News

Last year saw Europhoenix acquire two Class 37/6s from DRS, the company putting Nos. 37608 and 37611 straight into service in plain blue with only minimal rebranding. Although both have now been repainted into the full grey and red livery, this interim appearance offers something a little different to model, as Roland Turner describes. ANYONE…

Continue reading »

Steelwork has been erected at Long Rock, Penzance, to expand the existing depot for its new role as the base for Great Western Railway’s sleeper train operations – this view taken on March 31. The coaches and Class 57/6 locos have to move from Old Oak Common in London to make way for a new…

Continue reading »

A derailment at Witham Friary required the deployment of two cranes, including the rare use of a Kirow KRC1200UK in a breakdown role. By Gareth Bayer THE 7Z15/17.05 Merehead to Acton loaded Mendip Rail aggregates working derailed at East Somerset Junction (Witham Friary) on March 20, requiring an intensive five-day effort to recover three HOA…

Continue reading »

GREATER Anglia has released these images of how its new trains should look when they are delivered from 2019. Swiss firm Stadler is supplying 38 three and four-car bi-mode ‘Flirt’ units for use on regional routes plus twenty 12-car EMU versions for inter-city and Standsted Express services; while Bombardier will supply 89 five-car and 22…

Continue reading »

VIVARAIL has reliveried its first Class 230 ‘D-Train’ unit following repairs after the engine fire it experienced on test near Kenilworth, Warwickshire, at the end of 2016. No. 230001 was shown off at the company’s base at Long Marston at the end of March. The middle car has also been fitted out with a mixture…

Continue reading »

Prometheus has become the first of the 10 Stadler-built dual-mode locomotives to operate test runs over Network Rail metals. By Simon Bendall WITH static tests largely completed at Carlisle Kingmoor, No. 88002 Prometheus became the first Class 88 to venture onto the main line on March 20. The rather low-key outing was undertaken without a proper…

Continue reading »

IN THE MAY 2017 ISSUE Incredibly, BR-built Class 442s are set to return while new Siemens-built Class 707s will be displaced. By ‘Industry Witness’ FIRST-MTR has been awarded the next South West Trains franchise to operate services from Waterloo, starting on August 20 for a period of seven years. The consortium ownership has a holding…

Continue reading »

THE first of four Loram Corrective Rail Grinder (CRG) trains for Network Rail has returned to Derby RTC after testing at the High Marnham Test Track in Nottinghamshire. Based at Tuxford since early January, CRG(01) departed for Loram’s base at Derby RTC and the attention of the wheel lathe on February 22 behind DCR No.…

Continue reading »

THE rigours of the Celsa contract continued to prove taxing for GBRf and HNRC during February, with more swaps taking place at Cardiff Tidal. Fresh from derailment repairs, No. 08389 was returned to South Wales from Barrow Hill on February 10, but No. 08924 was removed the same day. In need of traction motor attention, it spent…

Continue reading »