Issue No. 248 January 2017

8 HEADLINE NEWS
Chancellor promises more funding for key
rail projects; Chiltern reaches Oxford station;
D-Train starts main line testing; Great Western
electrification postponed to 2024; Hull Trains
orders Class 800 bi-modes; New open access
plan for Waterloo to Southampton; Vintage
Trains seeks operator’s licence; Overspeeding
caused fatal tram crash in Croydon; Finalists
announced for prestigious HRA Awards.

15 INSIDE BASFORD HALL TMD
Freightliner’s newest depot is now open for
business in Crewe, and was used for the
remembrance-themed naming of one of its '66s'.

16 SOUTH WALES METRO
The Welsh Assembly wants a revamp of rail
services to better connect communities in the
Valleys with the cities of Cardiff and Newport.

20 DAWN OF THE DIESELS
Celebrating 60 years since the first diesel
fleets entered traffic with British Railways
under the pilot scheme resulting from the
1955 Modernisation Plan.
27 0-60: CLASS 314
The ‘314s’ are now the oldest EMUs in traffic in
Scotland, but how does their performance rate?

28 REVIEWS
New books on Class 17 'Claytons', Class 20s,
and the route from Plymouth to Penzance.

29 EXPRESS MAILBAG
The ‘Forgotten prototype’; ‘Nightstars’ at
Wolverton; and Class 306 publicity.

30 TIME TRAVELLER
January news from the past five decades.

71 LU WORLD
Frank Pick memorial unveiled; Whitechapel arches
go for reuse at the Epping Ongar Railway.

72 RAILTOURS
A round-up of new trips and a full tour diary for
January and February.

74 PRESERVATION
North British rebuild planned for Class 27;
Trawsfyndd track clearance; ‘Calder Valley’ DMU
returns to East Lancashire Railway.

78 POWER BY THE HOUR
Final sleeper ‘73/9’ delivered; More locos for sale.

80 POWERSCENE
Key workings from around the network.

90 UNITARY AUTHORITY
More ‘442s’ stored at Ely; c2c ‘387s’ start work.

92 SHUNTER SPOT
DB Cargo shunter sale suffers delays.

94 COACH COMPARTMENT
BARS hires coaches for ‘Polar Express’ duties.

95 WAGONS ROLL
Greenbrier and Astra Rail to merge.

96 IRISH ANGLE
End for final semaphores on NIR main line.