RAILDATE 2023.09.29

Your free weekly guide to what's happening and what's new.

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Raildate is a collaboration between the editor and a number of contributors. Please think about supplying links that you spot. The contact email address is: raildate.co.uk@gmail.com

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There are sections on:

• UK Rail News
• International Rail News
• Other Transport Modes

UK Rail News

East

• Rail freight hub costing £5.75m opens in Peterborough

East Midlands

• Ruddington: Heritage railway gets £40k grant for shed revamp

London

• Swan causes London train disruption for second day
• London train costs to rise without day travelcard, charity warns
• Battersea Park Station upgrade plans could provide step-free access
• Morden tube station wins TfL’s annual best garden award
• More ticket barriers and fewer shops at London Victoria
• One-day Travelcard axing will make family rail trips to London more expensive

Midlands

• West Midlands Railway services to be disrupted by industrial action
• Managing Director - WM Metro
• SVR September Branchlines

North East

• World’s First Railway Station Awarded Upgraded Listing Status
• Plans for Stockton and Darlington 200

North West

• History of rail documented in new artwork at Accrington station in Lancashire
• Metrolink to bring back MediaCityUK to Etihad Campus peak service
• A New Zealanders view of the aftermath of a cancellation at Preston
• Councillor on course to complete 230-mile rail link campaign walk

Northern Ireland

• Portrush branch platform extensions completed

Scotland

• Doon Valley Railway final day
• Ayr station hotel fire blocks roads and railway

South

• LSWR 563 returned to steam at Swanage after overhaul
• Fragile Isle of Wight steam railway bridge to be demolished

South East

• Class 150 units being tested on Bedford - Bletchley line
• Preparations for Aylesbury’s railway for HS2 revealed by aerial footage

Wales

• Begging to be banned in north Wales railway stations

West

• Great Western HST's to operate on West Somerset Railway this weekend

Yorkshire

• New Freightliner/Network Rail training centre opened in Doncaster

National

• Avanti Anglo Scottish cancellation

International Rail News

Iran

• Iran - Iraq rail link should be open in 2026

Japan

• Fujisan View Express: A train journey to Mt Fuji so stylish you’ll never want it to end
• Unstaffed bullet train platforms in Kyushu raise safety concerns

Sri Lanka

• The World's Worst Sleeper Train

Switzerland

• Intermediate report into Gotthard base tunnel derailment in August

Ukraine

• Ukraine issues tender for new seeper coaches

USA

• CALTRAIN electrification progress

Other Transport Modes

Air

• New Photos Show Destroyed Antonov An-225 Without Nose & Wings

Bus

• Locally controlled buses return to Greater Manchester after 37 years -
• Man arrested after stolen bus seized at M4 service station -

Marine

• Heritage award for 89-year-old Skye ferry crossing
• Gales over the Irish Sea lead to Isle of Man ferry cancellations
• New ferry service Channel Islands begins in October -

Road

• Mondaine Tunnel route still blocked by damage from rockfall.

Credits

Thank you to this week's contributors.

• Alan Rushworth
• Andrew Nummelin
• Mike Price
• Neil Kearns
• Paul Tambini
• Richard Buckby
• Richard Maund
• Robert Forsythe

The Weekly Poser: Where is this?

LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman is by the sea. Where is this?

Last week's Where is this?

Things look bleak for this important piece of railway architecture. Fortunately, it has survived. Where is it?

Answer: Queen's Building, Victoria Square, Wolverhampton. Congratulations are due to the following for their correct answers: Peter Tisdale, Richard Maund, Jason Matthews, Dave Goodyear, Paul Hopper, John Czyrko.

From the early days (1849) of Wolverhampton High Level station, this building was its grand entrance at what was then known as Five Ways. The narrow arches were quite impractical, and it was already bypassed by the time of the 1885 map (below). The building became the Goods Office before falling into dereliction.

Photographed by Jack Faithfull on 12th August 1979 RCTS Collection

The building has been reborn - as a Costa outlet! It is adjacent to the bus station, the Midland Metro and a shopping centre. Wolverhampton's inner ring road now separates the city centre from its station but recent construction of the metro extension is complete and the access shenanigans are over.

SMALL PRINT

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©  Matthew Shaw 2023