Rail Express – September 2019

TIME TRAVELLER

September 2019 RAIL EXPRESS 29

50

YEARS AGO...

SEPTEMBER

1969

30

YEARS AGO...

SEPTEMBER

1989

10

YEARS AGO...

SEPTEMBER

2009

40

YEARSAGO...

SEPTEMBER

1979

20

YEARS AGO...

SEPTEMBER

1999

CENTRALWALESLINE SAVED

The passenger service between Llanelli

andShrewsburyover the Central

Wales Line, which had been proposed

forwithdrawal,was reprieved. The

decisionwasmadebythe Minister

of Transportfollowingastudy of the

TUCCreport and all otherrelevant

factors, accepting that considerable

inconvenience and some hardship

would be causedby the closureand

that asuggested busreplacement

servicewould not provide an entirely

adequate substituteforlong-distance

through-passengers. The heavy annual

grant of £300,000 paid to theRailways

Boardfor theretention of service

wasconsideredjustified on social and

economic grounds.

BRAINTREE DMU:AviewofBraintree&Bocking station, Essex, on September 22, 1969. The linewasformerlyathrough

route connecting the GreatEasternMain Line at Witham to theWest AngliaMain Line at Bishop’s Stortford, but the section beyond

Braintree closed to passengers in 1952 and completelyin1972. Here aClass 101 has just arrived with the 12.50 from Witham, the

line not being electrified until1977.

GREATWESTERN RECORD

An InterCity 125HST coveredthe

305 miles betweenPenzance and

Paddington in 4hr44min on

September27–an averag espeed of

64.4mphthat BritishRail claimedasa

record.The demonstration run–which

wastomark theextension of HSTs to

the London-West of England service

from October1–included stops at

sixintermediate stations in Cornwall

SOMERSETSTONE:AClass 70 hasrecent ly been trialled on the stone trains

between Somerset andLondon (see page79), but 40yearsago Class 47swere still the

traction of choice–these later givingwaytoClass 56s and then in turn to Class 59s

with anevergreater needforpower. Here No. 47119 heads an emptyrake of hoppers

westbound back toWestbury at Little Bedwyn on September 29, 1979.

plus Plym outhandExeter. The full HST

serviceoverthis route wasinaugurated

on May12, 1980.

DART GO-AHEAD

Coras IompairEireann (CIE) wasgiven

permission to startwork on electrifying

the 22.5 milesof double-track between

Howth and Bray via Dublin Connolly,

whichcarriesDublin’sonly subu rban

rail service.Traction powerwould be at

1500VDC viaoverhead line.Total cost

of the project–including 20four-car

EMUs, fivesub-stations,resignalling,

three newstations,refurbishing

Fairviewdepot to service theelectric

trains, andcomputer-based automatic

route setting–was setat £46 million.

The system opened in July 1984 (see

also Irish Angle).

‘PACER’ UPGRADES

Brit ish Railways andthe Passenger

Transport Authoritiesreached

agreementonthe conversion of the

remainder of the ‘Pacer’ diesel DMU

fleet toVoith transmissions. Since their

introduction in 1987, performance and

reliability of thePacers had fallen well

belowexpectations, mostlybecause

FRAGONSET OPENS IN DERBY

Fragon set Railwaystook overthe

disusedAdvanced ProjectsLabatthe

former DerbyRailway Techni calCentre

as amajor worksh op and locomotive

repair facility.The Tyseley-based

companyleased the two-track building,

FINAL IRISH MK.3S

Irish Rail ranits last train of Mk.3

carr iagesonSeptember 21, the 13.45

Dublin-Corkrelief hauledby 201 Class

No. 219. Although IR invited tenders

of problems with thegearbox. The

Voith transmission had proveditself

in service on other types of second

generation DMUs, andwasappli ed

succ essfullytothe BR’sown‘Pacer’

fleet in 1988. The agreement paved

the way forthe conversion of the

fleets fundedby the PTAs of Greater

Manchester,Merse yside, Tyne &

Wear andWest Yorkshireinarolling

prog rammeover18months. ‘Pacers’

thus became cheaper to operate as

aresult, and this lifted the threat

of legal actionby the PTEs, which

wanted compensationforanticipated

loss es should the ‘Pacers’ continue to

underperform.

whichwasoriginall yopened on

October 26, 1970forthe developm ent

of theAdvancedPassengerTrain. The

building spanned tracks7and 8ofthe

former RTC,and could accommodate

up tofour locos atatime. Substantial

workshop space surrounded the

track sinside the building, including

twooverhead cranes with combined

50-ton lift capacity.The first locos to

arrivewereNos. 47701, 47710, 31468

and 33207.Fragonset mergedwith

MerlinRail to becomeFM Rail in January

2005, but the companywent into

administration at the end of 2006.

foranumberofMk.3s (which could

have beenrega uged), therewas little

interest–despit ethe needforthem in

the UK–and so theywent forscrap at

Waterfordand Inchicoreinstead. All IR

serviceswere theneither DMUs or DD

(‘Enterprise’) Stock ofCAFMk.4 push-

pull sets.The Mk.3swere BR-based

vehicles builtforthe Irish 5ft 3ingauge,

and the firstwere constructedforIRin

1986 –someinDerbyand ot hers under

licence at Inchicore. Morethan 120

were prod uced.