HPMRS RAILDATE 29 Jun 07

News

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

NETWATCH

40th Anniversary of the End of Southern Steam

Mainline steam tours include...

Steam Dreams "1967 Steam Gala Special" on Saturday 7th July 2007. London (Victoria)-East Croydon-Guildford-Alton-Alresford (MHR)-Alton- Havant-Eastleigh-Basingstoke-London (Waterloo), hauled by 34067 "Tangmere". Notes: (1) 34067 "Tangmere" replaces 30777 "Sir Lamiel" which is unavailable (2) diesel motive power will be used between Guildford & Alton due to pathing problems (3) the motive power over the MHR has not been confirmed http://www.steamdreams.com/content/view/41/34/

Confirmed timings for the outward leg of this steam tour are: Departs London (Victoria) @ 0905, runs via Brixton @ 09.12, Tulse Hill @ 09.22, Streatham Common @ 09.39, to East Croydon Arr @ 0954 Dep @ 0956, Redhill Arr @ 1013 Dep 1019, Dorking Deepdene Arr 1034 Dep @ 1036, Arr Alton @1200.

Train departs Alton @ 1552, and runs Alton-Woking-Basingstoke-Eastleigh- Havant-Guildford-London (Waterloo), which is a different route from that originally advertised.

The train formation will NOT be running over MHR metals. Passengers will have the oppertunity to purchase MHR tickets onboard the train for onward travel over the Watercress Line.

BBC South Today will have a programme about the end of Southern Region steam. They also have a feature on their website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/southtoday/content/articles/2007/06/22/steam_40_feature.shtml

Bill Richards' videos: http://steamvideo.chelters.me.uk/

GCR London Extension a short clip of the 1880 trial bore at Dover: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSXxO5w6Oa0

The Buckley Society, publishers of "The Buckley Railway Album": http://www.buckleysociety.org.uk/Buckley.htm

A list of celebrity railway modellers. It seems to be rather US-oriented, but even so, I was surprised to see Pete Waterman missing. Strangely though, Jon Pertwee is mentioned, although it's Bill Pertwee who has written a couple of railway books. To the list you could also add Alan Titchmarsh, Jools Holland and (I think) Queen drummer, Roger Taylor: http://www.boldts.net/TrainsCelebs.shtml#Celebs

The Department for Transport has announced new operators for two new rail franchises covering the West and East Midlands that begin on 11th November 2007. The West Midlands franchise becomes London Midland and East Midlands becomes Stagecoach Midland Rail...

London Midland

The London and Birmingham Railway Limited (a subsidiary of Govia) has been awarded the West Midland franchise and will operate services under the London Midland brand. It combines two existing operations; the Silverlink County services between London Euston and Northampton and the local and regional service groups of Central Trains. The contract will run through until 19 September 2015, although the DfT has retained the right to terminate the franchise after six years if the operator fails to meet agreed performance targets. London Midland sub-brands will be introduced: London Midland City will cater for the West Midlands cities and regional services and give full prominence to Centro's Network West Midlands brand. The London Midland Express Lines will run on the longer distance routes. New services include a semi-fast London to Crewe via the Trent Valley and two trains an hour all day from Liverpool and Northampton to Birmingham from December 2008. In addition, an extra 37 four-car "Desiro" sets are to be built by July 2009 and new Bombadier class 172 "Turbostar" DMUs will be introduced to replace the existing class 321 EMUs on the WCML and class 150 DMUs on the Snow Hill line services respectively, by July 2010.

Stagecoach Midland Rail

Stagecoach Midland Rail takes over the existing Midland Mainline services from London St Pancras and the eastern section of Central Trains. The franchise will last seven years and four months with the last 16 months dependent upon the company meeting performance targets. A new hourly service between Kettering and London will be introduced, increasing the number of off-peak services on the Midland mainline to five trains per hour. It has also been agreed in principle to extend this service to a new station at Corby from December 2008, removing the need to split and join trains at Leicester. Market Harborough will continue to receive a two-train per hour service all day. From the December 2008 timetable change, there will also be an additional off-peak service each hour from London, allowing a new train service to serve stations south of Leicester. The new station at East Midlands Parkway will be served by two trains an hour from December 2008, and in what will be seen as a major move forward for Lincolnshire, a daily direct service between Lincoln and London will be introduced, removing the need for passengers to change trains at Newark for GNER services or Nottingham for MML trains. Stagecoach says that the first morning arrivals into London will be brought forward to provide an integrated connection to Eurostar at St Pancras International for business passengers travelling to the Continent and that an additional high speed train set will be introduced from June 2012 to increase capacity in time for the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. Journey times between Sheffield, Derby and London will be reduced, saving up to 12 minutes on an average journey between London and Sheffield, and the Community Rail service between Matlock and Derby will be increased to every hour and extended directly to Nottingham. http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/passenger/franchises/emfranchise http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6229246.stm

(Thanks to Ralph Rawlinson)

Tesco Tunnel saga - continued (from Guy Gorton via Richard Buckby)

A letter to residents from Tesco today states: "we intend to complete the construction of our supermarket". There is a description of the new design - here is part of it. "The revised tunnel structure is based on a reinforced concrete arch constructed over the top of the existing pre-cast units..." It is also stated that advance work may start in the autumn, subject to Network Rail approval, and that work on the structure of the tunnel will start in the first half of next year. There is to be a public meeting next week which I hope to attend. I think comment and speculation should wait until after that.

IN THE NEWS

Plans for through trains from Wrexham to Marylebone: http://www.wrexhamandshropshire.co.uk/

Ely-Chippenham Junction line will be closed for 18 to 20 weeks: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/6229906.stm http://geoffsangliaphotos.fotopic.net/c1309689.html Train involved: 6L58 2041 ThO Mountsorrel - Chelmsford (Self discharge hoppers)

Stagecoach group financial results: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6244614.stm

Storm damage in Scotland: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/6236294.stm

SVR donations after storm damage: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hereford/worcs/6236508.stm

ECML disruption after flooding at Doncaster: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6239940.stm

ECML reopened Wednesday: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6244080.stm

Transporter bridge delays: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tees/6236458.stm

Through Bristol/Taunton to Minehead and return services: http://www.west-somerset-railway.co.uk/

New Transport Minister, Ruth Kelly: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6247502.stm

Spotters: Neil Kearns, Reg Nerps

TV and Radio

Events

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