Re-signalling of the charming Wherry Lines in Norfolk was due to be completed about now, but this £67m project has joined Crossrail and Great Western electrification in falling hopelessly behind schedule.
New signals along the 46 miles of route linking Norwich with Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft have been installed, but remain shrouded in black bin liners, with one insider telling me that the new equipment may not now be commissioned until March 2020. Continue reading “A Wherry big delay”
Pen & Sword Transport – ISBN: 9781526714732
https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Britains-Last-Mechanical-Signalling-Hardback/p/16355
Almost a century after the first colour light signals appeared on Britain’s railways in the early 1920s there are still a considerable number of places where the passage of trains is controlled by the Victorian technology of a signaller in a signal box pulling a mechanical lever that will tug up to ¾ mile of wire that then moves a signal arm up or down.
Replacement of mechanical signalling has been going on in earnest since the 1960s and continues apace, with losses over the past couple of years at Blackpool, North Wales, Humberside, and at a number of locations in Scotland. Next to go will be the delightful Wherry Lines between Norwich, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft. Continue reading “Gareth’s second book – available now”
Paying an Easter Saturday (20 April 2019) visit to Moreton-in-Marsh there had been a fair bit of change since my last visit almost two years ago, when the rolling stock featured in photos accompanying my August 2017 blog included Class 166 and 180 units as well as the now fast-disappearing HSTs.
Today virtually all Cotswold Line services are in the hands of Hitachi Class 80x units, with the final scheduled HST working now less than a month away and a due to be the 18.22 Paddington to Hereford service on Saturday, 18 May. Continue reading “A new look at Moreton-in-Marsh”
After the recent completion of re-signalling at Pitlochry and Aviemore, another of Scotland’s wonderful manual signalling outposts will disappear this summer, when completion of Phase One of a £170 million programme to upgrade the Aberdeen to Inverness route will see the loss of semaphores at Inverurie.
Together with the historic signal box at nearby Dyce (sadly demolished in August 2019), Inverurie box will be closing as part of a project that should have seen a re-doubling of the 17 route miles to Aberdeen by December, introduction of half-hourly Aberdeen to Inverurie services, and provision for a planned new station at Kintore. Continue reading “All change at Inverurie”
There are very few places to watch the flow of freight traffic along one of London’s forgotten arteries – the four-mile long Dudding Hill Line from Acton to Cricklewood – but pick of the bunch must be the bridge on Craven Park just north of Harlesden station.
Looking north from here, before leaves appear on all the line-side trees, there are two semaphores in view – Neasden Junction’s down (southbound) section signal nearest the bridge, with its up outer home signal also in view as the line bears round to the right, a signal that can’t be seen when there are leaves on the trees. Continue reading “Day Return to Dudding Hill”
What must be one of the busiest and certainly the most expensive narrow gauge railway in the world is a 43km (27 mile) stretch of 3ft (914mm) gauge line which carries the vast majority of visitors to the world famous Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in Peru.
This is a delightful 90-minute trip down the Sacred Valley, but with a single ticket costing around $75 (£55) it is one of the most obscene rip-offs any tourist could be faced with, and a sad reflection of the privatisation process in Peru, which saw the line handed to Perurail – partly British-owned – in 1999. Continue reading “A trip on the world’s most expensive narrow gauge railway”
Rail travel in Peru is not something that the majority of its population ever gets to experience, but for the tourist wanting a bit of affordable luxury there is nothing to beat a day aboard the Titicaca Train on its thrice-weekly journey between Puno and Cusco.
Regular passenger services along this 385 km (240 mile) route ceased many years ago, and remaining freight traffic seems sparse, so the principal traffic for operator Perurail today is this service, and the even more up-market Belmond Andean Explorer, whose two-day itinerary includes a long branch off this route to Arequipa. Continue reading “Pullman luxury in Peru”
Completion this month of what is known as Highland Main Line Upgrade Phase Two will see the disappearance of semaphore signalling at two locations along the magnificent route from Perth to Inverness.
This £20m project, aimed at delivering an hourly service and a ten minute reduction in journey times from December, will see the disappearance of mechanical signalling at Pitlochry, along with platform extensions to handle the new Inter7City HST sets. Continue reading “Highland semaphore farewell”
For a chance to savour Britain’s finest collection of lower quadrant semaphore signals, and a number of other unique historic features, it is well worth spending a few hours on and around Worcester’s two stations, Shrub Hill and Foregate Street.
The triangular layout north of these two stations is controlled by signal boxes at Shrub Hill and Tunnel Junction at the far tip of this triangle, while signals west of Foregate Street and its up platform 1 starter are controlled by a third box, Henwick, standing out of sight on the opposite side of the River Severn. Continue reading “Favourite photo-spots: Worcester”
In what could well be the final year of daily scheduled steam operation, a major change to the workings from Wolsztyn depot in western Poland is taking place immediately after its famous May Day “Parade” event, which occurs this year on Saturday, 4 May.
The start of a much-needed rebuild of the line from Wolsztyn to Leszno means that from 5 May until early September weekday steam operation will be switched to the shorter Wolsztyn – Zbaszynek route, meaning the return of daily steam operation to a short section of the Berlin-Warsaw main line. Continue reading “All change at Wolsztyn”
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