RAILDATE 2024.07.19

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

• Footpath crossing in Needham Market to be replaced by a subway
• 100-year-old track replacement to disrupt trains for a week
• Derailment affecting Southend Victoria
• Taking a lifetime' - fresh calls for bottleneck bridge to be replaced
• Order for National Highways to remove historic bridge infill reversed by Planning Inspectorate
• Network Rail is to close a level crossing at Needham Market in Suffolk and replace it with a pedestrian underpass

East Midlands

• Pupils get lessons about new overhead electric wires
• Huge milestone in bid to reunite heritage railways
• Class 60 locomotives to be serviced in Leicestershire thanks to new deal
• Smoother journeys for the Nuneaton to Peterborough Line

London

• Watch this space on rail devolution, says Khan
• Chingford station’s second entrance to remain closed following review
• Engineering Marvel: How HS2 is using giant metal cans to overcome groundwater hurdles
• London’s Cold War tunnels get final approval to open to the public
• Milestone Achieved: Vast underground box for west London’s HS2 station completed
• More Elizabeth line trains arriving in Summer 2026
• Stratford station’s new western entrance has opened
• Little-used' parts of London Underground stations to be built over to provide much-needed housing
• HS1 Ltd commissions study to expand St Pancras International Station
• Teenagers break Guinness World Record after completing London Tube Challenge with two hours to spare
• Early review of completing HS2 into Euston
• Watford woman admits dodging TfL rail fares 77 times

Midlands

• Huge beams lifted into place for new HS2 bridge near Kenilworth
• Steam locomotive Douglas set for Shropshire stay

North East

• Railway 200 event 2025
• New museum opensed at Darlington
• North East Mayor planning metro extension and Leamside line reopening
• Flying Scotsman to return to County Durham museum for summer THIS WEEK

North West

• Trains delayed due to landslip on line between Lake District stations
• Armathwaite Signal box 125th anniversary
• Northern names secondary schools with faredodging students
• Rail open day raises over £65,000 for charity
• Coach damaged at Grange over Sands moved to Wolverton Works for repair
• New rail minister fuels hopes of HS2 revival

Scotland

• Work on new footbridge and station at Hairymyles
• Summer vibes as Wemyss Bay Station hosts music fest
• Electrification project lays firm foundations at new Hairmyres station
• Railway vegetation clearance planned between Faskally and Pitagowan
• How 600 daily ScotRail cancellations will impact on getting to The Open in Troon

South

• Clan Line on tour 9th July

South East

• Funding agreed for access for all footbridge at Battle
• July Bluebell Times
• Network Rail publish level crossing footage
• Detail behind continued closure of Botley Road bridge in Oxford
• HS2 granted approval to cross Grim’s Ditch in Buckinghamshire
• Crowds flock to Hertfordshire stations for glimpse of steam train

Wales

• New Welsh MPs slam ‘shambles’ train services as their journeys to London are disrupted
• The beautiful railway line in Wales at the heart of a row over its future
• Inside the Severn Tunnel during engineering works

West

• GWR worker seriously injured after being dragged by train
• Lift shafts installed at St Erth

Yorkshire

• Historic railways building in York set to be demolished for new development

National

• Minister summons Avanti West Coast to meeting over ‘woeful’ rail service
• Near misses and risk-taking filmed at crossings
• Bill to enable TOC's to be taken back into Government control
• Next generation vegetation and infrastructure digital monitoring trialled on East Coast Main Line
• MPs hit back as Royal Mail axes all postal trains

International Rail News

Australia

• Australian Freight companies will buy more deiesel locos without green initiates by government
• Freight operators will buy new diesel trains if governments don’t back green alternatives, industry says

Bus

• Delayed but Ready: Innovative electric buses set to launch on Route 358
• Stagecoach Cambridge helping police to catch drivers using mobile phones
• Stagecoach South to cut services to Peter Symonds college from September
• Test Valley Rambler bus route fior the summer

Europe

• You’ll be able to get a train from London to the Alps this winter

Germany

• Train Crew shortages affect services during Euro Football final

India

• Fatal derailment near Luknow

Ireland

• Application lodged to extend DART service to Drogheda
• Additional trains announced for All-Ireland hurling final

USA

• Genesee & Wyoming’s expansion: General Electric locomotives suit up

Other Transport Modes

Air

• IALPA to suspend industrial action at Aer Lingus
• Russian civilian jet crashes on test flight

Marine

• World War II shipwrecks are scattered all around Australia. Researchers fear they could be 'ticking time bombs'
• Ardrossan to Arran ferry issues in new BBC documentary
• Red Funnel vehicle ferry crossings halted -

Credits

Thank you to this week's contributors.

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

The Weekly Poser: Where is this?

A brooding image of a Derby Lightweight (M79126 nearest) in 1958. The passengers are mostly in long coats, despite it being August. Where is it?

Please send your answers to raildate.co.uk@gmail.com

Last week's Where is this?

Not TfL - or London at all. Where is it?

Answer: Jackfield Tile Museum, Telford. Congratulations are due to the following for their correct answers: Tony Fox, Andrew Treves, Chris Gibbard, Dave Goodyear, Richard Whitbread, Simon Wass, Bryn Pitcher, Gérard van Teeffelen, Steve Beames, Ian Lowe.

Encaustic tiles were made in huge quantities at Jackfield and the larger Benthall works nearby. Both were on the River Severn and served by the GWR's Severn Valley railway through Ironbridge.

Jackfield is now a splendid museum, part of the Ironbridge Gorge group of museums, and Benthall a craft centre. The museum houses several displays, as shown in the other pictures.

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