THE Great Eastern Main Line from Liverpool Street to Norwich has been a busy route for many years and one of the most important for long-distance travel in East Anglia. Extension of the earlier outer suburban electrification north of Colchester, including the branch to Harwich, was authorised in November 1982 and completed in three stages to Ipswich in 1985, Harwich in 1986, and finally Norwich in 1987.
Diesels took over from steam between London and Norwich in 1958. EE Type 4 (Class 40) No. D200 hauled the inaugural diesel working on the route, which was the 10.27 Liverpool Street-Norwich on April 18, 1958. Thereafter, the ‘Whistler’ and five classmates Nos. D201-5 became a familiar sight on the route, with Nos. D206-9 joining the fleet at Stratford in 1961.
A further change took place in 1965 when more powerful Brush Type 4 (Class 47) power was introduced, enabling timetable improvements to be made. The ‘47s’ became the usual motive power on the route for the next 20 years, and in the early 1980s several of the Stratford-based locos were upgraded with electric train heating (ETH). This enabled a rolling stock upgrade to take place, with the appearance of air-conditioned Mk.2 coaches cascaded from the East Coast Main Line by the introduction there of HSTs.
LOCO SWAPS AT IPSWICH
Electrification work between Colchester and Ipswich/ Harwich was completed in 1985, the first electric train to operate to Ipswich under its own power being a pair of EMUs, Nos. 305505/10, on a test run on April 9.
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LNER puts remaining ‘91s' into warm store
The ongoing pandemic restrictions and major engineering works have resulted in the complete withdrawal of the last remaining ‘Electras’ from passenger service, although the plan is to resurrect them in the summer.
Mk.1 Restaurant-Buffet (RBR) cars
A SURPRISING number of Mk.1catering cars have survived to see service on the privatised railway, in private operator and charter trains. They may turn up on anything from an enthusiast special to higher-end dining trains and have been formed in trains as prestigious as the locomotive-hauledBlue Pullman’ set, the ‘Great Britain’ tours operated by West Coast Railways and the ‘Northern Belle’ tour train.
Powerscene
Our authoritative class-by-class review of newsworthy locomotive workings.
End for Freightliner Class 86/6s
The company’s Class 86/6 fleet down to just two examples as seven locos are stored.
Service reductions as Covid cases increase
An increase in Covid-19 cases in early January saw the governments in Ireland and Northern Ireland impose stricter lockdown measures that impacted on public transport.
East West Rail funding go-ahead
Although it was expected, £760 million of funding has now been confirmed to build the Western Section of the East West Railway scheme.
Travellers-Fare with Hornby's Mk.1 Restaurant-Buffet car
Hornby expands its range of retooled ‘OO’ gauge Mk.1 coaches with a brand new tooling for the Diagram 24 Restaurant-Buffet car (RB) and the Diagram 33 refurbished version (RBR). It models the vehicles in both original form, finished in BR maroon and Southern Region green, together with the RBR refurbished coaches. They remained in frontline service well into the 1990s, including Cross-Country workings.
Class 92 revolution
Despite its complex shape and high detail ratio compared to other modern six-axle locomotives, Revolution Trains chose the Class 92 to be its first 'N' gauge locomotive model.
Bottling it!
A dig into the Rail Express archive has revealed some rarely-seen photographs of the former rail-connected Express Dairy bottling plant in South West London, which today is the site of a large mosque.
1990s ‘N' gauge Class 950
Work on the ‘N’ gauge Class 950 Track Recording Unit project, a conversion based on a standard Graham Farish Class 150/1 model, is concluded by finishing the model in 1990s condition.