December 2014

Issue No. 223 December 2014

8 NEWS
New ScotRail franchise promises HSTs; EU rethink
on diesel engines; Government promises HS3 in
the North; 4-VEP to be restored; Railvac 3 enters
service; Bakerloo Line plans southern extension.

16 ‘PRETENDOLINO’ BOWS OUT
Virgin Trains said farewell to its final Mk.3 set
with a charity railtour in North Wales.

18 INSIDE UK RAIL LEASING
Rail Express gets a first-ever look behind the
scenes at the home of the new loco-leasing firm.

22 BR SURVIVORS: CLASS 37s part2
Detailing the whereabouts of all the remaining
centre-headcode English Electric Type 3s.

31 0-60: CLASS 91
It’s back to Northallerton to test out the
starting grunt of these East Coast machines.

32 EXPRESS MAILBAG & REVIEWS
A selection of comments and feedback.

34 TIME TRAVELLER
Modern traction news from Decembers past.

35 LU WORLD
Transport for London has unveiled the striking
new look for its next generation Tube trains.

37 RAILTOURS
The BLS finally covers the Tata Santon branch.

39 PRESERVATION
‘Deltic’ and ‘Western’ suffer power unit problems;
MNR gets a ‘108’; Finsbury Park blue for Alycidon.

44 POWER BY THE HOUR
DRS Class 47s under threat; Nemesis ‘47’ set for
Hungary; bleak future for ex-FGW Type 4s.

48 RHTT PICTORIAL
Autumn brings out the ‘leaf-busters’ in force
with a variety of traction around the country.

50 POWERSCENE
Our class by class review of notable locomotive
workings from around the country.

59 UNITARY AUTHORITY
First Class 387s arrive at Bletchley for testing.

61 SHUNTER SPOT
An outbreak of common sense at DB Schenker.

62 COACH COMPARTMENT
Looking back at Virgin’s ‘Pretendolino’ set.

63 WAGONS ROLL
VTG acquires the owner of the ‘Megafret’ fleet.

64 IRISH ANGLE
Luxury land cruise charter makes its debut;
seven more vehicles enter preservation.