May 2015

May 2015
Headline News
West Coast Railway banned after serious SPAD; New ScotRail
and Caledonian Sleeper franchises begin; DB Schenker
retains Royal Mail contract; Another container blown off a
train; Class 800 testing begins at Old Dalby; “Growlers” lined
up for charity air show special.

On the cover
MAIN IMAGE: Hitachi‘Super
Express Train’ No. 800001
undergoing testing under its
own power at the Old Dalby
test track on April 24, ahead of
more rigorous testing on the
East Coast Main Line in May.
HARRY SAVAGE

INSET 1: No. 34067 Tangmere
photographed earlier on
March 7 before the SPAD
incident at Wootton Bassett
that sent the main line steam
scene into meltdown.
See pages 8-9. HENRY THOMAS

INSET 2: ‘Deltics’ on the Bluebell. More on page 6.
PETER HOLLANDS

Track Record

62 Steam & Heritage
Colne Valley to close after ‘quit’ shock; £895,000 lottery
grant for ‘Can Pac’; £250,000 ‘Duke’ share issue launched.

72 Steam Portfolio

74 Traction & Stock
Class 700 EMU delivery in August; Class 68s begin work
in Scotland; Class 87 works ‘Caledonian Sleeper’.

77 Traction Update
Scrapped, sold, renumbered, repainted? Details here.

79 Traction Portfolio

83 Network
Minster rejects Honeybourne plan; £4.5m Carmuirs
aqueduct completed; Hitachi factory linked to network.

87 Metro News

88 Railtour Diary

90 Classic Traction
Telford extension opens with chocolate & cream DMU;
Oldest Brush Type 2 in gala debut; “Hoovers” at Nene Valley.

93 Narrow Gauge
Statfold debut for Davenport as 18 steam; New look at Laxey;
Snowdon doubles steam services.

96 Freight

98 World
India’s metre gauge lines disappearing; German-built DMUs
for Canada; Thello steps up French and Italian services.

100 Operations
A round up of news from the train and freight operating
companies.

Regulars

48 Subscription offer

52 Readers’Platform

54 Multiple Aspects

54 Railways in Parliament

107 Meetings
Details of railway society meetings near you.

108 100 Years Ago

109 Heritage Diary
Opening times of steam centres and heritage railways.

113 Reader Services

114 Prize Crossword

114 Where Is It?

Features

14 Crewe’s new £2million steam works
Nick Brodrick visits the new LNWR heritage
workshops and explains the role of the Royal Scot
& General Trust in this exciting project.

20 1960s Railtour Recollections
In Practice & Performance, Keith Farr
recalls some of the notable steam railtours
from the 1960s.

26 Pier Pleasure
Richard Riding remembers the splendour of Britain’s
pier railways that once numbered more than a
dozen, but now just four survive.

32 The Grand Old Man of Steam - 2
Nick Pigott concludes his fascinating interview with
Richard ‘Dick’ Hardy, one of the most respected men
from the age of steam.

40 The Bittern Line
In the seventh of our Branch Line series, Chris Milner
visits Norfolk to see what the ‘Bittern Line’ from
Norwich to Sheringham has to offer.

44 The blackest day in British railway history
100 years on from the terrible accident at Quintinshill
that claimed more than 220 lives, David Stewart-
David looks at the events that led up to the disaster.

57 Gresley Society photographic competition winning entries