Rail Express

Welcome

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16th June 2017

WELL Brussels, at least. Eurostar has introduced its Class 374 ‘Velaro’ sets to its London-Brussels route, 18 months after they started on the Paris run. These Siemens-built sets can carry 20% more passengers than the original Class 373s for roughly the same length of train, which they do by having a distributed underfloor traction system…
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Historic South Kensington platform to be rebuilt

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Sam Hewitt

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25th May 2017

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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Internal redesign for LU Tube stock

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Sam Hewitt

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25th May 2017

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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Tank wagon traffic to TMDs

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Sam Hewitt

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25th May 2017

The 1980s and 1990s saw Traction Maintenance Depots continue to receive fuel deliveries and, to a lesser extent, other fluids by rail. However, as privatisation took hold, such traffic went into terminal decline as road transport became more cost effective. David Ratcliffe profiles an assortment of tank wagons that could be found on depots during…
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DEMU Showcase headlines Midlands events in June

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Sam Hewitt

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25th May 2017

It is again time to head to Burton upon Trent for the society’s all-diesel and electric show with the Great Central three-day exhibition following soon afterwards. EARLY summer is here and with it comes the annual Diesel & Electric Modellers United exhibition in Burton upon Trent. Taking place on the first weekend of June, this…
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REVIEW: Allocation History of BR Diesel Multiple Units Part 3

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Sam Hewitt

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25th May 2017

By Roger Harris Self-published 63 Carol Avenue, Cherry Orchard, Bromsgrove B61 8RW 150 pages, all text, 297x210mm, softback. £21.50 THERE’S not a lot to say about this series of books by Roger Harris, except they contain all the information you are ever likely to need about vehicle allocations, disposals, liveries, renumberings, export dates, preservation and…
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BR’s BIG SHAKE-UP

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Sam Hewitt

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25th May 2017

I ENJOYED the freight sectorisation article in RE251 (April issue) and found it an interesting read. The splendid main opening image shows what is most likely the long-distance Lackenby to Corby ‘Tubeliner’ at York. I think there were two such workings between Teesside and Corby back then. However, due to changes within the steel industry,…
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0 to 60!

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Sam Hewitt

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25th May 2017

Just how nimble are today’s locos and units, and what’s the quickest off the mark? Neville Hill returns to the Cambridge line in search of the now venerable BR-built Class 317s. THE Class 317s are a product of British Rail in the early 1980s, so younger readers might be forgiven for writing them off as falling…
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On a firm (four) footing

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Sam Hewitt

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25th May 2017

Now that the Colne Valley Railway has purchased its own trackbed and land, plans are pushing ahead on more visitor attractions and a longer running line. IT has been a tense few years. In 2015, the landowner informed the Colne Valley Railway – based near Castle Hedingham on the picturesque Essex/Suffolk border – that he had…
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FROM OUR ARCHIVES: Tanks for the memories

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Sam Hewitt

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23rd May 2017

The once extensive network of fuel oil deliveries is now reduced to a few as required workings. David Ratcliffe looks back at the history of these services, which peaked in the early 1970s. FUEL oil, one of the heavier and less volatile of the petroleum fractions obtained during the cracking of crude oil, was primarily…
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