HPMRS RAILDATE 15 Sep 06

News

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

NETWATCH

Lawrence and Melissa have just come back from a Scottish railway holiday organised by The Railway Touring Company.

http://www.railwaytouring.co.uk/

Apparently it was excellent (apart from GNER's "Highland Chieftain" breaking down TWICE and requiring a train swap!) Railways visited included Strathspey, Keith and Dufftown, The Skye Line and the West Coast Extension Railway. It also included coach tours of Skye and of The Great Glen. Lawrence says it's highly recommended. Photos of the trip can be found here:

http://www.lchanney.plus.com/Photos/CockNorth/

The Somerset & Dorset Railway Heritage Trust has done a lot of work to restore the station at Midsomer Norton and has plans to extend the line westwards towards Chilcompton. Information about the project is here:

http://www.sdjr.co.uk

LiveLocal: http://local.live.com/?v=2&sp=aN.sjd4rtgsss6r_Midsomer%2520Norton%2520station

Tubetrack is a little utility that sits on your desktop periodically updating its dot matrix indicator display with the next set of trains due to arrive or depart via the following services: - London Tube ETA - London DLR Daisy - UK National Rail - Dublin DART

It evidently shows the same information as the station dot matrix display.

Tubetrack is not affiliated with Transport for London, National Rail or Iarnród Éireann in any way - it simply displays the same information on your desktop as you would receive in your browser.

http://web.mac.com/balazsboros/iWeb/Tubetrack/Home.html

The Warwickshire's Railways website now has 500 images on its web site:

http://www.warwickshirerailways.com/lms/lawleyst.htm

Plans are afoot to commemorate the demise of the Old Dalby test track with a railtour on 11th November. Pathfinder will be the operator, and the train will travel the full length of the line from Holwell curve, via the Alstom Test Centre (to be confirmed) through to Edwalton at the north terminus of the line. Ealing Broadway is the start point and routing is via the Midland Main Line picking up at St Albans, Kettering and Bedford. The added bonus is a trip along the Great Central Railway (North) branch to Rushcliffe Halt, for a short break, and then continuing to Fifty Steps Junction before reversing and heading back to Loughborough.

Main line traction is scheduled for a Class 67, with a Class 60 assisting on the Old Dalby test track. A Class 25 or 56 will cover the assisting role on the GCR(N). For more details contact Pathfinder Tours:

http://www.pathfindertours.co.uk/Enthusiast.htm#Edwalton111106

Nick Wheat has found a good resource for trade test transmission information. It purports to list every one ever shown and the period of transmission. Several BTF films were screened as trade test films, of course:

http://webfax.org.uk/600/

Buckingham Covers celebrates the 25th anniversary of the introduction of APT-P with a commemorative cover:

http://www.apt-p.com/BuckinghamCover2006.htm

Banstead History Research Group has a 1940s photo of the Banstead station on its website:

http://www.bansteadhistory.com/places_az.html

Ralph Rawlinson is well-known to the readers of RAILDATE - his son Mark publishes "Freightmaster" the National Railfreight Timetable. There is now a Northern England & Scottish edition of Freightmaster Online:

http://freightmaster.net/offers/RH.htm

This covers 15 locations in NW England, 17 in NE England and 14 in Scotland. It is an alternative to the full online package and the book (now in its 42nd edition) covering the whole of Great Britain. The book is priced at £12.95 and its 160 pages, in addition to train details, includes many maps and diagrams. Part 2 contains details of of the four Railfreight operating companies and the many different flows of traffic - minerals, petrochemicals, construction materials, etc.

IN THE NEWS

Rail firms fined over derailment: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/5337942.stm

Train derails at level crossing http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/5337328.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/5341018.stm

Rail speed boost for rescue fleet: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/5339396.stm

Borders rail funding on schedule: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/south_of_scotland/5343288.stm

New station means Eurostar changes: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/5337586.stm

Rail crash remembered 20 years on: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/5338662.stm

TV and Radio

Events

See Mainline Steam Tours page for up-to-date info on many of these tours, and others, often with timings.