September 2023

Grab the brand-new September issue of Railways Illustrated magazine for the best coverage of today’s railway scene.

Railways Illustrated reflects the energy and vitality of the present-day railway scene. Here’s what’s in the September issue:

You are the quarry

The nine-mile freight-only Rylstone branch runs from Skipton to Swinden Quarry in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Network Rail North and East Route operations director Chris Gee takes a look at this fascinating line and explains how train movements on the branch are managed, illustrated with a selection of his photography.

A splash of colour!

Renowned railway photographer John Whiteley has successfully recreated the past by colourising some of his extensive collection of black-andwhite photographs, bringing new life to the images, with the digital process not affecting the original photographs in any way. John explains how the process works and presents some examples of his efforts.

Model Spot

Six years after Realtrack Models’ first batch of Class 156 diesel multiple units, a new batch of OO gauge Class 156s has recently been released, bringing not only the long-awaited original Strathclyde PTE livery, but also revised tooling to recreate Northern units with accessibility modifications. Our modelling expert Simon Bendall casts his eyes over these new models to see how they measure up.