Sam Hewitt
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Late start for new trains puts ‘Pacer’ withdrawal months behind schedule
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PLANS to withdraw the first Northern Rail ‘Pacers’ at the end of September 2018 have missed their scheduled date by four months. The plan, published by the DfT, was for five two-car Class 144s to start the ball rolling on the withdrawal programme back in September, with all two-car sets out of traffic by January…
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Christmas disruptions caused by pantograph collapse
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Services across the city were maintained by the diversion of many services over the Second City Crossing via Exchange Square.
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New owners’ expansion plan for Alaska’s White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad
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ALASKAN three-foot gauge operator White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad (WP&YR) is planning to expand its tourist train services during 2019 and is even considering reopening the closed section of its historic route. The development follows its sale for $290million in mid-2018 to a consortium that includes Carnival Cruise Lines. Three of the iconic GE…
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Kiwi Rail’s ‘Coastal Pacific’ back after 2016 earthquake
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KIWI Rail’s ‘Coastal Pacific’ passenger train between Christchurch and Picton (for connection with ferries to Wellington) restarted operations on December 1. This development follows a two-year suspension after the Kaikoura earthquake on November 14, 2016, which destroyed sections of the line. The RM has previously reported the line’s reopening for freight services after large-scale reconstruction…
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Product Review: KPF Zeller rolling road for O gauge
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How do we test large-scale locomotives submitted for review such as the Heljan 43XX Class locomotive? With a workbench rolling road, of course! Large-scale models are collected by a lot of modellers who don’t have a layout on which to operate them, and that sometimes applies to the compilation of reviews here in the studio.…
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What’s in the Shops: Cavalex Models aims high with Redland PGA wagon debut
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A well-detailed OO-gauge Redland PGA aggregate hopper wagon has given the brand new Cavalex Models range a flying start, writes Nigel Burkin. Cavalex Models, a new name in diesel and electric modelling in OO and N gauges, has a number of wagon models in development that have never been produced in any scale as ready-to-run…
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What’s in the Shops: Triple-pack treats from Accurascale
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Nigel Burkin reviews Accurascale’s triple-pack TOPS ‘HUO’ and NCB internal-user OO-scale HOP24 wagons. New packs of the widely acclaimed Accurascale BR HOP24 hopper wagons were released last November, providing 1970s and 1980s modellers with TOPS coded versions of the wagons. Each of the six packs has three individually numbered wagons in unfitted grey livery with…
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What’s in the Shops: A wonderful Holmes J36 from Hornby
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Nigel Burkin is suitably impressed by a superbly well-detailed OO-scale model of a much-loved North British Railway locomotive design. There is something very attractive about small tender engines to modellers, and Hornby’s new LNER J36 0-6-0 is already proving popular. Designed under the auspices of North British Railway locomotive superintendent Matthew Holmes, the J36s were…
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Brrr! It’s cold out there!
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During the recent cold snap, reader Yan Leach sent us these photos of his fictional Scottish wintry model railway layout, ‘Kilbreck/Inverdun’ which he built using Scenic Snowflakes and Shovelled Snow products from Deluxe Materials. After first applying the same company’s Scenic Spray Glue, he scattered the Scenic Snowflakes over the scene before re-covering it with…
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Last year for French diesel Intercités?
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FRANCE’s remaining few diesel-hauled passenger services are likely to be history by the end of 2019. In December 2018 the last through Intercités trains from Paris to Montluçon ceased operation following the timetable change on December 9. These were operated by electric locos from Paris Austerlitz to Bourges and onward to Montluçon with a diesel…
