News

EIGHT wooden framed carriages owned by the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland (RPSI) were transferred from their long-term storage location in the open at Inchicore to the former valeting shed at Heuston station on December 3. The vehicles, which had suffered graffiti and weather damage, were hauled empty in two batches to their new accommodation…

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Besides their booked duties, Irish Rail diesels step in to cover RPSI Christmas railtours after two steam failures. Every year in the period before Christmas, the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland (RPSI), in association with Northern Ireland Railways and Irish Rail, organises a series of ‘Santa Specials’ in the Belfast and Dublin areas, with both…

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ORIGINALLY refurbished in 2003, and painted in an attractive all-over orange colour scheme with the classic RMC diamond logo, the 15 long-stored PCA Presflo wagons (Nos. RC 10025-8/33/4/8/40-3/5/7-9) now owned by Cemex are being disposed of. Funded in part by a Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) grant of over £500,000, the former Rugby Cement ‘Presflos’ (built…

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South West Trains, ScotRail and Crossrail prepare for the introduction of new stock. The first of Siemens’ new ‘Desiro City’ EMUs for South West Trains, No. 707001, reached the UK in early December and was collected from Dollands Moor by Nos. 37884+37800 on December 8 and moved as the 6X88/23.45 Dollands Moor-Clapham Yard. The morning…

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With the autumn Railhead Treatment Train season over, the five Type 1s have been stood down from traffic once more. With the late onset of autumn, 2016’s Railhead Treatment Train programme was extended into mid-December in some areas of the country. However, as the wagon sets began to be returned to York once again, this…

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The 192nd and final ‘S’ Stock train was delivered to London Underground on November 10, more than 6½ years after the first pre-production train arrived. The fleet, which has taken nine years to deliver from the signing of the contract, is made up of 59 eight-car units that operate on the Metropolitan Line and 133…

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Especially bad weather combined with other factors to wipe out more than half the fleet of 1973 Stock. A ‘perfect storm’ of poor rail adhesion, leading to wheel slips under braking, resulted in the majority of the Piccadilly Line’s 1973 Stock developing flats during late November and early December. At one point, more than half…

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