Sam Hewitt

THE Diesel Traction Group’s ever-popular ‘Western’ No. D1015 Western Champion put in another faultless performance on September 17, when it worked Pathfinder Tours’ ‘Cornishman’ to Penzance. Running in the guise of scrapped classmate No. D1071 Western Renown, and with a trailing load of some 455 tonnes (13 coaches), the hydraulic made a smart departure from…

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AS part of the Sub Surface Railway (SSR) upgrading project across the four SSR lines, the signal cabin at Edgware Road is due to be decommissioned in early 2020. Instead of being dismantled, the Railway Heritage Designation Advisory Board (RHDAB), the successor to the Railway Heritage Committee (RHC) that was abolished on April 1, 2013,…

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By Christopher Westcott & Piers Connor A staff dispute led to the cancellation of September’s joint steam/diesel trips on the Metropolitan Line but the London Transport Museum hopes to stage the event next year. S briefly reported in last month’s issue, the ‘Summer Steam’ event, intended to be run on September 10/11 by the London…

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GBRF’s mammoth multi-loco tour celebrating its 15th anniversary visited all points of the compass from Swanage to Inverness and Great Yarmouth to Liverpool. AN ambitious railtour on September 8-11, organised by GB Railfreight to celebrate 15 years of operations, travelled over 2200 miles behind 19 locos from nine different classes. The four-day charter, which had…

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Trains leaving the tracks caused major delays on the East Coast and West Coast main lines, while the one at Watford only narrowly avoided being a major disaster. By Gary Boyd-Hope Two separate derailments just three days apart caused major delays at both Watford and Welwyn Garden City in mid-September. The first occurrence took place…

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THE main rail link between England and Wales was closed on September 12 until October 21 as part of the Great Western electrification scheme. During the closure, freight and some passenger servies were diverted via Gloucester, while replacement buses also ran between Newport and Bristol Parkway. Intercity services ran hourly between Paddington and South Wales,…

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