Although the Metals sub-sector was initially given a small allocation of ‘Grids’ upon the division of the locomotive fleet in 1987, these were removed just months later. It would be the 1990s before the class was again officially allocated to steel duties, first in South Wales and then the North East. Simon Bendall details their history.
THE end of 1987 saw Railfreight divide its motive power assets between the newly created sub-sectors, this also bringing the first use of the new pool codes.
When it came to the Class 56s, the vast majority were required for power station coal traffic originating from the North East and Yorkshire coalfields, while the bulk of the remainder went to Construction to haul aggregates traffic from the Mendips and Leicestershire.Out of the 135-strong class, just nine were left over, with the Petroleum sub-sector taking the trio of Nos. 56035/ 36/48, while Railfreight (later Trainload) Metals was given Nos. 56050-53/55/56. These six locos were all allocated to the FMCS pool from December 1987, being allocated to Cardiff Canton, and principally deployed on the heavy Port Talbot to Llanwern iron ore trains in pairs.
At this time, all carried the original Railfreight grey livery, except No. 56052, which was in Railfreight Red Stripe.
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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.
