Rail Express – September 2019

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September 2019 RAIL EXPRESS 9

IN BRIEF

‘Deltic’repairs to start

AFTER months of investigation

following its disastrousfailureon

March3whilst hauling the southbound

‘Auld Reekie’ railtour from Edinburgh,

the go-ahead has been given to start

repairs on Class 55 No. D9009 (55009)

Alycidon.

The ‘Deltic’ had been quarantined at

Nemesis’ depot, Burton-on-Trent, while

inquiries and inspectionswere made

to ascertainwhat went wrong. All six

traction motors andamaingenerator

were damaged inahugepowersurge.A

forensic engineerwasevencalle din.

Beforerepai rs canbegin, No. D

must first be lifted offits bogies onto

accommodationbogies, which will allow

the six motors to beremovedand sent

awayto Sulzer forstripping andrepair.

Meanwhile,work is to starton

strippingaprevious bogiefault,

which has seenarubbing on the

inside ofacentrewheelset.Alycidon

is notexpected back in servicefor

some months. The DPShas opened a

crowdfunding appeal as thiswill be a

cost ly repair.Details canbefound on

the DPSwebsite atwww.thedps.co.uk.

SPAVALLEY LASH-UP:Recent yearshave seen the summer dieselgala at the SpaValleyRailway close withamultiple-headed

working of the diesels that have taken part. Thisyear,however, the ‘lash-up’wasmovedtot he Saturday, August 3, when Nos. 27001,

D821, 31430, 73140 and 33063 headed the 18.00TunbridgeWells West to Eridge, which is seen passingPoke Hill Farm.NeilWalkling

LNERintroducedClass800 bi-modes to
Anglo-Scottish services from the start
of Augustand,prior to that,ranpress
previews tripsfrom York to Darlington on
July30and Edinburgh-Berwick on July31.
The York trip wasgreeted by A
steam loco No. 4468Mallard,holder of
the worldsteamrecord (126mph set in
1938), atYork an dA3No. 60103Flying
Scotsman,the world’ smost famous
steam loco, at Darlington.
Mallardhas rarely left theNational
Railway Museuminthe last 30years,
so required muchwork by the museum
to getitfitand approvedint ime to
be hauledonNetworkRail metals. On
the day, DB Cargo’s Nos. 66050and
66134 ‘top and tailed’ the A4 from the
museum to the station’s platform7via
Holgate Sidings so it could be lined up
with No. 800113.

Steam legends help launch Scottish ‘Azumas’

The Edinburgh previewtrip

featured No.800104with special

tartan adornments to the LNER

bodyside stripe aswell as Scottish

flags on the driving cabs. The same

set wasused on thefollowing day

forthe first passenger services, the

05.40 Edinburgh-King’s Cross and

17.30return.

With north ofYork no wclear ed

forelectri c‘Azuma’ services, theywill

graduallyreplacethecompany’s Mk.

andHST sets by mid2020.

A4 No. 4468Mallardline supwith ‘Azuma’ No. 800113 atYork on July30.

A3 No. 60103FlyingScotsmangreets

No. 800113 at Darlington on July30.

‘FLIRTS’ENTER SERVICE

STADLER bi-mode No. 755410became

the firstofGreaterAnglia’snewfleet

to enter service on July29when it

worked between Norwichand Great

Yarmouth/Lowestoft–the loco-

hauled ‘short set’ diagram. Theunit

is one of 38 three andfour-carClass

745s beingintroducedontoregional

services inEast Anglia,par tof1,

newvehiclesbeing builtfor the GA

network. The ‘shortset’ is notfinished

with yet, ho weve r, as it wasins ervice

on selecteddaysinAugustwhilethe

‘745s’ arebeddedin.

‘MID DY’DIESEL

THE Mid-SuffolkLight Railway at

Wetheringsett, near Stowmarket,

took delivery of anew locomoti ve in

June with thearrivalofJ ohn Fowler

0-4-0dies el No. 20337. Built in 1933

it worked at th eNabiscoFoodsfactory

in Welwyn Garden City (originally the

ShreddedWheatCo. until takenover)

befor ebeing soldin1974for static

exhibit.

With 45yearsoutside atvarious

sites itwasadaunting task torestore,

but thenew owners to ok just six

monthstostripthe engine locomotive

down andrebuildfor it snew home,

arriving in timeforthe railway’s diesel

gala on June30. Or iginally builtwitha

40hppetrolengine itwasre-engined

by Fowlerin1 956 withaMcLaren 40hp

diesel engine, which it still carries -

albeitwith alot of newparts.

FUNDINGFORCAMP HILL

PLANSfor thenew Camp Hill stations

have receiveda£15 million funding

from the DepartmentforTransport.

Thefundingis astep towardsresuming

passengerservice sonthe Camp Hill

Line calling at Moseley, KingsHeath

andHazelwell Stations.Transport

forthe West Midlands (TfWM) and

theWestMidlandsRailExecutive

(WMRE),working with rail industry

part ners includingNetworkRail and

West Midlands Trains, areleading the

development of thenewstations.

The Camp Hill lin estations closed

during1941and sincethen,the li ne

hasbeen used onlybyfreight and

non- stop through-services. These

newstationswill provide regulartrain

servicesinto BirminghamNew Street.

NORTHAM OPENDAY

SOUTHWesternRailway will hold

an openday on September 28 at

the NorthamTrainca re Depotin

Southampton. Theevent will be

hostedbySiemensMobi lityin

partnershipwith SWRand is thefirst

timethe depothas openedits doors

since SouthWeste rn Railway became

the train operator.

NorthamTraincar eish ometothe

Siemens Class444and 450 ‘Desiro’

trains,and theeventcoincideswith

16 years since the fleetswere

introducedonthe route. Theevent is

free, with bookingavailable nowat

http://www.siemens.co.uk/railopenday