The Railway Magazine

The Railway Magazine has been published since 1897 and is now the UK's best-selling general interest rail title.

The Railway Magazine1 min read
The Railway Magazine
PUBLISHING Production editor: Sarah Wilkinson Designer: Tim Pipes Editorial assistant: Jane Skayman Publisher: Tim Hartley Sales and distribution manager: Carl Smith Marketing manager: Charlotte Park Commercial director: Nigel Hole Publishing directo
The Railway Magazine2 min read
Farewell To Arms
MANY Railway Magazine readers will have a fondness for the railways of Cornwall, whether as residents of the area or as visitors on holiday and other such trips. And what a marvel they are, with the main line threading its way from Plymouth the Penza
The Railway Magazine6 min read
Draft Rail Reform Bill published
THE long awaited legislation to implement rail reform was published in draft form on February 20, to allow parliamentary scrutiny, although it is widely expected it will not become law before the next general election. The proposals do not replace th
The Railway Magazine2 min read
Avanti To Axe Through Shrewsbury-Euston Service
THE single direct rail service from Shrewsbury to London Euston is to be axed from June. According to informed sources, the service has been losing passengers leading to a revenue shortfall of around £1.4 million per year as a result of changing trav
The Railway Magazine3 min read
Fleet Changes At Tyseley
LMS‘Jubilee’No. 5593 Kolhapur and GWR 0-6-0PT No. 7760 are to be sold by Tyseley Locomotive Works in order to allow sister company Vintage Trains (VT) to develop its core brand of running Great Westerndesigned locomotives and Pullman restaurant car t
The Railway Magazine1 min read
The Final Train Of Welsh Mined Coal
A CHAPTER of South Wales history closed on February 23, when the last train of Welsh mined coal operated on the national rail network. The final domestic coal flow in the UK was hauled by DB Cargo Class 66 No. 66112 from Cwmbargoed Disposal Point to
The Railway Magazine1 min read
Rochdale To Ribblehead DalesRail Service This Summer
A PROVISIONAL timetable has been published for a new year-round DalesRail service, which will operate between Rochdale and Ribblehead via Blackburn and Clitheroe from June 8, writes Graeme Pickering. Branded the‘Yorkshire Dales Explorer’, it will con
The Railway Magazine2 min read
Sidelines
PLANS are being developed for the construction of a new electric multiple unit depot at Shipley in West Yorkshire, writes Graeme Pickering. Documents lodged with City of Bradford Council last October, by consulting firm AECOM on behalf of Network Rai
The Railway Magazine2 min read
‘Shenfield Shark’ Scrapped On Site
A BRAKE van abandoned at an Essex main line station for around 35 years has been broken up after attempts to save it failed on safety grounds, writes Owen Hayward. The‘Shenfield Shark’will be familiar to many railway enthusiasts. No. DB993733, a ball
The Railway Magazine1 min read
Fallen Tree Derails Class 158
ONE passenger suffered minor injuries when the 15.51 Liverpool Lime Street to Norwich service was derailed after hitting a fallen tree while passing through Thetford Forest at about 21.15 on February 7. The injured passenger was treated at the scene
The Railway Magazine2 min read
Crewe Home For Duke Of Gloucester
THE Royal Scot Locomotive & General Trust (RSL&GT) has secured a 10-year partnership with the BR Class 8 Steam Locomotive Trust (BRC8SLT) for the operation of unique BR Standard Pacific No. 71000 Duke of Gloucester. The loco, which has not worked sin
The Railway Magazine2 min read
An East Coast Digital Milestone
THE introduction of in-cab digital signalling on the East Coast Main Line has moved a step closer following commissioning of the Welwyn to Hitchin (W2H) European Train Control System (ETCS) overlay. W2H is Britain’s first instance of infrastructure c
The Railway Magazine2 min read
New ‘Clayton’ trialled by British Steel
BRITISH STEEL has taken delivery by road of a Class 18 hybrid shunter for a trial expected to last at least four weeks at its Scunthorpe Works. No. 18003 is one of the 15-strong class, all owned by Beacon Rail, which have a Stage V emissions-complian
The Railway Magazine1 min read
Highland Whistling
A Class 40 returned to Inverness via the Highland Main Line on February 24, for the first time since No. 40145 in April 2010. No. D213 (40013) Andania hauled Inter-City’s‘Whistling Highlander’tour from Crewe to Inverness on February 24 (top-and-tail
The Railway Magazine1 min read
Full Service Returns To Marston Vale Line Using Class 150 DMUs
A FULL hourly-timetabled service returned to the Marston Vale line between Bedford and Bletchley from February 19. The 16-mile line, which connects the West Coast Main Line with the Midland Main Line, had been running with a limited peak hour service
The Railway Magazine3 min read
Railways in Parliament
JACK Brereton, the Stoke-on-Trent South MP, wanted to know what information the Department ofTransport (DfT) holds on any issues identified during the testing of new Hitachi AT300 rolling stock to replace‘Voyagers’on Avanti West Coast services, and w
The Railway Magazine2 min read
Breakthrough With London Logistics Tunnel
THE bore for the 853 metre-long (0.5 miles) Atlas Road Logistics Tunnel in West London, which will be used to move materials during the construction of the HS2 route eastwards towards Euston, was completed on January 23 after nine months of excavatio
The Railway Magazine1 min read
Sharing The Spoils:
It is estimated that five million tonnes of material, extracted during the building of the HS2 tunnels in London, will have passed through its Logistics Hub at Willesden Euroterminal by the end of the construction project. The million-tonne mark was
The Railway Magazine1 min read
Report Says Phase 2 Cancellation Makes HS2 ‘Poor Value’
THE House of Commons Public Accounts Committee has published a report calling on the Government to answer questions raised by its decision to cancel the construction of Phase 2 of HS2 between the West Midlands and Manchester. The report concludes tha
The Railway Magazine3 min read
Brighton’s Peers
SIX out of 15 prizes went to narrow gauge lines in this year’s Heritage Railway Association Awards, while the Severn Valley Railway picked up three others – including two of those sponsored by the railway press. This year’s ceremony was held at the M
The Railway Magazine3 min read
Railway Of The Year!
THERE was a home win for the Volk’s Electric Railway (VER) on February 10, as it scooped the top Railway of the Year prize at the Heritage Railway Association’s annual awards ceremony in Brighton. The VER is a fascinating operation, the oldest operat
The Railway Magazine14 min read
Mainly ‘B1s’
Guinness World Record: Longest-running railway series, established in 1901 BURIED well below heroic tales of epic runs in the age of steam, lies a soft under-belly of sometimes indifferent workmanship and ineffective management. We looked closely at
The Railway Magazine15 min read
Signalling Change In Cornwall
FOLLOWING a two-week engineering blockade of the Cornish Main Line at the end of February and start of March, signalling control at three signalboxes dating back to the 1890s will pass to a workstation at Exeter Panel. Truro, Par and Lostwithiel ’box
The Railway Magazine1 min read
A Buxton ‘Crompton’
LONG associated with the South of England, the first half of the 1980s saw Class 33s spread their wings a little, eventually reaching the likes of North Wales and Manchester on regular booked passenger diagrams. But nobody ever expected to see one in
The Railway Magazine9 min read
Readers’ Platform
CHRIS Milner’s article in the February issue discussed a number of seemingly unsettling issues regarding current and future rolling stock issues on Britain’s railways. However, I would suggest that there are at least seven further issues which may co
The Railway Magazine5 min read
Meetings
GCR Society. Farm Road Sports & Social Club, Sheffield S2 2TP. 19.30.‘Great Central Railway Carriages’: John Quick. Lutterworth Railway Society. Lutterworth Bowls Club LE15 4RB. 19.30.‘London & Birmingham Railway Construction’: Roger Cragg. Norfolk R
The Railway Magazine3 min read
From The Archive
AT the end of 1922, the total number of steam rail motors owned by British railway companies was only 115; 13 years earlier it had been 185. This decrease, which year by year becomes more marked, shows that such combinations are not altogether succes
The Railway Magazine2 min read
The RCTS: Then And Now
THE heavily-used former holiday line from Havant to Hayling Island had its origins with the Independent Hayling Railway Company, which was incorporated in 1860 to build four-and-a-half miles of single line with passing loops. The line opened in two s
The Railway Magazine16 min read
Auto Tank For The ‘Wizzer’
A GWR‘64XX’0-6-0PT is due to take up residence once again on the West Somerset Railway (WSR), after a member of the class was acquired by one of the line’s leading lights. Auto-fitted 1937-built No. 6435, and 1951-built WR auto-trailer No. 232 have b
The Railway Magazine3 min read
Penrhyn Castle Locos Rehomed
THE railway museum at Penrhyn Castle will look very different this year, following the departure of several standard and narrow gauge exhibits to new homes in other corners of the British Isles. This follows a decision by the National Trust, which ru
The Railway Magazine2 min read
Swanley Charity Trains Success
THE Swanley New Barn Railway kicked off the new year by supporting a good cause, raising valuable funds for a national charity. The Kent line’s annual charity event was held on January 1, in aid of the British Heart Foundation. All operable home-base
The Railway Magazine11 min read
New Plans For Expansion
EFFORTS to expand the restored section of the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway at Woody Bay are now being focussed on a shorter extension to a location just north of Parracombe. It follows the expiry of Lynton & Barnstaple Railway Trust’s (L&BRT) planning
The Railway Magazine3 min read
Beamish Museum welcomes Lisbon 730
DESPITE travelling through the tail of Storm Isha, Lisbon No. 730 arrived at Beamish Museum in County Durham unscathed, apart from some damage to one of its platform doors. Having previously visited Beamish in 2013, No. 730 returned on January 22, to
The Railway Magazine8 min read
End Of The Line For Two Historic LMS EMU Cars
THE Heritage Electric Trains Trust (HETT) has announced that two of its three surviving Wirral Class 503 EMU cars are set to be scrapped. All three cars were built for the LMS and formerly resided at the now-closed Electric Railway Museum on the edge
The Railway Magazine5 min read
HST Heading For The Highlands
LOCOMOTIVE Services Group has announced it will launch a series of three-day weekend excursions to Scotland this summer, under the title of the ‘West Highland Pullman’. The Pullman will run on eight weekends (Friday-Monday) and use a shortened versio
The Railway Magazine2 min read
High Density Trains Could ‘Unlock’ Freight Opportunities
USING vehicles from its fleet of 100 new FEA-G high density twin intermodal wagons, delivery of which was completed summer, GB Railfreight has launched a five trains per week service linking the DPWorld-operated port at London Gateway, on the north b
The Railway Magazine3 min read
TfL Begins Tendering Process For New London Trams Fleet
THE first phase of the process which should ultimately lead to an order being placed for new vehicles on the London Trams network was drawing to a close as this issue of The RM went to press. Transport for London’s tender notice, which had a closing
The Railway Magazine8 min read
University Station’s New Buildings Open
THE extensive rebuild of Birmingham’s busy University station has been completed, and the new buildings – ready to cater for an estimated 3.5 million passengers a year – opened on January 28. The original station dates from 1978 and was designed for
The Railway Magazine4 min read
Class 730 EMU Fleet Enters Service In West Midlands
WEST Midlands Railway (WMR) launched its‘Aventra’ Class 730/0 trains in the West Midlands on February 8, ahead of their introduction into service from February 12. The 48 three-car trains represent part of an overall £700 million investment for the o
The Railway Magazine2 min read
GB Railfreight Confirms Class 99 Testing Set For September
GB RAILFREIGHT has told The RM it expects the first of its 30 bi-mode Class 99 locomotives to be in service before the end of next year. The company also confirmed that a nine-month period of testing and commissioning is due to take place from Septem
The Railway Magazine2 min read
Wagon Report
WH DAVIS has completed construction of 46 JNA-U ‘Jumbo’open box wagons for Beacon Rail Leasing, Nos. 81 70 5932 105-6 to 150-2. Capacity is 75.0 cubic metres, which is 25% more than the standard JNA-T type. Overall length is 16.6 metres and tare 24 t
The Railway Magazine1 min read
Stock Update
Allocations37407 XHSO-XSDP37419 XHSO-XSDP37422 XHSO-XSDP37425 XHSO-XSDP37716 XHSO-XSDP56032 GBGS-GBRG60017 WQAA-WQBA66001 WBAE-WBAT66005 WBAE-WBAT66009 WBAE-WBAT66011 WBAE-WBAT66012 WBAE-WBAT66024 WBAE-WBAT66027 WBAE-WBAT66032 WBAE-WBAT66035 WBAE-WBA
The Railway Magazine4 min read
Downpatrick Continues To Rebuild
WORK continues at Downpatrick to return the railway and its rolling stock back to operational condition after the severe flooding in November that caused almost £3 million in damage. One of the success stories has been the recruitment of several new
The Railway Magazine22 min read
The Network’s Notable Moves
OnWednesday, January 17, and for the following two days, unbranded plain white Class 805 No. 805002 ran ECS (Empty Coaching Stock) from Oxley Depot as 5Q30/06.40 to Glasgow Central and return at 12.32. A combination of weekend engineering works and t
The Railway Magazine1 min read
Images From A Disappearing World
By Vic Millington THIS really is a book with a difference. At first glance, I did not think it would appeal, but within a dozen or so pages I was hooked. Vic Millington is an artist who decided the best way to convey the essence of a line as old as t
The Railway Magazine5 min read
Chinese Steam Comes To An End
HAVING survived multiple previous deadlines, steam operation at the world’s last bastion of steam and the significant working steam depot in Sandaoling’s (Three Small Hills) huge open-cast coal mine in Xinjiang province in northwest China came to an
The Railway Magazine1 min read
Modern Traction In The North Of England
By John Whiteley THE author is a well known photographer who here gets to showcase some of his work featuring modern traction from the early 1960s through to the latter years of British Rail in the 1990s. It is displayed in the standard Amberley form
The Railway Magazine1 min read
Merseyrail Electric: The Award-winning Network
By Martyn Hilbert THIS book offers an illustrated history of the Merseyrail network, written by an expert on the subject, covering the history of the third-rail electric railway around the Liverpool area from the late-1970s to the arrival of the late
The Railway Magazine1 min read
The Railway Magazine Binders And Bound Volumes
High-quality binders to store your copies of The RM are available to buy for just £11.99, including UK postage and packing (add £2.25 for Europe and £4.75 for rest of the world). TO ORDER: See our website at classicmagazines.co.uk/category/BINDER; or
The Railway Magazine2 min read
CROSSWORD & NEXT MONTH
The crossword winner and two runners-up can choose books worth £50 and £25 respectively from the extensive Nostalgia Collection. Visit us at www.mortonsbooks.co.uk 1 & 5 Junction and former station between Swindon and Chippenham (7,7)9 Last station b

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