RAILDATE 2024.04.26

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

To subscribe to the email, please send a blank email to: raildate+subscribe@groups.io

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

The latest Raildate is always at https://latest.raildate.co.uk

There are sections on:

• UK Rail News
• International Rail News
• Other Transport Modes
• The Weekly Poser (and the answer to last week's poser)

UK Rail News

East

• Wansford Road station building to be moved to Peterborough
• Brandon railway sidings get permission despite dust fears

East Midlands

• Heritage railway hit by 'major' graffiti attack across two trains
• Incredible' response to graffiti attack on heritage railway near Ripley
• Plans for new viaduct to reunite heritage Great Central Railway line
• Freight train driver involved in near miss on Nottingham rail track
• Clun Castle to visit Derby
• Midland Main Line: Leicestershire railway footbridge reopens
• Relief in Derby as new train order heads for Alstom

London

• Delays at North Sheen due to Egyptian Geese on track
• Video of DLR TfL Bank train travelling with door open
• Celebrate the centenary of London Underground’s Camden Junction tunnels
• Warning of two-week closure of the Liverpool Street to Chingford railway
• Transport Museum's Acton Depot open weekend
• Major London station to close this Bank Holiday – check before travelling

Midlands

• Theft of lamps and tools from Eardington Halr
• Rail services disrupted as trespasser blocks line
• Report highlights 'enormous cost' of Metro expansion
• Thieves raid popular Shropshire heritage railway station
• HS2 begins foundation works for key A43 bridge

National

• Labour to renationalise railway

North East

• Howdon Viaduct 'high risk' platforms to be removed
• Lumo helps Tyneside football fans get back from Wembley
• Poor service by Grand Central to Sunderland
• Rebuilding Middlesborough station

North West

• “97% of passengers are with us on this issue” says Northern as train operator releases annual fare dodging statistics
• Line reopened at Grange over Sands

Northern Ireland

• Great Victoria Street station  closed for rebuildingas Belfast Grand Central
• Man arrested for graffiti attacks on Translink trains

Scotland

• Line blocked by sink holes at Drumgelloch
• Network Rail silence on ‘vital’ Delmore passing loop on Far North Line worries Highland railway campaigners
• Network Rail Scotland and Netball Scotland announce three-year partnership
• Call for Scottish Railfreight operator
• Improved Levenmouth bus services are being introduced to complement the return of rail services in June

South

• Rare train experience chugs its way to Swanage Railway this May

South East

• Residents invited to watch new bridge installation
• Pullman Car 54 restoration
• Changes to Kent train services after ground movement detected between Dover and Folkestone
• Network Rail restores Victorian signal box at Chartham, near Canterbury

West

• Vacancy for loco driver on Lappa Valley lines

Yorkshire

• Transpenine temporary timetable change
• Removal of redundant bridge outside York station
• UK’s first Beacon Bridge in West Yorkshire reaches milestone
• New footbridge erected at Garforth

International Rail News

Canada

• Train fire involving scrap sleepers in London, Ontario

Estonia

• Europe's Megaproject to Replace Russian Railways

France

• Tours Tram at Gare SNCF, Tours

Ghana

• Level Crossing accident in Ghana

Japan

• Beautiful Red and Blue Star luxury trains set to be Japan’s new Hokkaido travel stars
• Reptilian rider causes delay on bullet train at Tokyo Station
• On track for beautiful blossoms

Luxembourg

• French commuters to benefit from free public transport to Luxembourg

Netherlands

• Steam locomotives in Netherlands to be converted to battery power

USA

• Construction starts on high speed line to Las Vegas

Other Transport Modes

Air

• Conair, Abbotsford BC
• Boom Supersonic Receives Special Flight Authorization to Exceed Mach 1
• In For The Long-Haul: IndiGo Orders 30 Airbus A350-900 Jets
• "A Lot Of History All Gone": Old Goose Bay Airport In Happy Valley Newfoundland Burns Down
• How to fight wildfires from the air
• Douglas DC-4 Plane CRASHES into river near Fairbanks, AK

Canal

• Doubts raised over Welsh canal restoration plans

Marine

• Baltimore sues owner and manager of 'unseaworthy' Dali over bridge collapse

Road

• Tyne Tunnel blocked by wandering ducks

Credits

Thank you to this week's contributors.

• Alan Rushworth
• Andrew Cook
• Andrew Nummelin
• Matthew Shaw
• Mike Price
• Neil Kearns
• Paul Tambini
• Richard Buckby

The Weekly Poser: Where is this?

Extreme adhesion on 6% grades is required for this network of quarry lines in central Europe. Standard gauge, electrified at 25Kv, this switchback is just the beginning. The design protects the mainline junction (below) from runaways. Where is it?

Last week's Where is this?

This small town is still blessed with an operational railway terminus. Where is it? We recently had "Swanage" as the answer to the same question - but it's a different map requiring a different answer.

Answer: Skegness. Congratulations are due to the following for their correct answers: John Grimley, Paul Hopper, Colin Penfold, Dave Goodyear, Andy Foster, Mike Rogers, Simon Wass, Paul Tambini, John Czyrko, Jim Allwood, Bryn Pitcher, Andrew Treves, Jeremy Harrison, Ian Bromley, Andrew Twynham, George Spink, Dave Westerman, John Musselwhite, Martin King, Bernard Gudgin, John Lacy

The town grew from very little when the railway arrived in 1873 to being a major holiday resort for East Midlanders. It fell out of favour in the 1970s, but I recall going on a mystery tour from Shrewsbury around 1975 that ended up (after over six hours) in Skeggie. The train visited Chester, the Ardwick loop in Manchester, Huddersfield, and various Nottinghamshire freight lines, leaving everyone guessing the destination until quite late on. The carriage sidings at Skegness were packed with similar trains.

The Jolly Fisherman - John Hassall's famous poster for the GNR.

SMALL PRINT

We welcome links to publicly available online news items and videos from anywhere in the world.  Despite its name, Raildate covers all transport modes, including also bus, tram, air, and marine.  

Raildate may be freely distributed without permission as long as no changes whatsoever are made to the original document distributed by the Editor.

The main Raildate website https://raildate.co.uk includes a history of Raildate by the founding editor Howard Sprenger and archived editions from 1996 to the present.

Facebook members are encouraged to join the Raildate group.

©  Matthew Shaw 2024