Rail Express magazine September 2019

LOCOS TO PAIGNTON

Recalling the diesel-hauled glory years

CLASS ‘91’ RETIRED First of fleet stood down for scrapping

Essential reading for today’s rail enthusiast

INSIDE THE NATIONAL OPERATIONS CENTRE What is it and what does it do?

■ ‘CASTLE’ HSTs

Hornby power cars reviewed

services ‘AZUMA’ MEETS as begin to STEAM LEGENDS S Scotland

■ STEEL COILS

How to make in ‘N’ and ‘OO’

■ UPDATED ‘47’

Heljan retools its Type 4

UK Off-sale date - 20/09/2019

MODELLING SECTION

Printed in the UK

Archive shots from the 1950s, 60s and 70s

No. 280

RAIL EXPRESS No. 280 SEPTEMBER 2019 £4.50

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CONTENTS

Issue No. 280 September 2019

‘WARSHIP’ IN KENT: The Spa Valley Railway’s diesel gala on August 2-4 included visiting diesel-hydraulic No. 821 Greyhound, which is quite possibly the first of the class to visit Kent (unless any reader knows differently?), but certainly the first to run on the Spa Valley. The Type 4 is pictured passing Forge Farm with the 17.00 Eridge to Tunbridge Wells on the first day. The oast houses in the background provide proof it is in Kent. Phil Barnes.

FEATURES

NEWS

14

WHEN SATURDAY CAME

7

22

INSIDE THE NOC

26

0-60: CLASS 331

28

Looking back to the heyday of diesel-hauled holiday trains to Paignton and Torbay.

Network Rail’s National Operations Centre in Milton Keynes – what is it and what does it do?

The CAF-built EMUs are new to Northern, but how do they rate performance-wise?

THEN & NOW: DONCASTER

A look at the station in the 1970s and now.

REGULARS 12 29 30 31

SUBSCRIPTION OFFERS

71 72

EXPRESS MAILBAG

Gala gripes; Youngest reader; Police and tram.

MODELLING

Heljan has announced it is retooling its ‘OO’ gauge Class 47 to produce a new model, while others are launching a mix of wagons including china clay and timber types. We then show how to produce steel strip coils in a weekend modelling job, before reviewing Hornby’s ‘Castle’ class HST power cars and more.

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Private sale for ‘Green’ 1986 Stock.

RAILTOURS

Charity tour to cover Dartmouth lines.

78

POWER BY THE HOUR

80

POWERSCENE

88

UNITS

93

SHUNTERS

94

COACHES

95

WAGONS

96

IRISH ANGLE

A selection of new railway books.

FROM ONLY

LU WORLD

PRESERVATION

TIME TRAVELLER

REVIEWS

Government makes commitment to regions; DRS open day raises £10,000; More freight from Felixstowe; Leeds gets high speed rail research centre; Steam legends help launch Scottish ‘Azumas’; ‘Deltic’ repairs to begin; ‘Ironing board’ seats fail new comfort standards; GWR prepares for ‘biggest timetable change since 1970s’; NR launches track worker safety taskforce.

74

The best ways to get Rail Express every month.

Headlines from Septembers past.

HEADLINE NEWS

Second French ‘Chopper’ scrapped; Mangapps celebrates 30 years; ‘Bubble Car’ returns to Swanage; G-WR ‘Hoover’ first; Vintage Trains hires Class 20; New engine block for early ‘37’.

LNER stands down Class 91; Class 70 trialled on stone train; Final GBRf ‘92’ outshopped.

Notable workings, Name Game, and Spectrum.

Northern ‘144s’ to be retained into 2020.

Two move to Avon Valley Railway.

Stored Arriva Mk.3s go for scrap.

New fleet of stone wagons ordered.

Intensive service for Portrush Open golf.

Part of the remit of Network Rail’s National Operations Centre is to oversee railtours to make sure they do not interfere with regular services. On June 29, Nos. 37218+37059 power Pathfinder’s ‘Mazey Day Cornishman’ at Powderham, Devon, while heading the 1Z80/05.39 Tame Bridge Parkway to Penzance.

Stephen Ginn

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 August 16, 2019 Next issue September 20, 2019 Advertising deadline September 6, 2019 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.

Behind the scenes

N

ETWORK Rail’s National Operations Centre is a fascinating place, perhaps one that few outside of the industry know exists, and this month our contributor Phil Marsh was lucky enough to spend some time there observing the work done to keep services running on time.

The NOC monitors the entire network around the clock, overseeing local route control and stepping in when major incidents occur.

Problems that affect passenger and freight services range from simple to complicated, serious to ridiculous – although even sombrerowearing drunks (as happened when Phil was there) need to be taken seriously when they are near to moving trains, while far too often the team has to deal with the sad news of a suicide on railway property.

The NOC also deals with more everyday aspects of operations – such as incorrectly loaded wagons, or vehicles with wheel flatspots – as well as planning for extreme weather or anticipating disruptions that large public demonstrations might pose to services.

Perhaps less well known is its role in helping struggling operations get back on track (no pun intended). This has been done with mail services in the recent past, while Caledonian Sleepers are currently in the spotlight after a series of

Rail Express is pleased to consider contributions for publication

high-profile failures. In a similar vein, the NOC oversees charter train operations, which also have the potential to affect regular services if things go wrong.

Based in Milton Keynes, it is a fascinating aspect of our railway operations and we thank the team for letting us see them in action.

Past and future

LNER is one operator that knows how to create a buzz, and the launch of its ‘Azuma’ trains has been no exception. For the start of services north of York, the company staged an event that saw one of its Class 800 bi-modes seen off from the city by world record-holding steam loco Mallard and met on arrival at Darlington

by Flying Scotsman, arguably the most famous locomotive in the world. Such links with the East Coast past are a fitting way to see in its future.

Paul Bickerdyke

Please do not send images that have already been sent to other publications. Prints & slides are sent at the owner’s risk and must be accompanied by a SAE for return. Digital images can be sent by email, but please bear in mind we may not be able to reply to every one, as we receive hundreds of images each week.

Although care will be taken with submissions, Rail Express assumes no responsibility for loss/damage, however caused. Submitted material may also be used in connection with other Mortons Media Group projects or as content on the internet. Payment for material used will be made promptly. Please send digital submissions to RailExpressEditor@mortons.co.uk or via CD or DVD to the editorial address.

IMPORTANT: Images should be ex-camera with no Photoshop manipulation.

ADVERTISING

Group advertising manager Sue Keily skeily@mortons.co.uk Advertising Fiona Leak Tel: 01507 529573 Email: fleak@mortons.co.uk Publishing director Dan Savage Publisher Tim Hartley Production editor Sarah Wilkinson Designers Charlotte Fairman, Mike Baumber, Jake Sidebotham Reprographics Jonathan Schofield Subscription manager Paul Deacon Circulation manager Steve O’Hara

EDITORIAL

Want to know when your next edition of Rail Express is on the shelves?

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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Alistair Grieve Shunters

David Russell

Preservation Units Coaches

Gareth Bayer Power by the hour Wagons

David Rapson Powerscene

William Watson Irish Angle (with Alan McFerran)

Christopher Westcott LU World (with Piers Connor)

‘Industry Witness’ News Writer

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RETRO PASSENGER

When Saturday Came

Paignton The beaches and favourable climate around Torbay saw it become a popular tourist destination that brought in a stream of long-distance loco-hauled workings through to the early 2000s.

T

HE area around Torbay in Devon has been inhabited since prehistoric times, and Paignton itself was mentioned in the 11th century Domesday Book, remaining a small fishing town until the 19th century when trips to the seaside began to become fashionable amongst those with time, and money, on their hands.

Like many coastal towns, however, it was the coming of the railway that transformed the area into the tourist destination it is today. The Great Western Railway opened its line from London to Bristol in 1841, with the Bristol & Exeter Railway opening throughout in 1844, followed by the South Devon Railway to Newton Abbot at the end of 1846 and Plymouth in 1849.

The branch from Aller Junction to Torre – the original Torquay station – was completed at the end of 1848, and

this was extended to a new Torquay station and Paignton in summer 1859, completing a through route between London and Torbay. The Dartmouth and Torbay Railway extended the route even further, reaching Kingswear (for Dartmouth) in summer 1864.

DIESEL WORKINGS

Main line dieselisation began in the late 1950s with the introduction of Type 4 ‘Warships’ (Classes 41-43), and steam was completely ousted in the mid1960s. Passenger traffic on the branch was still heavy, however, especially on summer Saturdays when there was almost a constant stream of longdistance trains from London, the North, Scotland and South Wales – including overnight workings.

Carriage sidings were available at Goodrington, as today, but these were

2 14 RAIL EXPRESS September 2019

insufficient for the busiest periods, so some trains worked empty back to Newton Abbot, where there were also loco servicing facilities until 1981.

The line to Kingswear was sold by British Rail at the end of 1972, to be reopened at the beginning of 1973 as the Paignton & Dartmouth Steam Railway – although a connection remains to this day for through-railtours and loco movements.

Loco-hauled summer Saturday services to Torquay and Paignton remained busy through the 1970s and 1980s, with Classes 35, 42, 43 45, 46, 47, 50 and 52 featuring – although local services were also in the hands of Classes 22, 25, 31 and 33 at various times.

Summer 1984 had 20 loco-hauled arrivals and departures from Paignton, which began in the early morning

❯ 1

OPERATIONS

Passenger team duty controller David Wiltshire updates the Mile End TCF log entry for the morning peak on June 28.

Sadly the NOC team have to deal with suicides all too often. Here, Jo Bilson takes the news of one on July 15.

September 2019 RAIL EXPRESS 23

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