Sarah Wilkinson

GREATER Anglia ran a second charity railtour on September 16, the ‘EACH Express 2’, which this time featured two Class 68s and a Mk.3 rake rather than the ‘37s’ and ‘short set’ used for the original tour in 2016. The route was an exact repeat of last year’s, first running from Norwich to Ely and…

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THE first passenger trains reached Newquay in the 1870s, but it was in the early 1900s that the town began to take off as a seaside resort, resulting in the first through trains from London in 1906. There were two routes to Newquay from the Cornish main line – the direct line from Par via…

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Virgin Trains has begun a rolling programme to repaint its fleet of 56 Class 390 sets – their first major new look, apart from promotional specials, since they were first introduced to the West Coast Main Line in 2002. No. 390010 was the first to be given the new look, with the work being done…

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THE railways of the Isle of Wight have always been a little different. Isolated from the mainland, and with a restrictive loading gauge due mainly to the tunnels under Ryde Esplanade, they have always been worked by dedicated locos and stock throughout their 150 year history. This is why the remaining rump of the once…

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The Electric Railway Museum held its last ever open day on October 8, as the landowners Coventry City Council has not renewed the lease. The ERM’s trustees announced in July that this would be the tenth and final year of open days, and that the collection would be split up and distributed across a number…

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THREE serious derailments occurred in mid-August, bringing disruption to busy parts of the network. The first was at Ely on August 14, followed the day after by one at Waterloo, and then the third at Paddington on August 20. The Ely incident saw eleven container wagons of GBRf’s 33-wagon 4Z33/11.18 Felixstowe South-Doncaster derailed at Ely…

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