thirty units will be renumbered 8501-30 when extended to five cars by the inclusion of Cl.460 cars, which will retain their old numbers. The six new units are to be 8531-6 and the first two units completed will be from this batch. All driving cars from both batches will receive new driving ends with proper corridor connections which will be compatible with Cl.450s, though they will not normally work in multiple with them.

74443/4 were nearing completion of their conversions from Cl.460 at Wabtec, Doncaster at the end of April.

Cl.460: 67901-8/11-8 were still at Brush, Loughborough on 11th April. The conversion programme will leave DMFLOs 67901/3/7/8 surplus, which will be stripped for spares.

Cl.465: 917 emerged from Wabtec, Doncaster on 13th April. 928 was due to go north on 18th April but this is not confirmed. 931 did go north on 27th.

Cl.466: 020 had still not returned to South Eastern from Wabtec, Doncaster early in May. Cl.507: 008 has been named Harold Wilson.

Cl.508: 64649 (201) and 64712 (209) have been sold to the Merseyside Rescue Services.

LONDON UNDERGROUND. New: Deliveries of S stock to London Underground have continued. Bombardier, Derby to Old Dalby Test Track: 8th March: Train 1 (21003/4).

22nd: Train 82 (21347/8).

Those delivered from Old Dalby test track to Ruislip were: 14th March: Train 69 (21321/2).

26th: Train 71 (21325/6). 28th: Train 75 (21333/4).

Later deliveries reported have been Train 73 (21329/30) on 11th April, Train 78 (21339/40) on 25th, Train 57 (21001/2) returning on 29th and Train 76 (21335/6) on 1st May. From Ruislip to Neasden: 25th March: Train 69 (21321/2). 27th: Train 71 (21325/6).

Train 57 (21001/2) was moved from Old Dalby to Bombardier, Derby for mods on 6th February and units 21007/8 were moved to Derby on 4th April.

Miscellaneous Stock: ‘Tunnel Ring Replacement’ wagon RW814, was returned by road from Railcare, Wolverton to Ruislip on 22nd March after further mods.

URBAN & IRISH RAILWAYS DLR. The current franchise operated by Serco Ltd. was due to expire in March 2013. It was extended until 14th September 2014 to allow Serco to focus on delivering services for the 2012 Olympics. On 17th April 2013 TfL announced the names of companies shortlisted to bid for the new franchise. The bidders are Stagecoach Rail Projects Ltd., Keolis (UK) jointly with Amey Rail Ltd., Go Ahead PLC jointly with Colas Rail Ltd. and Serco Ltd. An invitation to tender was to be issued in May and a decision is expected in mid-2014.

For the London Marathon on Sunday 21st April services were modified with changes to routes and frequencies. Passengers travelling between Tower Gateway/Bank to Beckton/Woolwich Arsenal needed to change trains several times and were advised to use alternative routes but these were not specified. First train times that 398

morning were Tower Gateway to Lewisham 05.33, first return at 06.06. Bank to Lewisham 07.00, Stratford to Lewisham 06.54 changing at Canary Wharf, Beckton to Lewisham 06.31 changing at Poplar and Canary Wharf and Stratford International to Canning Town 06.55.

Travel was free for runners and officials all day up to 17.00.

LUL. On 11th/12th and 17th February, 7th/8th and 14th/15th March the Earl’s CourtKensington Olympia service was bus substituted without explanation. New ticket gates are to be installed at the latter station in July and an additional staircase built to relieve congestion and provide a better route between Olympia Way and Russell Road. Three disused ‘ghost’ station sites, Camden Tunnels, 206 Brompton Road and Down Street are to be opened as tourist attractions during the day and

be available for private hire in the evening for parties, receptions, etc. During WWII Down Street, which lies on the Piccadilly Line between Green Park and Hyde Park Corner, served as an underground bunker for Winston Churchill and the war cabinet. 23 other sites are also under consideration. Sony, Microsoft, Land Rover and Harvey Nichols are the first to apply to hire space.

Virgin Media has signed up O2 as a partner for its tube Wi-Fi network. O2 customers will be able in mid-May to access free Wi-Fi on the underground from June. Other partners are EE and Vodafone. The network will be available at 120 stations (but not on trains) in central London. A major upgrade to power supplies and signalling is planned for the sub-surface lines following the introduction of new stock. New substations will be built at Vine Street (Farringdon) and Triangle sidings. Existing ones are to be refurbished. Testing of the new signalling system is underway at the Old Dalby test track.

The Jubilee Line will be closed for more than 30 days over the next two years because acidic water is eating into the cast iron linings of the tunnel walls so that services will be halted in both directions between Finchley Road and Waterloo for major repairs costing £40m.

Closures in 2013 will be on 16th June, bank holiday 26th August, 6th October, weekend of 12th/13th and entire Christmas period 25th-30th December. On three further Sundays, yet to be announced, services will not start until 11.00. Further closures will take place in 2014.

The water, similar in strength to vinegar, comes from naturally occurring ground water seeping in from the surrounding soil. In particular the

southbound tunnel between Baker Street and Bond Street is causing concern and replacement of the lining is required. Unfortunately Jubilee Line passengers have suffered a history of delays and weekend shutdowns mainly due to problems with the new signalling system and now this problem has arisen.

PROVINCIAL OPERATIONS Blackpool.

Tram 002 has been named Edmund Wynne, a councillor for 38 years, a former mayor and former chairman of Blackpool Transport. This tram is now in regular service after a period used only for driver training.

Balloon trams 701/23 can be used as snowploughs, one allocated to each depot.

Edinburgh. Eight trips have been run between Gogar depot and the airport, arranged by the council, to give selected people a preview of the tram system. Included in the passengers were a number of anti-tram protesters, e.g. the West End Community Council and a spokesman said “we have got trams whether we like or not and must face the future, not look to the past”. A spokeswoman for the Ratho and District Community Council said “ it was very pleasant and impressive, it is bound to be more comfortable than a bus”. The council has revealed that it has less than £20m left unspent of its £776m tram budget to finish the line to York Place in the city centre. A total of £86m has been spent on moving underground pipes and cables, one third of which was not provided for in the utilities diversion contract. The moving of utilities infrastructure has been a major expense in all UK tram projects, something which is not charged against tram schemes in continental Europe.

2559, the last of the six new Stadler Variobahn cars delivered to Croydon last year, approaches Sandilands tram stop bound for Elmers End on a rather wet 15th March. The report on p.462, August RO that the tram was to receive all-over advertising appears to be incorrect. However, 2554 was glimpsed on this date in advertising Geoff Bannister livery. The only other Stadler car noted in service that day was 2558.

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Manchester. On 16th March 3020 was named LANCASHIRE FUSILIERS on a circular plaque incorporating the coat of arms. The plaque is mounted over the centre bogie with underneath a reduced size replica of that previously carried by 1020 which did not have an “s” at the end. On 21st 1025 was formally withdrawn after being used as the ice breaker and then moved to Old Trafford depot on 24th.

4th April saw the withdrawal of the first T68A when 2006 was withdrawn after being in service the previous day. The final mileage was 670,911 and a week later 2004 was withdrawn, after developing a fault on 4th, with a mileage of 713,652. During the night of 6th/7th the control room was moved from Queens Road to Old Trafford, which went smoothly. There was no service from St. Werburgh’s Road to Victoria all day on 13th/14th and on the latter day there were no services from Droylsden to Piccadilly until after 10.00. Victoria stop was closed all day on 21st with the service from Bury running to Crumpsall and from Rochdale to Central Park with bus connections. Test running of trams beyond Droylsden to Ashton Moss began in April. A decision is still pending from the DfT on the proposed closure of the Woodlands Road stop on the Bury line. Metrolink were hoping to close the Mosley Street stop for southbound services in mid-May which will eliminate the problem of not being able to run double M5000 trams through this stop.

Nottingham. The note on p.262, April RO concerning the new tramway bridge at the station needs correcting and clarification. The bridge was built in two sections because the construction site at Crocus Street on the Queens Road side of the station is restricted in size. It was the first half of the bridge (technically a Warren Truss structure) that started to move in the week commencing 11th February, taking the whole week to move 50m to free the site for the erection of the second half. The first half was therefore temporarily in a position across Queen’s Road, 7.3m above road level. The second half is now constructed and the two connected ready for sliding into final position across the station later this year. Two piers have been built: between Queen’s Road and platform 6 and between platform 1 and Station Street whilst a third is under construction on platform 5/6. When finished the bridge will be on the exact alignment of the former GCR bridge, removed in the early 1980s. In fact two foundations of the old bridge are reused after strengthening with mini piles. When the complete bridge is in position across the station it will lowered somewhat to line up with the existing tram viaduct on the city side. As the structure will weigh 1,100 tonnes and be 104m long this final sliding operation will move at just 2.5m per hour and require temporary supports 400

as it becomes an increasingly long cantilever above the tracks below. The finished bridge will carry two tram tracks and a three-metre wide public walkway each side forming the pedestrian interchange between the station, the new tram stop and bus stops on Queens Road.

The first 80m of street track for the Chilwell route was laid in The Meadows during the week commencing 15th April. A local campaign has started to have line 1 extended to Kimberley.

Sheffield. On 31st March and 1st April the outbound track was replaced on the central reservation between the Brook Street roundabout tunnel and Netherthorpe Road stop.

Buses replaced trams between Cathedral and Shalesmoor. Trams 105/8/18/9 were noted running shuttles between Shalesmoor and Middlewood/Malin Bridge. The SYPTE have applied for urgent finance from the DfT’s “Local Pinch Point Fund” to replace all the embedded track (56% of the network). The design life was 30 years but some sections have only lasted 20.

It is claimed that some sections are so worn that if they are not replaced this year part of the network will have to be shut down! Track would be replaced in two stages 2013-15 and 2017-18. The DfT has already agreed to supply some funds, as part of the tram-train project, to replace track on that part of the system to be used by Tram-Trains. However the SYPTE wants all replacement track across the network to be Tram-Train standard.

Tyne & Wear. Services returned to normal after the Easter weekend blockade from Gateshead to Hebburn and Brockley Whins.

Long running repairs to a road overbridge at Monkseaton, which affected road traffic but not the Metro, were also completed. Monthly season ticket holders were issued with Pop cards by the end of March, after first being issued to under 16 year card holders. Pop cards will work in a similar way to the TfL Oyster card. Automatic ticket barriers have been installed at the 13 major stations and a total of 196 validation points covering all stations. These devices, to check Pop cards, were still under test in April.

Wolverhampton. Centro is still working on plans to take Midland Metro along Piper’sRow to the railway station with a stop outside the bus station. A public consultation on the proposed extension, including several exhibitions, was staged in April/May. An application for a Transport and Works order will be submitted before the end of 2013. If granted and subject to funding being made available, construction could start in 2015, taking two years to complete.

Thanks to Bill Turvill, Geoff Brockett, Alan Quayle, Robert Davidson, Stuart Hicks, Robert Payne, Roger Darsley, Enid Vincent and John Henderson.

Peter Robinson

On 3rd April, BR 9F 92203 Black Prince runs round its train at Holt to form the 15.00 service to Sheringham. The signal box originated from Upper Portland sidings, near Mansfield, and the two signals flanking the locomotive are Bob Ellison of the M&GN somersault pattern.

PRESERVATION & OTHER RAILWAYS Aln Valley Railway. Clarification. In the April RO we referred to an engineless trailer 10648/72. In answer to a query, this vehicle was formerly powered but has had its engine removed and so is now classed as a trailer with seats now fitted across the former engine space.

More than 1,000 visitors to the line over the Easter weekend were able to take short trips at the Alnwick site, with the Wickham engineer’s track inspection vehicle and said ‘trailer’ taking passengers on a half-mile round journey. It was the first time that trains carrying passengers have run in Alnwick since the 1960s. The freezing weather over the previous couple of weeks had prevented the completion of a length of platform sufficient to accommodate a locomotive and brakevans which, it had been hoped, would have formed the first trains.

0-4-0ST 2 Penicuik (HL3799/35) owned by AVR member Chris Donald was delivered to Alnwick on 8th April from the works of Michael Fairnington in Wooler and shunted into the shed. In a separate move on the same day a 16ft. wheelbase van was also transported from Wooler to Alnwick.

Beamish. This year’s Great North Steam Fair ran from 11th to 14th April. On 12th, apart

from all the steam road vehicles, vintage cars, bicycles and lorries etc. in motion, there were two new action events; a mobile sawmill powered by a Robey portable steam engine, and a road making gang which used the 2ft. narrow gauge railway. The tramway ran clockwise (with the buses running anticlockwise). Visiting trams were Lisbon 730 and Glasgow 1068. The four car tram service was using Lisbon 730, Oporto 196 in South Shields livery, Gateshead 10 as BR Grimsby & Immingham 26 and the Blackpool double-decker as Sunderland 101. Passenger services were being worked from the station by replica 2-2-0 9 Planet (MSI 1992) and its two coaches from Manchester. In steam in the colliery yard were 0-4-0VBGT No.1 (HW 1871), and 0-4-0ST 22 (AB 2274/49) from the Bowes Railway. Also visible in the yard were 0-4-0VBT 17 (HW 33/1873), 0-4-0ST Malleable No.5 and 0-6-0ST Newcastle (MW 1532/01). In the colliery shed was 0-4-0ST 18 (Lewin 683/1877).

On the Pockerley waggonway 6wG Steam Elephant (Dorothea/AK 2001) was the working engine and the visitor was 0-2-2 Rocket (Loco Ent./1980). The Hetton 0-4-0 locomotive built c1852 and the Puffing Billy replica (4wG AK 71/2006) were in the shed. The narrow gauge line at the colliery yard had in steam, 0-4-0ST 401

Unusually the Severn Valley Railway retained some of the engines brought in for its gala in March for a number of weeks after the event, with 0-4-2T 1450 along with a hired auto coach running an intensive service at the southern end of the line during members’ weekend. On Saturday 20th April, it is seen leaving Highley on the 10.10 service Paul Chancellor to Kidderminster.

Peter Pan (KS 4256/22) and 0-4-0T 9 Jack (AB 1871/25). Also present were 0-4-0ST Edward Sholto (HE 996/09) and 0-4-0T 5 Esme (AB 988/03). In the colliery shed were 0-4-0T 81 Ogwen AE 2066/33 and 0-4-0WT 5 Glyder (AB 1994/31). 4wWE No.2 (Siemens 455/08) and two rail cranes were on static display. Considerable building is occurring on the site. For working the passenger trains there is a new water storage and coal loading stage being built near the Ironworks and a loco shed is promised at the other end of the passenger line. Relocated and rebuilt shops are nearly finished in the town area and buildings are going up in the colliery village with a church at Pockerley. The Forcett coach was due back from restoration by the end of April and the frames for the narrow gauge replica 0-4-0 Samson have been cut.

Bodmin & Wenford Railway. Pannier tanks 1501 (from the Severn Valley Railway) and 1638 (from the Kent & East Sussex) are known to have travelled here for a spring gala. No reports have been received about the event itself.

Ecclesbourne Valley Railway. A wooden platform extension is under way at Duffield to allow locomotive run rounds without shunting for steam operations this summer. The heavy snow in the Peak District stopped bus services into Wirksworth on 23rd March. The EVR ran a full service and provided the only public transport into the town, people with bus tickets being offered a reduced £5.00 fare to use the train. Cl.122 55006 returned to service from 402

overhaul on 29th March running to Ravenstor.

Restoration work is under way on 0-6-0ST The Duke (Bagnall 2746/44) with the boiler lifted on 17th April.

Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway.

An unidentified ex-Yorkshire Water narrow gauge Ruston & Hornsby shunter, which ran at Bradford, has moved here from the Abbey Light Railway in Leeds. Can any member provide details of this machine?

Kirkby Stephen East Station.

The Stainmore Railway Company has launched a £40,000 fundraising drive following planning approval for the construction of a restoration workshop. The 150 feet-long structure will be connected to the other lines close to the station and house three parallel tracks plus inspection pits. The company has almost finished restoring the first of six vintage wooden-bodied coaches on the site.

North Yorkshire Moors Railway. During Easter week the trains were in the hands of 44871, 45407, 61264 and 825 with D5061+ D7628 topping and tailing on some services.

It was hoped LH & JC 29 would be back in service in time for the 40th anniversary special train on 1st May, although as the boiler was only refitted to 29 on 9th April this may be doubtful. The bogie wheels of 45428 were reinstalled after retyring by Riley Engineering and essential axle-box work completed. Work progresses on the boiler of 76079 but the fabricated cylinder block has been abandoned

after it distorted during welding. A pattern was available for the identical block being cast for the standard 3MT tank new build project at the Severn Valley Railway, and thanks to their help a new block will now be cast for 76079. 75029’s tyres were turned at Ilford during the winter but the extent of the flange wear since its return is causing concern. Discussions are taking place with Network Rail to determine whether some flange lubricators should be installed between Grosmont and Pickering.

60007 has had extensive valve and piston work done during the winter and was expected to return to traffic in mid-April. 63395 is still undergoing repairs at Crewe but is expected back by mid-June. S15 825 is being fully used until its boiler certificate runs out in early July.

Refurbishment of the cab fittings and all the associated pipework on the 9F is compete and reassembly of the tubes has commenced. The boiler inspector has agreed that the boiler can be steam tested back in the frames.

Consideration is being given to sending the boiler of 80135 away for repairs in the hope that the locomotive would be back in service earlier than otherwise possible.

The outward appearance of Cl.101 DMU, indicates that the power cars need both C&W attention and substantial mechanical refurbishment and the DMU will not be available this season. D7628 is being fitted with GSMR equipment following the extensive repair of its power bogies.

For the 40th anniversary gala it was hoped that B1s 61264 and 1306 Mayflower would be present along with 45407, 44871, 45428, 62005, 69023 and 60007, as well as NER saloon coach 1661. However it is not clear if the two Bury based 5MTs will have returned from duties on the main line. The autumn gala will have an NER theme with 60163 Tornado being a possible guest, and for the LNER weekend at the beginning of October it is hoped that the engines will be A1 Tornado (in BR blue), 60007, 61264 and 63395.

Northern Rail began operating Sunday services on the Esk Valley line on 31st March. This meant that the only signal box on the line (at Nunthorpe station) had to be manned with the knock on effect that NYMR were able to commence a Sunday service to Whitby running three return journeys in between the Northern Rail trains.

Above the cabside number on each side of B1 61264, a small vinyl notice has been fixed stating “The Thompson B1 Locomotive Trust Custodian of ex-LNER Class B1 no. 61264”, along with a square mobile phone scanning ‘QR code’ display to enable smart phone owners to obtain details of the engine on their phone! It is thought that this is the first example of a scanning code appearing on a heritage locomotive. On 23rd a West Coast Cl.47 arrived from Newcastle hauling a Cl.26 and a Cl.20 departing on 24th with the addition of Cl.25

D7528 and a Cl.37 also in the consist en route to York and then KWVR for their diesel gala.

With D7528 away the first train from Pickering and the last train to arrive in Pickering on 25th were hauled by 37518.

Poulton and Wyre Railway Society. This group is behind plans to revive Fleetwood’s railway and has said that the link could provide a freight service which would take pressure off one of Wyre’s most congested roads. It has also produced a business plan outlining proposals for a weekday diesel passenger service linking Fleetwood with Poulton, and eventually a weekend steam heritage service. The society is waiting for permission from Wyre council, Lancashire country council and NR, before approaching funding bodies for the scheme.

With the cost of new track infrastructure estimated at less than £1m, the group hopes the weekday passenger service could be running within three years.

RailWorld, Peterborough. The founder of this preservation site, Rev. R. Paten, died in 2012 and there is now no external funding to maintain it. Amongst the exhibits, which were on view at an Easter opening, are the British experimental tracked hovercraft, 804 X-411, Bo-Bo DE Alco 77778/1950 and 4-6-2 996 (Frichs 415/50). The site also houses the Crown Agents’ railway records which fitted their world of railway’s aim.

Severn Valley Railway. A members and shareholders’ weekend was held on 20th/21st April. At the event it was advised that shares worth more than £1.3m have been sold since the launch of the new issue six months ago. It was also said that work should start by the end of the year on the return to service of 4930 Hagley Hall. A swap of tenders has been arranged between 4930 and GCR-based 6990 Witherslack Hall so that the former will be paired with a Collett tender and the latter with a Hawksworth. For the event an intensive service was run using 1501, 2857, 5164, 7812 and 34053 with 0-4-2T 1450 running additional push-pull services, mainly between Kidderminster and Bewdley. 0-6-2T 5643 was scheduled to arrive on hire by the end of May and stay until at least January 2014.

Southwold Railway Trust. This group is relaunching its plan to bring a narrow gauge line to Wenhaston despite district planners throwing out the original application in December.

Campaigners opposed to the project have vowed to fight the resubmission, which developers say is of significantly smaller scale than the one refused planning permission by Suffolk Coastal’s development committee. The original proposal generated disapproval from the parish council and a number of villagers who objected to a heritage centre being built on a flood plain and the anticipated increase in traffic.

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Vintage Carriages Trust.

Trust-owned 0-6-0WT Bellerophon has been transferred to the South Devon Railway’s workshops at Buckfastleigh for replacement of all three axles.

A routine inspection in 2012 revealed that the wheels were moving on the axles and a subsequent examination showed that the best form of repair would be to replace the old, worn axles with new. The work is likely to take until early 2014, due to the long lead time for the ordering of the new axles. On completion of the work, Bellerophon will hopefully be run in at Buckfastleigh before returning to the Foxfield Railway.

Wensleydale Railway.

Services finally started on 13th April with J72 69023 Joem on the 10.00 and noon services from Leeming Bar. A landslip on a remote embankment had prevented trains running but, after seven weeks, the damage at Akebar has been repaired and the track relaid across the slip area the site of which was unreachable by road. The work on

the 300m stretch has cost more than £40,000 and an emergency appeal has been launched.

Volkerail assisted with the track relaying.

West Somerset Railway. On 22nd March a 20 year-old lady crashed her car through a bridge between Bishops Lydeard and the Norton triangle on the West Somerset Railway, fortunately the lady concerned escaped relatively unscathed and delays to the gala operations of the railway were minimal. No reports have been received about the gala activities.

Thanks to Ian Cotter, Roger Darsley, David Sills, Bill Turvill and David Tyreman for their submissions.

Whilst our allotted space has been filled, many items come from on-line posts rather than members’ visit reports. Whilst many galas have been held no reports were received, even for the opening of the Bluebell Railway extension from Kingscote to East Grinstead.

To remain a journal of record it is important that more members submit first hand reports of key events to the

RO whenever possible.

Paul Chancellor

INTERNATIONAL NEWS France/Spain. A series of trials conducted on 14th April has shown that it is technically feasible to operate piggyback services carrying lorries between Perpignan and Figueres on the new HSL despite gradients as steep as 18%.

Fret SNCF supplied a pair of BB 27xxx electric locomotives hauling Modalohr wagons for two return trips. The next step would be to build a terminal at the Spanish end of the route to establish piggyback services to and from northern Europe. The HSL can accommodate freight trains up to 850m long, weighing 2,300 tonnes.

Malaysia/Singapore. A high speed line is to be built by 2020 between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore which should reduce the current 315km six-hour rail journey to 90 minutes. The road journey takes four hours. A new rapid transit link is also planned between Singapore and the Malaysian city of Johor Bahru.

New Zealand. Kiwi Rail suspended operation of the Coastal Pacific route between Christchurch and Picton from 5th May, over the winter period, because of a fall in tourism since the 2011 earthquake. The summer service will resume in October but is currently losing around NZ$ 3m a year, with on occasions, only 30 passengers on board.

Norway. On 21st March a journey was made on the Ofotbanen from Narvik to Riksgransen, the 26-mile long isolated section of the NSB (Norges Statsbaner) in the far north. This line with a continuation into Sweden was opened in 1902 mainly to provide an outlet for the iron ore mined around Kiruna in Sweden to the ice-free port of Narvik. Plinthed on the platform at Narvik is 4-4-0T 5 Bifrost built by LKAB Kiruna in 1901 for the opening of the line. Now the 404

heavy ore traffic is operated by Co-Co + Co-Co electric locomotives built by Adtranz in 2001-3.

One train was seen passing westwards at Riksgransen in the afternoon. Due to the nature of the country, passenger traffic is light, there being two daily train pairs Narvik-KirunaLulea-Stockholm, taking nearly 24 hours. The timetable shows a few local services but these were cancelled on 21st for reasons unknown.

The 11.38 Narvik-Stockholm was a six-coach set headed by Swedish Bo-Bo Rc6 1336 which made good time over a scenic route firstly above the Ofotfjord and then into the mountains. The return train at 14.47 was headed by Rc6 1335, also on time. West of Narvik the line forks, one branch going along the inlet to the ore terminal, the other to the goods depot and port. Shunters at the port were BY 70 742 and B226, 06 ex-SJ (Statens Järnväger). A train of vans, headed by open access operator Green Cargo Bo-Bo Rc4 1167 was being assembled and was later observed at Riksgransen waiting to enter Sweden. Outside the depot was Cargo Net Traxx Co-Co 185.709.

On 26th March the Raumabanen was visited for a trip over the Andalsnes-Bjorli section of the 77-mile line to Dombas where connection is made to the Oslo-Trondheim main line. Opened in 1924 this scenic mountain line runs down to the fjord side with a spectacular climb/descent to the valley floor. The passenger service comprises four trains each way M-F with reduced services at weekends. These are worked by three Cl. BM93 Bo-2-Bo articulated DMUs with 93.02/13/ 14 in use on that day.

When a cruise ship calls at Andalsnes one unit works a return special to Bjorli. Formerly, during the summer, a locomotive-hauled train

Andalsnes station in Norway on 26th March. Awaiting departure is a Cl. 93 three-car DMU, three of which operate Bob Barby the extremely scenic branch to Dombas on the Oslo-Trondheim main line.

formed this special using a steam engine and a Cl. Di3 diesel. It is proposed this summer to bring a Di4 diesel down from Bodo to operate this train. The two-road locomotive shed still exists at Andalsnes at the end of the branch past the station. An interesting item at the station is bogie coach 21226 fitted out as a “Togkapeiler”(railway chapel). It is a type CB2 built by Linkoping in 1947 and understood to be the only coach so used in Norway.

A brief visit to Bergen station on 27th March noted Cl. 18 Bo-Bo electric 18.2252 on a regional working and BM69 EMUs on local workings to Arna. Other BM69s and a Cl.220 diesel shunter could be seen on shed from the station. Trams 202/9 were seen passing the station on line 1 to Nesttun. Scandinavia’s only funicular, the Floibanen opened in 1918 and refurbished in 2002, is operated by two cars carrying 100 passengers. It rises from the city centre some 1,050 feet to give panoramic views (provided it is not raining with attendant mist) over the city, port and environs. Single track with an intermediate passing loop, it is unusual in possessing curved track and several tunnels.

Turkey. A direct high speed service from Eskisehir to Konya was officially opened on 23rd March. This followed the completion of a five km west-south curve linking the EskisehirAnkara and Ankara-Konya high speed lines near Polatli. Journey time is reduced from eight hours by the existing line via Afyon or five hours by bus, to just two hours. After 50 years of neglect, railway investment has reached record

levels with an average of 137km of new line added each year. 3,700 km of new line is under construction or planned and the existing network is being totally renewed. In a few years another 13 cities will be linked to the HS network linking 14 provinces.

United Arab Emirates (UAE). The first two of seven EMD SD70ACS diesel-electric locomotives for the initial phase of the national rail network were unloaded at Mussafah port in Abu Dhabi on 10th April. These locomotives will move to Mirfa by road for the inauguration of stage 1 (266km) in 2014 which will carry granulated sulphur from Shah for export through Ruwais port. The China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Corporation is supplying 240 wagons.

USA. The first phase of the PHX Sky Train automated people mover at Phoenix (Arizona) Sky Harbour International airport opened on 8th April. It connects Terminal 4 with the east economy car park and the Metro light rail stop at 44th/Washington. The driverless trains run every three minutes around the clock. A feature of the system is a bridge over a taxiway which is high enough for a Boeing 747 to pass underneath. Bombardier has supplied an Innovia APM 200 system including six three-car sets and is responsible for operations and maintenance for the first ten years. Phase 1a will extend the system by 1.1km to Terminal 3 in early 2015. A final phase would extend to the car hire centre.

Thanks to Bob Barby and Bill Turvill Peter Robinson

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THE FREIGHT BUSINESS COLUMN A Future for Power Station Coal?

The old Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times” certainly applies to the UK electricity generation industry. The future of that industry is still inextricably linked to the future of railfreight, as it has been since the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway in 1825.

Only in 2010, for the first time, did a commodity other than coal assume the position of the largest tonnage generator on the UK’s railways since 1825 (in 2010 intermodal containers generated more tonne miles on the British rail network than coal). So what are the prospects for railborne coal in the coming years?

Superficial analysis might lead one to assume that the future was pretty bleak for the coalbased electricity generators and the UK coal industry. After all we are told the UK must reduce its carbon emissions and coal is a ‘dirty’ fuel that contributes more CO2 to the atmosphere than any other. Not to mention the expansion of all ‘green’ forms of electricity generation, wind, solar, tidal and the untold riches of gas and oil production by hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’). If you add to this the planned expansion of nuclear generation then surely coal, and its movement by rail, has no future. Well, as the old song said “It ain’t necessarily so”.

The events of March 2013 could be interpreted as the beginning of the end for coal-fired electricity generation. By 31st March four power stations had been decommissioned: 1.

Fawley, an oil burner.

2.

Kingsnorth, coal-fired but supplied by sea.

3.

Didcot ‘A’, coal-fired and supplied by rail.

4.

Cockenzie, coal-fired and supplied by rail.

In order to meet its emissions targets, the UK switched off the equivalent of 5% of its total generating capacity in one month. Now this does not look too good for rail, especially the closure of Didcot, which, in its pomp, consumed up to four million tonnes of coal a year, nearly all delivered by rail.

Deeper analysis indicates that not everything is as bleak as it seems for the coal-fired generators. The closure of the four power stations in March had the effect of ‘tightening’ the market and the industry regulator, OFGEM, has calculated that the UK now has a mere 5% reserve of generating capacity over the demand on a cold winter’s day. This means that all the remaining UK generating stations, including the coal-fired ones such as Drax, have to work that much harder to keep up with demand. Ironically this is happening at a time when the world price of coal has been falling and the price of gas that the UK has to pay has been rising.

Surprise, surprise, coal is the most cost effective method of generating electricity and the UK generators have been piling in.

Now if things have been complicated for the generators they look positively simple compared to the state of the UK’s coal miners. Overshadowing everything has been the decision by UK Coal Ltd. to close Daw Mill colliery (near Nuneaton), the largest deep mine in the country because of a catastrophic underground fire that has been burning for over a month. Daw Mill’s maximum output was around two million tonnes of coal a year and the colliery had over 30 years of coal reserves. Latterly most of the colliery’s output was railed to Ratcliffe power station near Nottingham. Meanwhile at Hatfield colliery, owned by Hargreaves, a major land slip in the spoil heap has closed the Scunthorpe to Doncaster railway line, the main route used by coal trains from the port of Immingham. Whilst the problem with the spoil heap has not affected mining at Hatfield, the financial effects of remediation of the problem will be an unwanted cost to Hargreaves. Finally the falling world price of coal has prompted questions over the viability of a number of Scottish open cast mines.

So where does this leave the prospects for coal on rail? Well in the short to medium term it looks pretty good. The shortage of generating capacity means that the remaining coal burning stations will be working at near maximum output. As all those remaining stations are fitted with ‘Flue Gas Desulphurisation’ (FGD) equipment, to ‘scrub’ sulphur emissions out of the flue gases, not only will they be consuming high volumes of coal but also limestone, brought in by rail, used in the FGD process. As a result of world market conditions (prompted by low demand for coal in the USA) prices are likely to remain low, so imports will take the majority of the increase in UK coal consumption. Hence high levels of coal traffic from Immingham, Tyne, Hull, Liverpool and Hunterston are likely to persist.

All in all ‘Old King Coal’ has a bit of life left in him!

Brian Ringer 406

With the doomed Didcot power station prominent in the background, 66169 passes Milton hauling the 13.20 Didcot to Avonmouth coal empties. The date is 14th March and Didcot had only another week of coal deliveries by rail before the power station closed at the end of the month.

Brian Ringer

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IN CONTROL Part 4

By Maurice G. Boddy

The staffing of the control room was unusual. There was no natural progression like cleaner to engine driver in the motive power department and staff came from a variety of ‘walks of life’ on the railway.

They were mostly clerical staff, but we had former shunters, goods guards, signalmen and firemen.

One of the latter had been a fireman at Copley Hill in the pre‐war ‘Pullman Link’, when one of his engines had been Butler Henderson. The unsocial hours involved limited job applications, but in my case at the time I applied I was currently a shipping clerk at Wellington Street goods depot, permanently on the ’12 noon to finish’ shift. Finish could be anything between 8pm and midnight, and anything was better than that.

The outside staff usually settled in well in the control environment, though we did have a former signalman who decided to return to his former employment. He was afterwards a signalman on the GN main line at Ardsley station. On one occasion (26th October 1959) he forgot about a light engine standing on the down main line and it was run into by a down express, derailing the engine and the first two coaches. The light engine was also partly derailed. By chance one of our Deputy Chief Controllers was a passenger on the train and he went to the signal box to give assistance to the clearly distraught signalman. The DCC told me the engine was Firdaussi, but whether this was the light engine or the train engine I cannot recall.

The prerequisites for becoming a controller seemed to be knowledge of the working timetable and good railway geography. The rest could be picked up by going on courses and taking evening classes.

Written instructions were few. There was the booklet setting out margins and headways at junctions for prioritizing the different classes of trains. Copies of these were held at the appropriate signal boxes, but the control copy was buried in a drawer somewhere and never looked at. Our job was to control priorities in situations where the signalmen were not in full possession of the facts. As the signalman at Wakefield Road (Leeds) box once bluntly put it: “I margins ‘em and you controls ‘em”.

Another booklet, dated 1944 or 1945 from memory, which I found tucked away in the drawer out of sight, covered engine route availability on the Midland. The system was not as sophisticated as the LNER route availability system, where the RA number appeared on the cabside. Engine classes were given codes, such as 5A for the LMS Black Fives, but unless you were steeped in LMS engine types it was heavy going. Railway enthusiasts in control offices were a rarity, and probably a nuisance, so it was left to the shed foremen to worry about route availability. The question only reared up when, because of an accident, diversions were put in place. I was caught out once, for a different reason which I shall mention later.

On a Sunday morning after finishing work at 6am, when I had to walk home as there was no public transport, I would sometimes go via Holbeck shed. Occasionally I would walk around the shed and yard with the foreman while he jotted down every engine number so he knew what he had and where it was. He once moaned to me about a lot of foreign engines in the yard, which of course meant more hard work shunting engines around to position them correctly for when next required. I thought it prudent not to answer that one. At least I knew he wasn’t relying on numbers chalked on the board by the previous shift. I am not sure whether the same system could have applied at the really busy sheds.

On one night shift I was Power Controller and it passed uneventfully. That is until about 5am when an agitated shed foreman at Bolton phoned me to ask what he was supposed to do with Patriot 45522 (I think that was the number) which I had sent him on the 12.10am Copley Hill‐Bolton goods. The engine had been marked up for the job by the late turn shift at Farnley shed and neither that foreman nor the night foreman, nor indeed I, had spotted it wasn’t a normal Patriot but effectively a Royal Scot, which mean it was barred from all lines around Bolton. I would have thought one of the Farnley shed foremen on his rounds would have realised it was unsuitable for the job. Patriots, original or rebuilt, were rare in Leeds, and latterly I only had a note of seeing 45512 Bunsen in Leeds (10th August 1961). So the Patriot on Bolton shed would have caused quite a stir among railway enthusiasts if they had noticed it. Strays were often reported in The Railway Observer and there was usually a good explanation if one only knew. Usually a diversion, special train and so on, but this example was a case of human error, not picked up as it should have been.

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In due course, after we had become NER instead of LM operating area, a ‘Route Availability’ booklet was issued, so we now knew that RA9 engines were permitted on our stretch of Midland main line between Snaygill (just south of Skipton) and Houghton (just north of Wath Road Junction). We were not made aware of what appertained between Houghton and Wath Road Junction in the Rotherham control area, but presumably “it would be alright”. The RA booklet was also consigned to the back of a drawer, the problem still being left to the sheds to worry about. The steam engine fleet was by then being drastically reduced, track conditions had been improved since the war. The biggest engines which had the potential to work down to Leeds were the Beyer Garratt class and I heard of one getting as far as Stourton in the early 1950s, but not during my ‘shift’. They were more common at York, Normanton and Royston. Incidentally I once saw Beyer Garratt 7978 on the LMS shed at Bristol (24th February 1951), though perhaps this was not such a rare sighting as I then thought.

There was quite a lot of light engine working, transferring engines from one shed to another, either to work a specific job or on the way to getting them home eventually. I once sent a 9F 2‐10‐0 light from Normanton to Royston, but the crew underestimated how much steam it needed and half‐way there it stopped on the main line to raise steam. I also sent spare passenger engines to Holbeck, where “they will come in useful for something”. There was a better chance there of finding a spare set of, say, Carlisle (Kingmoor) men who could take an engine back home with them. No wonder the shed foreman at Holbeck wasn’t happy with all these spare engines I kept sending him.

With the diesels there was little chance of an error being made; they only worked on the main lines.

I did once send Deltic D9009 light to Farnley shed to store it over one cold weekend (3rd February 1963), the only occasion I would imagine a Deltic ever appeared on this shed. I visited the shed in the morning and found it parked with its engines running and a brazier nearby to keep it warm, which is not what I had expected.

I once broke a toe and it was in a splint for a week or two, while I just hopped around. Finishing the nightshift one Sunday morning, when under normal circumstances I would have walked home, I had a better solution. I rang Farnley shed and they sent an engine light to Leeds City station, to pick me up and take me back to drop off at Farnley Junction signal box near where I lived. I don’t think that could be done in 2013!

Not much sun in Cornwall on 21st April 2013, but 44871+45407 heading the Newquay-Cardiff leg of the “Great Britain VI” rail tour make a fine sight working hard as they climb the Glyn valley on Largin viaduct. Bernard Mills

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‘What Really Happened to Steam’

The RCTS Response to the Railway Magazine Article

By W. Gordon Davies, Society Chairman It is disappointing that the article printed in the May edition of this magazine contained a great deal of ill informed criticism of the RCTS and we welcome the invitation from the editor of The Railway Magazine to the right of reply.

As always with this type of commentary it contains a number of errors and is economical with the truth. In reading ‘What Really Happened to Steam’ by Roger Butcher I gained the impression that the RCTS is very much anti-HSBT; however, this is far from the truth. The article failed to mention that Mr. Butcher, with the full approval of the RCTS Management Committee (MC) was granted space to have a 900-word article with photographs published in the April 2010 edition of the RCTS magazine The Railway Observer (RO) appealing for information from the society’s members. There was no suggestion in that 2010 article that any society branch should nominate a co-ordinator for the collection of data and the MC was not approached with a request for that to be initiated. Subsequently a letter was sent to all branches from John Aitchison a South Wales RCTS member again calling for information. Of the 30 branches it is reported that only nine submitted information to the HSBT project. However, the MC cannot demand that its members respond to a request for information for an independent project not connected with the Society. It is entirely up to individual members who have an interest in this aspect of locomotive history to respond as they so wish.

Many railway enthusiasts considered August 1968 as ‘the end of the world’ when steam disappeared from BR and gave up their interest once these locomotive were withdrawn. As far as many were concerned, that was it, the end of the story apart from those locomotives that were taken into preservation. How, when and where the locomotive was disposed of was of no great interest at all and the majority of enthusiasts would not have had any records of disposal information.

The Society receives many requests from authors and periodicals including The Railway Magazine (RM) for permission to quote from either the RO or its publications and as a society we are proud to assist and help anyone by providing information for reference and research. Therefore to state that we have failed to help the HSBT is untrue. Recently an author who has never had work published by the RCTS in the past and who is now working on a new publication for the society approached a prominent member of the HSBT team for a very small amount of disposal information and received the reply that “It would now not be right for me to provide the RCTS with disposal data, some of which has been acquired under the auspices of HSBT”. The response continued “I am consulting with the rest of the HSBT team, but doubt there will be agreement to try to assist the RCTS from HSBT databases. If this proves to be the case it will not be ‘personal’ to you, but a reflection of the general relationship between HSBT and certain members of the RCTS hierarchy”. A disappointing response considering that the HSBT group are of the view that the Society has published in certain books incorrect data and here was an opportunity to give some assistance in making sure that we were able to publish as much up to date information with due acknowledgement.

The Society has a long history and reputation of publishing high quality books on not only locomotives but other railway subjects. Since the first Locomotive Stock Book was published in 1935 more than 120 books have been produced, a number of which have become classics in their own right and acknowledged by railway authors and historians as the definitive text on the subject.

The article states that John Walford was editor of the BR Standards series; however that information is incorrect and a more thorough inspection of these books would reveal clearly that the well respected RCTS member R. K. (Dick) Taylor held that title and a dedication to Dick’s work is published in Standards Volume 5. John was the author of three of the books published in the series and he like all our other authors, including the editors, strive to collate and publish accurate information that they have to hand at the time of composing the material.

BR Standards Volume 4, of which John was the author, dealt with the history of the 9Fs; this was published in 2008, twelve months before the HSBT project got off the ground. Therefore to condemn the information published in the book is somewhat unwarranted when this represents information contained in just five of the 317 pages of text in this book.

Mr. Butcher states the RCTS seems reluctant to help us bring an end to the recycling of errors, so why does he acknowledge support from named society branches arising directly from the appeal published in the RO in April 2010? Also mentioned is Rowland Pittard who is the RO Editorial Representative for Wales, therefore to state that RCTS members are not assisting the project is false.

In discussions with John Walford he states that the article makes no mention of the fact that the HSBT team was offered space in the ‘Amendments to Previous Volumes’ section of BR Standards Volume Five to present the results of their researches, let alone why they chose not to take up the opportunity. The reasons for their decision, taken at a very early stage in the project, indeed before we had really got started, are still not clear to him. In a further example of selective presentation, Mr. Butcher has quoted a sentence from one of John’s e-mails to RCTS member Keith Gunner (another HSBT member) as follows: “A block statement of this kind should always arouse scepticism in the mind of the historian”. He does not include the follow-on sentence which reads “The information may well be correct but I would double-check if I were you”. Later in the piece, 410

references to re-sales, subcontracting etc. are again misleading. In another e-mail to Keith, John raised these issues on the assumption that the HSBT team would want to consider them. There was no “attempt to explain” anything.Whilst the only evidence John is aware of on these points is anecdotal, it appears that the team did not trouble to address them. This is disappointing and represents another missed opportunity.

It is over 45 years since steam was withdrawn from service and my personal view is that all authors have to question whether the information now being received by the HSBT from railway enthusiasts is 100% correct and has it or will it be audited by an independent source to ensure its credibility?

It is true that Mr. Butcher, who was a member of the RCTS for nearly four decades and contributed information to the RO and to its publications but has now left the society. The majority of members who resign from the society have the courtesy to submit a letter of resignation explaining their reasons for resigning. Individuals resign for many reasons, some personal, and all resignation letters are reviewed by the Chairman and President who in many cases respond to the concerns expressed in the individual letters. Mr. Butcher did not offer that courtesy to the Society, he just failed to renew his subscription in the 2012 renewals process and is regarded as a lapsed member. He accuses the Society of not understanding that a mixture of the historical and modern has proved a success for other periodicals. Mr. Butcher fails to understand that there are two distinct facets to the RCTS to-day; one is the publication of The Railway Observer, which does exactly what it says in the title. It records in detail the railway scene of today in such a manner that it will be a value to researchers and historians in the future. This it has done continuously since 1928 celebrating its 1,000th edition in 2012. This has been an undoubted success reflected by the demand for back volumes and the digitised searchable versions available on CDs. The other facet, already alluded to, is the publication of all areas of railway history and possibly is best known for the locomotive histories. Perhaps Mr. Butcher needs to take a little time to read a current edition of the RO and look at the RCTS website where he will see both historical and modern presented reflecting exactly this approach.

Mr. Butcher states other members of the HSBT group have retained their membership in the hope that the MC and the BR Standards editor change their position. However, there has been no correspondence received from these members regarding the information contained in our books. I am sure if they felt strongly about the information published in society books they would have contacted our authors or members of the publications committee with their comments and new information as surely would be appropriate for such long standing members rather than stand on the sidelines and criticise the society.

Mr. Butcher is less than economical with the truth in his observations with regard to other publishers. Having spoken to a number of publishers and authors it is obvious that no publisher is going to demand of its authors that they must use HSBT data. Publishers will always leave authors to determine their sources of data and make up their own minds what they should use based on the provenance of the data and their own research with due acknowledgement being made in the resulting publication. This is exactly what we do in the RCTS Publications Committee where in the final manuscript review we often question the author’s sources and ensure that all significant sources are acknowledged. There is no hierarchy, or hidden agendas in the RCTS. The only recent change in policy is that we now invite authors of repute who are not members to write for us.

Such has been the demand that we have recently reprinted The Jubilee 4-6-0s authored by Ray Townsin. Since this book was first published in 2006 additional information from readers, members and further research by the author based on comments received has come to hand therefore the reprint is now a second edition demonstrating again that if we discover additional or updated information we are willing to publish that data.

The Society has a history of updating first editions, Locomotives of the LNER Part 11 perhaps being the classic example. Indeed BR Standards Volume Five had the role of bringing together all the available updated information gathered since Volume One was published in 1994.

As Mr. Butcher has acknowledged in writing to my predecessor as Chairman ‘’Peter Hands published invaluable books in the early 1980s (in his What Happened to Steam Series) to which I refer to the books constantly’’ and ‘’as a significant amount of storage and scrapping data has now become available, the RCTS is working on how best to make this information easily available’’.

Using the RM and other periodicals to criticise a society such as the RCTS is counterproductive and will not win the HSBT group any friends or respect especially when not all the facts are accurately presented and this approach will cause concern to future authors and publishers. Under my Chairmanship the RO would not be used to attack the work of the HSBT group despite what has just been published in the RM and is being published in other magazines. We are all railway enthusiasts and since taking on the role of Society Chairman I have found that all societies and organisations work well in harmony to a common aim and that is the ‘enjoyment of railways’ as a hobby and relaxation whether at home or abroad. The co-operation and assistance that I have had from various individuals and organisations has been tremendous. The RCTS wishes the HSBT team well in its goals and the Society is willing to assist again as it did in April 2010.

Finally as Chairman of the RCTS I am very willing to host a meeting between the Society Publications Committee members and its authors with Mr. Butcher and members of the HSBT group to understand and resolve the issues which concern them and to agree on what basis they can use the copyright information published by the society in the RO during the 1960s concerning the storage and disposal of steam locomotives.

W. Gordon Davies 411

PLUMB’S RAMBLINGS Part 7 – Wartime Problems, 1941 and 1942 During the Thursday night bombing of Sheffield on 12th December 1940, Ken and I had dealt with incendiary bombs near our house in Gleadless (during the war years our father worked on nights at the Brightside factory of English Steel Corporation), but fortunately not on the Sunday after, when Sheffield’s east end suffered badly.

On the Monday morning Ken and I were to visit Brightside foundry near 19A shed and were apprehensive as to what we might encounter on our bicycles. It was still dark as we rode down the Prince of Wales Road dual carriageway to Darnall, where the road narrowed to pass under the GCR main line. Here, an abandoned car, illegally with no lights or white painted bumpers, was parked by the kerb. In the black-out and with shaded cycle lamps we stood no chance, Ken was outside me and his bike glanced off the offside bumper, but I crashed fully into the car making a huge dent just above the small oval rear window with my head, then fell on to the steel bumper, broke off my front upper teeth and I laid unconscious in the road.

By a wonderful quirk of fate, my elderly grandfather, who walked from Gleadless to his workshop in Darnall every morning, came across us two minutes later, went into a nearby shop and phoned for an ambulance.

Ken carried on the journey to deliver his site timesheets and mine, but my faithful £2 Raleigh bike was a complete write-off. An ambulance duly arrived and I was carted off to the Royal Infirmary where the stumps of my front teeth were removed; fortunately my head was unusually hard and nothing else was broken.

Needless to say, the idiot who had pushed his long disused old car into the downhill road, hoping it would start, was never located and I never received any compensation.

So for my Christmas and 17th birthday present I received a brand new Raleigh “Silver Speed” bicycle with three gears. In the four years I had ridden the old model for pleasure and for work I estimated I had pedalled some 12 to 13,000 miles. So for some weeks I was somewhat toothless at work with some jovial banter from workmates, before embarking on a lifetime of false teeth, currently some 71 years.

As I was now 17, wages rose again to 9d per hour and as so many of the smaller specialist steel works in Sheffield had been bombed we were kept extremely busy rebuilding mechanical services installations, involving overtime and Sunday working.

Both Sheffield stations had been badly damaged in the ‘Blitz’, as had much of the extensive tramway system, each requiring rapid repairs and rebuilding.

As Ken was over 18, he was obliged to join the Home Guard and I spent more and more time away from home on sites at Doncaster, Scunthorpe, Brough, Darley Dale, the Hope Valley and Manchester areas. Many involved daily rail journeys, others meant lodging overnight. I still recall Sentinel Railcar True Blue at Brough, regular Compounds and some Jubilees on daily trips to Hope, journeys to Doncaster brought a wide variety of Directors and GN Atlantics, but more about these later.

So into 1942 with a rise to 10½d per hour and regular trips to a greenfield site in Doncaster, which was to become known as the Tank Factory; the large new complex was built adjacent to the GC & H&BR Joint Line running north/south.

We travelled from Sheffield Victoria on the 6.40am local train with stops at Broughton Lane, Tinsley, Rotherham Central, Rotherham Road, Parkgate & Aldwarke, Kilnhurst, Swinton, Mexborough and Conisbrough on the one-hour journey.

At various times we used the 8.00am train with similar stops, the 6.40 train was a Neepsend turn and the 8.00 a Doncaster turn. The Sprotborough bus service outside the station took us to the site and returned us after work in time for the 5.30pm from Doncaster; a Hull to Manchester semi-fast train, this was a Mexborough turn. Having travelled regularly for some weeks, I had noticed the wide variety of locomotives hauling these trains and decided it may be worthwhile making notes when possible. So from Wednesday 11th March 1942 until 4th August 1942 I took details of 217 either up or down journeys including some 90% of the engine numbers. During the first four days I recorded engines of classes K3, C1, B17 and D10 on down trains and B2, B5, C4 + J11 and C1 + B5 on up trains.

The 5.30pm train was due into Victoria at 6.13pm with stops at Mexborough and Rotherham Central only, but if loaded to more than nine coaches took a pilot engine from Rotherham for the long 1 in 60 bank through Broughton Lane to Woodburn Junction.

This happened on 24 occasions, the usual pilot being the N4 0-6-2T shunting in the goods yard, but B5, B6, J11 and J39s were also noted.

Sheffield turns were usually by D10 or D11 Directors (41 runs with 13 different locomotives), Doncaster turns were C1 Ivatt Atlantics (44 runs with 25 different locomotives) and Mexborough 412

turns were B5 Fish class (79 runs with 6 different locomotives), with 5181 and 5183 being used 30 times each. So in the recorded period of 217 runs, 82 different locomotives were used representing 19 classes, namely: B2, B5, B6, B7, B16, B17, C1, C4, C5, C7, D9, D10, D11, D49, J11, J39, K3, N4 and N5. Named engines were well represented, mainly Great Central of course. Herewith listed with number of times used: Loco Used 5423 B2 5426 B2 5427 B2 2831 B17 2847 B17 2853 B17 2867 B17 5258 C5 5430 5432 5433

D10 D10 D10

Times Sir Sam Fay 3 City of Chester 1 City of London* 1 Serlby Hall 1 Helmingham Hall 2 Huddersfield Town 1 Bradford 2 The Rt. Hon. Viscount Cross G.C.B., G.C.S.I. 1 Purdon Viccars 1 Sir Edward Fraser 5 Walter Burgh Gair 7

5434 5435 5436 5437 5501 5502 5503 5506 5508 5509 205

Loco Used D10 D10 D10 D10 D11 D11 D11 D11 D11 D11 D49

The Earl of Kerry Sir Clement Royds Sir Berkeley Sheffield Worsley-Taylor Mons Zeebrugge Somme Butler-Henderson Prince of Wales Prince Albert The Albrighton

Times 2 1 5 1 3 5 1 4 1 5 1

* name was removed in 1937 22 named locomotives used on 54 runs After these marathon travels, meaning I would leave home about 6am and get back by around 6.50pm, six and sometimes seven days per week, with workman’s fares of 11½d return (rising to 1/0½d later, we were paid 19/6d per week lodging allowance), I was very pleased to ease down.

The push to get the new factory into production (it manufactured urgently needed cast treads for tanks) by August 1942 was largely completed. Rail connections and sidings had been laid and a brand new 0-4-0ST shunting locomotive arrived (Bagnall No.2660/1942). I seem to recall, raw materials and finished products being rail-transported.

Our large contingent of ‘Journeyman Craftsmen’ and labourers was run down and finally, although being an 18 year-old advanced apprentice, I was retained on site with my mate, a local ex-miner. I decided to lodge with his family at Bentley, having ridden my new Raleigh bicycle from Sheffield.

So we plodded on, doing general installation of gas and compressed air facilities in the melting shops and casting bays until the end of 1942, when I was recalled to transfer to a new project at Wellingborough Iron Co. Ltd. There was a prize, my employers Brightside Foundry & Engineering Co. had started an incentive bonus scheme and as I had been at Sprotborough almost twice as long as any of the craftsmen, I received a handsome bonus of £46 (around £1,200 in today’s money). I started my first bank account and never looked back! to be continued The Foxfield Railway held a celebration of Bagnall locomotives, on 6th/7th April. Visiting Port of Par locomotives Alfred and Judy are seen descending the 1 in 18 bank to Foxfield colliery somewhat dwarfed by the brakevan on Jon Hughes 7th April.

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DONCASTER DIVERSITY! Doncaster has long been one of the most popular locations for rail observation and its attraction seems to have increased recently with the current troubles at Stainforth. During a two-hour mid-afternoon session observation seeing over a dozen freight movements has been a common occurence.

Above - One of the many freight workings diverted through Doncaster due to the Stainforth slip saw 66510 with empty coal hoppers crossing the middle roads through the station heading for Belmont yard on 19th April 2013.

David Kelso Below - A pair of DRS Cl.20s (20312+20304) head south towards Decoy yards on 2nd April bracketing two of Mike Rhodes Network Rails Windhoff MPV multi purpose maintenance vehicles.

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BRANCH NEWS Bristol. On 5th April Keith Strickland showed b/w photographs “In Search of Steam”, taken from his latest book of the same title. A photographer of railways in the landscape, we visited Argentina, Austria, Bosnia, Brazil, Burma, Chile, China, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, India, Jordan, New Zealand, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Serbia, South Africa, Syria, Turkey and Ukraine, having started in the UK at Chard Junction and Kilmersdon colliery.

Keith’s photographs were taken over the last 40 years and the majority showed working steam. Highlights included a weekly train in Argentina, the famous Jing Peng Pass in China, a colliery in Bosnia still using steam in 2012 (including a USA 0-6-0T) and, in preservation, “The Kingston Flyer” in New Zealand. A fascinating evening of superb images.

As an ambassador for the charity, Keith gave us some revealing facts into the work of the Railway Children charity.

Cambridge. In April we welcomed Chris Banks with his ever popular “Engine Sheds in Steam Days”. This time we visited 13 London sheds, starting at Bricklayers Arms with locomotives from classes V, C, E1 and N on shed. Nine Elms, Norwood Junction and Stewarts Lane held a wide range of SR power ranging from BR Standards to a G16 4-8-0T and Bulleid Pacifics, some in immaculate condition. Hither Green presented the unusual sight of a clean Q1 33010 in March 1960.

Camden revealed 46225 Duchess of Gloucester and 71000 Duke of Gloucester, although not at the same time. Willesden produced a 9F, Duchesses, Royal Scots, Jubilees and Black Fives and of special note was Standard 5 73014, a regular CambridgeBletchley performer. Cricklewood held Garratt 47981 in May 1955 and Kentish Town had rebuilt Patriot 45532 Illustrious. At Kings Cross the iconic line-ups included A4s, A1s, V2s and even a 9F, 92180, plus a collection of N2s. Plaistow housed 3Ps 41969 and 41986 and a line of locomotives awaiting their fate in 1958.

Cheltenham. On 16th April we held our Annual Business Meeting at which the present committee was re-elected en bloc, which was taken by those present to be a great compliment to them.

Regrettably there were no volunteers to take over any posts, so Steve Wilson continues as Chairman, with John Howland (Secretary.) Richard Morris (Treasurer), Paul Gearey (IT matters) and Clive Davies (outdoor visits). After the 40-minute meeting entertainment was provided, firstly by John Champion with monochrome slides from the 1950s having mainly a West Country flavour, plus a few taken at Blisworth, and Mike Burdge with a mixture which included his favourite industrial backgrounds in places such as the Phurnacite plant at Penrhiwceiber and Buildwas power station.

Digital contributions, after some delay with the computer being abnormally mulish, came from Stewart Blencowe (Egypt), Colin Willats (some old station buildings and infrastructure including Selby swing bridge) and Richard Morris (Swiss scenes, plus a few shots at the Cobham bus rally on a very wet day). It was agreed that the

revolutionary ‘Borismaster’ was not exactly pleasing to the eye! Steve Wilson gave us a few local shots plus a fine view of the Coal Tank running as LMS 7799 at Bridgnorth.

Chichester. In April Douglas Irvine presented “The History of St. Pancras Station”. Finding an appropriate area of land of sufficient size for a railway terminus between Pentonville Road and Euston Road posed many questions.

Despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles the desired objective was completed with remarkable speed, by 1868 for Barlow’s magnificent train shed and by 1874 for George Gilbert Scott’s Midland Grand Hotel. Adjacent to Cubitt’s 1852 Kings Cross station, the land presented a major problem given the potentially prohibitive escape gradient from the terminus. Raising the terminus high above ground level upon columns solved the problem, providing a vast storage space beneath designed to accommodate beer barrels from Burton. The hotel enjoyed a relatively short period of celebrity status, followed by an agonizingly long period of alternative use and ultimate dereliction. Recently the building was restored to a condition of exceptional magnificence. Barlow’s grand train shed survives to enjoy a similar renaissance; beautifully restored, it now serves the needs of Eurostar, Southeastern and East Midlands Trains.

Douglas took us from start to finish in an accomplished, accessible presentation, delivered with conspicuous attention to detail.

Croydon & South London. Our afternoon meeting at Redhill on 27th March welcomed Nicholas Owen, television presenter, newsreader and Driver Standards Manager of the Volk’s Electric Railway, Brighton with his talk on “Sixty Years of Loving Southern Electrics”.

Chronologically he took us from his first sighting of a Southern electric train at Kingswood at the age of eight; geographically he took us from Tattenham Corner to London Bridge and Victoria and back to Brighton; technically he took us from 4-SUB units to Cl.377 Electrostars. Nicholas described his involvement with the formation of the Southern Electric Group and his work as a volunteer driver on the VER. He explained the background to his passion for electric trains rather than for steam despite being fascinated by the few remaining local freight workings in and around the Southern Region and his work for the Bluebell Railway.

For this particular audience his reminiscences were mainly railway related – but always fascinating!

At our regular evening meeting in Croydon on 8th April Geoff Potter gave us “An Introduction to the Fascinating World of Railway Simulation”. No, not the multi-million pound simulators used by Train Operating Companies to train drivers, Geoff told us about his enjoyment of computer simulations as a hobby. Early commercial simulations were fairly basic requiring a lot of imagination to obtain maximum enjoyment.

He described the characteristics of early simulations such as Train Simulator, designed for use on a PC, and on through Trainz and other commercial programs

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with free or low-cost add-ons providing supplementary rolling stock and track features.

Although it was abandoned by Microsoft soon after it was launched, Train Simulator remains popular with what Geoff described as ‘the virtual railway community’. He showed how to build a virtual model railway using components from websites to support his own programming activities. It was a fascinating insight into the hobby, but did Geoff inspire us to try this for ourselves? Who can tell?

East Midlands. Stephen Gay visited us again on 26th March with “Railways in a Yorkshire Landscape”. Leaving Sheffield for Hull, Stephen’s keen eye for detail was soon evident and we saw shots from unusual vantage points around Doncaster taken from some high-rise residential flats. Also shown were dramatic photographs of the recent landslip at Stainforth, marine transport on the rivers crossed and views from the Humber Bridge. A trip to Harrogate revealed his patience in striving to get the perfect picture - he will get off the train or bus somewhere that has a very limited service, resulting in a very long wait before or after taking the desired shot. We then had an equally good journey along the Settle & Carlisle, with photographs of the obvious and less obvious.

Again, Stephen would be out in freezing weather and exposed to the elements to get his photograph.

Throughout the presentation we were treated to some of his poetry relevant to the journey. A splendid evening once again, and thanks too to Wrawby, Stephen’s faithful dog – but not quite out in all weathers!

Phil Lockwood and Enid Vincent returned in April to present “Diverted – Rotherham to Doncaster and Shirebrook”. Starting at Rotherham Masborough, whilst still in use as a passenger station, we were taken on this roundabout route through South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire visiting many collieries and industrial and lineside locations. The photographs were taken from the 1970s to date including current and first generation diesel classes on freight duties, diverted passenger and excursion trains.

At several locations the present-day image showed how much the infrastructure had changed over the years. The Mickleover test track, where the images were taken on our branch visit, marked the extremity of our journey before returning north to bypass Doncaster on the South Yorkshire Joint to Kirk Sandall Junction and Doncaster.

Hitchin. The Gloucester-Warwickshire Railway was Bernie Holland’s subject on 26th March.

Bernie, a member of the G-WR movement for over 30 years, explained the line’s development from its very earliest days and started by showing familiar traction including GWR Castles and Granges, LMR 8Fs, 9Fs, Black Fives and WDs. Prior to closure a great deal of traffic was always seen on race days at Cheltenham. The first locomotive to run on the restored line was Cadbury No.1 and as the line developed resident and visiting engines came to include many and varied types of traction such as Flying Scotsman, Green Arrow, City of Truro and ex-S&DJR 7F 88. Fund raising events have included Thomas weekends, vintage vehicle rallies, brake van rides and film work for various

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television series. Bernie showed slides from both cab and brakevan rides detailing various projects and the problems that have beset the railway. The preservation group is now looking forward to further developments to the north and south, hoping eventually to connect with NR at Honeybourne.

On 10th April Steve Ollive gave us a superb account of the railways around Berlin during the very cold new year of 2009. To set the scene we saw views of the city’s wonderful buildings including the exterior and interior of the recently completed Bahnhof station, which covers part of the old Berlin Wall. We saw traction using the station varying from the S-Bahn units to the ICE trains and including the many and varied single railbus units that run almost everywhere. After seeing Cologne, Bonn, Koblenz and their railways we saw scenes of Steve and friends using a Rhineland period ticket over an Easter holiday following and travelling on steam specials. It was fascinating to see how others cope with crowds watching and filming their railways - far more relaxed than in the UK, no barriers and few restrictions preventing you from getting close and allowing much more personal discretion in these matters. Steve finished with a look at the exhibits in the Koblenz Railway Museum on a special open weekend, with many classes of locomotive old and new. A really good evening, enjoyed by everyone.

Ipswich. On 8th April we welcomed Peter Groom with “East Midlands around 1960”. Peter showed us B&W slides starting in his home town of Melton Mowbray which then boasted two stations, one of which did not welcome train spotters! Near Ashfordby tunnel we saw many steam-hauled workings including the Royal Train behind two immaculate Black Five 4-6-0s, ex-MR 4-4-0s piloting Jubilees to St. Pancras and Garratts on the long coal trains to London. Moving south through Wellingborough, Bedford, Seaton Junction and Harringworth viaduct we saw more unusual workings including an ex-LTS tank locomotive on a mixed train at Uppingham and the ex-HR Jones Goods at Bedford for filming purposes. Peter had a lineside photo permit (except for the WR) and he used this at Rugby to record many steam and early diesel workings from the station signal boxes. Our final call was at Derby including an open day, scenes at which would have given today’s HSE nightmares. Amongst many locomotives seen were the withdrawn Lickey banker, a visiting ex-GER Claud 4-4-0 from Lincoln and the unique Fell diesel in operation. We ran out of time to visit the Nottingham area, but it was enjoyable to see a somewhat under-recorded part of the country.

Lancashire & North West. On 27th March member Graham Roose presented slides taken between 1978 and 2007, showing main line diesels, a smattering of multiple units and a few steam locomotives. Graham prefers the quiet of the countryside to the bustle of towns and cities and this was reflected in his photography. We enjoyed scenes along many branch lines including Redmire, Warcop, Cauldon Lowe, Rylstone, Severn Beach, Merehead, Radstock, Wenford and some from the South Wales valleys. Main lines included those

west of Bath and Salisbury and a Scottish selection ranging from Thurso to Stranraer. Graham had searched out locations where nature as well as the railway could be enjoyed. This was an outstanding selection of material from comparatively recent years, although the vast majority are now unrepeatable.

Merseyside, Chester & North Wales. Seven members gathered together at the south end of Doncaster’s platform 3 to watch the intensity of railway activity on 9th April. With the temporary closure of the Scunthorpe line there was a procession of freight traffic throughout the day, with many trains being held south of the station.

Additional DRS light engine workings also contributed to the scene. Passenger services were using different platforms to those normally seen, and the weather was generally kind for our group.

Two members journeyed to and from Adwick in order to have first rides on certain EMUs and the humour was flowing as thick and fast as ever on the platform.

Fifteen members and friends participated in the annual Chester Model Railway Club/Ffestiniog Railway (Dee & Mersey Group) rail tour of 20th April. Starting out from Hooton the train headed via Shrewsbury and Bath to Weymouth, where an afternoon of virtually unbroken sunshine was enjoyed. 67029 Royal Diamond was the motive power for both outward and return journeys.

Thanks go to John Feild for arranging the RCTS standard class party group booking.

FOXFIELD FOLLIES! Below - Giesl ejector-fitted Bagnall 0-6-0ST built in 1954 for the NCB, Florence No.2 climbs the incline from Foxfield colliery at the railway’s Bagnall gala on 7th April.

Above - The Port of Par duo of Alfred and Judy climbing the 1 in 18 bank from the colliery site; they were banked by the railway’s Bagnall Myfanwy. The size of the Par engines is emphasised by the 16-ton both by Jon Hughes mineral wagon behind.

Milton Keynes. Society member David Walker gave a slide show on 4th April entitled “All Colours of the Rainbow”. This took us right back to the early days of BR, with modern traction of the time mostly being black except for Southern green 10201-3. All classes of locomotives were then seen together with the early DMUs, some of which had rather short lives as traffic decreased. The drab overall blue livery spoilt the very attractive liveries most of them carried from new, but things changed in the 1980s with the arrival of sectorisation.

Liveries started to change, the most startling being at NSE under Chris Green’s influence, but this was nothing to what happened following privatisation.

David brought us up to date with examples of all current liveries, some of which sit very pleasantly on the rolling stock and others which are not so pleasing to the eye. A night of both happy memories and reminders of what our railway has been through over the past 60 years.

Northampton. John Chalcraft gave a digital presentation of superb photography entitled “British Railways Archive 1948-1968” on 18th March, consisting of work from many well known top-flight photographers and including some of his own photographs. Commencing with a new Merchant Navy Pacific hauling “The Bournemouth

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Belle” at Clapham Junction, we moved year by year to finish in 1968 with a great selection of locomotive types engaged on crack services and on the more mundane duties. The introduction of the Standard steam classes was shortly followed by the introduction of new diesel locomotives and multiple units. There were excellent shed scenes at Willesden (with 20+ locomotives visible), Camden and many more lesser places. We saw Standard locomotives under construction at Crewe and Swindon together with older locomotives undergoing repair. It was sad to see the cab of a recently scrapped 70007 (built 1951, withdrawn 1965), lying on its side in a works yard after just 14 years of service. The years covered were times of great change in our quest for ever faster and higher capacity trains and these too had been masterfully caught by the photographers in top quality B&W and colour and then ably transferred to digital format.

Unfortunately our guest speaker Keith Halton became unavailable a few days before our meeting on 8th April, but he sent the presentation on disc to allow committee member Jack Knights to present “The Thirties in Black and White” from the Risdon-Prentice collection. Jack had obviously done his homework, but he warned the large audience that he would need help to identify some of the locomotives and most of the locations. There is nothing like an emergency to bring folk together, some joined in with less than knowledgeable enthusiasm and sometimes there were as many suggestions of locations as participants, but Jack kept on course in great style. We started with mainly LNER locomotives, with conjecture over class E4 2-4-0 444 and the number of renumberings the locomotive had suffered. Ex-GCR and M&GN, Port of London Authority and Metropolitan types provided more ammunition before a series of terrific shots of locomotives in Holland and France which attracted little comment, doubtless our members knew about these but decided to keep the details secret! The final part of this superb collection was principally from the Southern Railway, with Brighton Baltic tanks and track-straddling signal boxes; no problem to our resident ‘Brighton’ man who soon saw them off, locations and all!

North East. On 11th April at Newcastle Bill Fawcett told us about about Thomas Elliott Harrison. Bill described Harrison’s interesting life and times as an engineer responsible for many viaducts and bridges, most of which still survive.

Unfortunately an electricity supply problem caused a change of room at very short notice which detracted from the evening a little, but this was a very well researched and presented talk about a somewhat neglected engineer. We all gained quite a lot of local knowledge.

Ian McInness presented “Railways and Remembrance” on 18th April at Darlington. This was another talk with a difference, the first half describing the railways’ wartime contributions (particularly to World War I, which we could not even approach today) and the second half covering the various locomotives named in remembrance and monuments to be seen in sometimes

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unexpected places on the railway system today.

This talk highlighted how easy it is to forget nowadays just how much we owed to the railways and railwaymen through those dark days.

Peterborough. The last indoor meeting of the current winter programme saw an audience of 22 members and friends welcome local speaker David Gunning with his presentation titled “Steam around the World”. Due to some personal problems David had to widen the scope of his show, and a better title would have “Transport around the World”. We did see steam but also shots of modern traction, usually whilst he was waiting for steam to appear. Countries visited included India, Germany, Switzerland and Cuba, as well as the UK where we visited the WCML, the S&C in Cumbria and the fenland country of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire. Other transport modes included the last days of the London Routemaster buses, trams in a number of places and the steamers on Lake Lucerne. David also included some interesting shots of unusual railway signs, of railway personnel and of some tourist sites, including the Taj Mahal and some stunning views of sunrise over Mount Everest. This was a very interesting show and we look forward to a return visit.

Scottish. In April we welcomed noted railway photographer Ian Lothian, whose presentation “A Year’s Adventures Through the Camera Lens” rendered a most interesting evening’s viewing, including indigenous and North American images.

UK machinery included Cl.47s, 66s and 67s on a diverse variety of diagrams and in various colour schemes. Cargoes included coal from Hunterston to Longannet at Stirling and alumina from North Blyth to Fort William. The Royal Train with a Cl.67 at Grangemouth, “The Royal Scotsman” at Dunfermline and “The Northern Belle” Pullman at Fauldhouse were illustrated. Classes 158, 170, 334 and 380 were displayed. Steam haulage included 46115 Scots Guardsman showing its mettle on Dalgetty bank, a Black Five and coaches at Gartcosh on a WCRC ECS from Carnforth to Fort William and a GWR Castle with GWR coaches at Bo’ness before working a rail tour across the Forth Bridge. The North American section produced a variety of locomotives and cargoes in a number of scenic locations. The commentary furnished a large quantity of background information, which was much appreciated. The enjoyable evening concluded with a Q&A session.

Sheffield. The inclement weather reduced our numbers on 25th March for Stewart Donohue’s slide show entitled “A Brush with Sir Nigel”, relating the numerical comparison between the Gresley Pacifics and today’s Cl.60s. Starting at 60001 the slides alternated between diesel and steam up to 60100, thence steam only to 60112 and straying slightly to include the renumbered 60500 and the original A2. The different liveries, name changes, modifications, experiments and allocations for steam and diesel locomotives were shown, and the country-wide locations of the Cl.60s highlighted the different traffic worked by these locomotives. The final shot showed many of the class stored at Toton. This excellent evening’s

O & K 0-6-0WT 11784/1928 Sao Domingos repatriated from northern Portugal stands in the upper yard of the Great Bush Railway at Tinkers Park, West Sussex, home of the Claude Jessett collection on the occasion of the David Kelso NGRS visit on 6th April 2013.

entertainment satisfied both steam and diesel enthusiasts. Better weather combined with the local subject of “Penistone to Nottingham Victoria and Derby Friargate” gave an increased attendance for Mike Eggenton’s slide show on 8th April. Using a map to show the lines covered, we were transported to Penistone to begin the journey.

Mike did not strictly follow the GCR and GNR routes and occasionally diverted to MR lines for the out and home trip. The slides were a mixture of B&W and colour shots and included many once-familiar locations and a range of locomotives from industrial shunters to the LNER Garratt, with many pre-Grouping classes. We also saw Cl.76 and Cl.77 electrics, a few early diesel classes, rail tours, depots and scrapyards. The show made everyone realise just how much has gone in the last 50 years as many of the locations shown do not now give any indication of a railway ever having been there. An excellent evening of nostalgia and our thanks to Mike for such an expert presentation.

Solent. The term ‘community rail’ is a reasonably recent innovation, and in our area one such service is the Salisbury to Romsey local service. In April Mark Miller gave a presentation on “The Three Rivers Partnership”. He explained the nature of the stakeholders involved (councils, train operators and local businesses) and funding (grants, donations, sales), production of leaflets (including one on pubs near the stations) and the organisation of a free Sunday bus service from the stations to local attractions. Besides the stations served by the local service three stations on the Fareham line are now overseen by the partnership, with three more about to join and so taking the influence to Bursledon. Volunteers are being recruited to look after the stations, plant gardens or clear overgrown

areas. Ideas are still being explored to provide extra car parking at Dean and Mottisfont & Dunbridge stations. During the course of questions Mark was seen taking notes as general questions became short discussion points and then constructive ideas. Community rail now means much more to us.

South Essex. Worldwide traveller Godfrey Gould presented “Third World Steam” in April. Starting in Burma in 2002 we saw steam power, often British-built, interspersed with scenes of local life including passengers riding on roofs and in sugar cane wagons. Cuba in 1995 revealed the wonderful Hershey Railway, a 1,500 V d.c overhead system with ancient and typically American cars and steeple cab locomotives. The sugar cane railways were in full use with a huge variety of standard and narrow gauge tender and tank locomotives, nearly all built in the USA. The steeply graded line from the port of Massawa in Eritrea climbs 7,500 feet to the capital, Asmara, through spectacular mountainous country and the Italian tank locomotives have to work very hard. India’s variety of locomotives and gauges, the hill railways to Darjeeling and the Nilgiri rack were particularly interesting. The big contrast in living conditions was shown with shots of slums very close to the magnificent Mysore Palace. Brief visits to Nepal and Peru were followed by the classic British-built Garratts in Zambia. Neighbouring Zimbabwe also had Garratts aplenty, with one posed on a special atop the Victoria Falls bridge. The Wankie Coal Company were using massive NB- and Henschel-built 2-8-2s and even a cement works had a 4-8-2 shunter.

Godfrey’s pithy and humourous commentary completed an excellent evening.

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South Wales/De Cymru. In March Jeff Morgan presented “The Barry Railway”. Formed in the late 19th century, the Barry Dock and Railway Company was created by coal owners to overcome congestion at Cardiff docks. The Barry’s difficult routes required two long tunnels, two stone viaducts and three substantial girder viaducts.

The expansion to the Rhymney, Ogmore and Llynfi valleys was covered with mention of proposals to reach the Swansea valley and the Western valleys of Monmouthshire, both thwarted by World War I. The extensive locomotive fleet showed a surprising degree of standardisation, but included locomotives built in Belgium and America and the first British 0-8-2T. Decline followed in the 1920s and duplicated routes were reduced after 1923.

Although the main line from Cadoxton to the valleys closed in the 1960s, the branch to Cogan and Cardiff continues to thrive. The Vale of Glamorgan line closed to passengers in 1964 but re-opened in 2005. A small amount of freight runs to No. 2 Dock but the principal flow is coal and oil to Aberthaw power station. The Bridgend-BarryCardiff route is still used by diversions from the GWR main line. A fascinating presentation; where else could be found a dock and railway which exported 13,000,000 tons of coal in one year without directly serving a single colliery?

On 10th April Sheffield photographer, poet, dog lover and railway raconteur Stephen Gay presented another of his “Picture Postcard Railway Rambles”, covering the Sheffield-Edale section of the former MR line to Manchester.

Stephen gave a detailed history of the line and its motive power but with an entertaining and diverse selection of ‘picture postcard ‘ views of stations, infrastructure and trains in the landscape. The photographs covered the last seven years and all seasons in the Peak District, and departed from the main line to cover long-disused quarry inclines, the remains of a seven-mile line built solely for the construction of dams and the stunning scenery, especially the long walk over the hill through which Totley tunnel was driven. He has an enviable eye for a viewpoint but the tales of his patience, persistence and perseverance to achieve the desired shot would shame the vast majority of photographers. Rarely can a shot of a mundane DMU cause much interest, but Stephen succeeded in doing so. Some of his snow scenes were truly exceptional, but then as we started to shiver we were advised where to obtain the best breakfast and a pint of tea along the line. A thoroughly entertaining evening, and we look forward to another visit next season.

Surrey. Brian Ringer returned on 23rd April with “Strictly Freight - Part II” to continue the story of railfreight operations. Brian concentrated on coal traffic from the 1960s to the present day, describing the development of specially-designed wagons and equipment, new and more powerful locomotives to haul greater capacity trains and the development of the MGR system. Currently most coal goes to power stations to produce electricity, hence a continuous and reliable supply is essential.

Interlinking social history and the considerable changes of recent times, Brian described how large scale deep mining in the UK has become

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uneconomic and the vast majority of coal is now imported. The MGR trains now mainly operate from ports to power stations and the innovations have been adapted to meet today’s requirements.

Coal is not the only product to be moved in bulk and aggregate traffic was also covered in the presentation. As before, this was an excellent, coherent and interesting presentation with good technical detail and social context.

Sussex. For our March meeting we welcomed back John Blackwell to continue our journey along the Coastway West. We started where we left off at Durrington-on-Sea, where John discussed the very brutal Art Deco styling which makes it look more like a bomb shelter than a station! We proceeded along the line to Portsmouth Harbour and John showed photographs of stations that remained long after they became disused at Lyminster, Woodgate and Drayton. These had originally been built as the railway expanded westwards but fell out of use as the line reached to its final terminus. Drayton was built to support the Goodwood races, but was superseded by Lavant when the Chichester-Midhurst line was built.

John took us down all the associated branches to Littlehampton, Bognor (Bognor Regis from 1929), Hayling Island and Southsea East. He also covered the The Hundred of Manhood & Selsey Tramway of Colonel Holman F. Stephens fame, upon which one of the LCGB members present was able to tell us that as a very small child he had travelled on the line in one of the Model T Ford railcars. We ended the evening discussing how the railway had to breach the various harbour defences to enter Portsmouth.

The booked speaker for our April meeting was Bert Moody with “The Railways of Southampton”.

Unfortunately, Bert was indisposed on the day but his friend, Paul Gosling, gave the presentation instead. We saw various stations within an area bounded by Sholing, Southampton Airport and Redbridge, all illustrated by a variety of shots from the earliest times to the present day. Bert had taken shots of many signal boxes and some magnificent signal gantries prior to the centralisation of signalling in the area, together with scenes around 1966 just prior to electrification with the insulator pots by the trackside awaiting installation. The docks area was discussed and we were shown Southampton Central station before the Western Docks were constructed in the 1930s.

Who today would believe that the beach was once a road’s width away from this station? An interesting series of shots showed the original Central, the 1930s rebuilding, bomb damage, 1970s vandalism and the recent works that have repaired the war damage in a most sympathetic manner.

This was a talk that was full of interest and we thank Paul most sincerely for stepping in. We also hope that Bert has made a full recovery.

Thames Valley. In a change to the advertised programme, Garry Kennor had to postpone his talk on the Great Western electrification.

He substituted this with a talk on the railway archive, a project he is in the midst of to produce a website of all railway accidents in the UK. The workload is obviously immense, from producing the original

TOP ‘O’ THE ‘TOON The Castle Keep at Newcastle has long provided one of the most spectacular views of rail operations in the UK and, despite layout simplification and the transfer of most coastal commuter services to the Metro, continues to do so. At 12.55 on an extremely wet 25th April, HSTs pass with (above) the southbound “Highland Chieftain” rests at platform 4 whilst the “Northern Lights”, with 43238 leading, departs for Aberdeen. A few minutes later (below) 220024 works the 13.00 departure to Reading out of platform 3 and over the High Level Bridge towards the site of the former Gateshead shed, now the site of a riverside apartment complex. For such views, the Keep is well worth Mike Robinson the £4.00 admission - even on a dismal day!

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list of accidents to scanning the original documents for loading on to the web. Garry explained the problems he faced, not the least being the time involved. A lively discussion followed, giving Garry some useful clues for future investigation. Many thanks are due to Garry for producing an interesting talk about a subject that was a closed book to most of the audience. We look forward to hearing his planned talk at a future date.

Watford. On 2nd April Bernie Holland presented “Chunnel – The Inside Story”.

After final agreement in 1986 Eurotunnel employed an Anglo-French consortium, Transmanche Link, to construct the tunnel. Aerial views of Cheriton and Coquelles and interior views showing the tunnel boring machines revealed the scale of the task, all controlled from a computerised centre at Sangatte.

The budget of £4½ billion grew to exceed £12 billion, most of which was written off leaving many private shareholders with losses of 80%. Passenger and freight shuttle trains are gauge-restricted to run only between Cheriton and Coquelles. The Eurostar services brought forth Waterloo International terminal and North Pole depot, both later decommissioned with the opening of St. Pancras International. Another comedy of errors was the Nightstar fiasco, where millions were lost before the rolling stock was sold for a song to the Canadian ViaRail. A visit to Dollands Moor showed the ghost of a freight depot, with Cl.92s lying idle alongside GIF-liveried Cl.37s recently returned from Spain. At Samphire Hoe the reclaimed land platform at Shakespeare Cliff which had been used as an engineering base is now a nature reserve, complete with a plaque showing the names of the 11 workers who lost their lives between 1986 and 1992.

West Riding. Two splendid shows were organised for April, both of which concentrated on preBeeching times. The first, on 7th , was another of our bi-annual afternoon meetings which was given to a nicely-sized audience by regular attender Keith Preston with a steam-all-the-way rendition entitled “Before the Days of Beeching”. Using a collection of slides passed on to him by a colleague and others from Colour Rail, Keith put together a very varied collection of colour illustrations dating from 1950. Scenes from the Somerset & Dorset, Scottish branch lines and the Waverley route were displayed. Tours covering WCML metals from north to south, MR main lines and the L&YR added to the delights. To finish matters off photographs taken in the West Country, Wales and the Welsh borders took us well away from our more northerly regions. A wide variation of motive power was evident, admirably complementing this well received programme.

David Kelso gave the second of these presentations to a well attended evening meeting on 17th April with his “Scottish Steam 1950-61”. Again from the pre-Beeching era, this was a digital programme made up entirely of B&W photographs. Initially concentrating on the industrial areas around Edinburgh and Glasgow the wide range of motive power was very striking, many being surviving tank engines from most of the Scottish railway companies. Eastern Region Scots, Glens, Directors

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and an ex-GER B12 appeared whilst Midland enthusiasts enjoyed sights of un-rebuilt Scots, a Caledonian class 60, Midland 4-4-0s and regulation Black Fives. By making use of football specials and later on riding a Villiers-engined James motor cycle he made his way around much of the country.

Pacifics were seen on west and east coast expresses on Beattock and on the Aberdeen route, and lesser-powered locomotives in more northerly areas of the country. The best shot was that of K2 61764 Loch Arkaig at the old Fort William station in the company of period buses – a real gem, as was the presentation.

Windsor & Maidenhead. A sizeable attendance braved unseasonal temperatures on 25th March to hear long-standing society member Geoff Plumb talk about “50 Years Behind a Lens”. An unusual feature of this presentation was the prologue, delivered by an even longer-standing member (65 years, no less!), Geoff’s father Derek, telling of RCTS steam specials of bygone days and proudly displaying the Sirocco nameplate of which he is the custodian. Geoff’s pictures and narrative were sheer delight, starting with him as a toddler with his siblings, already clutching notebook and pen.

The first shot he took himself was truly historic, the final run of the last Atlantic Beachy Head.

There followed images of service trains and specials all round the country, including from our area Cookham and Windsor & Eton Riverside. His interest in photography quickly grew to a serious level, culminating in a career as a television cameraman and taking him around the world.

Geoff always found time for the local railways, hence we saw unforgettable sights such as Garratts in South Africa and Mozambique, an astonishing 2-12-2T in Java and trains in Germany, Spain, Portugal and so on. All this was delivered unscripted, showing superb knowledge of every date and detail. A great evening.

The development of railway safety through accident investigation is a fascinating subject, which many of us have followed since reading Red for Danger. Since 2003 this responsibility has rested with the Railway Accident Investigation Branch, part of the DfT, and we welcomed Chris Ford, Principal Inspector, in April. The RAIB’s role is independent investigation, not consultation, allocation of blame or enforcement.

These arrangements stem from the 1999 Ladbroke Grove accident, when the need for independence became clear. The scope of the RAIB includes all NR lines, Northern Ireland, London Underground, trams and heritage railways. Based in Derby and Farnborough, it always has inspectors on call to respond to the phone calls the railways are legally obliged to make should something occur. Two incidents, ballast coming out of a wagon passing through Romford, and the rail grinder runaway on the Northern Line were used to illustrate the often complex route an investigation can take. Design and testing of equipment, writing, verifying and implementation of instructions, recruitment training and monitoring of staff, these and other factors may all need independent examination to determine the cause of an accident. This was a very worthwhile evening, thanks to Chris’s presentation of some very serious stuff lightened, when appropriate, with a dash of humour.

PUBLICATION REVIEWS Cambridge Main Line Through Time - Part 1: Cheshunt to Audley End by Andy T. Wallis. 96pp, 165x235mm softback, 103 colour 82 b&w photographs plus map. Published by Amberley Publishing at £14.99.

ISBN 978 1 4456 0767 2.

This publisher claims to lead the way in local interest and niche history publications and the Through Time series is a full-colour publication which includes railways in the many titles.

There is a brief introduction giving the background to the railways which is followed by a photographic record station by station of the line with up-to-date equivalent photographs taken from the same vantage point where possible.

It is soon evident that most of goods yards have gone or been replaced by car parks, apart from the stone terminal at Harlow Mill. This is mainly a commuter line also serving Stansted Airport so there is a good selection of locomotives and stock illustrated over the years, the earlier sepia photographs sometimes contrasting starkly with the current view, though occasionally showing little change.

There is a nice local touch with a picture of a Wickham DMU at Newport. The variety of subjects chosen for illustration includes signal box interiors and steam special workings – Britannia in 1993 and Hereward the Wake in 1955 being types appropriate to the line.

This publication is slightly cheaper than the Middleton Press publication “Broxbourne to Cambridge”, which also includes the Thaxted branch. My personal preference would be for the latter, but this author has done other books in the series and has a website providing new copies of old signal box diagrams for stations in East Anglia, so there may be an appeal in the series for those generally interested in local (PFC) history with a railway theme.

Each a Glimpse (2nd edition) by Colin T. Gifford. 96pp, 290x287mm hardback 223 b&w photographs. Published by Ian Allan at £30.00.

ISBN 978 0 7110 3529 4.

If ever there was a photographic evocation of the steam railway in the mid-twentieth century, this is it. This 2012 slight revision of the volume first published in 1970 is as good as the original, if not better. Colin Gifford records the total railway, the locomotives, the trains, the scene, the environment and the personalities. And he sees the whole not just with the eye of a railway enthusiast, but with the eye of a true artist. The monochrome images always suit the subject matter well giving the appropriate degree of contrast, for which colour does not necessarily quite work.

What you get, therefore, is far from the standard three-quarters front, rods down, smoke thrown

high, pristine clean locomotive, but of a real railway, warts and all. The train, still less the locomotive, is but a part of the total, and the image is none the worse for that. Great variety is accomplished with pictures of the train in the landscape, rural, urban and industrial, and the very railway infrastructure itself. This is a book which one can go through again and again and each time still find yet more to delight.

In 1994 Colin Gifford published a companion volume “.... and gone forever” at £25. Good though that is, this new volume is, perhaps, even better.

It is rare for me not to find something about which to quibble, but this book has my recommendation without demur.

(GRG) Oxfordshire Railways Through Time by Stanley C. Jenkins. 96pp, 165x235mm softback, 103 b&w 84 colour photographs. Published by Amberley Publishing at £14.99.

ISBN 978 1 4456 1001 6.

In the Amberley local history series this softback book is by a local author who sets out to illustrate 68 Oxfordshire stations with then and now photographs. The area covered is that defined after the 1974 local government reorganisation. Photographs in both black and white and colour are each accompanied by an explanatory paragraph.

The author must have spent a great deal of time poring over his selection to reduce each to two per station.

His selection has however succeeded in giving a flavour of the stations in the area and the book is a useful introductory work for researchers and historians. However an index would be a useful addition to any reprint.

(REB) Southern Rails on Southampton Docks: Including the Industrial Lines of Southampton by Ian Drummond. 160pp, A4 hardback, 176 b&w 75 colour photographs plus diagrams. Published by Holne Publishing at £22.95.

ISBN 978 0 9563317 4 8.

This is the fourth book written by this author on the transport infrastructure of this part of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight and, based on this, his latest volume about the docks, the earlier titles will need to be sought out and read.

This is an excellent book, by a locally born and raised author who now resides in Manchester but obviously has a deep interest in the subject.

The book is presented in a semi-pictorial format, the map content being of a high standard showing the various dated stages in the docks history. The pictorial content, which includes ephemera and annotated pictures, shows a very complete record of the history of the docks progressing up to the present day.

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There are chapters on subjects which include: the early history, world wars, train ferries, commodities transported, liners, the railway’s involvement in some detail and, interestingly, several independent wharf tramways, each with their own maps and history.

This volume is a truly interesting book, especially if you have a penchant for docks and shipping as well as railways, which I (SCW) recommend to members.

Southern Counties Branch Line Steam by Michael Welch. 112pp, 227x256 hardback, 135 colour photographs. Published by Capital Transport at £18.95. ISBN 978 1 85414 359 4.

Michael Welch has established a reputation for producing high quality colour albums concentrating on the south of England. This volume which complements his earlier ‘Southern Counties Main Line Steam’ is well up to previous standards both in content and reproduction.

The author has drawn on a large number of sources and almost every rural branch forming part of the Southern Region is featured. Where possible, the everyday scene is portrayed, although in some cases only rail tour pictures are available, such occasions having always attracted photographers of course. The only major omission is the Bluebell Line but this has had several albums of its own so this is quite understandable.

All the pictures, most of which have not been published before, are reproduced well with extended captions putting the locations and trains into context. There is a good mix of station and ‘train in the landscape’ type shots, the only minor criticism being that some of the latter would benefit from tighter cropping to prevent the train being rather insignificant in what were then the rural expanses of the Southern Region.

Highly recommended – no need to view before ordering (AE)

DVDs Steam in Holland a DVD by Ton Pruissen.

Distributed by Camden Miniature Steam Services, Barrow Farm, Rode, Frome, Somerset BA11 6PS. Running time 49 minutes. Price £18.25.

Ton Pruissen is an archive railway film producer in Holland and in this DVD he turns his attention to the wonderful array of steam locomotives that were to be found on the Dutch State Railways during the inter-war period. The footage is dubbed and is narrated in English and it is remarkable in that the original film was taken by Jack Stretton-Ward who was President of the RCTS from 1932 to 1958. His interests were far reaching, two elements of which combined his profound interest in all things railways with that of early cinematography.

His films were frequently shown at society gatherings in both Leamington Spa and London.

In 1931 he travelled to Holland where he recorded their railway scene. His obituary of 1958 refers to his film-making qualities from which an extract quotes “His wonderful film shows – remember those superb Dutch Railway scenes”. This DVD is a derived from that film.

Amsterdam was the main focal point from where he radiated around the country. The film is a fine record of many of the locomotives that were to disappear during World War II including the famed 4-cylinder 3700 class 4-6-0s and also footage of engines of UK origin.

This is a much to be enjoyed production especially for those who knew Jack and which will give the current membership a glimpse of RCTS activities in its very early formative years.

(WRG)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR WHAT HAPPENED TO STEAM - Railway Magazine Article I have read with some concern the article in the May issue of Railway Magazine by Roger Butcher which is very critical of the RCTS for what is seen as the society’s lack of support with regard to the work of the HSBT project and, as the Northampton Branch’s co-ordinator for the project, I feel entitled to ask why the RCTS policy has apparently changed to the current position where it is not wholehearted in ensuring the correct facts are finally to be made known and published. If this is the case why appoint branch co-ordinators who, certainly in my case, have not been told of any society decision not to help the project go forward.

I understand that the article is ‘very soft’ and was edited down before publication was allowed. The inference is that the society is now actively hampering progress of the considerable work involved whereas at the outset the society asked its members to help by ensuring all known facts and photographs were brought to the attention of the project personnel – one of whom has now resigned his 40 years RCTS membership in protest at the society’s current position.

Whether this is due to the person, known as “Zulu”, who generated and supplied the 424

On the north coast of Norfolk, the 10¼ in. gauge Wells & Walsingham Light Railway is a four-mile line which owes its existence to the determination of retired naval commander Roy Francis. It was built on the track bed of the former Wells and Wymondham branch, the southern part of which is used by the Mid-Norfolk Railway. On 6th April, WWLR No.3 Norfolk Hero, a 2-6-0+0-6-2 Garratt is filled with water at Wells between services.

Bob Ellison

mass of bogus information to Peter Hands was, we were told, a Northampton Branch member has any bearing on the society’s current policy I cannot say. Perhaps the Management Committee would set down their views if only to refute the heavy criticisms published in the Railway Magazine that the RCTS “seems to be reluctant to bring to an end the recycling of errors” and also that it is the only major publishing house that is still “holding out” despite receiving initial personal support from the then RCTS Chairman, John Redgate.

Ian P. Lyman (9925) Members will no doubt have read the RCTS response to the Railway Magazine article on p.410, that states our position. As far as we are aware ZULU was NOT an RCTS member.

Ed.

QUERY CORNER Written queries and answers should be sent to the QCE, Mike Gayton, at: 11 Trubridge Road, Hoo, Rochester, ME3 9EN or via E-mail to: QueryCorner@RCTS.org.uk.

A version of Query Corner also appears on the society website.

NEW QUERIES Q13.17. LNER Class O6 Stanier 8F 2-8-0 Works Plates.

The LNER had 68 of these locomotives built.

48705-29 were built at Brighton in 1945 and carried standard LMS-built brass plates showing LNER-built 1945 SR. 48730-52 were built at Darlington in 1945/6

with standard LNER brass plates showing LNER in full, works numbers, works and date built.

48753-62 were built at Doncaster 1945/6 using old works numbers not previously used.

Publications indicate that the locomotives did not carry this number and that it appeared to be a paper exercise. If they carried works plates, what was the material, size and the inscription on them?

48763-72 were built at Doncaster in 1946 using works numbers 1991-9 and 2001. Again did they carry works plates, and what the material, size and inscription on them?

(AW:9027) 425

Q13.18. Luton Football Specials.

Information is requested of the hauling locomotives, and routing of the following Luton return specials: Bournemouth 15th November 1969, Boothferry Park 9th November 1970, Stockport 31st January 1970, Rock Ferry 21st March 1970, Preston 8th January 1971, Blackburn 15th January 1971, Nottingham 1st February 1971, Sunderland 27th February 1971 and 17th March 1973, Carlisle 13th March 1971 and 12th February 1972 and Cardiff and Cheltenham during this period.

(JVS:17974) Q13.19. North London Railway Signal Boxes in Millwall and Poplar Docks.

Millwall and Poplar had a very complex system of railways involving many companies which all had their sidings, goods sheds and signal boxes.

Much of it is now a part of the Docklands Light Railway. There were at least five NLR signal boxes in the area.

Boxes are believed to have been at East India Dock Road Junction, High Street Junction (on the western curve to Harrow Lane sidings), Loop Line (connecting to the GER at Millwall Junction and the docks ), Preston Road (giving access to West India Docks, GNR goods, GWR goods, and the LNWR goods depots),and Blackwall Bridge (above the GER lines).

Confirmation of the names and locations of the (DW:8794) five boxes is requested.

Q13.20. LMS Compounds.

The final lot of the LMS Compounds ran from 900 to 939. The Vulcan Foundry delivered 900 to 934 in 1927 but then there was apparently a five-year gap before another five, 935-39, were built. These were built at Derby. Why did Derby suddenly built these? Can Stanier’s arrival have some bearing on it?

Our member’s records show that 936 had a high-sided tender, capacity 3,500 gallons, but it was built in 1925. Was it transferred from 1053 or 1054, and was 1054 one of the engines used in the post-grouping trials to establish which type of engine should become standard for express passenger trains on the LMSR? As is well known, the Compound beat the competition from the LNWR and the L&YR. (SH:5589) ANSWER A13.12. Special Trains for Luton FC in 1959.

Four specials ran for the Ipswich Town v Luton Town FA Cup 5th Round tie played at Portman Road on 14th February 1959. These produced Black Fives 45137 and 45139 (both Bedford engines) and B1s 61331 and 61393 (Kings Cross) which worked through to Ipswich but the route(s) they took is not known, although two probably came from Bedford. It was extremely rare in those days for any non-GE based locomotives, let alone LMS types, to reach Suffolk as changes usually took place either at March or Stratford.

(GH:10618)

THE RCTS PHOTOGRAPHIC COLLECTION Over its 85 year history the Society has amassed an impressive archive of photographic images covering a wide range of rail subjects and operations around the world. As a result of gifts and bequests the archive is continually expanding, and copies of around 36,000 of these images - dating from the 1930s to the early 21st century - are now available for sale to both members and non members.

Details of the images available are provided on the RCTS website by accessing the photo archive pages http://www.rcts.org.uk/features/archive - and a powerful search function is provided which, after brief locoPRWLYH and / or location details are defined locates and displays all appropriate images.

Postcard size prints and jpg image files are typically priced at ÂŁ1.10 each plus postage and orders can be made either on the website or via e mail to SKRWRDUFKLYH#UFWV RUJ XN. If you are seeking a specific locoPRWLYH image for youU collection do visit the website ZKHUH \RX PD\ ZHOO EH VXUSULVHG E\ WKH UDQJH RI LPDJHV RQ RIIHU

426

Every Picture Tells a Story !

Friog Avalanche Shelter Photo Acknowledgement Peter Green - RCTS Courtney Haydon collection.

Extended Caption Looking back north east at the avalanche shelter built after the fatal accident of 1933, caused by the collapse of the road, whose rebuilt section can be seen above. More of the retaining walls can be seen. There have been two accidents here where the locomotive and tender have been swept over the wall, killing both driver and fireman.

The accident in 1933 was on 3rd March, following which the line came close to being closed due to the light patronage. Only one passenger was on the early morning train from Machynlleth to Pwllheli when the accident happened. After this 1933 accident, the highways people suggested that the blast from the engine had loosened the cliff face, causing it to fall on to the train. The investigation used a model, one of the first times such a model had been used. Every time the model train was hit by falling debris, it was derailed, but stayed on the trackbed, pinned against the parapet wall. When it was run on to a pile of debris already on the track, it mounted the wall and fell off, every time.

Thus the investigation concluded that the landslip had happened before the train arrived.

There is an accident report on the Railways Archive website for this location but it is under the location of Vriog.

This area is very difficult to access legally but not impossible. Fairbourne is seen in the left distance.

Caption Acknowledgement Extended caption compiled from comments by Andrew Dyke, Max Birchenough, Richard Pike and Mal Hammond

See more examples from the RCTS Courtney Haydon collection at www.rcts.org.uk/features/mysteryphotos 427

OBSERVER’S DIARY Society Branch Meetings & Events HITCHIN Meetings held at Hitchin Christian Centre, Bedford Road, Hitchin SG5 1HF (opp.

Christchurch Methodist/URC Church and close to junction of Bedford Road and Brand Street) at 19.30 and at the Methodist Church, Ludwick Way (junction with Cole Green Lane), Welwyn Garden City AL7 3PN at 14.15.

12th Jun. (Wed.) Hitchin: “Days out in 2012” by Tom Gladwin.

25th Jun. (Tue.) Welwyn Garden City: “A look at Swiss railways” by David Cole.

10th Jul. (Wed.) Hitchin: “A walk around Shildon”

by Norman Hill.

SOUTH EAST Meetings held at the Elwick Club, Church Road, Ashford TN23 1RD (opposite the Central Library) at 19.30.

10th Jun. (Mon.) “A history of Eastleigh Works”

by Colin Boocock.

SOUTH ESSEX Meetings held at the Shenfield Parish Hall, 80 Hutton Road, Shenfield CM15 8LB (300 yards from Shenfield Station) at 19.30.

17th Jun. (Mon.) “The Kelvedon and Tollesbury Light Railway” by John Manning.

SOUTH WALES/DE CYMRU Meetings held at the Old Church Rooms, Park Road Radyr CF15 8DF adjacent to its junction with the main road through Radyr at 19.30.

12th Jun. (Wed.) “Narrow gauge in Great Britain”

by Arthur Turner.

SUSSEX Meetings held jointly with the LCGB at the Brighton Model Club Room, London Road Brighton Station, Shaftesbury Place, Brighton BN1 4QS at 19.30.

24th Jun. (Mon.) “Pakistani steam in 1990” by John Borrowdale.

WATFORD Meetings held at St. Thomas’s United Reformed Church Hall, Langley Road, Watford WD17 4PN at 19.30.

2nd Jul. (Tue.) “A tribute to Jim Shuttleworth” by Rob Freeman. Addition to published programme.

WEST RIDING Meetings held at Saltaire Methodist Chapel, Saltaire Road, Shipley BD18 3HH. Members are also invited to attend meetings of the York Railway Circle in the Old Drama Room, Archbishop Holgate’s School, Hull Road, York YO10 5ZA. Both commence at 19.30.

20th Jun. (Thu.) Saltaire: “The Scarborough Spa Express” by Ron Tibbits.

WINDSOR & MAIDENHEAD Meetings held at Cox Green Community Centre, Highfield Lane, Cox Green, Maidenhead SL6 3AX at 19.30.

20th Jun. (Thu.) “The railways of Scotland” by Les Nixon at Bourne End Community Centre, Wakeman Road, Bourne End SL8 5SX. Please note address for this meeting.

SOCIETY OUTDOOR EVENTS 6th Jun. (Thu.) Visit to Rugby SCC at 18.00. Meet on station, party limited. Contact Bob Ballard, tel: 01908 562195 to book a place.

11th Jun. (Tue.) Day trip to Southend and Shoeburyness, meeting at Liverpool Street station at 10.00.

Details from Alan Turton, tel: 01606 854227.

17th Jun. (Mon.) Day trip using Anglia Plus 1 Day Pass and group travel by train from Northampton area. Details from David Pick, tel: 01604 810613, e-mail northampton@rcts.org.uk 19th Jun. (Wed.) Observation at Eastleigh station from 17.00.

20th Jun. (Thu.) Evening observation at Reading station for Ascot trains. Details from Andrew Jenkins, tel: 01793 783749, e-mail: hc-acjenkins@tiscali.co.uk 22nd Jun. (Sat.) Visit to Isle of Wight Steam Railway, travelling by minibus from Northampton area.

Details from David Pick, see above.

1st Jul. (Mon.) Visit to Bombardier, Derby, using group travel by train from Northampton area. Details from David Pick, see above.

3rd Jul. (Wed.) Observation at Banbury station from 18.00.

9th Jul. (Tue.) Visit to Strathclyde area using Day Tripper ticket. Details from Alan Turton, see above.

428

15th Jul. (Mon.) Canal trip, using two boats from Cosgrove wharf MK19 7JR. Details from David Pick, see above.

15th Jul. (Mon.) Evening visit to Mangapps Farm Railway Museum. Details from Jim Waite, tel: 01277 652818, e-mail: jameswaite932@ btinternet.com 16th Jul. (Tue.) Evening observation at Didcot Parkway station. Details from Andrew Jenkins, see above.

17th Jul. (Wed.) Observation at Eastleigh station from 17.00.

18th Jul. (Thu.) Visit to the Vintage Carriage Trust, Ingrow at 18.30. Details from Bob Green, tel: 0113 284 3604, e-mail: boblol@bramhope16.fsnet.co.uk 20th Jul. (Sat.) Visit to Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, travelling by minibus from Northampton area.

Details from David Pick, see above.

28th Jul. (Sun.) Visit to Adrian Shooter’s Beeches Light Railway. Very limited numbers available.

Details from Derek Morris, tel: 01926 855069 or David Walker, e-mail: WALKER_D20@sky.com 29th Jul. (Mon.) Visit to LT Museum, Acton, using group train travel from Northampton area. Details from David Pick, see above.

1st Aug. (Thu.) Visit to The Quadrant, Network Rail’s new national office centre in Milton Keynes at 19.00. Meet outside main entrance in Silbury Boulevard. Contact Bob Ballard, see above, to book a place.

BRANCH SALES STANDS The Ipswich and District Branch will be attending the model railway exhibition at the Colne Valley Railway, Yeldham Road, Castle Hedingham, Halstead CO9 3DZ on 9th June.

The North East Branch will be attending the Richmond Railway Collectors Fair on Saturday 6th July at Richmond station, DL10 4LD.

ADVERTISEMENTS WANTED: To achieve “Total TOPS” - photos of 03104, 08009, 24074, 27115/6/20, 31140, 47126.

Contact Geoff Corner, tel. 0161 962 8156, e-mail TOPSie@TOPticl.com

Colour‐Rail Withdrawn Slides to be Re‐issued Colour‐Rail are making more long withdrawn slides available again for a limited period ‐ send SAE or e‐mail for details Also your last chance to order slides that are to be withdrawn in September Listing in catalogue 20, £10 post free.

Give your slides and B&W negatives a good home at

www.colour‐rail.com 558 Birmingham Road, Bromsgrove, B61 0HT 429

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FOR ENTRY DETAILS PHONE FOR AN INFORMAL CHAT OR WRITE TO THE ADDRESS BELOW We welcome entries in, but not restricted to, the following categories: Steam and Diesel Locomotive Nameplates

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NOSTALGIA CORNER The following are extracts from The Railway Observer of June 1963.

Under RAIL TOUR REPORTS – R.C.T.S./ P.R.C. JOINT TOURS – THE NORTH CORNISHMAN & CAMEL VALLEYMAN – Saturday, 27th April, 1963.

The North Cornishman, consisting of three-car set No. 519 and hauled by restored T9 120 departed from Exeter Central at 10-10 a.m. for Wadebridge. To help turn back the clock the fireman was sporting a bogus moustache and large red and white neckerchief. After calling at St. Davids a brisk run was made to Okehampton where more passengers joined. A stop was made at Halwill for photography, before continuing across the border into Cornwall to Launceston to pick up more passengers. After a stop of several minutes at St. Kew Highway to allow the 12-58 p.m. ex-Padstow to cross, the special arrived a few minutes behind time at Wadebridge.

Here many more passengers joined to bring the number up to nearly 170 for the Camel Valleyman which required twelve brake vans and was hauled by an immaculate 1369. After crossing the 2-0 p.m. ex-Bodmin North at Boscarne Junction the special proceeded on to the Wenford Bridge line at Dunmere Junction and wended its leisurely way around sharp curves amongst picturesque woods and river scenery.

A stop at the now famous “water column” in the woods at Penhargard gave ample opportunity for photography as did several other stops before Wenford Bridge was reached. Before the train could return some complicated shunting was necessary owing to the train being too long for the run-round loop. Upon return to Wadebridge the majority refreshed themselves at a local café before joining the North Cornishman for the short run to Padstow behind 120. After turning, the T9 removed the stock from the single platform to allow a branch train from Bodmin Road to arrive. This was headed by a D63XX class diesel; the crew not to be outdone by the day’s special trains had “The Westernman” inscribed on the front end.

Departure from Padstow was a little late, local passengers detrained at Wadebridge and then an endeavour was made to regain time as Wadebridge had been left some ten minutes late. Beyond Okehampton the T9 was allowed to show its paces and a speed of 70 m.p.h. was attained with ease. In true South-Western tradition the special was halted at Cowley Bridge Junction to allow the 6-30 p.m. ex-Paddington to run unchecked into Exeter. In grand style 120 topped the 1 in 37 to Central Station, and after all passengers had detrained, 432

disposed of the stock and made its way to Exmouth Junction shed. As the glow of 120’s tail lamp faded into the night one was brought rapidly back from history to the realities of the diesel age. (A.J.W.) Under BRITISH RAILWAYS – SOUTHERN REGION – SOUTHAMPTON. – On 27th April, Southampton Central probably witnessed the largest assembly of main line steam engines it will ever see. No fewer than fourteen specials were run for the F.A. Cup Semi-Final between Southampton and Manchester United at Aston Villa’s ground. Thirteen of the special trains were routed via Basingstoke and Reading West.

One train started at Eastleigh, ran to Southampton Central and then proceeded via Salisbury and Westbury. A fifteenth train started at Brockenhurst, and was routed via Bournemouth and the Somerset and Dorset line.

Motive power used was West Country most of which all worked through to Birmingham, and certainly gave the Midlands the sight of the most of these ever seen in the area.

Under BRITISH RAILWAYS – NORTH EASTERN REGION – WEST AUCKLAND. – This shed now has complete monopoly of mineral traffic over the Shildon-Newport line and uses seventeen Q6’s and five standard Cl. 4’s.

This standardization followed the withdrawal of J39’s, which could not cope with the hauls of 30-40 loaded hoppers as well as Q6’s. The local pick-up and branch goods to Tow Law, St. John’s Chapel, Cornsay and Butterknowle are now mainly Q6 workings but 77003 and 78016 are also used.

West Auckland has no passenger duties except on two days of the year; on Whit Sunday the two regular excursions from Bishop Auckland to Seaton Carew via Spennymoor and back, and on Whit Monday when all the local passenger trains to Middleton-in-Teesdale, Crook and Richmond revert to steam haulage. The five Cl. 4’s—76021/45/6/9/50—are then used.

MALTON. – The last turn to be worked by Malton shed was the 4-0 p.m. to Whitby and back on 13th April, with 43055 on loan to Malton for some weeks prior to the closure date and retained afterwards to handle wagons of ashes, coal, stores, etc., during clearing up operations.

Surprisingly the 5-20 a.m. and 4-0 p.m.

Malton-Whitby and their return workings at 8-55 a.m. and 6-54 p.m. are still steam hauled, worked by York engines and men.

This historic, hilly, and scenic branch is well worth a visit before it also succumbs to dieselisation or extinction.

Peter Clark

BLUEBELL RAILWAY EXTENDS TO EAST GRINSTEAD The Bluebell Railway’s ambitious project to reconnect to the ‘national network’ at East Grinstead officially opened on 28th March with a re-opening special, 1Z85 the 09.40 from Victoria. The train, hauled by 66739 with 73207+ 73119 at the rear, is seen above on the Bluebell Railway near Three Arch Bridge between Horsted Keynes and Sheffield Park. At Horsted Keynes 66739 was named Bluebell Railway after which the Cl.73s were used on internal Bluebell services including the 14.05 East Grinstead-Sheffield Park, seen below at Horsted House Farm bridge with E4 0-6-2T 473 also in the formation to provide steam heat on a very cold day! both by Len Walton

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