Saturday 30 December 2017

25th - 30th December 2017


Monday 25th December: 66016 and 66058 rest at Eastleigh Works one
Tuesday 26th December:
Wednesday 27th December:
Thursday 28th December:
Friday 29th December: 37025 rests at Eastleigh Works one
Saturday 30th December:

TSO 5632 19th August 2014 on Fife Circle, following an internal and external refresh.

The same coach, now at Eastleigh on 9th December for spares donation, after some careful stewardship of assets by DBC at Thornton Yard, Fife.

Saturday 23 December 2017

18th - 23rd December 2017


Monday 18th December: 37175 + 37254 1Q51 11:15 Derby - Eastleigh - Weymouth - Eastleigh one; 166202 gauging test run 5Z44 21:06 Bristol - Southampton
Tuesday 19th December: 166202 gauging test run 5Z45 01:18 Southampton - Eastleigh - Bristol one; 37175 + 37254 1Q52 10:37 Eastleigh - Portsmouth Harbour - Littlehampton - Portsmouth Harbour - Totton Yard - Havant - Guildford - Havant - Fareham - Eastleigh - Woking - Lymington Pier - Eastleigh one two three; 66238 + 66058 + 66016 + 66046 0O65 09:27 Peterborough - Eastleigh (for repaints from DBC/EWS to GBRf) one two three four five six; 37025 3Q01 23:38 Woking - Eastleigh. 08887 removed from Eastleigh Works by road to Wembley.
Wednesday 20th December: 37175 + 37254 1Q53 11:26 Eastleigh - Southampton Down Loop - Wimbledon Park - Southampton Down Loop - Wimbledon Park - Totton Yard - Eastleigh - Romsey - Eastleigh - Hamworthy Goods - Eastleigh one two three four five six seven eight; 37025 one 3Q02 21:36 Eastleigh - Weymouth - Southampton - Fareham - Eastleigh two three
Thursday 21st December: 37175 + 37254 1Q54 12:27 Eastleigh - Hither Green; 37025 3Q04 21:17 Eastleigh - Totton Yard - Reading one
Friday 22nd December: 37025 3Q40 23:08 Reading - Eastleigh & GBRf (exDB) 66s on Eastleigh Works one
Saturday 23rd December: 

313201 (was 313001) coming to Coastway duties shortly in BR Blue / Grey. In transit: one two

Two of three Class 37's on the test trains this week which were both at the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway!

Eastleigh Works: 24Nov - 27Nov - 29Nov - 07Dec

Thursday 21 December 2017

Eastleigh, 16th December 2017


Arlington's 47818 at Eastleigh Works, which was in use on Saturday morning.

158888 as returned in South Western Railway colours from early November.

70017 4O90 05:27 Leeds - Maritime.

23.87.4376.007-2 Laadfoors on tail of STP working 6M52 11:056 EasternDocks - CastleBromwich. This IFA is a single deck (new clasps) car transporter in SNCF ownership, built by Frangeco in 1966. Further information: one two

Saturday 16 December 2017

11th - 16th December 2017


67005 leads 5Z83 into Eastleigh, 16th December.

Monday 11th December: 66114 5O61 09:53 Wembley- Eastleigh one; 66117 5Z45 09:56 Burton Wetmore Sidings - Eastleigh one two
Tuesday 12th December:
Wednesday 13th December:
Thursday 14th December: 37059 + 57302 + 37259 0Z71 10:05 Willesden - Eastleigh (57302 reported to be to yield spares for 57307, which is under overhaul) one two three four; 67023 + 67027 1X23 15:13 Salisbury - Southampton UGL - Salisbury (related working at Westbury)
Friday 15th December: 37059 + 37259 0Z68 12:19 Eastleigh - Willesden Brent one two three
Saturday 16th December: 67005 1Z82 09:45 Victoria - Winchester one two three, 5Z83 11:58 Winchester - Eastleigh, 5Z84 16:29 Eastleigh - Winchester, 1Z84 17:06 Winchester - London Victoria one

Tuesday 12 December 2017

Class 70s at Eastleigh, 9th December 2017


It took 4 months of waiting, but here is 70813, all Colas 70s now marked off in my book.

70014 4O27 05:21 Garston-Maritime

70006 paused at a red signal with 4O90 05:27 Leeds-Maritime ...

... then clags on departure.

Sunday 10 December 2017

Bund Sightseeing Tunnel, Shanghai, 25th November 2017


Cosmic and Trippy !


Bund Sightseeing Tunnel - which costs 70 RMB return (£7.89)

Eastleigh Works, 9th December 2017


Having entered works in July 2016, 08887 of Alstom is now out and about at Eastleigh Works. New as D4117 from BR Horwich in February 1962, and renumbered in February 1974.

08567, 47771, 47812 and TEA 89019 (on accommodation bogies) outside the works on what had been a frosty morning.

Saturday 9 December 2017

Shanghai Railway Museum , 25th November 2017


A modest museum, with two real steam locomotives, mainly otherwise focused upon a collection of artefacts. The location of the museum is the former Shanghai North Railway Station.

KD7-641 (Lima, Ohio, USA, February 1947) 2-8-0. This pattern of 2-8-0 was produced in the post-war period, after the S160 series of World War 2 (Class KD6 in China). As Class KD7 160 examples were delivered to China, these being similar to 300 delivered to Belgium as Class 29.

Model of a JS 2-8-2, which were produced between 1951 - 1965 and 1981 - 1988. In another era, I have ridden behind a JS, a tale for another time.

SN-26 a 600mm gauge 0-10-0 made in 1920 in the USA.

A representation of Pioneer, the first locomotive to work in China, on the Woosung Railway, which lies within modern Shanghai. The original locomotive was constructed by Ransomes and Rapier for the line's opening in 1876. The railway ran for less than a year before it was purchased and dismantled by the Qing viceroy Shen Pao-chen.

4th - 9th December 2017


33207 + 47245 depart Eastleigh with ECS on 4th. Image by Ian Knight.

66003 passes Dunbridge, on 5th December, with 7V16 11:47 Fareham - Whatley.

Monday 4th December: 33207 + 47245 0Z60 08:30 Southall - Eastleigh one two, 5Z47 12:20 Eastleigh - Carnforth (coaches 1207 + 1221; from long term storage at ZG for VSOE / Belmond, a movement related to sale of Northern Belle to West Coast) one two three four five
Tuesday 5th December: 45212 + 47580 T+T 1Z92 09:21 Alton - Guildford - Petersfield - Havant - Fareham - Southampton - Bath, 1Z94 18;54 Bath - Romsey - Eastleigh - Alton (losing 45212 at Salisbury 5Z95 20:04 Salisbury - Southall), eventually running 2½ hours late after signal failures in Bath area.
Wednesday 6th December: 158890 5O96 10:00 Loughborough - Salisbury (multiple pictures)
Thursday 7th December: 180104 5O86 1511 Old Oak Common - Eastleigh one
Friday 8th December:
Saturday 9th December:

Colas Rail Class 47s: 47727, 47737 and 47749 are sold to GBRf.

Wednesday 6 December 2017

45212 The Cathedrals Express. 5th December 2017


45212 + 47580 T+T 1Z92 09:21 Alton - Guildford - Petersfield - Havant - Fareham - Southampton - Bath

Return 1Z94 ran about 2½  hours late following signal failures in the Bath area, with 45212 coming off at Salisbury as planned. The return route was via Chandler's Ford.

Passing Redbridge. Image by Ian Knight.

The train was then seen passing Dunbridge - three pictures.







47580 County of Essex on the rear. New from Brush, Loughborough in September 1964.

Tuesday 5 December 2017

Southampton Maritime, 3rd December 2017


70010 on Sunday morning shunt duties.

66501 Japan 2001 at the inspection area.

08530.

27th November - 2nd December 2017


Monday 27th November: 67005 5O61 Wembley - Eastleigh one
Tuesday 28th November:
Wednesday 29th November: 68004 (+ Buffet First 1203) 5Z70 01:27 Crewe -Eastleigh, 68004 + 47841 0Z68 10:19 Eastleigh - Willesden Brent one two three four - 47841 to Crewe for its owners at  Locomotive Services; 57314 + 45212 5Z85 11:20 Southall - Basingstoke - Laverstock - Romsey - Eastleigh - Swanage one two three four
Thursday 30th November: 45212 + 57314 1Z87 06:50 Poole - Eastleigh - Romsey - Bristol one two three four, five six seven, 1Z88 17:36 Bristol - Romsey - Eastleigh - Poole, 5Z90 22:17 Poole - Southall
Friday 1st December: 6xxx 04:30 Wool (Sand) - Eastleigh
Saturday 2nd December: 67005 1Z67 05:51 Eastleigh - Southampton - Romsey - Salisbury - Andover - Basingstoke - Chester one two three four, 1Z68 16:40 Chester - Basingstoke - Andover - Salisbury - Romsey - Eastleigh one two

Eastleigh Works: 15Nov - 16Nov - 17Nov - 21Nov -22Nov - 23Nov

BSO 9522, newly transferred to Riviera ownership from DB Cargo, as seen at Eastleigh Works on 23rd in link above, has arrived from Scotland, where it was in service on the Fife Circle until early 2015. More info.

9522 on 27th August 2013.

DCR 56311 and 56312 were re-sold by Booths to an un-named party with Class 56 experience, and were moved to Leicester on 30th.

Deltics 55016 and 55022 are now in a new ownership: one two three

47579 is now at the Mid-Hants one two

SWR multiple units: 159003 5M99 10:22 Salisbury - Loughborough Brush on 30th.

GWR multiple units: A Class 166 was tested to Westbury on 1st. However unidentified and no pictures found.

Sunday 3 December 2017

Shanghai Maglev Experience, 19th November 2017


'47Soton' took a back seat for me again for a few weeks, will shortly bring back up to speed. Meanwhile in China ......

At a nudge over 430 kph (267 mph) this will likely be my fastest ever "train" journey, recorded in video throughout the acceleration period. The route is of two dedicated tracks between Shanghai Pudong Airport and a city terminal, one per train. An 18.6 mile journey can take as little as 7 mins 20 secs.

Crossing point between the two moving trains,which use German technologies, was "impressive". Overall journey was about 8 minutes and cost 40 yuan (4.40 GBP) with an incoming boarding pass.

There is a museum and presentation centre underneath the city terminal. On a Sunday morning I had it all to myself.

Unfortunately the line makes financial losses, reported to be up to 700 million yuan per year (77 million GBP). The city terminal at Longyang Road appears to be poorly placed for users other than coming to/from the metro, also it is cheaper to take the metro all of the way to the airport. For me, taxi to the airport was a bit more expensive upon return, but avoided various extra handling steps and a shuffle at the maglev terminal.

The rust on the structure is no great surprise, the environment is at times likely to be corrosive to the steel and covering involved. The train leaves the city terminal.


A video made on the train, I am reading out some of the key speeds as shown in km/h.

In this airport takeoff video, a Maglev can be seen arriving at the airport at ~1m22s (moving left to right).

Wikipedia
Company web page

Friday 1 December 2017

Massachusetts, February 2001


MTBA F40PH 1012 (EMD 776066-13 of December 1978) at Franklin, 3rd February 2001. This locomotive worked until 2015, and is now stored out of service.

MTBA 1032 (MK Rail F40PHM-2C 0990-08 new in August 1991) at Franklin, 10th February 2001. In 2017 this has been sent to MPI (Boise, Idaho, part of Wabtec) for overhaul / refurbishment.

CSX 620 rushes through Grafton, MA with an eastbound freight train towards Boston, 10th February 2001. I think that I had just parked and the train came before I could find another spot. It was numbingly cold, so I only saw this and one other train. The objective was to try and see a freight train, as with weather and time, I was being thoroughly unsuccessful with this.

This is a GE AC6000CW (51287 of December 1998) placed into service in March 1999. Neither EMD (SD90MAC) nor GE 6000 hp prime movers were reliable, and the locomotive was derated to 4400hp by software change in 2002 becoming a CW44-6. In retrospect I think that I was lucky to see this one running at 6000hp, and also a SD90MAC at some point a few years before - the latter series have been substantially scrapped or rebuilt, as there were prime mover and frame issues. 

1032 again, this time running westbound to Worcester. The shadows and headlights show the direction, the railroad would appear to be bi-directional.

GP40MC 1130 at Franklin, 18th February. These locomotives were to me probably the most interesting, as they are are rebuilt freight GP40s with flared SD45 style radiators. The rebuilding took place in 1997 and was performed by AMF (Atelier Montreal Facilities)at Montreal, in this case starting from Canadian National GP40-2LW 9568 (GMD A3203 of March 1975).


Sunday 26 November 2017

West Somerset Railway Steam Gala, 7th October 2017


A selection of pictures from the camera of Ian Knight.

4MT 75014 (BR Swindon, December 1951), guest visitor from the Dartmouth Steam Railway, arriving st Stogumber.

4F 44422 (LMS Derby, October 1927) arriving at Blue Anchor.

7820 Dinmore Mamor (BR Swindon, November 1950) arriving at Watchet.

S&DJR 7F 53809 (Robert Stephenson and Sons, Darlington, July 1925) at Watchet.

S&DJR 7F 53808 (Robert Stephenson and Sons, Darlington, July 1925) at Watchet.

Saturday 25 November 2017

North Yorkshire Moors Railway, 15th May 1982


My second, and still most recent, visit to the Moors Line. A limited number of photos were taken given the student finances (indeed post-student, as we had wrapped up the previous day), but some liberty was taken given the number of loco types, both steam and diesel, which I had not seen before. The line was already noted for a liberal attitude towards the usage of diesel traction.

D5032 Helen Turner awaits the off at Grosmont, soon after our arival. New in July 1959 from BR Crewe, stored in May 1976, and withdrawn that July, after which it was hired from TJ Thomson's Stockton scrapyard to the railway from 21st August in the long hot summer of that year. Repainted in this scheme in April 1977. Currently under overhaul at Grosmont.
Images while working in preservation.

NER 'T2' 2238 (later LNER 'Q6' 3395 and BR 63395) is an 0-8-0 locomotive completed at Darlington in December 1918, and allocated to Blaydon. Withdrawn from BR service on 9th September 1967 from Sunderland. Under the care of NELPG since 1st April 1968, following storage at Tyne Dock. Here seen running around at Grosmont, in a view now blocked by the more recent construction of a signal box. The dining train it would haul is on the left, a Metro-Cammell Pullman being visible, this all being too grand for a group of students, who would have to wait for another train.

4 coach Gloucester RCW Class 100 unit descends into Grosmont. After service on the NYMR, these went to the Swanage Railway briefly in 1985, and then to the West Somerset. 

50341 in poor condition, cut up at Mayer Parry, Snailwell in 1991
51118 worked on WSR, now in ownership of Llangollen Railcar Group, and under overhaul at Butterley
56097 has similar history to 51118
56099 has similar history to 50341, under overhaul at Butterley

The locomotives in the distance are 3180 Antwerp (WD 75130), now at Hope Farm, Sellindge and Lambton No. 29.

63395 climbs past the loco shed at Grosmont with "Le Moors Line Rapide" dining train. The locomotive was withdrawn from NYMR use later in 1982, and stored until overhauled and returned to traffic in 2007, recently being withdrawn again for a further overhaul.

 D821 Greyhound, built by BR Swindon in May 1960 and withdrawn in December 1972, being preserved by the Diesel Traction Group. After an overhaul at Swindon between 1977 and 1981, the locomotive was based at the NYMR from 1981 - 1991. Now located at the Severn Valley Railway.

Class 04 D2207 was new as 11108 in February 1953 from Vulcan Foundry to the Drewry Car Co. design, first allocated to 30F Parkeston Quay. Sent to Crewe Works from Newton Heath in September 1966, and withdrawn in December 1967. Worked in industry from 1968 to 1973, then to the NYMR. Currently under overhaul with a new Gardner engine being sourced.

D9529 was new from BR Swindon in January 1965, allocated to Cardiff Canton. The WR, not knowing what to do with the locomotives in the wake of the Beeching Axe, sent this one to Hull on the ER in May 1967, but it was quickly stored that month, and was withdrawn in April 1968. It went into industrial use with Stewart & Lloyds Minerals, firstly in Lincolnshire. Ownership changed to the nationalised British Steel, and the loco was moved to the Corby area. With a reduction in activity at Corby, this locomotive and D9520 were moved to the NYMR by rail in March 1981. After several further moves it went back to work on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link  Now owned by the Iron and Steel Traction Group, located at the Nene Valley Railway.

BR 4MT 4-6-0 75014 was completed at BR Swindon in November 1951, and was withdrawn in December 1966 from Shrewsbury, going to Barry scrapyard. Removed from the scrapyard in 1981 and restored to mainline use in 1994, following sale in 2002, it now works at the Dartmouth Steam Railway as BRAVEHEART, being overhauled between 2005 and 2017. A NER B16 tender is stored between the locomotive and a more suitable BR tender.

BR 9F 92134 was completed at BR Crewe in June 1957 and withdrawn in December 1966 from Birkenhead, also sent to Barry scrapyard, from where it was removed in December 1980. After several moves, it is on the final stages of restoration at the East Lancashire Railway - follow this on Twitter and Facebook.

Moors Line 59, as purchased during this visit. I had purchased my first copy of this magazine at WH Smith in York station in 1977, and was always impressed by the editorial standard of Murray Brown, who went on to edit Rail Enthusiast / Rail and then co-founded Rail Express.





20th - 25th November 2017


Monday 20th November: 37116 + 37175 1Q51 11:15 Derby - Eastleigh - Weymouth - Eastleigh one
Tuesday 21st November: 37116 + 37175 1Q52 10:46 Eastleigh - Portsmouth & Southsea - Littlehampton - Portsmouth & Southsea - Totton Yard - Havant - Guildford - Fareham - Eastleigh - Woking - Lymington Pier - Eastleigh one two three four five six seven eight nine ten
Wednesday 22nd November: 37116 + 37175 1Q53 11:55 Eastleigh - Southampton Down Loop - Wimbledon Park -Eastleigh - Southampton Down Loop - Wimbledon Park - Redbridge - Eastleigh - Romsey - Eastleigh
Thursday 23rd November: 37116 + 37175 1Q54 12:27 Eastleigh - Tonbridge
Friday 24th November:
Saturday 25th November:

DCR Sales of note for previous visits to Southampton, both sold to Booth's:

56311 originally 56057 - seen here at Totton in 2014. Recently "tyres very thin, engine worn out with low oil pressure, control cabling stripped out."
56312 originally 56003 - seen here at Bo'ness in 2013. Recently "Requires OTMR overhaul and new batteries. Good loco." As 56003 it was at Booth's in 2004.

Eastleigh Works: 01Nov - 08Nov - 09Nov - 13Nov - 14Nov



Saturday 18 November 2017

Diesels at the South Devon Railway, 18th October 2017


6737 (37037) new in May 1962.
37275 new in April 1965.

D7612 (25262, 25901) new in April 1966. 
55000 goes back a long way for me, as it was part of the Haymarket dmu fleet in the 1970s.

50002 was under a tarpaulin.