Automotive
Rail Express
Then & Now: Leeds
CLASS 20s have never been very common in Leeds, despite past allocations at sheds in nearby places such as Sheffield and York. So their appearance in the West Yorkshire city has always been an event.
1 min |
March 2020
Rail Express
SHEFFIELD 150
Sheffield station has now notched up 150 years of service since it was opened by the Midland Railway in 1870 on the more direct ‘New Road’ from Chesterfield.
4 min |
March 2020
Rail Express
Heljan refurbished ‘Fifty'
Twin motors and nearly 2.5kg of weight makes this one of the largest and most powerful ‘O’ gauge models to emerge from Heljan. But how does it measure up?
7 min |
March 2020
Rail Express
From coal to nuclear
Built to move coal-carrying containers for Cawoods, the remaining PFA fleet can now be found transporting nuclear materials for Direct Rail Services. David Ratcliffe tells the story of these innovative low-deck wagons.
5 min |
March 2020
Rail Express
Bachmann's ‘Baby Sulzer'
Bachmann adds the distinctive Class 24/1 to its ‘OO’ gauge ‘Branchline’ range, a locomotive type that was a development of the first Derby Sulzer Type 2s.
5 min |
March 2020
Rail Express
0 to 60! Just how nimble are today's locos and units, and what's the quickest off the mark?
Could a three-car Class 331 claim top spot in our acceleration table? Neville Hill heads north to find out.
2 min |
March 2020
Rail Express
‘47s' R Us
Former BR Trainman Tim Helme reflects on his favourite type of loco, the Class 47.
4 min |
February 2020
Rail Express
The Class 314 story
For over 40 years, the ‘314s’ were an everyday sight on the Strathclyde network. David Russell takes a look back at the history of this small fleet, the last examples of which were withdrawn in December.
4 min |
February 2020
Rail Express
New in Cappagh blue: DC Rail unveils third Class 60
DCR’s parent company gets a shout out on the latest ‘Tug’ to return to the main line after a rebuild at Toton.
2 min |
February 2020
Rail Express
Gas guzzlers
While diesel power became the standard for replacing steam, gas turbine technology was briefly considered as a potential alternative – with Britain’s first such prototype arriving 70 years ago in early 1950.
10+ min |
February 2020
Rail Express
Farewell old friends
Crowds turned out to see the last booked LNER HSTs on Sunday, December 15.
2 min |
February 2020
Rail Express
0 to 60!
It’s another Hitachi-built bi-mode this month, and this time Neville Hill tests out a TransPennine Express Class 802 set.
2 min |
February 2020
Rail Express
Industrial Relations
Tim Helme looks at some of the industrial shunter locations that could be encountered by Derby train crew on trips from 4 Shed in the 1980s/90s, most of which have now been consigned to history.
5 min |
December 2019
Rail Express
Porterbrook Donates Power Cars To 125 Group…
Two EMR Class 43s will enter preservation when they are retired from TOC service.
5 min |
December 2019
Rail Express
A Traffic With Pedigree
David Ratcliffe looks at the former Pedigree Petfoods traffic that ran to and from Melton Mowbray.
4 min |
December 2019
Rail Express
Resurrecting Test Car 2
Having played its part in the acceptance testing and certification of many items of rolling stock, Test Car 2 has been deservedly saved. Dave Bower, who worked on it during the 1980s and 90s, and is now a member of the restoration team at the Great Central Railway, speaks to Christopher Westcott about this historic vehicle.
6 min |
December 2019
Rail Express
A Second Chance To See… Class 101 DMUs
Neville Hill visits the Mid-Norfolk Railway to resample a Class 101 DMU, formerly one of Britain’s most numerous and widely used units, and looks back to four notable runs.
7 min |
December 2019
Rail Express
Weekend Project: Class 73 No. 73129 City of Winchester
How to refinish the Dapol ‘OO’ gauge Network SouthEast Class 73 to model No. 73129 in the revised version of the livery (or one of the other three revised NSE Class 73s).
6 min |
November 2019
Rail Express
Going Dutch -The Class 77 story
Briefly considered as the standard electric express passenger locomotive of the future in the early 1950s, the 1500V DC EM2s/Class 77s almost met the same fate as the Woodhead route on which they ran, but were instead taken on by the Dutch national operator in 1969. Gareth Bayer tells the fascinating tale of these Co-Co electrics.
10+ min |
November 2019
Rail Express
Darstaed Mk.1 suburban coaches
Darstaed Vintage Trains, the ‘O’ gauge coach-builder, has added to its growing range of Mk.1 stock with six new 57ft suburban coaches.
5 min |
November 2019
Rail Express
‘45' NOT OUT
Ahead of a new edition of his book about life as a BR trainman in the 1990s, Tim Helme looks back to the remaining Class 45s that could still be found in the Derby area back then.
6 min |
November 2019
Rail Express
Dapol's ‘Hoover'
It has taken more than nine years to see the arrival of a finished ‘N’ gauge Class 50 from Dapol since the first views of the model, in the form of CAD impressions, were unveiled. A lot of water and model development has passed under the bridge during that time, so how does the new model measure up?
7 min |
November 2019
Rail Express
Epping To Ongar: Underground Evidence
On the eve of the 25th anniversary since London Underground closed what is now the Epping Ongar Railway, Christopher Westcott walks the six-mile route with the EOR’s communications officer Dean Walton, in search of evidence of the former operator.
7 min |
October 2019
Rail Express
The Penmanshiel Tragedy
Forty years ago, two railway workers sadly lost their lives when a tunnel being upgraded on the East Coast Main line collapsed. David Russell looks at how British Rail coped with the unexpected closure of one of its two main routes between England and Scotland, and managed to have the line reopened in just five months.
8 min |
October 2019
Rail Express
First ‘Flirts' In Passenger Service
More of Greater Anglia’s new arrivals delivered in both bi-mode and all-electric versions.
8 min |
October 2019
Rail Express
25 Years Of Roscos
Much of Britain’s rolling stock is owned by three main leasing companies, which have now notched up 25 years in the rail market.
10+ min |
October 2019
Rail Express
0 To 60!
Just how nimble are today’s locos and units, and what’s the quickest off the mark?
1 min |
October 2019
Rail Express
Battersea Bound!
Tunnelling is set to begin on London Underground’s Northern Line extension from Kennington to Battersea, as the two boring machines have been lowered into place at the former power station site.
1 min |
April 2017
Rail Express
Highland Observations
The 1980s and early 1990s saw a renaissance in the use of observation saloons on the Kyle of Lochalsh route, this culminating in the conversion of a Class 101 DMU car. To mark the release of Bachmann’s model of this vehicle, Simon Bendall profiles the last 15 years of loco-hauled passenger trains on the scenic Scottish line.
10 min |
April 2017
Rail Express
VTEC To End Early In 2020
History repeats itself as the current East Coast operator admits it will not meet its franchise commitments over the full eight year contract, and so will be replaced by an integrated ‘track and trains’ partnership.
3 min |