Marcus' Model Railway Journey

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The Class 56s were bought outright by GBRf. But as with the Class 60 fleet, the operator has completed a sale/leaseback deal, in this instance with Progress Rail (the first time the manufacturer has leased locomotives in the UK).

Once in traffic, the locomotives will be used on general purpose duties rather than being dedicated to any particular flow, although it’s likely they will be based in one part of the country for ease of maintenance and driver knowledge. Tiller declined to comment where.

With a need to have assets in place ahead of new contracts (despite the pandemic), combined with the lack of anything available ‘off-the-shelf’ that would not need a lengthy approval process, upcycling redundant British Rail-designed locomotives makes sense for GBRf.

“These are nearly Class 66s in ‘56’ clothing,” concluded Tiller.

GBRF Frankengrid, 69005 'Eastleigh' manoeuvring around Bewdley 20th May 2022 resplendent in it's retro 1960's livery.
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Modification highlights (Class 56 to Class 69 Conversion)

New EMD 12N-710G3B-T2 Engine stage 3A emissions 3200HP.
New traction alternators and auxiliaries.
New cooler system.
New compressor.
New EM2000 Traction Control System as per Class 66s.
Fitting auto engine start stop.
New TSI-compliant new external forward/rear lighting.
Full rewire of locomotive.
Overhaul and retain existing Class 56 Brake System.
New interior cab with additional noise and comfort additions, and power controller pedestal as per Class 66.
TPWS4/AWS/DSD/Vigilance.
Overhaul retained Class 56 bogies, traction motors and underframe equipment.
Body structural overhaul.
Structural modifications including exhaust/filtration, cab front alterations, new roof sections.
Fuel capacity 5,200 litres.
Route Availability 7.

69006 Sits in the yard at longport waiting for a test run and a move to Eastleigh for painting on July 16, 2022.​

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Donor locomotives

New identity​
Converted from​
69001​
56031​
69002​
56311​
69003​
56018​
69004​
56069​
69005​
56007​
69006​
56128​
69007​
56037​
69008​
56038​
69009​
56065​
69010​
56060​
69011​
56009​
69012​
56032​
69013​
56081​
69014​
56077​
69015​
56312​
69016​
56098​

For spares: 56104/106

Note: 69011-69016 are only proposed.

The first Romanian Class 56s to arrive in Sheffield. 31318 hauls 56002+56001 as 9G41 06:00 Harwich Parkeston Yard-Tinsley Depot through Woodhouse Junction on 7th August 1976
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July 22, 2022​

Stadler produces first carbody of Class 93 tri-mode locomotive​


The company will soon begin the assembly of all the components and sub-systems related to the new locomotive.

Rolling stock manufacturer Stadler has commenced the production of its first-ever tri-mode locomotive fleet, Class 93, for British firm Rail Operations UK.

Stadler concluded making the first car body under the project and will soon start the assembly of all the components and sub-systems.

The assembly stage will include the installation of piping, cabling, traction systems, and other equipment.


The first carbody of Class 93 tri-mode locomotive.

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The first locomotive is anticipated to reach the UK in March next year following a period of testing and approvals. Commissioning of the new locomotive is also expected in the same year.

Having the flexibility to operate using electricity, diesel and in battery mode, it is also claimed to be the first tri-mode locomotive to operate in the UK.

Last year, Stadler reached a framework agreement for the supply of 30 Class 93 tri-mode locomotives to Rail Operations UK. The initial order covered a batch of ten locomotives.


All locomotives on order for Rail Operations (UK) are being made at Stadler’s Valencia plant. Maximum speed of the Class 93 is 110 mph compared with the 100 mph of the Class 68s and Class 88s.
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Class 93, which is a ‘Bo-Bo’ mixed-traffic locomotive, is based on Stadler’s Class 68 and Class 88 locomotives that are already operational in the UK.

The firm is manufacturing the new locomotives at its facility in Valencia.

Having three different power sources, the locomotives can operate on 25kV AC overhead lines with power up to 4,600kW.

Its Stage V 900kW engine and two lithium titanate oxide (LTO) traction battery packs enable it to operate on non-electrified lines.

Stadler stated that “the battery packs provide 400kW extra power to supplement the engine when the locomotives are running in diesel/battery hybrid mode.”

TransPennine Express liveried Class 68 No 68023 'Achilles' races north through Retford on June 8, 2022
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Fancy a short train ride?

Trips From Cardiff Central Station

No.1 - Cardiff Central to Cardiff Bay

Hop onto the train at Cardiff Central, platform 6.

Arrive at Cardiff Queen Street 2 minutes later, disembark at platform 3 and take the underpass to platform 1.

Board the train in the bay platform, which departs 3 minutes upon your arrival at Queen Street.

Upon departure you find you are heading back towards Cardiff Central, until you take the branch line over the Dock Feeder Canal.

3 minutes after departing, you arrive at the terminus station of Cardiff Bay.

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Cardiff Bay railway station, formerly Cardiff Bute Road, is a station serving the Cardiff Bay and Butetown areas of Cardiff, Wales.

It is the southern terminus of the Butetown branch line 1 mile (1.5 km) south of Cardiff Queen Street.

Only one platform is now in use.

The station building lies on Bute Street, although the rest of the station remains visible from the nearby Lloyd George Avenue.

For various reasons, including it being the origin of the first steam-powered passenger train service in Wales, the station is a Grade II* listed building.

Passenger services are provided by Transport for Wales. The station is due to close by December 2023, when the new Cardiff Bay station opens.

A TFW Class 153 “Super Sprinter” at Cardiff Bay

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The line to the docks was opened on 9 October 1840 but the station was not mentioned in Bradshaw's railway timetables until December 1844.

It was opened as Cardiff Bute Dock but the name was changed to Cardiff Docks in 1845 by the Taff Vale Railway (engineer: Isambard Kingdom Brunel).

The station building came into use in 1843 and was the head office of the TVR until 1862, when new offices were built at Queen Street.

After this it was let to the consulates of the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal and Brazil, with separate flagpoles provided for each nation.

The station was renamed Cardiff Bute Road by the Great Western Railway on 1 July 1924 and given its present name in 1994.

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British Rail class 116 DMU at Cardiff Bute Road In 1981

The train crew are sitting on the platform contemplating the squalor (and probably having a smoke).

This is a Derby works-built diesel unit.

The right-hand platform face is the one currently used, with most of the width of the platform fenced off and redeveloped.

It seems incredible that this was an open station one mile from Cardiff Queen Street in the Welsh capital's centre.

Even more incredible is the fact that there are 5 trains an hour here (as at December 2016).
 
May 24, 2013: Cardiff Bay station was formerly called Cardiff Bute Road, only one platform is used now and the station building you see, is effectively abandoned, it is Grade II* listed and still stands for reasons, including it being the origin of the first steam-powered passenger train service in Wales, it opened in 1840 as Cardiff Docks and renamed Bute Road in 1924.

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The first Avanti West Coast Class 805 has been seen outside of the Newton Aycliffe factory where the trains are being assembled.

The new trains are built by Hitachi Rail and will serve the West Midlands, North Wales and Liverpool from 2022.

The set was briefly taken outside to get fuel, and was due to return to the factory to continue its static type testing.

The set, like most at this part of the testing process, is minus any interior seating.

This is expected to commence dynamic testing in September.

Date and venue to be confirmed.

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It is expected to see the train testing on the network towards the end of this year with a view to accepting the first set in the Spring of 2023.

The Class 803 and 805 shells are built at Hitachi’s Kasado factory in Japan, before being shipped to the UK where final manufacturing takes place at Hitachi’s Newton Aycliffe factory.

When complete, the fleet of trains will include 13 Class 805 bi-mode trains and 10 Class 807 electric trains which will replace the outgoing Super Voyager trains.


Avanti West Coast Class 221 Super Voyager 221142. Seen at Crewe Station 12th November 2021

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1 August 2022

GWR train gets Euro 2022 Lionesses tribute​


A quick paint job this morning has seen a Great Western Railway (GWR) train decorated to mark the England women’s team victory at the Euro football finals yesterday evening.

GWR applied the decal to Intercity Express Train 800316 early this morning, while it was standing at Paddington station.

It left Paddington at 7:37am after the decoration had been added, to go to the depot, and will return to passenger service later this morning.

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In June GWR added the official Platinum Jubilee Emblem to the side of its Queen Elizabeth II train, 800003, as part of the celebrations to mark Her Majesty’s 70 years on the throne.

GW Class 800/0 No.800003 Queen Elizabeth II and No.800012 at Acton Mainline on 20th July 2022 working 1L14 09:23 Swansea-Paddington.
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Other Great Westerners to have been recognised include World War II codebreaker Alan Turing OBE, Bristol civil rights pioneer Dr Paul Stephenson OBE, Covid-19 fundraising hero Captain Sir Tom Moore, and Welsh sporting legends Sir Gareth Edwards and John Charles.

28 May 2022

A train that’ll regularly call at the home of the UK’s spy centre, GCHQ has been named after the World War Two codebreaker, Alan Turing.

The Great Western Railway (GWR) train will regularly call at Cheltenham Spa station, about a 20-minute walk from GCHQ’s famous doughnut shaped headquarters building where modern code breakers expand the legacy set by Alan Turing at Bletchley Park during WWII.

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Alan Turing was not just a legendary code breaker and mathematician, he was gay at a time when that was illegal, and tragically took his own life after being convicted. Therefore, the train that’s been named after him is also the GWR’s Trainbow train, the one with the rainbow flag for gay rights. The trainbow has also been updated to reflect changing times, and now includes black, brown, light blue, light pink and white, bringing focus on inclusion for trans individuals, marginalised people of colour and those living with HIV/AIDS.
 
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Intercity Express Train is also train number 800008, which pays a nod to the WWII codebreakers and their mastery of palindromes. And, as you might expect with something related to Alan Turing, there’s a code/cypher hidden in the letters that fill the trainbow.

The naming ceremony was planned to take place in 2020 on the 75th anniversary of VE Day as part of a wider naming of trains after wartime heroes, but Turing’s train was delayed by the pandemic, and it was only this week that all the parties involved were able to come together.

Included in the naming ceremony were two of Alan’s nieces, and Inagh Payne, speaking on behalf of the family, said “We have our own fond memories of him as a loving and caring uncle and it is wonderful to see this tribute to him, and that he is remembered, and his life celebrated by so many people.”

Following the launch of a campaign in 2009, Alan Turing was granted a posthumous royal pardon four years in 2013. A subsequent legal amendment, known as ‘Turing’s Law’, pardoned 65,000 other convicted gay and bisexual men.

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GWR first unveiled the trainbow livery in 2018, and it has been adopted by a number of other train companies.

Reflecting on the addition of the trans colours, Plymouth City Councillor, and the first trans Councillor, Dylan Tippetts said that it’s an important symbol of the batter being fought today for trans rights, and that newspaper headlines today are invoking the same fears as they did in the 1980s about gay men, but today it’s trans rights.

He added though that the trainbow is one of “the things that bring us together and not those that divide us”

The naming ceremony took place at Paddington station, not far from where Alan Turing was born.

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29 April 2020

Great Western Railway (GWR) has named a train in honour of the veteran who has raised more than £29 million for the NHS to mark his 100th birthday.

The Class 800 Intercity Express Train will go into service carrying its new name on Thursday – the date of Captain Tom’s 100th birthday – and will carry key workers travelling to and from work on the Great Western network.

In 2016 GWR launched a public campaign to name its new fleet of Intercity Express Trains after Great Westerners – those inspirational individuals who have shaped the Great Western network.

The new fleet celebrate these people and their legacies by bearing their names. Trains named to date include for example Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II, named by HM Queen Elizabeth in 2017, to mark 175 years since Queen Victoria became the first monarch to travel by train.

800025 Captain Sir Tom Moore seen here at Bristol Temple Meads after working the 12:32 from London Paddington on 24 June 2021.

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