Sam Hewitt

NETWORK Rail undertook its biggest programme of Christmas and new year engineering works between December 23 and January 5, delivering £160million worth of infrastructure renewals and improvements at 260 sites across the country. More than 32,000 staff worked throughout the holidays, with much of the work scheduled for December 25-26 in an effort to reduce…

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GLASGOW Subway will become the first in the UK to run without any staff on board its trains. Operator Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) previously announced the new trains would be driverless, but it now says no other staff will normally be in the carriages either. Staff will be kept on stations, however, plus ride…

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NEXUS, the public body that owns and operates the Tyne and Wear Metro, has started the £362million process to acquire a new fleet for trains. A notice has been issued in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) to find a rolling stock supplier to design and build the trains for entry into service…

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DUDLEY, Stourbridge & District single-deck ‘Tividale’ car No. 5 returned to operational service at the Black Country Living Museum (BCLM) on December 18 following a £120,000 renovation at the Llangollen Railway. The 1919-built car left Dudley for Wales in 2012, the refurbishment being funded through public donations and support from businesses, trusts and foundations, including both…

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RE-ROOFING of the three tram depots at Crich Tramway Village (National Tramway Museum) has been completed as the Derbyshire museum continues its project to safeguard the long-term condition of its historic collection. The work is being carried out in order to provide a drier, controlled environment in which to store the tramcars. This will hopefully…

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THE way has been cleared towards further new construction at Boston Lodge following the building of improved sea defences at the eastern end of The Cob (RM Jan). The work will be primarily concentrated on the ‘Bottom Yard’. Plans for redevelopment include building a new three-road carriage storage shed on the seaward perimeter (enabled by…

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SIX days of both steam and diesel haulage will make up the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland’s annual May railtour and associated fringe events, covering lines from the north east to the south west of the Emerald Isle. Central to the itinerary is the ‘Cork & Kerry Railtour’ from May 12-14, featuring GNR(I) 4-4-0 No. 85…

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AN IMPROMPTU double-header by the Chasewater Railway’s two resident 14in Bagnall 0-4-0STs provided one of the highlights for the line’s annual New Year’s Day gala. Traditionally the running of a double-header is reserved for the last train of the day, with this working supposedly being worked by the red ex-Kent Electric Power Company No. 2 (2842/1946)…

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BUCKINGHAMSHIRE Railway Centre welcomed a new addition to its steam fleet on January 5 with the arrival of former Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers (APCM) Hawthorn Leslie 0-4-0ST No. 4 from Barrow Hill Roundhouse. The 1928-built locomotive (W/No. 3718), one of a batch of five built for use at APCM’s Swanscombe Works in Kent, has come to Quainton…

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END-of-Steam ‘Black Five’ No. 44806 retired from North Yorkshire Moors Railway traffic on January 1 at the end of its current 10-year boiler ticket. For its final day the Stanier 4-6-0 carried Magpie nameplates, as worn during the 1970s when the ‘5MT’ was based at the Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway and Steamport, Southport. The nameplates…

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