BR LARGE LOGO ‘66’
ON SHED 3
Fictitious livery becomes real!
Continuing our comprehensive guide to today’s depots
Essential reading for today’s rail enthusiast
‘GREEN GREEN GODDESS’ AT 60! 60
RAIL EXPRESS No. 263 APRIL 2018
Full story of D200, the first of the big fleet diesels
Can you y u solve e the e riddle of this poster?
MODELLING ‘BEAST FROM
THE EAST’
brings widespread havoc to rail services
■ COLOURFUL '66s'
Reviewing four new arrivals
■ D&E FILES
A focus on SJAs and 'Turbots'
■ RPSI Cravens
A limited-edition 4mm pack
Issue No. 263 April 2018
CONTENTS
BEYOND THE BARRICADE: A rare aerial view of Kingsbury scrapyard, North Warwickshire, showing what normally cannot be seen beyond the wall of containers – perhaps the most surprising being how few sidings there are. This was taken on February 17 as GBRf’s No. 66716 backs in withdrawn Eurostar set Nos. 373011/12 for scrapping as No. 66594 approaches with a Felixtowe-Birch Coppice intermodal and No. 60019 waits for the Humber tanks to be discharged. Rob McRorie
FEATURES
NEWS
14
6
THE D200 STORY Charting 60 years of the pioneer Class 40.
18
‘Beast from the East’ plays havoc with rail services across the country; NR gets funding boost; Rail factory plan for Goole; Doncaster iPort opens; Repaint marks BR anniversary; ScotRail fined £3 million; Orders for ‘D-Train’ as battery version nears completion; Three Crossrail firsts; Abellio quits Welsh bid; First Greater Anglia Class 720 takes shape.
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN A round-up of the other preserved ‘40s’.
19
CLASS 40 POSTER POSER Can you solve this 1970s riddle?
22
28
ON SHED PART 3 Looking at purpose-built facilities in the Midlands, North England and Scotland.
73
0-60: CLASS 800 ELECTRIC
74
20
76
April news from decades past.
32 33
80
EXPRESS MAILBAG More lineside relics; WLL freight then and now.
MODELLING
We review four new Bachmann Class 66s, including celebrity No. 66789, as well as Dapol’s 2mm ‘68’ and RPSI’s Cravens coaches. We also focus on the ‘Turbot’ ballast wagon fleet in the latest from the D&E files.
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LU WORLD RAILTOURS PRESERVATION
POWER BY THE HOUR TransPennine Express ‘68’ fleet reaches full strength; ‘37/4’ back after 18 years.
REVIEWS A selection of recent modern traction books.
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31
FFROM ONLY
Acton Works expansion begins.
Completing our comparison of HSTs vs IETs.
REGULARS
HEADLINE NEWS
82
POWERSCENE Our round-up of key workings this month.
90
UNITS First Class 365s stored; More GN ‘700s’.
93
SHUNTERS Pongo escapes from Kingsbury.
94
COACHES ERS lands first main line hire deal.
95
WAGONS First cut-down HRA hopper outshopped.
96
IRISH ANGLE Belfast Central to be renamed Lanyon Place.
The pioneer Class 40 No. D200 hauled its first passenger train on April 18, 1958 from Liverpool Street, where it is pictured about to depart at the head of the 10.27 to Norwich. For a full history of the loco, see our feature on page 14. Colour-Rail
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 March 16, 2018 Next issue April 20, 2018 Advertising deadline April 4, 2018 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.
Prepare for change! WHAT a year 2018 is already shaping up to be. I’m not talking about the ‘Beast from the East’, although the railway companies and all their staff have to be commended for the way they dealt with the extreme weather at the end of February to keep lines open and run as many services as possible. No, what I mean is that we are about to see tremendous changes happening in a relatively short period of time. This year will see widespread use of IETs on the Great Western and their introduction to the East Coast Main Line; the start of Elizabeth Line services through the Crossrail tunnels; a massive expansion of the Thameslink network; the first new trains on a complete revamp of the Greater Anglia fleet; loco-hauled trains across the Pennines; new sleeper stock between London and Scotland; the first ‘D-Train’ conversions in passenger service; and many other new trains introduced. It will seem like it’s happened almost overnight, but it’s the result of years of planning that is now paying off as the new trains and services are delivered.
Make no mistake, the end of this railway year will look very different to the start.
WE NEED YOUR HELP!
We want to learn more about you, our readers, so we can ensure the magazine and all our railway products are as relevant as they can be. We’ve created a survey on our website at www.railexpress.co.uk – it only takes a few minutes to complete, and we’d be grateful if you could take a little time to visit our website, click the link, and give us your thoughts. By way of thanks for completing the survey, all respondents will be entered into a free prize draw to be in with a chance of winning a footplate experience on one of Britain’s top heritage lines. Many thanks and good luck in the prize draw!
Paul Bickerdyke
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EDITORIAL
Editor Paul Bickerdyke Tel: 01507 529540 Email: RailExpressEditor@mortons.co.uk Editorial address Rail Express Magazine, Mortons Media Group Ltd, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincolnshire LN9 6LZ
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Simon Bendall Editor Rail Express Modeller
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David Russell
Power by the Hour Shunters Name Game Spectrum
David Rapson
Preservation Units Coaches
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LU World (with Piers Connor)
Powerscene
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‘Industry Witness’ News Writer
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HEADLINE NEWS
‘Beast from the East’ plays havoc wi Colas Class 70 No. 70808 and DB Cargo Class 66 No. 66106 stand side by side at Exeter St Davids on March 1 – the ‘70’ was on track proving duties in the West Country while the ‘66’ was waiting to return light engine to St Blazey having tripped 10 JIA clay wagons to Exeter Riverside Yard. Alan Peters
Rail staff battle ice, heavy snow and high winds in attempt to keep lines open.
A
SUSTAINED period of cold weather in February and March brought more than a week of disruption to rail services as the so-called ‘Beast from the East’ saw heavy snow, winds and ice affect all parts of the country.
Class 37s were hired in to help clear lines across the country, this one being West Coast Railways’ No. 37516 at Helensburgh Central on March 2. NR Scotland
England on February 27, which then spread north and west over the following days. Scotland was hit the worst, and there were no Anglo-Scottish trains at all from the evening of Wednesday, February 28 until Sunday, March 4, but disruption continued into the following week on rural lines across Britain as routes were checked and damage repaired. The road network was hit as bad, if not worse, so bus replacement services could not run. There were examples of trains being stuck for hours – one example in Hampshire saw passengers stranded on board a Weymouth-bound service overnight – but in South East London, frustrated commuters put their lives at risk when they decided to climb down from a train stuck near Lewisham while the third-rail was still live. Network Rail and the rail operators have to be praised for their efforts to reopen lines and get people moving again as soon as possible, working around the clock in freezing conditions to cope with the worst bout of winter weather for a decade. E
The east of England was particularly affected as the weather came in from the continent – thus DRS' No. 37218 was called in to help keep the Whitby line clear on March 1. DRS
One of the most surprising snow clearing duties was main line-certified No. 50049 Defiance on the Midland Main Line, which ran between Leicester, Kettering, Corby and Bedford on March 2/3. The Class 50 Alliance machine was already on hire to Rail Operations Group for training drivers on diversionary routes during the major Derby blockade from July 22 to October 7. The ‘50’ is pictured at Market Harborough during the afternoon of March 2. Rob Higgins
6 RAIL EXPRESS April 2018
One of the main problems was the powdery nature of the snow, which was easily blown around in the winds, causing impassable drifts and quickly re-covering any just-cleared lines. Bad weather first hit the south of
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HEADLINE NEWS
th rail services across the country The Settle & Carlisle line looks as if it is single track at Ais Gill on February 28 as No. 66149 battles through with the 4M00 Mossend to Clitheroe empty cement tanks. The line was subsequently closed as the wind chill took temperatures below -10C. John Longden
Above: Ice was also a major problem, especially in tunnels. This is the entrance to Bishopton Tunnel 2 on the Glasgow to Gourock/Wemyss Bay line. NR Scotland Left: Illustrating the problems faced by Network Rail keeping lines open in the drifting snow, this is the West Coast Main Line north of Carlisle on March 1. NR Scotland Right: Railways in Ireland were also badly hit – such as here at on the approach to Rathdrum Tunnel, Country Wicklow, on the line from Dublin to Rosslare. IR
April 2018 RAIL EXPRESS 7
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HEADLINE NEWS
NR gets funding boost Strategic business plan shows how Network Rail will spend £47.1 billion in the five years to 2024. By ‘Industry Witness’ THE Government has awarded Network Rail an increased budget for Control Period 6 from 2019-2024 despite fears that funding would be cut now that NR accounts are on the public books. The five-year budget has been set at £47.1 billion, which is an increase from £38 billion in the previous five year period to 2019; the equivalent of £41 billion after adjusting for inflation. It had been feared that the decision to classify Network Rail spending as a public liability would lead to cut backs, particularly given the cost over-run of electrification projects, which eroded confidence that rail investment represented value for money. More money is to be made available for renewals, with £18.5 billion allocated to reflect greater use of the network and therefore higher levels of replacement to avoid disruptive failures. NR has a good record in this respect, as there has been a reducing trend from more than 50,000 service-affecting failures 15 years ago to the current level of 24,000 per year. However, this improvement in asset reliability has been offset by the impact of other performance shortfalls – such as increased dwell time at stations owing to greater passenger numbers. The cost of operating the network and day-to-day maintenance is also forecast to be £18.5 billion. Although this is a substantial figure, NR has provided figures that show the overall cost of running the network has declined sharply when measured against the benchmark of passenger
kilometres travelled. The rise in journeys has meant that a cost of 82p per passenger kilometre in 2004 will be reduced to a projected 27p by 2024, which includes a further 9% reduction in the five years to 2024. The budget for enhancements has been set at £10.1 billion, but will be dependent on more stringent evaluation of the benefit-to-cost ratio of projects. As a result, there is no list of commitments other than the East-West link between Bicester and Bedford plus works to connect HS2 with the existing network to improve connectivity with places not directly served by the highspeed line.
REGIONAL PRIORITIES
The Western route will see an expansion of the Didcot ROC, where digital signalling will allow Intercity services to be enhanced with two additional off-peak services per hour between Bristol Temple Meads and Paddington via Bristol Parkway as well as an extra peak hour trains from South Wales to London. Service improvements are also planned in the West Country, with two trains per hour between Penzance and Plymouth and a reduction in journey time of 14 minutes from Penzance to London. The delivery of the plan is organised on a route basis, where each of the eight route managers will have an investment budget plus revenue, output and cost objectives. For example, the Western route is sponsoring the Metro West proposal, which is centred on Bristol with boundaries at Severn Beach, Portishead, and Bath. The plan is that inner suburban stations will have a 20-minute service frequency, with a new park-and-ride facility developed at Avonmouth near to the M5 motorway. Different priorities have emerged in individual plans, however, as on the South East route, the focus is on maintaining the infrastructure. There are plans to renew 650km of track, 754 sets of points, and strengthen or replace 141 bridges. In addition, 300 sites have been identified where earthworks are required. There will also be a review of safety procedures at 571 level crossings with equipment
“Charter trains boost local economies and a sense of pride and nostalgia in the railway”
NR has pointed out that signalling renewal will peak as a lot of the older panel signal boxes are life expired and the substantial amount of remaining mechanical equipment is no longer consistent with delivery of the digital railway, which is shorthand for in-cab signalling. The main area of signalling change will be in Greater Anglia, where the Romford Regional Operating Centre (ROC) will see most routes converted as a result of fleet renewal by the franchise operator Abellio. A previous announcement has been made covering freight operations, meaning that locomotives hauling intermodal services from Felixstowe will also have the necessary in-cab equipment installed.
renewals. Financially, the opportunity to raise £150 million from third-party sources has been identified.
NATIONAL ‘ROUTE’
In addition, a ‘route’ has been created to provide for the needs of freight and national passenger operations. Its activities cover the CrossCountry and Caledonian Sleeper franchises, charter operators, Freight Operating Companies, and existing and aspirant open-access operators. Charters receive much-needed support with the assertion that such operations boost local economies and a sense of pride and nostalgia in the railway. The plan for the future is to identify strategic charter paths, which would provide guaranteed gauge information and clearance of vegetation on scenic routes. The key objectives for freight are to ensure access charges are appropriate to the market conditions, and that operational incidents including SPADs are reduced. There are a number of schemes vying for the allocation of enhancement funds – including Felixstowe to West Midlands/the North, where listed projects are doubling at Haughley Junction, reduced headways from there to Ely, doubling Ely to Soham, gauge enhancements at Syston and Trent Junctions, and refinements to the yard layout at Ipswich. For Southampton traffic, doubling of the Leamington Spa to Coventry line is high priority. There is also a need for intervention on TransPennine capacity, which follows from the growth in biomass traffic to Drax Power Station, where paths from the Port of Liverpool are difficult to identify. E
RAIL FACTORY PLAN FOR GOOLE: Siemens has leased an area of land near
DONCASTER FREIGHT HUB OPENS: A new inland intermodal freight hub
to the railway in Goole, East Riding of Yorkshire, with plans to build a factory to manufacture and commission new trains should it receive major future orders. Development could start later this year, promising up to 700 direct jobs and 1700 more in the supply chain. The plans also include warehouses, offices, stabling sidings and a possible test track. Siemens
opened in Doncaster in late February - the 30-acre iPort site, to the south of the town on the South Yorkshire Joint Line, accepting its first train on February 22. The terminal has the capacity to handle up to six trains per day with room to store up to 1500 containers. It offers direct connections to the East Coast Main Line and M18 motorway. Verdion
8 RAIL EXPRESS April 2018
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HEADLINE NEWS
REPAINT MARKS BR ANNIVERSARY: Looking at first like a fictitious livery created in Photoshop, GB Railfreight has outshopped Class 66 No. 66789 (the former DB Cargo No. 66250) in a version of BR large logo blue livery to mark 70 years since the formation of British Railways in January 1948. The loco has also been named British Rail 1948-1997 – the work being done at Eastleigh Works, where the loco is pictured on February 27. GBRf/Carl Watson
ScotRail fined £3 million Quality failures result in penalty that will be reinvested in transport projects. By ‘Industry Witness’ THE award of the ScotRail franchise in 2014 followed a highly contested competition that saw Abellio win out with promises of high-quality management processes. The award was considered controversial at the time, because National Express’ bid included a requirement for revenue support of £747 million over the seven-year contract compared with £776 million in the Abellio bid. First Group, which was the incumbent operator, judged
that it would need £812 million to meet the operational needs. Having agreed to pay Abellio £29 million more for its quality promise, Transport Scotland was not going to be easily let down by product deficiencies, which is why recent failures to meet service benchmarks has incurred a penalty of £3 million. The benchmarks were formalised by the creation of a Service Quality Incentive Regime, where a team of independent inspectors conduct an audit of stations, rolling stock, and operating performance on a four-
weekly basis. ScotRail operates 353 stations, although these exclude the major stations at Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverley, which are run by Network Rail. A total of 17 benchmarks have been established for stations, including the ability to purchase tickets within five minutes, and condition reports covering facilities such as Customer Information Systems and toilets. Similarly for rolling stock, there are close inspections of the internal presentation – including the condition
of seats and toilets, as well as a zero tolerance of graffiti. The most recent assessment carried out during quarter three of the 2017/18 financial year found the performance score was 89.58% against a target of 93.12%. The most serious deficiency at stations was the presence of litter and lack of information posters. For trains, the condition of toilets and lack of on-train information were among the shortfalls. The £3 million fines will be retained by Transport Scotland for spending on transport projects. E
BI-MODE TRIES OUT INVERNESS DEPOT: GWR-liveried IET No. 800303 reached Inverness on February 28 to become the first of its type to enter the depot there, which has had a £5 million upgrade to handle the new trains. The bi-mode set – one of the batch originally specified to be a Class 801 electric-only version but changed owing to Great Western electrification being scaled back – was used to test out facilities at the depot ahead of the Hitachi-built trains entering service with Virgin Trains East Coast later this year. Hitachi
SCOTRAIL POWER CARS HEAD NORTH: Fresh out of Brush, Loughborough, ScotRail-liveried power cars Nos. 43033+43148 pass Trowell, Nottinghamshire, with the 0S04/08.10 to Craigentinny (Edinburgh) on February 13. They will form part of the fleet of ‘mini-HSTs’ that will be used on services linking Scotland’s major cities from later this year. Steve Donald
April 2018 RAIL EXPRESS 9
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HEADLINE NEWS
CROSSRAIL FIRST #1: Nine-car EMU No. 345020 became the first of the class to reach Paddington on February 20 when test runs began between there and Reading, and is pictured at the London terminus two days later. The ‘345s’ are due to enter service between Paddington and Heathrow in May ahead of the Elizabeth Line tunnels under London opening in December. Alex Thorkildsen
IN BRIEF AMEY RAIL TAKES OVER A SIGNIFICANT number of Carillion’s Network Rail contracts have been acquired by Amey Rail after the former company went into liquidation. The sale provides reassurance to the rail industry and continuity for projects around the country. The transfer of Network Rail contracts operated by Carillion Construction to Amey Rail includes projects in the East Midlands, London and North West England. The sale is likely to safeguard more than 700 jobs for Carillion employees working on and supporting Network Rail projects, and provides security for many other companies within the rail industry supply chain.
WINDSCREEN DISPUTE TRAIN drivers’ union ASLEF has called on the Scottish government to ensure that ScotRail’s Class 385 EMUs are fit for purpose, warning that unless modifications are made to ensure the trains are safe, drivers will refuse to work them. The union’s organiser in Scotland, Kevin Lindsay, stated that the ‘385s’ have a curved windscreen that is making drivers see two signals. ScotRail has ordered 70 (46 three-car and 24 four-car) sets from Hitachi to run between Glasgow and Edinburgh via Falkirk.
NIGHT OVERGROUND SERVICES EXTENDED NIGHT Overground services have been extended to Canonbury and Highbury & Islington stations, linking the Overground to the Night Tube network at the Victoria Line for the first time and making a difference for those travelling in north and east London at night. The Night Overground has run on Friday and Saturday nights between Dalston Junction and New Cross Gate since December last year. So far more than 35,000 journeys have been made on the route.
ITALIAN BI-MODES THE first Class 802 bi-modes for Great Western Railway have been completed at Hitachi’s plant in Pistoia, Italy. Five-car Nos. 802003 and 802004 will be hauled across Europe and should arrive in the UK via the Channel Tunnel in March. Prototypes Nos. 802001, 802002 (both five-cars) and 802101 (nine-car), which are yet to be fitted out internally, have been on test in the South West since summer 2017. The new trains are expected to enter service between Paddington and Cornwall from July.
CROSSRAIL FIRST #3: March 2 saw Bombardier officially start operations at its Old Oak Common depot in West London, which has been built on the site of the former loco depot. Construction began in early 2015, and the finished maintenance facility will have capacity for up to 33 trains. Bombardier
CROSSRAIL FIRST #2: The second nine-car ‘345’ to be delivered was No. 345021, which is being used to test Communications Based Train Control (CBTC) on the Elizabeth Line’s central section. This became the first of the class to enter the new tunnels under its own power in the early hours of February 26 when it travelled from Abbey Wood to the Connaught Tunnel and return. Crossrail
Orders for ‘D-Train’ as battery version nears completion West Midlands Trains orders three Class 230 units for the Bedford to Bletchley route. VIVARAIL has announced an agreement with West Midlands Trains to build three new Class 230 ‘D-Trains’ for use on the Marston Vale Line between Bedford and Bletchley from December 2018. These will be the first trains to be introduced within the new franchise, which has more than 400 new vehicles on order with other manufacturers. Vivarail’s chief executive officer Adrian Shooter said “As a West Midlandsbased company it will be extremely
gratifying to see our trains running on local lines and we look forward to passenger feedback. Our trains will be built to the high standards West Midlands Trains has committed to and will provide the flagship service for the region.” ■ Meanwhile, a battery-powered version of the Class 230 is in its final build stage and is expected to be fully approved for passenger service by the summer, according to the company. No. 230002
is a two-car unit powered by two lithium ion batteries per car with a range of 40 miles. It requires an eight-minute charge at each end of the journey, which can be arranged through existing third-rail or overhead wire supplies or with a specially developed static battery bank. In each case, the train is charged through a patented Automatic Charging Point where the train stops at a stop board and connects to the power source automatically. E
CANAL TUNNEL OPENS FEBRUARY 26 saw the start of passenger services through the Canal Tunnel in North London, which connects the Great Northern Line to Thameslink. Three southbound and three northbound preview services are running, the 09.46 and 13.17 Peterborough to Horsham and the 10.00 and 13.30 Horsham to Peterborough, plus the 11.32 Brighton to Cambridge and 14.24 return.
10 RAIL EXPRESS April 2018
SEAWALL BATTERED: Storm Emma, which hit the south coast in the wake of the ‘Beast from the East’ snow, damaged the sea wall at Dawlish on March 2 – but unlike 2014, the wall remained intact and Network Rail said there was no large structural damage. Dawlish station was flooded at one point in the early hours, some fences knocked over and ballast washed away from a 150m section. Network Rail