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Sam Hewitt

  • Remembering ‘D’ stock

    Remembering ‘D’ stock

    by

    Sam Hewitt

    –

    The final regular workings of London Underground ‘D’ Stock should take place as this issue comes out. Christopher Westcott looks back over their career with LU. THE story of London Underground’s ‘D’ Stock begins in the early 1970s. As the then new ‘C’ Stock trains arrived onto the Circle and Hammersmith & City Line, displaced…

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  • When Saturday came…Skegness

    When Saturday came…Skegness

    by

    Sam Hewitt

    –

    It wasn’t just football fans that looked forward to weekends – summer Saturdays used to bring rail enthusiasts out in force for the mouth-watering prospect of freight locos hauling passenger trains to holiday destinations across the country. In the first of a new series, Rail Express looks back to those golden years. THE growth of…

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  • New look for Class 230 DMU as Vivarail develops a battery-powered version

    New look for Class 230 DMU as Vivarail develops a battery-powered version

    by

    Sam Hewitt

    –

    VIVARAIL has reliveried its first Class 230 ‘D-Train’ unit following repairs after the engine fire it experienced on test near Kenilworth, Warwickshire, at the end of 2016. No. 230001 was shown off at the company’s base at Long Marston at the end of March. The middle car has also been fitted out with a mixture…

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  • DRS Class 88s commence trials

    DRS Class 88s commence trials

    by

    Sam Hewitt

    –

    Prometheus has become the first of the 10 Stadler-built dual-mode locomotives to operate test runs over Network Rail metals. By Simon Bendall WITH static tests largely completed at Carlisle Kingmoor, No. 88002 Prometheus became the first Class 88 to venture onto the main line on March 20. The rather low-key outing was undertaken without a proper…

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  • First-MTR consortium wins South West Trains

    First-MTR consortium wins South West Trains

    by

    Sam Hewitt

    –

    IN THE MAY 2017 ISSUE Incredibly, BR-built Class 442s are set to return while new Siemens-built Class 707s will be displaced. By ‘Industry Witness’ FIRST-MTR has been awarded the next South West Trains franchise to operate services from Waterloo, starting on August 20 for a period of seven years. The consortium ownership has a holding…

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  • 50 years of West Coast electrics

    50 years of West Coast electrics

    by

    Sam Hewitt

    –

    FROM OUR ARCHIVES Following electrification of the southern half of the West Coast Main Line in the 1960s, subsequent decades saw completion through to Glasgow, sectorisation, privatisation, franchise controversy and a full route upgrade. AFTER completion of the wiring covering the Euston-Birmingham-Liverpool-Manchester routes, including via Stoke-on-Trent in 1967, early approval was sought to continue through…

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  • First Loram CRG departs High Marnham as the second arrives

    First Loram CRG departs High Marnham as the second arrives

    by

    Sam Hewitt

    –

    THE first of four Loram Corrective Rail Grinder (CRG) trains for Network Rail has returned to Derby RTC after testing at the High Marnham Test Track in Nottinghamshire. Based at Tuxford since early January, CRG(01) departed for Loram’s base at Derby RTC and the attention of the wheel lathe on February 22 behind DCR No.…

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  • Shunter ebb and flow at Cardiff Tidal

    Shunter ebb and flow at Cardiff Tidal

    by

    Sam Hewitt

    –

    THE rigours of the Celsa contract continued to prove taxing for GBRf and HNRC during February, with more swaps taking place at Cardiff Tidal. Fresh from derailment repairs, No. 08389 was returned to South Wales from Barrow Hill on February 10, but No. 08924 was removed the same day. In need of traction motor attention, it spent…

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  • Cambridge regains a pilot

    Cambridge regains a pilot

    by

    Sam Hewitt

    –

    After an absence of many years, the university city has a shunter presence once again at Coldhams Lane TMD as RSS gains another new contract. IN a surprise development, a Class 08 has returned to Cambridge for the first time in many years following the award of a new contract to Railway Support Services (RSS). Although…

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  • FIRST ‘345’ TO LIVERPOOL STREET

    FIRST ‘345’ TO LIVERPOOL STREET

    by

    Sam Hewitt

    –

    Further training and testing from Ilford has been taking place using No. 345002. During the early part of February, the unit operated in the early hours between Shenfield and Stratford. February 15 saw it venture out in the daytime for the first time, working the 3Z20/10.05 Ilford-Liverpool Street, thus making its first appearance at the…

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