Sarah Wilkinson

‘Thumpers’ transferred to new home

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Sarah Wilkinson

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15th June 2018

THE Downpatrick and County Down Railway (D&CDR) has taken delivery of the four Northern Ireland Railways 8080 Class DEMU vehicles it had earmarked for preservation. The transfer of each of the BREL Derby-built vehicles from Belfast York Road depot was carried out by road during the weekend of May 12/13. Transferred on the 12th were…
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Accurascale goes big with debut release

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Sarah Wilkinson

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15th June 2018

SO, the Accurascale adventure has begun. Having already helped revolutionise modelling across the Irish Sea, the team behind the highly acclaimed Irish Railway Models brand have now made their debut in the UK market with the release of the sister company’s first ready-to-run ‘OO’ gauge model. Announced less than five months ago, the subject is…
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Experiments in ‘bustitution’

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Sarah Wilkinson

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15th June 2018

THEY came, they saw, but they did not conquer. Sixty years ago in 1958, 22 four-wheeled railbuses from five different manufacturers were trialled on rural lines in England and Scotland with the aim of reducing costs and thus saving the lines from closure. The idea was noble, a brave attempt by British Railways to hang…
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KeolisAmey wins Wales and Borders

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Sarah Wilkinson

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15th June 2018

THE Welsh Government has awarded a 15-year contract to the KeolisAmey joint venture to operate the Wales and Borders rail franchise incorporating the future South Wales Metro. Rail services will transfer from the current operator Arriva Trains Wales on October 14, giving a contract length until 2033. The successful bidder currently operates the Docklands Light…
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Join us for the ‘gala of the year’!

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Sarah Wilkinson

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15th June 2018

THE Severn Valley Railway will stage a major diesel gala on October 4-6 that will celebrate 50 years of the ‘Hoovers’. The ‘Class 50 Golden Jubilee’ should feature at least ten ‘50s’ in action over the three days on an intensive timetable. It promises to be the greatest gathering ever of any one class of…
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Finding the sweet spot

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Sarah Wilkinson

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16th February 2018

EVEN the most die-hard supporter of a fully nationalised railway must secretly realise there’s very little prospect now of us ever going back to a British Rail-style era. More than 20 years on from privatisation, the franchising structure has brought many benefits – such as record numbers of passengers, service frequencies to the point of…
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UK range launched by Accurascale

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Sarah Wilkinson

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16th February 2018

FEBRUARY 1 saw Accurascale become the latest manufacturer to enter the UK-outline ready-to-run market, with the unveiling of its first ‘OO’ gauge model. Run by the same four modellers behind Irish Railway Models, Accurascale promises to bring the same very high standards, both in terms of models and custom service, to this side of the…
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MORE USES FOR CARGOWAGGONS

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Sarah Wilkinson

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16th February 2018

ALTHOUGH steel and other metals were the main traffics to use Cargowaggon flat wagons (February issue), mention was also made of their use for conveying non-metals related commodities, such as sawn timber (e.g. scaffolding boards), which I believe was mainly imported from Luxembourg and possibly elsewhere. One of the UK destinations mentioned for sawn timber…
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‘EARLY ‘08’ SURVIVOR’

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Sarah Wilkinson

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16th February 2018

THANKS for printing the picture of LMS diesel shunter No. 7069, which is an early precursor of the Class 08 fleet (Express Mailbag, February issue), as I have worked on the loco and can add some more details. No. 7069 remained in use up to 1972 when it was withdrawn and then remained in a…
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‘Baby Warship’ from Little Loco

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Sarah Wilkinson

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16th February 2018

FOLLOWING on from its highly successful Class 15, the Little Loco Company has announced it will tackle the North British Class 22 diesel hydraulics as its next BR ready-to-run model in ‘O’ gauge. With the Type 2s being a minefield of detail variations, the initial releases will portray the production versions from No. D6306 onwards,…
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Sarah Wilkinson

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