The late 1980s saw a pool of Class 33s allocated to the Construction sub-sector, these being largely dedicated to transporting materials to the various Channel Tunnel building sites in Kent. Paul Wade describes how to upgrade the Heljan ‘Slim Jim’ variant as well as model the associated Queen Mary brake vans.
In May 1988, the Railfreight triple grey livery with Construction markings was applied to Nos. 33050 and 33051 to launch the contract with TransManche Link to deliver concrete tunnel lining segments from the Isle of Grain to Shakespeare Cliff.
A further 10 ‘Cromptons’ would be similarly repainted between October 1988 and August 1989 as they passed through Eastleigh Works for overhaul, encompassing seven more Class 33/0s, Nos. 33021/33/42/53/56/63/64, and a trio of narrow-bodied Class 33/2s, Nos. 33202/04/07.
The actual size of the Construction fleet was much larger than this dozen, many others not being repainted out of BR blue, with the pool allocation fluctuating considerably over the years.
Workings for the locos included Yeoman PGA hoppers containing stone from Grain to Sevington, tunnel segments to Shakespeare Cliff and Ashford Kimberley sidings, minestone from Snowdown Colliery, spoil from Shakespeare Cliff to Sevington, and some trains of steel items. However, they did work on the other sections of the erstwhile Southern Region and later could be regularly seen on engineers’ trains as the tunnel material requirements gradually decreased.
Heljan fine-tuning
Denne historien er fra December 2017-utgaven av Rail Express.
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Denne historien er fra December 2017-utgaven av Rail Express.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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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.
