The Railway Magazine - February 2019
CONTENTS
Headline News
‘Caley’ Sleeper Mk5s make London debut, Vintage Trains
to expand railtour operations, Class 50 Alliance teams
up with GB Railfreight, TfL shortens ‘378s’ for GOBLIN
stand-in role, Island Line decision deferred, East Lancs
heritage operations threatened by commuter and
tram-train proposals.
On the cover
MAIN IMAGE: Bringing a splash of colour to
a wintry scene, Colas Class 56s 56049 Robin
of Templecombe and 56090 pass Hoghton on
the Preston to Blackburn route with the 6E32
Preston Docks to Lindsey empty bitumen tanks
January 23. JOHN HALES
INSET 1: Les Nixon: 70 Years Behind the Lens.
INSET 2: Saving a piece
of the GCR – 50 years on.
INSET 3: Re-creating Britain's first main line diesel loco.
70 Steam & Heritage
March launch for Wightwick Hall, ‘Scotsman’ to be
reunited with US tour observation car, Caledonian tank for
Churnet Valley gala, Barrow Hill to buy MR ‘Half Cab’.
76 Industrial
79 Steam Portfolio
80 Irish
82 Narrow Gauge
84 Heritage Trams
86 Network
Network Rail hails successful Christmas engineering
programme, Norfolk swing bridges to be replaced?,
faster and drier through Sevenoaks Tunnel,
£19m transport hub opens at Newton-le-Willows.
90 Classic Traction
92 Freight
94 Railtours
98 World
100 Metro
102 Traction & Stock
Alstom unveils ‘Breeze’ hydrogen concept for ‘321s’, late
start for new DMUs delays ‘Pacer’ retirement, Bombardier
to fit ETCS on Heathrow Class 387s, ROG chooses ‘Flex’
for parcels trial, first Caledonian Sleeper Mk3s go for
scrap.
106 Traction Portfolio
108 Stock update
109 Operations
12 Railways in Parliament
60 Reviews
62 Subscription Offer
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The Railway Magazine from only £20.
64 Panorama
Our regular gallery of the best railway photography from
around the world.
68 From The RM Archives
114 Meetings
116 Heritage Diary
Details of when Britain’s unique collection of heritage
railways and railway museums are open.
129 Reader Services
130 Crossword and Where Is It?
14 Les Nixon: 70 Years Behind the Lens
Nick Pigott interviews one of Britain’s best, and most
prolific railway photographers, still contributing to
railway publications seven decades after taking his
first shot in 1949.
22 Practice & Performance - Local Loco Trials
John Heaton recalls coal consumption trials
undertaken by the LMS in 1931, comparing a
lightweight M&GN 4-4-0T with a larger Johnson
0-4-4T in a bid to assess whether trains of lower
overall weight could cut costs on lesser used lines.
28 Saving a Main Line Railway
50 years ago, the first seeds were sown in a bid
to save a section of the Great Central Railway in
Leicestershire. Graham Oliver, the railway’s former
chief executive, recalls the early days of what would
become the country’s only double-track main line
preserved railway.
36 Four Lines in Four Days
Robert Drysdale describes his 800-mile trip when he
visited four heritage railways in four days using the
national network and occasionally a local bus.
45 Re-creating Ivatt’s LMS Diesel Pioneer
The scrapping of Britain's first main line diesel
locomotive in the 1960s left a missing link in the
story of modern traction which the Ivatt Diesel
Re-creation Society is working to fill.