News

After more than 45 years, timetabled trains have begun running again from Wareham to the Swanage branch. By David Russell THROUGH trains between Wareham and the Swanage Railway were scheduled to begin on June 13, (just after this issue went to press), more than 45 years since the line was closed by British Railways in…

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Faced with increasing competition from road, air and daytime services, a report finds Europe’s sleeper services could also be paying too much in track access fees. By ‘Industry Witness’ THE future of overnight passenger services, including those in the UK, has been looked at by the European Parliament following the withdrawal of many operations due…

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TRANSPORT for London has issued a notice to tender with the Official Journal of the European Union to ‘sensitively restore and develop’ South Kensington station and surrounding buildings. The real estate company Savills is working with TfL to identify a shortlist of qualifying interested bidders. Much of the station and surrounding buildings owned by TfL…

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London Underground is having to upgrade its older Tube stock to fill the short gap between new legislation coming into force and new compliant trains being introduced. ROLLING stock on the Bakerloo, Central, Piccadilly and Waterloo & City lines – some of which date back to the early 1970s – are to be redesigned internally…

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A ONE-off event on April 23 saw four generations of East Coast traction run side by side along the four-track main line north of York. It was staged as part of a publicity campaign for Virgin Trains. The event – jointly organised by Virgin Trains, Network Rail, the National Railway Museum, Hitachi and Welcome to…

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The oldest DMUs still in regular use have finally been withdrawn by Chiltern Railways after nearly 60 years in traffic. CHILTERN Railways has withdrawn its last two Class 121 ‘Bubble Cars’, which were the oldest diesel units still in regular main line passenger service and the final ones to operate with vacuum brakes. The final…

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April 21 was the last day that London Underground operated ‘D’ Stock in normal service, although two railtours were planned for subsequent weeks. ‘D’ Stock has operated on the District Line since 1980, but has now been fully replaced by new Bombardier-built ‘S7’ Stock. Many of the driving cars have been acquired by Vivarail, however,…

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Volunteers from the EM2 Locomotive Society spent the Easter weekend stripping Overhead Line Inspection Vehicle (OLIVe) No. DB998900 of charred interior parts following the arson attack last year at the Middleton Railway, Leeds. The vehicle was then moved to the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway on May 2 to be repaired at Ingrow by the…

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Popular GM locos entered traffic 40 years ago. THE 18-strong General Motors-built 071 Class entered revenue earning traffic 40 years ago in 1977. On May 23 that year, No. 082 was the first to begin to recoup Coras Iompair Eireann’s investment, while No. 088 was the final one on July 6. Last year’s events to…

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