Rail Express May 2018

EAST MIDLANDS FOCUS What’s in store for the next franchise?

THROUGH TO AMSTERDAM Direct services commence from St Pancras to the Dutch capital

Essential reading for today’s rail enthusiast

‘CASTLE’ CASTLE HST DEBUTS as DfT proposes new West of England franchise

FRe tEo NEig!ht

RAIL EXPRESS No. 264 MAY 2018

Guid phy Photogra

MODELLING SECTION ‘4 40’ MYSTERY

SOLVED! S Genuine or not?

We e reveal the full story

■ ICI HOPPER FOCUS

A history of the veteran fleet

■ HORNBY BI-MODE 4mm Class 800 reviewed

■ ‘O’ GAUGE CLASS 122 Dapol reveals 7mm ‘Bubble’

Issue No. 264 May 2018

CONTENTS

RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY: Pathfinder’s ‘Easter Highlander’ ran from Cardiff to Inverness on March 30-April 2, the four-day tour taking in trips to Inverurie and Kyle of Lochalsh on the middle days. Power was in the form of DRS Type 3s Nos. 37259+37605, which look the part as they head the 12-coach train through the Scottish Highlands at Duirnish on their way to Kyle on April 1. For more railtours news, see pages 76-79. Andy Mason

FEATURES

NEWS

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6

AMSTERDAM BEGINS Eurostar has begun regular passenger services from London to the Dutch capital.

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New West of England franchise proposed; SVR offers chance to drive a ‘66’ and ‘73’; Cancellation of electrification review; First Class 800/2 arrives; GA’s new Brantham depot put on hold; Backing promised for new routes and stations; CAF factory milestone; New West Coast franchise to start in 2019; North Wales signalling upgrade.

EAST MIDLANDS FOCUS With the franchise up for renewal, we look at the past and future of this key artery.

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NORTHWICH ICI TRAFFIC Detailing the traffic flows to the Cheshire chemical plants in the diesel years.

74

0-60: CLASS 87

76

22

80

84

On Shed updates; double ‘Warships’ at the SVR.

32

REVIEWS New books with a modern traction theme.

33

TIME TRAVELLER Headlines from the past 50 years.

MODELLING We take an in-depth look at the iconic ICI limestone hoppers that were in use for six decades, as Hattons releases a 4mm model.

We also review Hornby’s hugely anticipated Class 800 set, while Dapol announces an ‘O’ gauge Class 122.

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LU WORLD RAILTOURS PRESERVATION New home for ‘04’; Bodmin ‘108’ acquired; Rare ‘03’ pairing; Gala problems for ‘Peaks’; Weardale ‘Pacers’ scrapped; ‘Clayton’ to visit Spa Valley.

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Flying start for Saphos; ‘Hoover’ tour planned.

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FFROM ONLY

A look inside two Met Line signal cabins.

A railtour offers the chance to step back in time.

REGULARS

HEADLINE NEWS

POWER BY THE HOUR Electric loco works into Glasgow Queen Street; GBRf trials ‘70’; Red tapes halt TPE '68' transfer.

87

POWERSCENE Key workings, class by class.

98

UNITS Final ‘707s’ enter service with SWR; Northern gets first ex-ScotRail ‘Turbostars’.

101 SHUNTERS RMS duties diminish as ‘08’ scrapped.

102 COACHES Mini-HST enters service with sliding door Mk.3s.

103 WAGONS First dedicated biomass hoppers arrive for GBRf.

104 IRISH ANGLE IR snow shutdown; Preservation for ‘Thumpers’.

Great Western Railway’s first mini-HST entered service on March 29, on a diagram between Penzance and Exeter. Prior to that, this 5Z46/15.02 Truro-Exeter test run was captured at St Austell on March 21, with power cars Nos. 43093 and 43016. Tim Squires

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 April 20, 2018 Next issue May 18, 2018 Advertising deadline May 3, 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.

Not done yet!

T

HIS month sees the start of a new era for HSTs. The rail icon has already notched up more than 40 years of front line service, providing Intercity comfort to nearly all corners of the country within that time, and is still the train of choice for non-electrified routes today.

Now that role is changing as more Hitachi-built IETs enter service on both the Great Western and (soon) the East Coast Main Lines. But that does not mean the end of the road for the 1970s design classic.

Partly because there is a shortage of diesel units, partly because electrification schemes have been cut back (see page 9) and partly because there is life in the power cars and Mk.3s yet – a number of sets are being repurposed in shortened form for use by both Great Western Railway and ScotRail on regional duties.

The first of these has now entered service with GWR in Devon and Cornwall, and the initial impressions are favourable.

The 2+4 Standard Class formation should provide a step-up in both performance and

comfort compared to the DMUs they will replace – in fact the biggest problem so far seems to be how to get all that power down without slipping!

There is a question mark hanging over what will happen to full-length HSTs on the Midland Main Line, where diesel traction will be needed into the next decade (see page 17). But with electrification to the likes of Penzance, Aberdeen and Inverness not even on the remotest horizon yet, and the newlymodified Mk.3s now compliant with the disabled passenger legislation due to come into force in 2020, this means we can still look forward to seeing HSTs in service for years to come – and hopefully be able to celebrate their 50 years of use in 2026.

Paul Bickerdyke

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Simon Bendall Editor Rail Express Modeller

Christopher Westcott

David Russell

Power by the Hour Shunters Name Game Spectrum

David Rapson

Preservation Units Coaches

Gareth Bayer Wagons

LU World (with Piers Connor)

Powerscene

William Watson Irish Angle (with Alan McFerran)

‘Industry Witness’ News Writer

IN THE LOOP: Here is a remarkable aerial view of Drax Power Station, North Yorkshire, showing its rail connection and coal stockpile. The view is looking northeast, and the branch from the Knottingley-Goole line comes in by the cooling towers on the far right. It then runs diagonally across the shot – past where No. 70814 is discharging its train of biomass pellets on April 5 – and loops back round via the cooling towers on the left. In the centre is the coal stockpile, which is much reduced now that three of the six generators are fed by biomass (which cannot be stored in the open), with a fourth due to be converted later this year. Rob McRorie

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HEADLINE NEWS

Government proposes new West of England breakaway franchise Services to Devon and Cornwall could be split off from the main Great Western franchise.

By ‘Industry Witness’ THE Government has completed consultation on a proposal to divide the Great Western franchise when the contract is renewed in April 2020, although there is some speculation that there could be another extension to the existing First Group operation until 2022.

The reason for lengthening the contract would be to allow more time for the electrified routes and use of new Class 800 bi-mode rolling stock to become established.

The core of the boundary change would be the creation of a West of England franchise that would run trains between Penzance and London Paddington via the Berks and Hants route plus the associated secondary routes and branch lines. This would include services between Cardiff/Bristol and Brighton/Portsmouth/Weymouth.

The London commuting network would

remain within Great Western control along with main line services to Swansea, Bristol, Oxford and the Cotswolds.

The revised policy is based on evidence that larger franchises do not have the localised market knowledge and relationship with stakeholders that is needed to reverse the fall in passenger numbers that has taken place in 2017.

There has been a decline in passenger numbers of 1.1% compared to the previous year against an industry expectation of 2.5% growth, plus the increase of revenue was 2.6% which was below the year end inflation figure of 3.5%.

There have been a number of past changes to the franchise boundaries, as originally the West of England services were operated by the South Wales and

West franchise, which was disbanded in 2001 to allow the creation of the Wales and Borders operation to reflect the start of a devolved Government in Wales. At the same time, a new Wessex franchise was formed that took over operations in the West Country and was based at Exeter. This contract was short-lived, however, as it was amalgamated with Great Western in early 2006.

“Larger franchises do not have the localised market knowledge to reverse the fall in passenger numbers” MINI-HSTS

GWR is to make improvements to the current timetable between Exeter and Penzance with the introduction of a half-hour frequency, and to enable extra paths over the Devon banks between Newton Abbot and Plymouth, short formed HSTs are to be used (see front cover and also Coaches on page 102).

There are to be 11 four-car sets, which are being modified with sliding doors at Wabtec, Doncaster. A fleet of 24 Class 43 power cars will also be retained, which includes the 12 owned outright by First Group. The justification for retaining the HSTs is the shortage of diesel powered rolling stock as a result of the Government’s decision to cut short electrification proposals (see story opposite).

Another more immediate change is that the Heathrow Express service is to be operated from later this year by Great Western Railway under the terms of a management contract, although the airport operator will continue to control commercial aspects such as marketing, ticket pricing, and revenue. Fleet maintenance cannot be carried out at the Heathrow Express Old Oak Common depot after December 2019, and requirements will now be combined with the needs of the franchised operator. E

DEBUT FOR THE FLYING DUSTMAN: GBRf’s Biffaliveried loco No. 66783 (the former DB Cargo No. 66058) has entered traffic and was captured at Hinckley on April 4 in charge of the 6E45/12.05 Theale to Immingham empty oil tanks.

The reliveried loco was released from Eastleigh Works on March 23 and named The Flying Dustman at York on March 28 to mark the partnership between GBRf and waste firm Biffa.

6E45 used to run via Acton and the Midland Main Line but now reaches Leicester via Didcot, Bordesley and Nuneaton.

Graham Nuttall

SVR offers chance to drive a GB Railfreight ‘66’ and ‘73’ IN what is believed to be a first in railway preservation, the Severn Valley Railway has teamed up with GB Railfreight to offer the chance to drive two locos belonging to a main line freight company, writes David Russell.

8 RAIL EXPRESS May 2018

On June 4/5, members of the public will be able to drive a Class 66 or 73/1 over the whole length of the line as part of a driver experience course.

The cost of the experience is £875, with proceeds being shared between

GB Railfreight’s chosen charity and the Severn Valley Railway Charitable Trust.

Participants will drive the loco the full length of the line (16 miles), act as secondman for the same distance, and make a round trip in either a 'Shark'

ballast plough brake van (Class 66) or coaching stock (Class 73).

The Class 66 sessions sold out nearly straight away, but there were still places available to drive the Class 73/1 as of early April.

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HEADLINE NEWS QUEEN STREET FIRST: Electrification of the main line between Glasgow and Edinburgh allowed the first electric loco to visit Queen Street on April 2, the honour going to Freightliner’s No. 90046 at the head of the previous night’s 1S26/21.39 from Euston, which had been diverted via the East Coast Main Line. The ‘90’ is pictured after arriving at the Queen Street stops (see also Power By The Hour).

Jack Prentice

Cancellation of electrification reviewed

Rise in costs, savings required and insufficient benefits have all been named as reasons why electrification projects around the country have been scaled back.

By ‘Industry Witness’ THE National Audit Office has completed a report about the cutbacks in electrification that the Government announced last year.

The cutbacks followed a rise in costs that meant Network Rail had to ask for an additional £2.5 billion to complete the programme by 2019.

Funding for the full Great Western project had increased from £1.6 billion in 2014 to £2.8 billion in 2016, with the Midland Main Line work increasing from £633 million in October 2013 to £1,181 million a year later. There was also a small rise in the cost of the Windermere branch electrification to £35 million.

The Government therefore decided

FIRST CLASS 800/2 ARRIVES: Five-car bimodes Nos. 800201 and 800202 became the first of the sub-class to arrive in the UK when they were unloaded at Teesport on March 20. The Hitachi units are destined for use with Virgin Trains on the East Coast Main Line from December this year, two of 10 five-car sets on order for VTEC that will complement 13 nine-car Class 800/1 bi-modes and 42 Class 801 electric only sets (12 five-car ‘801/1’ and 30 nine-car ‘801/2’). The bulk of the fleet will be assembled at Hitachi’s plant in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham.

These first two units will be used to train crew and other staff. Hitachi

to scale back the work, which included the MML scheme beyond Kettering/ Corby despite a high benefit to cost ratio (BCR) of 4.1:1 (meaning the economic benefits exceeded costs by a factor of 4.1).

The wiring of the Windermere branch, which had a BCR of 2.3:1 was also cancelled along with extension of electrification beyond Cardiff to Swansea, which only had a BCR of 0.6:1.

Cancellation of the extension to Swansea in January 2017 was justified by saying that bi-mode Class 800 trains would provide an acceptable alternative

for passengers and allow £433 million to be cut from the GW project cost.

In view of the line speed restriction of 90mph west of Cardiff, it was not thought that electrification would save a significant journey time compared with diesel power.

For the MML, the BCR taken on its own for electrification north of Kettering did not have a sufficient rating (0.8:1) as a result of the future impact of HS2 and subsequent diversion of passengers to the high speed route when it opens next decade.

This is probably the first public

“This is probably the first public admission by the Government that investment in HS2 will impact on the classic railway”

admission by the Government that investment in HS2 will impact on the ‘classic’ railway. Effectively the judgement is that it is not worth upgrading the railway to Nottingham and Sheffield if they are going to be served by HS2.

The next part of the justification can only be described as wrong, as the DfT declared there were no rolling stock implications. That is factually incorrect because the existing HSTs cannot run beyond the end of 2019 without modifications as a result of new access regulations for passengers with reduced mobility, and conversion costs have been estimated at £50 million.

In total, £1,490 million was saved as a result of all the project cancellations. E

Plans for new GA depot at Brantham put on hold PLANS for a new Greater Anglia EMU depot at Brantham, adjacent to the Great Eastern Main Line north of Manningtree, have been put on hold after concerns were raised over road access and the number of trains using the level crossing by the station.

The depot was due to be built on the site of a former chemical plant and initial work had already begun on clearing the site. However, it has since been realised that there is a limit on the number of times the level crossing can be closed to road traffic, which would have to increase to handle extra movements to and from the depot.

It is also understood that Greater Anglia has yet to finalise terms with the landowner. GA is now looking at alternative options should the issues not be solved by the summer.

May 2018 RAIL EXPRESS 9

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HEADLINE NEWS

ANOTHER COLAS ‘TRACTOR’:

IN BRIEF NEW HELSTON STATION A NEW station has been built at Truthall Halt on the Helston Railway in Cornwall, and is therefore claimed to be Britain’s most southerly station. The halt is a reproduction of the original GWR pagoda and platform, and was officially opened by the Duke of Gloucester on April 5.

The Helston branch ran from the Cornish main line at Gwinear Road, opening in 1887 but closed to passengers in 1962 and all traffic in 1964. A preservation group was formed at the beginning of the 21st century and by 2007 a section of track had been rebuilt at Trevarno. Since then, over a mile of track has been laid and trains now operate between Prospidnick and Truthall Halt.

GAS CAUSED EXPLOSION UNDER SWT ‘455’ THE Rail Accident Investigation Branch has completed its report into an explosion beneath EMU No. 455901 at Guildford on July 7, 2017, in which the train was damaged but no one was injured. It found the cause to be an accumulation of flammable gases within the traction equipment under vehicle No. 62826, specifically a defective electrical capacitor. The capacitor was part of an upgraded traction package installed by a project team that had not considered the possible risk of such a defect.

RAIB has recommended that UK train operating companies and their suppliers review the design of electric traction systems to check that there are adequate safeguards in place to prevent similar potentially harmful explosions. It has identified six learning points relating to risk management.

MORE TFL ‘AVENTRAS’ TRANSPORT for London has ordered five additional Class 345 ‘Aventras’ from Bombardier for services on London’s Elizabeth Line, increasing the total order to 70 units. The agreement also includes an expansion to the existing Train Services Agreement to cover the new trains. The additional contract is valued at approximately £73 million.

The additional cars will be formed into five nine-car units and enable a capacity boost to the central section of the new Elizabeth Line service and for the extension of services to Reading and Heathrow Terminal 5.

The beginning of March saw No. 37521 added to Colas Rail’s COTS pool.

However, a month later, the newly resurrected ‘Tractor’ had yet to venture out on a test run from Barrow Hill, where it is pictured basking in the sun on February 25.

Phil Chilton

Backing promised for new rail routes and stations Standalone electrification in Devon is one of the most interesting proposals put forward.

By ‘Industry Witness’ BOTH the Department for Transport and Network Rail have announced plans to encourage investment in new nonGovernment funded rail projects.

One of the first to benefit will be the proposed southern rail link to Heathrow Airport. A company called Heathrow Southern Railway Limited (HSRL) is already in existence with the aim of financing the £1.6 billion plan to create new spur lines that will connect the airport’s current rail lines to those to London Waterloo, Basingstoke and beyond.

Track and signalling would remain in the ownership of HSRL, matching the arrangement for the existing Airport branch from the Great Western Main Line, with the investment being paid off in track access charges paid by train operators.

In addition to this specific project, the DfT has said it wants to create a pipeline of enhancement projects that do not rely on Government funding. There are four categories listed: expanding capacity on crowded parts of the network, additional

schemes as part of planned projects, new and reopened lines, and innovations such as digital signalling.

DEVON ELECTRIFICATION

NR has launched a parallel ‘Open for Business’ initiative with a list of projects for each of its nine route organisations, and where a Route Business Director has been appointed as a point of contract to provide expertise in developing proposals.

However, none of the proposed projects are funded, NR’s Strategic Business Plan covering the period from 2019-24.

Taking the Western Route as an example, there are six projects listed.

These are to provide a country-end concourse at Paddington; signalling renewal between Paddington and Airport Junction; finance for the Oxford station masterplan; remodelling of Bristol East Junction; works to improve coastal resilience in the Dawlish area; and electrification over the Devon banks between Newton Abbot and Plymouth.

The latter electrification proposal is something new as it will mean an isolated

part of a route is electrified. The thinking is that with bi-mode rolling stock in operation, a switch can be made between the electric and diesel mode of traction while running at speed. This means that the steeply graded part of the route could use the extra power available from electric traction, thus saving journey time and creating more pathing capacity, while easier-graded track would continue to use diesel power.

The NR route structure is geographic but it has one ‘national route’ to meet the needs of the CrossCountry and Caledonian Sleeper franchises, the open access operators, and freight.

There is therefore a project list for freight which, encouragingly, includes two new terminals at Southall (as a multi-tenant bulk traffic campus) and at Newhaven Marine (for rail movement of sea dredged aggregates).

Elsewhere, there are various proposals for gauge enhancement and the removal of capacity sapping speed restrictions as a result of the poor condition of specific assets. E

TEN MORE YEARS OF HEX THE Heathrow Express service has been extended to at least 2028 under a new agreement approved by the Department for Transport. Heathrow Airport will retain the commercial aspects – such as marketing, ticket pricing and revenue – but First Group’s Great Western Railway subsidiary will operate the service under a management contract starting later this year.

This means a new Heathrow Express depot at Langley will no longer be needed.

This was planned as the HS2 building schedule requires HEx to vacate its Old Oak Common depot by the end of 2019.

10 RAIL EXPRESS May 2018

CAF FACTORY MILESTONE: The structure of the new CAF train building factory in Newport, South Wales, is now complete and work has switched to fitting out the interior. The site is expected to create up to 300 jobs when it opens in the autumn, and it will be capable of building everything from trams to high-speed train sets. Newport was chosen from a list of 100 possible locations in the UK due to its links to roads, rail and ports, as well as the availability of local people with engineering skills. CAF

12 RAIL EXPRESS May 2018