RAILDATE 2024.08.09

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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

• Transport and Works order for Mid Suffolk Light Railway

East Midlands

• Canal closed for faulty sliding railway bridge repairs
• Fight to restore rail link not over, vow campaigners
• Deltic Preservation Society blog

London

• Upcoming Bakerloo Line upgrades to impact Harrow passengers
• The Circular Tube Map Is Back - New And Improved
• Elizabeth line shortlisted for architecture prize
• Isleworth station goes step-free with two new lifts
• Thamesmead DLR extension receives broad approval, but funding challenges loom
• Repairs to Barnes Bridge completed
• Approval for DLR extension to Thamesmead
• Elizabeth line won't be seized from TfL under rail renationalisation
• Passenger dragged along platform at Enfield Town

Midlands

• CrossCountry services set to be disrupted by HS2 work in Birmingham

North East

• Northern train completes first journey along Northumberland Line ahead of opening later this year
• Final cost of Northumberland Line £130m more than estimated with services pushed back to December
• Blythe & Tyne reopening delayed until December
• Alnwick Greenway on track for autumn opening
• Heatherslaw Light Railway makes history with first visit by guest locomotive
• First train completes journey on new Northumberland railway line
• Driver training starts on Britain’s Northumberland Line
• Northumberland Line opening delayed until December

North West

• Artificial waybeams  for Eskmeals viaduct rebuild
• Rail Vacs in use at Stoke on Trent
• Carlisle based Carrs Engineering nuclear waste containers plan

Scotland

• Network Rail urging passengers to plan ahead as improvement works begin on railway at Mossend
• Free wi-fi introduced at Glasgow subway stations
• Scotland’s Railway publishes five-year Climate Action Plan

South

• Plan to open Totton-Hythe rail line 'could still go ahead'

South East

• Chiltern main line reopens after closure for new Kings Sutton bridge
• Whitstable spelt wrong in new railway station sign as Southeastern orders replacement
• New bridge in place as railway upgrades completed

Wales

• Network Rail and Transport for Wales join forces to cut journey times between Cardiff and Manchester

West

• North Somerset remains committed to reopening the Portishead rail line
• Future of 'critical' Devon railway line
• Plans for Corsham and Devizes Parkway stations stopped.

Yorkshire

• DB Cargo using HVO fuel but supporting electrification
• Possible new tenant for railway college in Doncaster
• Huddersfield station to close over four weekends in August
• Drax and DB Cargo Join Forces for Greener Rail Freight
• UK freight operator says HVO is the only alternative to electrification

National

• Britain’s best and worst railway stations

International Rail News

Australia

• Sydney Metro :City & SouthWest line

Canada

• Changes to Calgary Transit Green Line extension
• Toronto Transit Commission problems with seagulls nesting on a depot roof. 

Jordan

• The Jordanian Hijazi Line resumes the work of establishing a specialized railway museum

USA

• Improvements planned to Washington Union Station
• Nortfolk-Southern investments in Alabama route

Other Transport Modes

Air

• Working Around Sanctions: Syrianair Eyes Russian MC-21-310s
• Australia's third largest airline enters administration
• Air New Zealand abandons 2030 emissions target

Bus

• Alexander - Dennis Enviro 400EV specification
• Bus removed from river after 30ft bridge fall rear Grosmont
• Bus company to cease all Transport for London routes from midnight

Canal

• "The work of so many volunteers over so many years has not resulted in the thriving canal everybody once hoped for"

Marine

• Further delay for CalMac ferry Glen Sannox
• One of CalMac's oldest ferries to be scrapped in November

Space

• Boeing's Starliner Undocking Software Issue Complicates NASA Astronauts' Return

Credits

Thank you to this week's contributors.

• Alan Rushworth
• Matthew Shaw
• Neil Kearns
• Paul Tambini
• Richard Buckby
• Richard Maund
• Simon Moppett
• Tony Parsons

The Weekly Poser: Where is this?

The straight line (bottom) of a Roman road just misses this town/city, and a cycleway clearly follows the route of a former railway on the right. Where is it?

Last week's Where is this?

The buildings of this former terminus still stand, and now house a well-known business. Where is it?

Answer: Alnwick. Congratulations are due to the following for their correct answers: Keith Langston, Dave Goodyear, Ian Lowe, Colin Penfold, Chris Parker, Leslie Braithwaite, Andrew Treves, Richard Maund, Brian Billing, Chris Gibbard, Philip Hastings, Paul Tambini, Mike Rapp, Tony Fox, Chris Knowles, John Czyrko, Phil Drake, Simon Wass, Bob Joshua, Paul Hopper, Jim Allwood, Peter Tisdale

One of Britain's largest second-hand bookshop - Barter Books - now occupies the site. There is more info about their usage of the station buildings on the Barter Books website.

Alnwick was a terminus for two lines. The "senior" line connected with the ECML at Alnmouth and closed in 1968. The second line was the short-lived line to Coldstream in Berwickshire (1887-1930), whose station was some way away at Cornhill on Tweed in England.

The town developed around Alnwick Castle, the home of the Percy family - the Earls of Northumbria. It is a key point on the Great North Road, but is now bypassed. The bypass prevented the Aln Valley Railway from reaching the former terminus, but the replacement yard is adjacent to the the new road.

Alnwick has an interesting marine connection, despite its inland location. The 1st Class Dining Room of the Olympic, sister ship of the Titanic, was bought at auction by the owner of the White Swan Hotel as the ship was being broken up at Jarrow in 1935. He remodelled the 300-year-old coaching hotel around it. The Olympic Suite is shown below.

At the time of Nationalisation, the former Coldstream route had been replaced by a fairly frequent United Automobile service (No. 21) which stopped where people lived, not miles away. Passengers on some services would change onto a Newcastle-Edinburgh No 15. See the article above about the "Alnwick Greenway", which is adopting some of the former railway.

SMALL PRINT

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©  Matthew Shaw 2024