Features

In the first of a regular series of columns, The RM will be visiting the Severn Valley Railway (SVR) to look at life there through the eyes of its apprentices. The SVR set up its pioneering Heritage Skills Training Academy in 2013 to bring new blood into heritage railway engineering, and to future proof the…

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By the time this issue of The Railway Magazine goes on sale, the first Northern Rail ‘Pacers’ should have been withdrawn, so beginning the ‘end’ for the ‘Nodding Donkeys’. Gary Boyd-Hope, a self-confessed ‘Pacer’ fan, explores the origins and history of this much-maligned type, which began 40 years ago this year. PACERS’ – arguably one…

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St Pancras was the Midland Railway’s contribution to the London railway scene. Its splendours were not surpassed by any terminus built subsequently. Robert Humm reviews the life and times of the great station. In this feature I shall be looking at the history of the ‘operational’ side of St Pancras station, the opening of which…

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Preservation of electric multiple units can be overlooked, despite the fact they are often the backbone of commuter operations. Martyn Hilbert looks at the history as well as an update on the work to restore a Class 502 EMU – a type first introduced by the LMS in 1940. When the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway…

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Robert Drysdale has a huge interest in the East Fife Railway, which stemmed from numerous family holidays in the area. Here, he recalls some of the peculiar operating practices that were carried out at the picturesque town of Anstruther. The June and July 2016 editions of The Railway Magazine carried a fascinating two-part article by…

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With new Hitachi IET trains now spreading their wings as far as Penzance, John Heaton FCILT, assesses their performance against the venerable HST125 – a train still proving to be a very hard act to follow. IT IS mid-afternoon on a sultry summer Saturday at Swindon. Heat haze shimmers from the rails and the information…

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Cliff Thomas reports from the Front Line in deepest Staffordshire. THE Moseley Railway Trust’s (MRT) Tracks to the Trenches event made its debut in 2014 at the Apedale Valley Light Railway, a century after the First World War broke out. The formula was repeated in 2016, 100 years after the Battle of the Somme began…

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The Railway Correspondence and Travel Society is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. Rodney Lissenden and Paul Chancellor look back at the society’s early days and how, as the premier railway society, it has adapted to change while still catering for the enthusiast. A GARDEN shed in Cheltenham may not, at first sight, appear to…

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Marking the 50th anniversary of the last years of steam on British Railways, comes the publication of a sumptuous four-volume book which tells the story of a group of photographers who went under the name of the Master Neverers Association. Chris Milner finds out more about the book and the group’s exploits. THE November 2017…

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