The Railway Magazine

The Railway Magazine has been published since 1897 and is now the UK's best-selling general interest rail title. Every month, The RM provides enthusiasts and professionals with authoritative and informed news coverage of the following: - Network Rail and the train operating companies - Locomotives, multiple units, carriages and wagons - Steam, heritage and the preservation world, inc narrow gauge- Metro and underground systems - In addition, the magazine carries frequent items of overseas interest.

The Railway Magazine is also renowned for its wide-ranging and innovative feature coverage, encompassing up-to-the-minute developments as well as historical, nostalgic and foreign subjects. The magazine is also renowned for its award-winning photographic content.

The Railway Magazine

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The RAILWAY Magazine

Government backs development of more open access services • Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has confirmed there is a continuing place for open access operations, and that applications are encouraged for new journey opportunities.

Grand Central orders new trains from Hitachi and aims to connect Newcastle and Brighton • North East to South Coast proposals follow confirmation of a £300 million deal with Hitachi for nine five-car tri-mode units to replace the open access operator’s existing fleet.

ASHFORD WORKS CONVERSION

Tornado goes digital

SIDELINES

Class 555s taken out of traffic after door issue • New trains withdrawn from service pending investigation.

END FOR ORION EMU

East West services to start ‘by the end of the year’

SIDELINES

Insurance cover to pay out for Severn Valley landslip • The heritage railway will still have to pay a significant excess payment.

DOUBLE ‘MANORS’

GBRf prepares to reinstate Port Talbot slab wagons

Tribute to pioneers will see trio of locos exhibited at Darlington • The original Locomotion No. 1 forms part of a Hopetown display celebrating railway pioneers alongside replicas of Richard Trevithick’s Penydarren and John Buddle and William Chapman’s Steam Elephant.

Robert Stephenson statue moves to Locomotion

SIDELINES

DIARY

‘AZUMA’IN LIGHTS

Cross-Channel competition heats up • Several operators have announced plans to rival Eurostar services through the Channel Tunnel.

Railways in Parliament

Creating some extra room to eliminate HS2’s sonic boom • Extensions completed to the southern portal of the Chiltern Tunnel, which will help dissipate micro pressure waves from high speed trains.

Then there were four • Dr Joseph Brennan brings our series covering Britain’s railway history into the 20th century, when the impact of the First World War saw railway amalgamation reach its most famous form as 120 separate companies were grouped into the ‘Big Four’.

Surfin’ Safari • Beach boys and surfer girls heading west from Paddington to Cornwall can get there quicker on the summer-dated 12.03 departure, which reaches Plymouth in under three hours after a nonstop run to Exeter, as John Heaton FCILT describes.

Torpedoed! • Four S160 Class locos were lost at sea in April 1943, while crossing the Atlantic to Britain as part of the war effort. Paul Bickerdyke tells the tale, and presents a first-hand account of the sinking from the captain of the cargo vessel torpedoed by a German submarine.

The first railway photo? • The development of railways and photography ran in parallel but, as Phil Marsh asks, does any reader know of an earlier shot than these?

Readers’ Platform • Send your letters to: The Railway Magazine, Media Centre, Morton Way, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6JR. Email: railway@mortons.co.uk NB. Publication of a letter does not imply that the Editor or...