HPMRS RAILDATE 18 Nov 05

News

RAILDATE: the weekly newsletter of the Hursley Park Model Railway Society: http://www.ibmhursleyclub.org.uk/ss/hpmrs/

BOOK NEWS

The name Gordon Weddell has been synonymous with the detailed history of the carriage stock of the London & South Western Railway for many years. Following on from his "LSWR Carriages, Volume 1", which described the development of passenger carriages in the 19th Century, and "LSWR Carriages in the 20th Century" (Volume 2 of the series, although not actually named as such), Gordon's long-awaited third volume contains detailed information about passenger luggage vans, Post Office vans, ambulance carriages, horse boxes and carriage trucks.

It covers the lifetime of the London & South Western and beyond, from vehicles built by the company through to those built to its designs by the Southern Railway. Furthermore, a number of coach conversions and vans lasted well into the second half of the twentieth century, including examples that ended their days as grounded bodies at various locations.

Incorporating many highly-detailed 4mm scale drawings, "LSWR Carriages, Volume 3" includes numerous contemporary photographs, together with detailed information including build dates, renumbering and disposal details for all South-Western non-passenger carriage stock.

"LSWR Carriages, Volume 3: Non-Passenger Carriage Stock" by Gordon Weddell Hardback with jacket: 176 pages with 100 illustrations and 58 scale drawings ISBN: 0954485955 £25.00

Further information: http://www.kestrelrailwaybooks.co.uk

NETWATCH

Mark Annand came across two excellent sites about the North Cornwall Railway:

http://www.northcornwallrailway.co.uk/

http://www.tintagelweb.co.uk/Railway.htm

Gorton Locomotive Works:

http://www.gorton-tank.com

Thanks to Ralph Rawlinson for this week's European Railways news.

Spain:

The new high speed line between Madrid and Toledo was scheduled to be inaugurated on 15 November. Services are not currently being shown on the RENFE website so the date services will commence is not known but one would expect by the December timetable change at the latest.

Switzerland:

In 1999 work started on a new Lötschberg base tunnel between Raron, Valais and Frutigen, Bern. The concrete viaducts that will link the Simplon line to the southern portals of the new tunnel are now complete. Track has been laid but is not connected to the main line. A temporary 180° curve links the Eya Wrkplatz, west of Visp, to what will be the northbound track. At Frutigen, in the north, the tunnel and associated work appear to be complete but no track has been laid yet. Southbound trains are using the new alignment from Wengi to Frutigen but nortbound trains still use the old route.

AlpTransit is a Swiss project aimed to build faster north-south rail tracks across the Swiss Alps by piercing base tunnels several hundred meters below the level of the current tunnels. The project consists of two different axes:

The Gotthard axis, with the new base tunnels at Gotthard, Zimmerberg and Ceneri. It is being done under contract from the Swiss Federal Government by AlpTransit Gotthard Company. With a planned length of 57km (35 miles), the Gotthard base tunnel will be the longest railway tunnel in the world upon completion in 2015, as the original Gotthard tunnel of 15.0km was at the time of its completion in 1882.

The Lötschberg axis, with the new Lotschberg Base Tunnel. It is being done by the AlpTransit Lötschberg Company. The 34.6km (21.5 miles) base tunnel will be opened in 2007 as the first part of AlpTransit to be completed. For most traffic, it will replace the current Lotschberg Tunnel of 14.6km completed in 1913.

The Congress IV of Railway History is summoned. It wil be in Malaga in September, 2006:

http://www.ffe.es/congreso_malaga

Captured for posterity - APT-P "City of Milton Keynes" during its appearance in the early London versions of "Starlight Express":

http://www.apt-p.com/StarlightExpress.htm

My thanks to Barry Emmott for this link to the Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society:

http://www.glias.org.uk/index.htm

Buses of the 1990s:

http://britishbus.fotopic.net/

IN THE NEWS

Sorry - ran out of time this week...

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Events

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