Essential reading for today's rail enthusiast

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Essential reading for today's rail enthusiast

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Sam Hewitt

  • Major railway scrapyard calls it a day

    Major railway scrapyard calls it a day

    by

    Sam Hewitt

    –

    THE Stockton-based firm T J Thomson and Sons has closed its metals processing business and from now on will only deal in metal trading. This means the end of railway vehicles being scrapped on the site just south of the town’s station, which has been open since 1932 and was once one of Europe’s largest…

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  • Lime Street closed by collapsed wall

    Lime Street closed by collapsed wall

    by

    Sam Hewitt

    –

    ALL rail services into and out of Liverpool Lime Street were cancelled during the evening peak on February 28 after a wall collapsed in the cutting on the approach to the station. Network Rail said the wall at the top of the cutting had been loaded with concrete and cabins by a third party, which…

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  • New depots for Exeter and Manningtree

    New depots for Exeter and Manningtree

    by

    Sam Hewitt

    –

    GREAT Western Railway and Greater Anglia have both announced new depots will be built to house some of their new stock now on order. The GWR depot will be alongside Exeter St Davids station, while the GA one will be just north of Manningtree on the Essex/Suffolk border. The £40 million depot in Exeter will…

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  • HS2 bill receives royal assent

    by

    Sam Hewitt

    –

    Approval by Parliament means construction of the high speed line from London to Birmingham can begin. CONSTRUCTION of the first phase of HS2 is expected to start within weeks now that royal assent has been given following approval by Parliament. The bill for construction was first published on November 25, 2013, and a total of…

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  • Last days of the ‘Westerns’

    Last days of the ‘Westerns’

    by

    Sam Hewitt

    –

    I AM writing to say how much I enjoyed the look back at the lovely ‘Western’ class in your March Issue. Unfortunately there was one error that crept in when it was claimed that No. D1010 Western Campaigner worked the 1E45/ 07.30 Swansea to Leeds throughout on January 20, 1977. It was in fact No.…

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  • Sectorisation and the focus on freight

    Sectorisation and the focus on freight

    by

    Sam Hewitt

    –

    British Rail arguably took the first steps towards privatisation in 1982, over a decade before it actually began, when the company moved from a geographic structure based on regions to one focused on separate business sectors. The biggest impact was to be on freight operations, as ‘Industry Witness’ describes. British Rail made a dramatic and…

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  • Back to the future

    Back to the future

    by

    Sam Hewitt

    –

    I AM grateful to the Heavy Tractor Group for its invitation behind the scenes to witness the transformation of ‘Heavyweight’ Type 3 No. 37714 from DRS blue livery into a retro look of Trainload triple grey, as pictured on our cover this month. The work has been done at Loram in Derby, and we covered…

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  • Boost for freight following investment at Tara Mines

    Boost for freight following investment at Tara Mines

    by

    Sam Hewitt

    –

    The future of zinc and lead mining near Navan has been secured through to at least 2026, the ore being moved by rail to Dublin Port. THE Swedish owner of Tara Mines at Navan, which is Europe’s largest zinc/lead mine, plans to invest €44 million at the site after new resources were discovered. Boliden will…

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  • LEWISHAM ‘OFF’

    LEWISHAM ‘OFF’

    by

    Sam Hewitt

    –

    On January 24, two of the wagons of the 6M90/03.56 Grain to Neasden loaded GB Railfreight sand train derailed at Courthill Loop Junction South in Lewisham (South London) while crossing from the Up Slow to the Up Courthill lines, resulting in all running lines being blocked. Three of the GBRf JGAs at the rear of…

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  • Arlington becomes new home for charter set

    Arlington becomes new home for charter set

    by

    Sam Hewitt

    –

    Riviera Mk.1 set is now based at Eastleigh Works. RIVIERA Trains’ Mk.1 rake of coaching stock left Arriva Traincare’s Eastleigh TMD in January for a new base ‘over the road’ at Arlington Fleet Services’ Eastleigh Works site. To facilitate the new arrivals and enable servicing to be carried out, some changes have been made to…

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