Features

Cliff Thomas visits Buckfastleigh and finds traditional skills and historic engineering machines at South Devon Railway are as relevant to railways today as they ever were. AT THE northern end of the South Devon Railway’s Buckfastleigh site, away from the public areas of the line’s many attractions, there are some outwardly innocuous looking buildings… but…

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One of the most surprising developments of recent years is the return of many ex-BR diesel locomotives to the main line. Ben Jones talks to some of the major players in this ‘re-emergence’ and finds out why it is happening. FLICKING through the pages of The RM every month, one of the most obvious trends…

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The incomparable ‘Pennsy Class’ ‘GG-1’ passenger locomotives were the apogee of electric traction development in the USA. Robert Humm relates their history and that of the Pennsylvania electric railway network. In the beginning, electric rail traction in the United States was confined to low-voltage streetcars and small industrial freight operations. The first main line electrification…

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In Practice & Performance, John Heaton FCILT looks at how trains lose and gain time, but also how slack operating can result in late running even on easy schedules. STREAMLINED Gresley ‘A4’ No. 60028 Walter K. Whigham stands resplendently at the head of the nine-coach ‘Talisman’ in King’s Cross station one September afternoon in 1958, ready to depart on the non-stop run to…

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In Practice & Performance, John Heaton FCILT looks at how trains lose and gain time, but also how slack operating can result in late running even on easy schedules. STREAMLINED Gresley ‘A4’ No. 60028 Walter K. Whigham stands resplendently at the head of the nine-coach ‘Talisman’ in King’s Cross station one September afternoon in 1958, ready to depart…

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Having spent more than 60 years trainspotting, railway author John Stretton’s book about his first 30 years in the hobby has been well received. With memories galore, we present an abridged version of his exploits that also encompass his interests in music, sport and, of course, girls. IT’S 1950 and for my seventh birthday I…

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IN THE APRIL 2017 ISSUE The Labour Party has pledged to bring train operating companies back into public ownership if it wins the next election – and will encounter fewer legal obstacles in that task once Britain has left the EU. But is taking the nation back to the days of British Rail sensible or…

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