December 2015
December 2015   


Rail Express - December 2015

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Issue No. 235 December 2015

8 HEADLINE NEWS
Great Western electrification triples in cost;
Stagecoach and Virgin welcome competition;
NYMR wins modern traction award; DRS ‘37’ makes
history; Ordsall Chord approved; Chiltern starts
services to Oxford; RAIB report on Tangmere SPAD;
Freightliner scraps coal wagons.

16 RAIL AND SAIL
Twenty years ago the last train ferry was killed off
by the Channel Tunnel. David Ratcliffe looks back
at the former freight workings to the continent.

20 SECOND CHANCE TO SAVOUR: ‘HYMEKS’
How these workhorse Type 3 diesel-hydraulics
performed in BR days and today in preservation.

24 THE BLS’ DIAMOND JUBILEE
The Branch Line Society is still going strong after
notching up an incredible 60 years.

26 GOING AWAY: YOUR SHOTS
A selection of readers’ photos sent in following our
feature in September.

32 AN INGLORIOUS END FOR D818
The final ‘Warship’ to be scrapped was hastily cut
up exactly 30 years ago at Swindon Works.

33 TIME TRAVELLER
December news from the past five decades.

34 DERBY TRAINMAN & REVIEWS
Variety is the spice of life for Tim Helme in Part 10
of his tales as a trainman in the 1990s.

83 EXPRESS MAILBAG
Mystery coach markings; Paddington dieselisation
– not quite; Sharpness shunters.

84 LU WORLD
The preservation work of Cravens Heritage Trains.

86 RAILTOURS
New season railtour diary starts to take shape.

89 PRESERVATION
‘Rat’ visits Ecclesbourne for 2016; NRM ‘Deltic’ to
go green; ‘Hymek’ restarted after 20 years.

94 POWER BY THE HOUR
DRS ‘47s’ soldier on; next batch of ‘68s’ begin to
arrive. Includes an RHTT photo special.

98 POWERSCENE
Class-by-class round-up of notable workings.

106 UNITARY AUTHORITY
First ‘Gatwick Express’ Class 387/2 emerges.

108 SHUNTER SPOT
DBS sales announced; plus a full locations listing.

110 COACH COMPARTMENT
RCS blue/grey set in focus; former mail vans used
in scrapyard motocross race.

111 WAGONS ROLL
Hope JPA cement wagons arrive in UK.

112 IRISH ANGLE
All the news from north and south of the border.





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