News

TO MARK the end (for now) of the popular Class 442 ‘5-WES’ EMUs in regular service, the Branch Line Society organised a farewell tour of Southern Region lines with Nos. 442402/408 on March 11. The ‘Southern Class 442 Farewell’ tour incorporated a number of rare Central Section loops and non-passenger lines, including a visit to Hove…

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  JUNE 2-3 will see former Inverness Class 37/0 No. 37025 Inverness TMD return to its 1980s haunts with a Scottish Railway Preservation Society tour to Wick and Thurso. The Scottish Thirty-Seven Group’s Type 3 is currently on hire to Colas Rail, and will be paired with a sister locomotive for the overnight trip, departing from…

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SAN FRANCISCO’s light rail and bus operator Muni Metro ordered 175 new two-car light rail vehicles from Siemens at a cost of $648 million, with a further 40 being ordered in mid-2015. The LRVs – designated S200 SF – are being made at Siemens plant in Sacramento, California. The first two units were delivered in…

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BOLIVIA’S remaining metre gauge lines are operated by two different private owners. The former state operator Empresa Nacional de Ferrocarriles del Estado (ENFE) was privatised in the mid-1990s with two companies created, initially both owned by the same Chilean investors. In the east of the country, Ferroviaria Oriental – now owned by Genesee and Wyoming…

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THE first of 55 GE ‘Evolution’ series locomotives ordered by Pakistan Railways in June 2015 was delivered to Karachi by ship in late-January 2017. The Class 9000 locomotives are intended for freight (primarily coal) from Port Qasim, in Karachi, to Sahiwal as part of plans by the Pakistan Government to increase the amount of freight…

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US PRESIDENT Donald Trump and his advisors have proposed the complete removal of all Amtrak services that are not supported financially by the states they operate in. Only the North East Corridor route from Washington DC to Boston via New York would remain in operation with Federal government backing. This already covers its operating costs…

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THE two Class 67 Bo-Bo locos bought by Colas Rail from DB Cargo have emerged from the Toton paintshop. Colas tweeted pictures of Nos. 67023 and 67027 at Toton on completion of the work at the end of February – both Type 5s appearing in a bright colour scheme. Work for the pair on Network Rail…

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WITHDRAWALS of the first units in Northern’s ‘Pacer’ fleet of more than 200 vehicles will begin no later than September 15, 2018. The units are being withdrawn as they do not comply to new disability regulations. They will be replaced by new trains. Five Class 144 two-car units should have been stood down by September…

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COMPLETION of the construction of the first bodyshell for the new Mk5a carriages for the TransPennine Express franchise has been confirmed by the operator. CAF (Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles), in Spain, is producing 66 carriages for TransPennine, which will be formed into 13 five-carriage sets that will include a driving carriage. Three vehicles will…

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THE arrival of five more of the 10 dual-power Class 88 locos ordered by DRS back in 2013 means that more than half the fleet have been delivered. On March 1, loco Nos. 88001/3/4/5/8 were unloaded at Workington Docks and hauled by No. 66433 to Carlisle Kingmoor for commissioning. They join No. 88002, which arrived in January.…

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