Features

Remembering ‘D’ stock

by

Sam Hewitt

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18th April 2017

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

by

Sam Hewitt

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18th April 2017

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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50 years of West Coast electrics

by

Sam Hewitt

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17th April 2017

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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UK Railtours targets Goole Docks

by

Sam Hewitt

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7th April 2017

FROM OUR ARCHIVES Forgotten Tracks tour visits rare East Yorkshire lines THE Forgotten Tracks series of charter trains, arranged by UK Railtours, visits some lines relatively frequently while other trips are more ‘one off’ events. Its offering on November 14 – the ‘Galloping Goolie’ – fell into the latter category, travelling over some bits of…
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Performance: 0 to 60!

by

Sam Hewitt

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30th March 2017

Just how nimble are today’s locos and units, and what’s the quickest off the mark? A Virgin ‘Pendolino’ is this month’s target for Neville Hill in the shadow of the Jodrell Bank radio telescope. COULD Britain’s most sophisticated squadron service InterCity set, the Class 390 ‘Pendolino’, challenge the EMU leaders of our 0-60 table? Well…
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Sectorisation and the focus on freight

by

Sam Hewitt

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16th March 2017

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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The Class 01 story

by

Sam Hewitt

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22nd February 2017

Thirty five years ago this February, one of British Rail’s most interesting operations came to an end. Steve Morris looks back at the Holyhead Breakwater Railway and the Class 01 shunters that were based there. FEBRUARY 1982 saw the end of one of British Rail’s more enigmatic loco fleets – the Holyhead Breakwater Class 01s.…
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An Oxfordshire renaissance

by

Sam Hewitt

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22nd February 2017

Chiltern Railways is now running services through to the main Oxford station, competing with Great Western Railway for commuters to London. Robin Whitlock describes how the project was realised. CHILTERN Railways announced Project Evergreen 3 in August 2008, with the aim of running a regular passenger service from Oxford to London Marylebone via Bicester. The…
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Last days of the Westerns

by

Sam Hewitt

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21st February 2017

February 1977 saw the withdrawal of the last Class 52 ‘Westerns’ in BR service. To mark the 40th anniversary of their demise, David Russell looks back at the run down of these popular diesel-hydraulics. THE ‘Westerns’ were, without doubt, the first diesel locos to attract a large following. While the other diesel-hydraulics based on the…
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250 not out

by

Sam Hewitt

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21st February 2017

There were those that said we wouldn’t last more than a few issues, but over 20 years after our launch in 1996, Rail Express is still going strong and this month we pass the 250 issue milepost. Here’s a look back over some of the key moments in our history so far. THE story of…
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