Rail Express July 2017

CLASS 20

SVR GALA SPECTACULAR

Which locos survive as they notch up 60 years in traffic?

Class 88 tops the list of 17 visiting locomotives

FLEET SURVEY

Essential reading for today’s rail enthusiast

NEXT STOP AMSTERDAM! Eurostar ‘Velaros’ reach Brussels as a first step to network expansion

RAIL EXPRESS No. 254 JULY 2017

■ RETRO FREIGHT

The rich variety of the South Staffs line in the 1970s and 80s

40 PAGES

OF MODELLING

A moment

IN TIME Why this ‘Hymek’ was the unlikely star of a 1972 open day

■ ‘CLAY TIGERS’

Full history of the fleet

■ FIRST LOOK

Hattons’ 7mm Warwell

■ NEW RELEASES

Dapol ‘Bubble Car’, DJM ‘71’

Issue No. 254 July 2017

CONTENTS

OVERHAUL FOR VETERAN MET LOCO: The 1923-built Metropolitan Railway electric loco No. 12 Sarah Siddons went to London Underground’s Acton Works on May 22 to start a major overhaul that could last up to a year. It moved from LU’s Ruislip depot to Acton in company with battery locos Nos. L24 and L27 – leading the formation to allow engineers to assess what condition it is in – the trio seen soon after leaving Ruislip. Jamie Squibbs

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HEADLINE NEWS Fair access for sleeper services?; GWR locohauled returns; Swanage Railway begins Wareham services; Elected mayors gain transport powers; Third-rail lifted at Eastleigh; The ‘Bubble’ finally bursts at Chiltern Railways; Greater Anglia gets first regenerative Class 321; Welsh Assembly criticised for ‘secret’ consultation; Largest crossing claim; Severn Valley Railway celebrates in style; Brussels welcomes first Eurostar ‘Velaro’.

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RETRO FREIGHT: SOUTH STAFFS Detailing the rich variety of the now closed Lichfield-Walsall direct route in the 1970s and 80s.

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0-60: CLASS 142

29

Looking back to events from past Julys.

30

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71

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A MOMENT IN TIME Why was ‘Hymek’ No. 7036 the unlikely star of the 1972 open day at Old Oak Common?

MODELLING With the release of Kernow’s 4mm ‘Clay Tiger’ hopper, we take an indepth look at the career of these bogie china clay wagons. Reviews include DJ Models’ ‘OO’ gauge Class 71 and Bachmann’s Aggregates Industries-liveried ‘66’ – while there’s news of Heljan’s ‘14’ and ‘28’.

LU WORLD ‘D’ Stock bows out with railtour; Branch Line Society tour to visit Northumberland Park.

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RAILTOURS Charity begins at… Ipswich; Join Alan for the ‘Lickey Incliner 2’; trips to Old Dalby announced.

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PRESERVATION Class 27 to 22 conversion project abandoned; Class 50 Thunderer goes main line after 26 years; Class 14 moves to Colne Valley Railway; ‘3-CIG’ to debut at Spa Valley gala.

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POWER BY THE HOUR Bulk freight for Colas Class 70s; DRS’ new Stadler traction goes out and about.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLASS 20 Sixty years old this month, we detail the remaining 52 examples of this remarkable survivor.

MAILBAG AND REVIEWS Lewes closure not the council’s fault; Western Advocate collision; Brits Abroad: a track machine!

Neville Hill completes the trio of ‘Pacer’ classes with a run on the Wigan to Southport line.

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TIME TRAVELLER

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POWERSCENE Notable workings from around the country.

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UNITARY AUTHORITY GWR sends first ‘Adelante’ to Grand Central.

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SHUNTER SPOT Dawson fleet expands; RSS takes over Tostre.

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COACH COMPARTMENT DRS Mk.2 gets CET tank; ‘Air-con’ pioneer returns to active use with Locomotive Services.

95

WAGONS ROLL GBRf takes over former Colas HHA hopper set.

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IRISH ANGLE Another GM gets retro livery; Belmond season sees route and loco changes.

Eurostar has operated its Class 374 ‘Velaro’ sets on the Paris route since the end of 2015, but May 23 saw them start running them to Brussels too – Nos. 4025+4026 pictured there after arriving with the first service, the 08.04 from St Pancras. The move is a first step towards reaching Amsterdam later this year, as the ‘374s’ – unlike the older Class 373s – have the traction and signalling capabilities to work in The Netherlands and Germany.

Editor’s Comment PRINT & DISTRIBUTION

Newstrade & distribution Marketforce UK Ltd, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HU. 0203 787 9001 Printed by William Gibbons and Sons, Wolverhampton Published Third Friday of every month This issue June 16, 2017 Next issue July 21, 2017 Advertising deadline July 6, 2017 ISSN No 1362 234X

Paul Bickerdyke Rail Express Editor

© Mortons Media Group Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage retrieval system without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

To infinity* and beyond

W

ELL 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 rather than using end power cars, thus freeing up two vehicles for extra seats. And this extra capacity naturally meant they were first introduced onto the busier of Eurostar’s two main routes.

Now, however, the ‘374s’ are running to Brussels as a prequel to pushing on into The Netherlands to reach Rotterdam and Amsterdam, which will be the company’s first timetabled trains outside of the UK, Belgium and France since it first started running in November 1994. Beyond that, there are plans to reach Germany too.

Eurostar is targeting the airlines and hopes to capture a major slice of the market share, as it has done on the current routes.

Research shows that business users will switch if the train journey can be done within around three hours, while leisure users much prefer to watch the countryside go by out of

the window than being above the clouds in an aeroplane.

The ‘Velaros’ cater for both these groups, with top chef-inspired catering, space to work, and extra leg room. Power sockets are standard and free wi-fi is available (which the ‘373s’ do not have), plus there is an on board entertainment system showing TV programmes and movies during the journey.

Speaking to the driver on the first day’s press run, crews seem to like both the old and new sets. But there’s no denying the cab environment is much better in the ‘374s’, and where there were once switches and buttons, there are now touch screen controls.

Passengers too feel the carriages provide a much improved environment for travel, certainly when compared with air travel. So Europe’s short-haul airlines beware – the railways are out to get your business.

Paul Bickerdyke

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Power by the Hour Shunter Spot Name Game Spectrum

Preservation Unitary Authority Coach Compartment

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Wagons Roll

LU World (with Piers Connor)

Powerscene

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Irish Angle (with Alan McFerran)

‘Industry Witness’ News Writer

LONDON SCOTSMAN: The Belmond Royal Scotsman luxury train, as the name suggests, usually works north of the border with trips around Scotland from Edinburgh. But occasionally it runs elsewhere too – such as on May 27, when the train began a five-day private charter from London to the West Highland Line over the long bank holiday weekend. The empty stock from Edinburgh Craigentinny is seen crossing the Thames into Victoria station, ‘top and tailed’ by dedicated GBRf locos Nos. 66746 and 66743. Jamie Squibbs

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HEADLINE NEWS

Fair access for sleepers?

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 to competition from daytime services, budget airlines and deregulated coach services.

Changing social norms also mean that passengers now generally decline to share sleeping compartments with strangers and expect en-suite facilities.

Although these challenges are real enough, the question has also been raised whether track access charges reflect the nature of the services, which are marginal users of infrastructure mainly used by timetabled daytime and freight operations. Effectively there is no dedicated infrastructure, and the European report suggested that costs attributable to sleeper operations do not amount to more than £1.50 per train mile.

This was an issue raised by

Transport Scotland when the Caledonian Sleeper business was split from the Scotrail franchise in April 2015. It was suggested then that an open access track charging policy should be adopted that removed the substantial fixed element.

Network Rail responded that how the fixed charge in Scotland was apportioned was a matter for the devolved Government, and that in any case the trains did not attract this tariff for operations in England as no fixed charge was applied for cross-border services that originated in England.

public funding that has not been made available in other European states.

The current service pattern, which uses Mk.3 sleeping cars with additional seating capacity, is a combination of five portions that are brought together to form two spine services. The Lowland train has portions between Euston and Edinburgh/Glasgow while the Highland service has Inverness, Aberdeen and Fort William as terminating points. The Fort William sleeping cars are detached from the Aberdeen portion at Edinburgh, where day coaches are added.

There will be no change to this structure when the 75 new Mk.5 sleeping and seating vehicles enter service in 2018.

The journeys are timed at a restricted speed of 80mph, so that the departure and arrival times allow sufficient time for sleep – although the need to arrive for the start of the

“The average Caledonian Sleeper journey length is the UK’s longest at 409 miles”

BUCKING THE TREND

THE Caledonian Sleeper is the only current European example where investment in new rolling stock to meet current product requirements is taking place; a decision that resulted from

GWR SUMMER LOCO-HAULED RETURNS: The first Saturday of the summer timetable saw the return of Great Western Railway’s loco-hauled diagram, which this year starts at St Erth as the 10.28 to Plymouth, then the 13.35 Plymouth-Exeter St Davids and 17.50 Exeter St Davids-Penzance. The latter working on the first day is pictured crossing Forder Viaduct, near Saltash, behind No. 57603. It is rumoured this could be the final year for this popular (with enthusiasts) service. Ron Westwater

WEYMOUTH LOCO-HAULED: Great Western

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8 RAIL EXPRESS July 2017

Railway ran a one-off loco-hauled service between Bristol and Weymouth on June 3, the 1O72/09.06 departure from Temple Meads. The summerSaturday service is usually formed of a HST set, but none were spare that day due to extra services running for the Champions League football final being staged in Cardiff. As a result, GWR hired in No. 67010 and a rake of stock, pictured on the outward leg at Hawkeridge Junction on the approach to Westbury. Steve King

working day has become less critical, as nearly four-fifths of passengers travel for leisure purposes. Operational constraints also have to be considered, as lengthy platform occupancy during peak periods is avoided at the major terminals. Some flows are less obvious than at first sight – such as the use made by passengers of the Preston stop to make connections to Manchester Airport.

The passenger journey statistics for the 2016 financial year show that each service has an average occupancy of 128. This is against a capacity for 238 passengers, made up of 72 First Class berths with single occupancy, 52 Standard Class berths with double occupancy and 62 seats.

Many daytime operators have lower load factors, such as Arriva Trains Wales with an average of 51 passengers per train, Scotrail with 62, and CrossCountry with 106. The highest is Virgin East Coast, where each service carries an average of 244 users. For the Caledonian Sleeper, there is considerable seasonal variability given the dominance of the leisure market.

The average length of journey is far in excess of any other operator at 409 miles, comparison for this statistic are Virgin East Coast at 159, Virgin West Coast 123, CrossCountry 58, Arriva Trains Wales 24 and Scotrail 19 miles.

The long mileage has a striking effect on the support payment required to cover operating losses, which at 7.5p per passenger mile is less than the 10.5p required by ATW. But currently each passenger journey requires a subsidy of close to £50 – although, as already highlighted, the infrastructure cost allocation may not reflect the actual costs incurred.

The contract with Serco guarantees the future of Anglo-Scottish sleeping car operations until 2030, and there is no indication that the ‘Night Riviera’ service between Paddington and Penzance will be removed from a future Great Western franchise specification. It is a regret, however, that the opportunity to replace the outdated rolling stock on the West of England route was not taken at the time of the Caledonian Sleeper replacement vehicle order, which would have reduced the production cost of building relatively few specialist coaches. E

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HEADLINE NEWS

Swanage Railway begins Wareham shuttle services 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 January 1972.

Services began despite delays in the completion of the ‘Heritage’ DMUs that are being specially overhauled at Eastleigh Works for use on these services.

For the 2017 season, West Coast Railways will be operating loco-hauled trains on the line, using London Underground’s 4-TC set ‘top and tailed’

by Class 33/47 locos. These will probably include the 71A Group’s No. D6593 (33012) Lt Jenny Lewis RN, which is main line certified and based at the Swanage Railway, as well as West Coast’s own motive power.

Four return trips will be made between Swanage and Wareham, running five days a week (Tuesday-Thursday,

Chiltern Railways may have withdrawn its ‘Bubble Cars’ (see page 10), but next year should see the Swanage Railway’s No. 55028 return to service for the Wareham shuttles. The DMU is pictured inside Eastleigh Works on May 22 during its protracted overhaul, having been newly repainted in BR green. Carl Watson

Saturday and Sunday) until September 3.

The DMU cars that are being overhauled at Eastleigh for these services are now expected to return to Swanage towards the end of the year,

the delay in their completion being due to wheelset issues. These comprise a three-car Class 117 set (Nos. 51356+59486+51388) and Class 121 ‘Bubble Car’ No. 55028.

Elected mayors gain transport powers By ‘Industry Witness’ THE Government has devolved power over local transport decisions to the first six ‘Metro Mayors’ that were elected in May. These cover the urban conurbations of Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, West Midlands, Tees Valley and the less denselypopulated regions of the West of England and Cambridgeshire.

In Liverpool, action is promised to extend the Merseyrail network and open stations in new economic growth areas.

There is a budget of £340 million, of which Network Rail is contributing £229 million and the Liverpool City Region £111 million.

The project includes building new and longer platforms at Liverpool Lime Street to accommodate more services and longer trains, with an upgrade on the Merseyrail city centre underground loop. Additional track will be provided between Huyton and Roby to allow faster trains to overtake local services, and the restored Halton curve will be used to provide trains between Liverpool and Chester, with the potential for extension to North Wales.

The emphasis in Manchester is the improvement of the 97 stations in the city region and the introduction of integrated smart ticketing covering all transport modes. In the West Midlands, powers are sought over the specification

and delivery of a new rail franchise focused on local services. The railrelated promise in the West of England is to have much greater ambition about the improvement of services, which includes operations in the Bristol conurbation.

There are plans to build a light rail network in Cambridge that would include an underground section, and to reopen the line between March and Wisbech with a through service operating to Cambridge that requires remodelling at Ely North Junction. A major new development of up to 12,000 homes is planned in Wisbech, and transport links will be required to provide connectivity to employment centres.

THIRD-RAIL LIFTED AT EASTLEIGH: De-electrification has taken place at Eastleigh to remove the conductor rails from track leading to Eastleigh Traction Depot. These were added in 1990 as part of the Solent Link electrification scheme between Southampton, Portsmouth, Eastleigh and Fareham, when the depot was turned into a maintenance facility for the slam-door EMU fleet then in use. EWS, and later DB Cargo, took over the depot and EMU maintenance moved elsewhere, so there is no longer a requirement to keep the third-rail. Work to remove the conductors is pictured on May 10 as Nos. 37099 and 37254 pass with the 1Q53/11.43 Eastleigh-Eastleigh circular test train.

Neil Walkling

IN BRIEF RAIB RELEASES REPORT INTO BALHAM FATALITY THE Rail Accident Investigation Branch has concluded its report into the accident near Balham on August 7, 2016, when a passenger was killed after putting his head out of the window of a moving train and hitting a signal gantry. The train was a Gatwick Express service formed of a Class 442 EMU, which has an opening window in the guard’s compartment, and was travelling at more than 60mph when the accident occurred.

RAIB concluded there was nothing to prevent passengers from putting their head out of the opened window and that there was less than the normal standard clearance between the train and the signal gantry. Although the clearance was compliant with standards for existing structures, it was less than an industry recommended minimum for new structures where there are trains with opening passenger windows.

An underlying cause was that the process for assessing the compatibility of that type of train on that route did not identify the risk of the combination of reduced structure clearances and opening windows.

DB CARGO OFFERS DIGITAL ROUTE LEARNING DB Cargo is now offering digital route learning for its drivers. The operator has filmed routes across the country using a specialist camera to create an online route programme that drivers can access via tablet or computer. The programme was created in collaboration with Track Access Services Limited (TAS) and runs footage of the route alongside a moving map, whilst advising on other areas including speed and signals.

Using streamed media offers several advantages, as it enables drivers to review the route multiple times and review certain sections again. This also reduces the number of trains on the network, as additional journeys do not need to be undertaken for route learning, reducing costs.

CLASS 319 ‘FLEX’ UNITS TO BECOME CLASS 769 CHANGES on the Rolling Stock Library show the Class 319 EMUs that are to be fitted with diesel engines to become bimodes under the ‘Flex’ programme, are to be renumbered as Class 769. The work is being done at Brush Loughborough, and so far Nos. 319424/31/34/42/48/50/56/58 have been earmarked for conversion. The last three numbers of each unit will remain unchanged.

GWR POACHES PASSENGERS DURING ROAD CLOSURE GREAT Western Railway tempted National Express bus passengers to switch to rail when the M4 motorway closed for two weekends in May. A 13-mile stretch of the M4 between London, South Wales and the West of England was closed from May 12-15, and GWR offered complimentary rail travel for the entire journey to those already holding National Express fares.

July 2017 RAIL EXPRESS 9

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HEADLINE NEWS IN BRIEF MINI-TOUR TARGETS GREAT CENTRAL LINES THE Branch Line Society and the Preserved Locomotive Enthusiasts’ Group have teamed up to run ‘The Rothley Rodder’ on July 22, at the Great Central Railway. This will cover rare lines in the Swithland and Loughborough areas, and visit the full length of the Mountsorrel branch – including the associated connection. Haulage include three Class 08 locomotives, with Nos. 08907 and 08528 ‘top and tailing’ loco-hauled stock from Loughborough to Rothley, a DMU running Rothley to Mountsorrel and return, then No. 08694 hauling the coaching stock back to Loughborough.

Tickets start at £20 for members and are available through the BLS.

With both units full and standing, Nos. 121020 and 121034 arrive at Princes Risborough with the 2Z97/16.39 additional from Aylesbury on May 19. This was a rare patch of brightness on an otherwise drab day. Simon Bendall

FURTHER DELAY FOR SCOTRAIL ELECTRIFICATION PLANS to speed up journeys by electrifying the main Edinburgh-Glasgow rail line have been delayed again.

Network Rail had said a “safety-critical” component had failed, which would affect the planned start of electric trains in July. The energisation date of the overhead power lines at the end of May has been delayed because of the problem. Unconfirmed reports suggest the overhead line may not ‘zig-zag’ enough to prevent grooving of pantographs.

The setback follows the original completion date being put back from last December because of other difficulties with the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Project. That will have a knock-on effect on ScotRail drivers being trained to drive electric trains on Scotland’s busiest route.

GOOD PRICES FETCHED FOR RAILWAYANA ONE of the star items at the Railwayana Auctions event in Stafford at the end of May was a chromed brass crest from ‘Deltic’ No. 55010, which sold for £8500. Other modern traction items included a flame cut number panel from ‘Deltic’ No. 55012, which sold for £1500, and a North British worksplate for Class 84 No. E3039 (84004), which went for £2150.

RULING ON CROSSRAIL TRAINS TO HEATHROW A HIGH court judge is to decide whether Crossrail trains should be charged each time they travel to Heathrow Airport. The airport spent £1 billion building the fivemile branch from the Great Western Main Line in the late 1990s.

The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) previously decided Heathrow could not charge trains for using the line, which it said would cost about £42 million a year.

An airport spokesperson said it wanted to “ensure track access charges were fair”. Heathrow has taken the decision to the high court for a judicial review and a ruling is expected soon.

10 RAIL EXPRESS July 2017

To celebrate the final day, the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway positioned its two Class 121s Nos. 55023 and 977858 (55024) at Risborough, meaning for a short time there were four ‘Bubble Cars’ at the station. This shot was taken from the station’s former signalbox. Phil Marsh

The celebratory cake that was unveiled at Princes Risborough and rapidly devoured soon afterwards. Simon Bendall

The ‘Bubble’ finally bursts Chiltern Railways has brought down the curtain on its ‘Bubble Car’ operation as planned, but not without a final send-off.

By Simon Bendall THE final weekday of the winter timetable, May 19, saw Chiltern Railways cease using its two Class 121 ‘Bubble Cars’, and with it came the end of First Generation DMUs with a main line operator.

For the final day, Chiltern commendably chose to operate a number of additional services between Aylesbury and Princes Risborough from lunchtime onwards, these fitting in between the regular morning and evening peak-time duties. Even more welcome was that blue-liveried No. 121020 was specially repaired in order to take part alongside greenliveried No. 121034, the class pioneer having spent the previous few weeks out of service with transmission issues.

It was just as well that both ‘Bubbles’ were available and paired up from the start, as the 2Z92/12.50 Princes Risborough-Aylesbury – the first of the extra public runs that day – was so busy that there was standing in the guard’s compartments and saloons.

Prior to departure, a ‘Bubble Car’shaped cake had been divided up among the passengers while the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway joined in the celebration by positioning their preserved Class 121s, Nos. 55023 and 977858 (55024), on their side of the station for a short time.

VAGARIES OF AGE

The 2Z92 working had been preceded by a staff and press special from Aylesbury, but there were a few worries when No. 121020 shut down just after departure on this 2Z91/11.40 working.

Fortunately, the Chiltern fitters travelling on board for just such an eventuality were able to resolve the issue after a delay of around 10 minutes.

The reliability issues were not done with, however, as a GSM-R radio failure was discovered on No. 121034 just before the 2Z93/13.19 from Aylesbury was due to depart, leading to both this and the corresponding return being cancelled while the fitters again set to work. With the fault once more

attended to, this allowed three further workings to be undertaken before the Class 121s slotted into their booked evening diagram, still heavily loaded with enthusiasts and now regular commuters as well.

The final service worked by the duo was later than planned, the 2A59/20.33 from Princes Risborough bringing the era of the First Generation DMUs and regular vacuum-braked main line workings to a close.

Chiltern has now put the units up for sale, with at least eight preserved railways competing for them by tender.

The winners are due to be announced in late July, until when the ‘Bubbles’ will remain in warm store at Aylesbury. E

FANTASY DESTINATIONS CHILTERN’S ‘Bubbles’ have become famous for their destination blinds, which have displayed almost anywhere but Aylesbury or Princes Risborough.

Drivers have cycled the blinds through the full range, which includes

places as far apart as Barmouth and Pickering.

A selection is shown here – but with the two units now destined for a new life in preservation, maybe some of these could then be used for real.