Colas Rail

  • Victa Peak Forest ‘super shunters’ bow out – but new hoppers come on stream

    Victa Peak Forest ‘super shunters’ bow out – but new hoppers come on stream

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    REPORTS suggest Victa Railfreight has replaced its hired Class 56 ‘super shunters’ at Peak Forest in Derbyshire with Class 66s.  Privately owned Colas and latterly UK Rail Leasing ‘56s’ have been used over the last couple of years, but slow speed operation and excessive idling have led to numerous failures, and their replacement with more…

  • Asset Monitoring: Looking after the rail infrastructure

    Asset Monitoring: Looking after the rail infrastructure

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    Many RM readers will have seen the yellow Network Rail trains around the country, but what do they do and why are they operated? Andrew Royle, who was a technician on the trains, explains their crucial role.  The yellow-liveried test trains of Network Rail, or ‘Infrastructure Monitoring’ (IM) trains to use the correct description, feature…

  • ‘Passengers first’ as Network Rail’s regional structure goes live

    ‘Passengers first’ as Network Rail’s regional structure goes live

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    JUNE 24 signalled the start of significant structural changes at Network Rail, designed to tackle the declining performance and punctuality of passenger and freight trains over recent years.  More power is being devolved into five new regions, with 14 smaller, regional organisations aimed at being closer to customers and giving local managers the authority to…

  • First Class 70 over Coalville branch

    First Class 70 over Coalville branch

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    THE freight-only Coalville line in Leicestershire has seen the passage of its first Class 70.  No. 70802 became the first of the class over the line on April 1 when it was used on a Westbury to Stud Farm working to collect ballast.  Colas is understood to have just taken over this working for Network Rail…

  • BLS charity tour to explore Yorkshire freight lines with Colas and WCRC ’37s’

    BLS charity tour to explore Yorkshire freight lines with Colas and WCRC ’37s’

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    No fewer than four rarely visited freight installations in Yorkshire will be explored by the Branch Line Society on July 20.

  • Bachmann’s £3709.90 ‘thank you’ in memory of a much-loved colleague

    Bachmann’s £3709.90 ‘thank you’ in memory of a much-loved colleague

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    Bachmann Europe presented a cheque for £3709.90 to the Leicestershire-based charity Loros at its Glenfield headquarters on Friday, January 25. In 2018, a model of Class 37 diesel-electric locomotive Merl Evans 1947-2016, which fittingly carries the number 37099, was released as part of Bachmann’s Branchline range of OO-scale models, and it is sales of that…

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