Features

Fourteen years after the official end of regular duties, the main line diagrams of the hugely popular Deutsche Bahn Class 103 electrics have ended. Ben Jones takes a nostalgic last run behind this iconic class and pays homage to these magnificent machines. It is 04.59 on a chilly late-November morning. An early InterCity express to Munich…

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Since 1999, British diesel and electric locomotives have worked in various parts of Europe for a variety of reasons. In this definitive and exclusive feature Anthony Sayer tells the story of what worked where and when – and what locos are still abroad. I was recently asked the following question: How many British main-line diesel…

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For more than 150 years, the three Thames Valley branch lines have been vital commuter and leisure routes serving Windsor, Marlow, Bourne End and Henley-on-Thames. Facing modernisation, Stuart Warr looks at the fascinating history of these branches and what the future holds. The Thames Valley branch lines to Henley-on-Thames, Bourne End, Marlow and Windsor are…

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Keith Farr analyses the performance of double-headed steam trains over Shap, the Midland Main Line and the Ayr to Stranraer line In steam days there was something special about a double-headed train. Imagine the ‘Cornish Riviera’, a ‘King’ on 12 coaches, coming into Newton Abbot; a ‘Hall’ or a ‘Manor’ sidles out of the shed and…

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Peckett 0-6-0ST Ackton Hall No. 3 has led something of a nomadic existence in preservation, moving from home to home but never getting the chance to turn a wheel in anger…until now that is. Gary Boyd-Hope looks at the plans of new owners, the Foxfield Railway, to return the loco to steam as part of a…

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Opposition to converting the semi-rural Watford Junction to St Albans Abbey line into a guided busway is mounting. Peter Brown takes a look at the proposals. The name of ‘The Abbey Flyer’ sounds rather like a title for a comedy film on the lines of something similar to The Titfield Thunderbolt. However, in reality, this…

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To mark the 70th anniversary of a publishing favourite, Nick Pigott looks back with nostalgia at what many of us found under the tree each year. Christmas mornings in our house would have been exciting enough even without presents, but the thought of one special gift always set my pulse racing. It first arrived as…

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Passengers travelling between London and Britain’s second city currently have a choice of three operators over two routes. John Heaton FCILT experiences what the trio can offer to customers… and gives his considered verdict as to which he thinks is the best. Many supporters of railway Privatisation were under the impression that it would foster…

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For almost 40 years, artist Philip Hawkins has thrilled us with magnificent images of trains in all their glory. Now The Railway Magazine sketches the life story of one of the world’s greatest railway painters.   When it comes to art, one man’s meat is another’s poison… and that’s especially true in the world of…

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