News

BLACKPOOL Heritage Tram Tours welcomed 1986-built ‘Centenary’ car No. 642 into its operational fleet on August 19, two and a half years after it last ran over the system. No. 642 failed in January 2016 and subsequently sat in store awaiting its turn in the overhaul queue. During the spring of this year it entered Rigby Road…

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FORMER Blackpool trams are a familiar sight in the Derbyshire countryside at Crich, but visitors to the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway between July 5 and August 9 may have had to do a ‘double take’ when presented with the sight of an 81-year-old ex-Blackpool Corporation railcoach operating out of Wirksworth station. Brush-built No. 636, one of 20…

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A PROPOSAL to build a railway tunnel under Boston, Massachusetts, connecting its two currently isolated commuter rail systems is being considered by planners, with a public consultation underway. The idea, known as the North South Rail Link (NSRL), is not new – previous plans developed in the 1990s form the basis of the current plan.…

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ROLLING stock first delivered in 1928 remains in daily use this summer on both sides of the Alps in Switzerland and Italy. In Switzerland, metre gauge operator Rhätische Bahn (RhB) has been operating two pairs of trains between Davos Platz and Filisur, using heritage locos and historic rolling stock, including open air vehicles, between May…

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AFTER many years Armenia is beginning to modernise its rolling stock, with new EMUs being supplied by Russian firm Transmashholding. The railway network in the small former Soviet republic has been operated since 2008 as a concession by Russian Railways subsidiary ‘South Caucasus Railway’ (SCR). The SCR concession is largely reliant on now life-expired, former…

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A NEW rail head milling machine for Crossrail’s Elizabeth Line has been completed in Austria by specialist company Linsinger. The 48-metre long, two-section machine, designated MG31-UK by its builder, is equipped with a pair of three-axle bogies for each section to support the weight of the milling machinery. It made its journey to the UK…

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IT IS likely the last loco in the world from a long series of streamlined diesel locos based on General Motors classic ‘E’ and ‘F’ type has ceased working scheduled passenger trains. The ‘E’ and ‘F’ types were first introduced in the USA in 1937 and 1939, respectively. Several thousand ‘E’ and ‘F’ type diesel…

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TWO English Electric 350hp 0-6-0DEs were seen departing simultaneously from Severn Valley Railway (SVR), Kidderminster station on August 22. Nearest the camera is Class 09 No. D4100 Dick Hardy, heading the LNER teak set as e.c.s., while on the far road, Class 08 No. D3022 pulls a dead steam loco. The passenger stock had been in use…

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VOLUNTEERS from the Ivatt Diesel Recreation Society (IDRS) carried out a full clean and inspection of English Electric 16SVT Mk1 power unit in August, including the four Brown Boveri turbo chargers. The society is aiming to build a replica of pioneer LMS diesel-electric No. 10000. The power unit was built in 1947 and is in very…

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THE Diesel & Electric Preservation Group’s West Somerset Railway-based Class 14 No. D9526 has received an extensive overhaul. The work included the fitting of a replacement reconditioned Paxman 6YJ engine, originally installed in a BR Class 74, a now-extinct electro-diesel type.It had been hoped the 0-6-0DH would have been ready for full entry into traffic for…

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