The Railway Magazine
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Days numbered for Cumbrian coast loco haulage
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THE Class 37 loco-hauled diagram on the Cumbrian coast is scheduled to end by January 25. DRS provides the locos, driver and rolling stock for the trains. The two daily Northern Rail diagrams was reduced to one a couple of months ago after the top-and-tailed Class 68 diagram was replaced with a Class 156 DMU.…
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Greater Anglia Class 720 ready for testing at Derby
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BOMBARDIER has an order to build 111 ‘Aventra’ trains for Greater Anglia (GA), with five-car set No. 720501 having been completed. On November 4 it was outside the workshops at Litchurch Lane, Derby waiting to be moved to the commissioning area and testing on the short works line. Bombardier is building a total of 2210-car…
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NZ ‘Southern Diesel Tour’ pays visit to South Island
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AN EXTENSIVE tour covering many lines on the South Island of New Zealand was operated in October. A good proportion of the lines have no regular passenger services. The ‘Southern Diesel Tour’ was hauled by preserved English Electric-built locos owned by the Diesel Traction Group: Di 1102 (Co-Co built in 1966 by English Electric, Rocklea…
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ODIN returns to Danish railways
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IN September the Danish National Railway Museum in Odense presented the new working replica of Denmark’s first steam loco – ODIN. The original was a 2-2-2, built in 1846 by Sharp Brothers and Company in Manchester, and named after the Norse God. ODIN was built for the opening of the line between Copenhagen and Roskilde…
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New Indian GE locos enter service
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INDIAN Railways has ordered 1,000 of two types of new diesel locos from American loco builder GE Transportation in an order worth $2.5billion. The first of the 700 4,500hp diesel electric locos, designated ES43ACi by GE and Class WDG4G by Indian Railways, was handed over to Indian Railways in October 2017. The 100kph locos are…
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More new EMUs for French Intercités to replace locos
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SEVERAL batches of new multiple units have been ordered by the French regions which are taking over responsibility for most non-high-speed Intercités routes. ‘Omneo Premium’ part double-deck articulated EMUs were ordered from Bombardier in November to operate services between Paris Nord and Maubeuge/St Quentin in northern France. The new trains will replace SNCF Class BB…
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Old German locos substitute for modern EMUs
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VETERAN electric locos have made a comeback on several routes in Germany. They are replacing modern EMUs, which are out of service because of accident damage or maintenance. In December, three routes in western Germany had these temporary stand-ins operating, two of them using Class 110 electric locos originally built for West German Railways (Deutsche…
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‘Polar Express’ delights Birmingham crowds
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VINTAGE Trains (VT) operated its first ‘Polar Express’ trains between Birmingham Moor Street and Tyseley from November 29 until December 23. VT used GWR ‘Hall’ No. 4965 Rood Ashton Hall, temporarily carrying the classic GWR name Polar Star. No. 4965 carried the characteristic headlight on its smokebox door as seen in the animated movie which inspired…
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‘Screaming Valentas’ tour raises more than £21,000 for HST depot
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EAST Midlands Trains took one of its ex-Grand Central 2+6 High Speed Train sets from Derby to Ruddington on the Great Central Railway (Nottingham) on November 17. At Ruddington one of the power cars was switched for the National Railway Museum’s prototype HST power car No. 41001. The sold-out train was organised jointly by EMT, the…
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UK Railtours buzzes around rare lines in Kent
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NOVEMBER 17 saw UK Railtours take a tour of rare and freight-only lines in the south-east of England, including the branch to Dungeness in Kent. Bearing the catchy title ‘The Return of the Short Haired Bumblebee’, the tour was powered by DB Cargo Class 66s Nos. 66177 and 66151, and also visited the Grain branch in…
