February 2019
February 2019   


The Railway Magazine - February 2019

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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.  

 
Track Record 

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  


Regulars 

12 Railways in Parliament 

60 Reviews 

62 Subscription Offer 

Subscribe today to receive your monthly copies of  

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? 

 
Features 

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. 





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