June 2013 - Issue 205
This month...
News
Angel Trains announces its Class 142 ‘Pacers’ will be withdrawn by 2019; Selby swing bridge blockage deferred due to Hatfield slip.
Diesel traction on North Wales branches
In the first of a new series, the life and times of diesel traction on the Menai Bridge-Caernarvon branch is highlighted.
Field Diverts
Enjoy this pictorial of diverted services due to major engineering blockages at Reading and on the West Coast Main Line.
Railtours
A racehorse heads for Edinburgh on Grand National day – ‘Deltic’ Alycidon stretches its legs on a 700 mile gallop from Crewe to Scotland and back.
LU World
With so many new ‘S’ Stock units having been delivered, it seems surprising that more are not in service – Rail Express brings you the reason.
Preservation
GB Railfreight hires ‘Deltic’ 55022 Royal Scots Grey again to undertake EMU stock movements to and from Kilmarnock.
Power by the Hour
With the emergence from Toton of Class 60 No. 60039, this means that the Nottingham depot has overhauled 15 ‘Tugs’, with more to come.
Powerscene
It’s been another packed month of interesting locomotive workings – here they all are, backed up with some of the best imagery around.
Shunter Spot
Locomotive hire company Traditional Traction has a new contract as a Class 08 is despatched to Cardiff Canton on hire to Pullman Rail; plus all the shunter news.
Coach Compartment
VSOE has taken delivery of another former Met-Camm Pullman, Swift, totally rebuilt at a cost of £750,000 for its ‘Royal Scotsman’ train.
Wagons Roll
Five more Dutch Rnoos timber wagons have entered service with Colas Rail, with the remaining 23 due to be cycled through Pullman Rail’s Cardiff Canton depot soon.
Irish Angle
There is a new look for Irish Rail’s ‘large’ GMs as 077 is released from Inchicore Works in overall dark grey – likely to be adopted as the new standard livery.
Unitary Authority
More stored 508s disposed of from Eastleigh Works with one power car going for scrap with another two vehicles despatched for fire training use on Merseyside.
Rail Express Modeller
Newsdesk: Latest developments
The results of the annual ‘Wishlist’ poll are in with the Class 71 and Class 120 topping the ‘OO’ D&E vote. Murphy Models has announced two further NIR 111 Class GMs.
Review: Farish Class 70
The modern face of Freightliner operations is now available to ‘N’ gauge modellers as Bachmann releases the General Electric ‘Powerhaul’ design in the Graham Farish range.
Reviews: Farish coaches
A gaping hole in the range of 2mm scale coaching stock is filled with the release of the first all-new Mk.2a while also new is the distinctive but short-lived Mk.1 Horse Box.
Reviews: Bachmann/Kernow
Bachmann continues to make the most of its Class 47 tooling with the release of a Shell ‘namer’ while new from Kernow is the Dapol ‘bubble car’ in chocolate and cream.
Review: Hornby Class 73
The ‘ED’ receives its second new livery in as many months, this depicting Network Rail’s 73138. There is also a look at David Larkin’s final book on the BR engineers’ fleet.
Review: Murphy 071 Class
The second batch of Murphy Model’s 071 Class locomotives has arrived, the General Motors design now being available in a selection of orange and black Irish Rail liveries.
Modellers Guide: Wagon Works
Wagon Works offers much potential for layouts with the sites coming in a variety of sizes. David Ratcliffe examines the many locations that existed during the late BR period.
Newsdesk Extra
The pre-production sample of Bachmann’s latest DMU, the Metro-Cammell Class 101, is publicly shown for the first time while several late-breaking news stories are detailed.
Exhibition diary
The exhibition calendar reaches the halfway point with a new D&E show, WrecRail, being staged in Market Harborough while there is the always excellent Wigan show as well.
Modelling: S-Kits RHTT
With S-Kits having released the remaining module kits for its Network Rail FEA flats, Chris Ibbotson completes his model of the ‘leaf-busting’ Railhead Treatment Trains.
Modelling: Grand Central HST
Having received an amended livery upon conversion to MTU power, the current black and orange look of the Grand Central HSTs is recreated by repainting the Hornby model.
Serial: Elcot Road #29
It is back to the scenery this month on our ‘P4’ gauge project layout as the builders’ yard is constructed using an awful lot of bricks while the road overbridge is also completed.
