Britain’s best-selling rail title is back for another month of award-winning photos, news, features and exclusives from the rail industry, past and present.
This month’s The Railway Magazine features the A1 Trust ordering TWO boilers, the Brighton Belle restoration focus plus take a look at our FREE supplement ‘The Blue & Grey Years 2’. Also…
SCOTRAIL PROGRESS | John Heatonvisits Scotland to assess the performance of recently introduced train fleets, including the refurbished HSTs and Hitachi Class 385s.
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RETURN OF THE BRIGHTON BELLE | As its multi-million pound restoration reaches a conclusion, Andy Coward finds out what has been required to adapt the‘5-BEL’for 21st century main line operation
WENSLEYDALE RAILWAY | Running through a beautiful part of North Yorkshire, this relatively new heritage railway has exciting plans for the future, as Graeme Pickering discovers.
FORGOTTEN GEMS | Mark Smithers highlights several significant industrial and narrow gauge survivors which have largely escaped public attention.
PLUS | The Railway Magazine’s monthly news digest covering industrial, steam, Irish, narrow gauge, metro, network, freight and more! Discover some of our readers’ tales in the Reader’s Platform, and make a date for upcoming events in your railway calendar!
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EDITOR INTRO: Trespassing needs dealing with swiftly
GIVEN the growing concern by Network Rail and train crews over trespass incidents related to the operation of Flying Scotsman, you would have thought identification by the British Transport Police (BTP) of some recently publicised offenders, using images and other footage online as evidence, would not have proved too difficult and completed quickly. You’d be wrong.
More than six weeks after the incidents near Elford (RM June, p7), ‘enquiries are still ongoing’ apparently. Even the offer of a statement by one of the train drivers involved had not been taken up either. It is very disappointing.
The wheels of justice appear to be turning incredibly slowly in bringing offenders to book despite the danger the public are placing themselves in, coupled with the mental well-being of train crew when faced with members of the public on the track.
Only last month, when ‘Scotsman’ ran through the Golden Valley, near Stroud, people actually refused a request by a signalman to move off the crossing. Warnings of prosecution for anyone caught trespassing or obstructing trains are being continually ignored, yet where are these prosecutions?
There are a significant number of people who have invested financially in the main line steam business so locos and rolling stock can operate every week, yet this is all placed at risk by large volumes of trespassers who ignore warnings. Worse is the fact, most have no more than a passing interest in railways.
Recent prosecutions for trespass (for steam) can possibly be counted on the fingers of one hand. However, more criminal proceedings would lead to widespread publicity and act as a deterrent to those hell bent on standing on the ballast. Furthermore, you don’t need to stand on the ballast to get a decent photograph.
Do we really have to wait for a fatality or serious injury before BTP start to get tough with trespassers?
The new train ‘revolution’ is on the move
THREE new fleets of trains entered service in May, two more were planned for the end of June, and there’s a strong possibly another new fleet will begin carrying its first passengers in July.
Then in August, LNER ‘Azuma’ services will start to serve Edinburgh. More fleets will follow in the autumn once testing is completed.
The rolling stock ‘revolution’ the travelling public has been promised for several years is finally happening.
While it will take time for all of the new trains to get into service – and indeed some passengers won’t get new trains for several more years yet – the speed at which changes take place can easily be overlooked. In the late-1970s and early-’80s, I made the mistake of putting off until another day opportunities to travel on certain lines and photograph trains known to be listed for withdrawal – and realised too late they’d been withdrawn. A definite case of mañana.
So, if recording railways and its history is your forte, take the opportunity now to capture images of the ageing ‘Pacers’, Class 91s, second-generation DMUs, and even modern units like the ‘Heathrow Express’, as very quickly, some will move on to pastures new while others are destined for scrap.
Don’t let your chance slip by.
Blue and grey nostalgia
FREE with this issue is a second 24-page special supplement looking back at BR’s blue & grey era, a time revered by many enthusiasts. I hope you enjoy the nostalgic journey and the pictures bring back some happy memories.
