1443

The A62 Leeds Road overbridge, which is to be replaced, is ahead.

BELOW: A Huddersfield to Bradford train (right) passes Deighton, as a Hull towill be. Some of that platform, the two Fast lines and the Down Slow platfor

o Manchester train departs. The 150 is just left of where the Up Slow platform rm will have to be fitted in to the right! How much of the hill will have to go?

BELOW: Huddersfield buffet on P4/8; left is a T

TPE stopping service to Manchester Piccadilly.

BELOW: (Item 562 and BLN 1442.439) Horton-in-Ribblesdale station looking Limestone Horton Quarry exchange sidings to the right looking somewhat obeyond the foot crossing that is to be replaced by the footbridge - the first wiswitched out. Taken in Summer 1975 or 1976. (John Harrison). Note that thcredited to Network Rail and Pen-y-ghent (2,277ft) is east of the station not weNEXT: Proposed footbridge with lifts for Horton-in-Ribblesdale, th

south from the Up platform towards Settle, with the connection to Settle overgrown but still in use then. The brakevan of an engineering train is just th lifts on the Settle & Carlisle Line. The signal box (left) may well have been he picture of Horton-in-Ribblesdale station in BLN 1442 should have been est so Settle is to the right and the quarry is on the opposite side of the line. he extra set of steps are for a footpath. (NR planning application.)

BELOW: Horton-in-Ribblesdale looking south towards Settle from the Down A Glasgow Central to London Euston train, diverted from the West Coast Mainline over the trailing crossover during an extended period of single line working

platform. A brakevan and wagons is in the quarry exchange sidings (right). n line (as they used to be) for engineering work, crosses from the Down to Up g for work on Ribblehead Viaduct. (A rather wet John Harrison, April 1979.)

[BLN 1BELOW: (Item 563) Blea Moor signal box aerial This photo, the next three and material are ©MaNEXT TWO: Looking southwest, that discharg

1443] perspective (Settle is off bottom right corner). ark R Harvey, with permission and are undated. ed cement train is travelling towards Settle.

BELOW & NEXT: (Item 564) Work on the Baildon landslip - the OHLE has

since been removed to allow bigger equipment to be brought in. (NR.)

566] Sheffield trams not so Super: ①The network transfers to public ownership from 22 Mar 2024 as an arm's length,wholly owned South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA)subsidiary, South Yorkshire Future Trams Limited (SYFTL), known as South Yorkshire Supertram (Supertram). Stagecoach (operator since 20 Dec 1997) de-branding is in progress, although the trams are otherwise unchanged. The authority will be responsible for operation, management and finances. SYFTL is expected to operate at a loss, about £6.3M in 2024-25. It is budgeting to spend about £23.6M (projected income £17.3M). South Yorkshire Councils will have to contribute via the South Yorkshire Transport Levy. ②A broken rail in the Manor Top area halted Purple and Blue line services on Tue 13 Feb. The last Blue line service was the 13.51 from Halfway. The Blue line then ran only between Sheffield Station and Malin Bridge and the Purple line was suspended entirely. Trams can't turn back at Spring Lane as the crossover there has been out of use for a long time (clearly not a spring point!). Normal service ran from Fri 23 Feb, the delay was waiting for Volker Fitzpatrick to repair it and the awkward curvature. ③13 Feb seems to have been unlucky for Supertram and it wasn't even a Friday. Due to a freight train blocking the line [how many tram lines can say that‽], Tram-Train services ran to Meadowhall instead of Parkgate. The offender, 4E53, the 05.38 Felixstowe North to Tinsley Yard, was held for 148 minutes at Tinsley East Jn awaiting entry into the yard; it was finally on the move at 14.55; 165 minutes late. 567] Heckmondwike: The London & North Western Railway Spen Valley line ran for 13m 40ch from Spen Valley Jn (west of Mirfield) to Farnley Jn (a bit under a mile north of Cottingley station), west of the present main line through Dewsbury. It lost its local passenger trains from 5 Oct 1953 (last train Sat 3 Oct 1953) but the line was used by trains running non-stop between Huddersfield and Leeds. By the time of the Winter 1964-65 PSUL, its only booked use was by the 15.00 Liverpool Lime Street to Newcastle, until it ceased running this way from 2 Aug 1965. The history of the closure of this line to all traffic is extremely complex, and it is uncertain when traffic ceased through Heckmondwike, but that section was probably put out of use about Aug 1990. In 2007 about 70 four-bedroom homes were built on the site of Heckmondwike Spen station, which had been demolished in 2006. North of this point, the line ran through a short tunnel and then a walled cutting spanned by a number of bridges. The boundary of the northernmost property is at the tunnel entrance and the owners have built an extension with windows facing straight into the tunnel. This has attracted considerable local criticism as an example of poor urban design. It certainly looks bizarre. Heritage campaigners said the house 'serves to further devalue the heritage' of the tunnel. Kirklees council is checking whether or not the extension has been built without planning permission. 568] Alnwick: (BLN 1419.569) The Borderline Greenway Community Interest Group hopes to open the first section of the wheelchair accessible walking route on part of the Alnwick to Coldstream trackbed (the full length of which is 35¾ miles!) by the summer. Work begins shortly to install a new bridge at Alnwick Greensfield (on the southern outskirts of the town - but which bridge?) and clear ditches. 569] TPE Timetable: Good progress has been made with crew training, so TPE expects to begin reinstating from 2 Jun services that were temporarily cancelled in the Dec 2023 timetable. Further services will be reinstated in the Dec 2024 timetable. As well as increasing West Coast Main Line services from 34 to 40 trains per day, the Manchester - Wakefield - York service increases to six trains per day and additional York - Scarborough services will run at weekends from Jun to Sep. Other routes will see a few extra trains. From Dec 2024, the Leeds - Huddersfield stopping service will transfer to Northern, with many services withdrawn in Dec 2023 reinstated. There will be an hourly Manchester - Wakefield - York service and a two-hourly Edinburgh - Newcastle service. The stopping service between Manchester and Huddersfield is expected to transfer to Northern before the end of the decade, when the Transpennine Route Upgrade is completed. Northern ran these trains prior to 2016. 570] Darlington: Until Autumn 2025, changes are being made to walking routes as work on the station proceeds. In late Feb hoardings were erected along P1, with the present seating moved. From 6 Mar, the passage closes between P1 and P4. Access to P1 will then be round the south end of the station buildings by P2/3, temporarily considerably lengthening the walk to join London bound services. At the end of March, a new temporary ticket office is due to open opposite the present travel centre.

ABOVE: (Item 567) The house extension by the tunnel portal near Heckmondwike Spen station. BELOW: The arches over the former L&NWR Spen Valley line through Heckmondwike. (Both Daily Mail.)

571] Port of Sunderland: (BLN 1398.861) Apparently, production 'issues' at Scunthorpe, have resulted in a considerable reduction in trains carrying steel slabs to Corporation Quay for road transport to Spartan Steel at Gateshead, a subsidiary of the Ukrainian Metinvest Co. Steel is now being shipped by boat from Italy. No trains ran between 29 Sep and 29 Nov 2023 and only about four so far this year. 572] Goole: Siemens Mobility is in the final stages of fitting out their new factory, due to open this spring. It is part of the wider 'rail village', where up to £200M is being invested with as many as 700 jobs created and possibly another 1,700 in the supply chain. 80% of the new Piccadilly line tube trains will now be manufactured here (BLN 1440.163), instead of the 50% originally envisaged. Appropriately this provides a larger 'pipeline' for the first contract, increasing the financial security for the rail village. 1443 NORTHERN GENERAL (John Cameron) [email protected] 573] Shelters: Northern is spending £1.9M installing new passenger shelters with bench-style seating at 21 stations across its network between the end of February and early summer. The stations are: ● Aspatria ● Bare Lane ● Belle Vue ● Bramley ● Chassen Road ● Cherry Tree ● Clitheroe ● Conisbrough ● Denby Dale ● Humphrey Park ● Kildale ● Lockwood ● Long Preston ● Northwich ● Pleasington ● Ryder Brow ● Shipley ● Widnes ● Woodlesford ● Redcar Central and ● Prudhoe 574] Sign of the times: Northern is trialling AI generated British Sign Language announcements(station names initially) on some trains between Manchester and Leeds plus Leeds and York via Harrogate. 575] New station cafés: Eight new independent cafés have opened at Northern stations recently: Fursty Fox at Birchwood is an independent coffee shop. Smiths of Cheshire at Wilmslow is a café serving classic dishes and food from around the world. Hit Café at Cross Gates offers a vast selection of cakes, coffees and coolers. Harrogate Secret Bakery at (don't tell anyone) Harrogate is a new branch of a well loved Harrogate …..bakery in the station selling a range of sandwiches, cakes and drinks, as well as handmade bread. Gourmet Coffee Bar & Kitchen at Bradford Forster Square and also at: Castleford, it is a small independent chain dedicated to specialty coffee. The Railway Café at Worksop is new on P2 offering everything …..breakfast, brunch, homemade cakes, milkshakes & smoothies. [Please support these enterprises.] 576] 'Stations as a Place'*: If any member is looking for a change of career and would like to work at a station, this Northern programme aims to promote wider and community use of its stations. There is a dedicated webpage listing all the current opportunities for small businesses and they also invite people to get in touch if they have an idea for a location not listed. [*Fish and chip shop perhaps, anyone?] 1443 NORTH WEST (John Cameron) [email protected] 577] Darcy Lever: Nothing to do with signal boxes! A second planning application has been made to Bolton Council to build over 100 houses on former railway land here, north of Radcliffe Road, between Bolton and Bury. The first application was rejected asbecause it included green belt land and it would have prevented that section of the former Lancashire & Yorkshire Bolton to Castleton line from being used as a future Metrolink line. It is not clear if this is addressed by this new application but there is mention of preserving a footpath, suggesting the trackbed. The first application has gone to appeal. 578] Miles Platting: (TRACKmaps 4 p43N 2022) Inert waste traffic from Collyhurst Depot (the stub of the Oldham Road Goods Branch) to Scunthorpe Roxby Gullet, fell off dramatically during 2023. The last train left on 3 Dec. The tracks appear OOU and a Class 09 shunter is no longer stabled there. 579] Ulverston: On Sat 2nd Dec there was heavy snowfall in SW Cumbria, 12" north of Ulverston and up to 18" in the Millom area. The last Down train of the day encountered a fallen tree after departure from Ulverston and had to return there. The pair of Class 195 units then spent the night in the station before being shunted into the sidings on the morning of 3 Dec.Next day they ran ECS to Barrow Depot.

580] Ditton East - Latchford (Warrington): (TRACKmaps 4 p37 A & B and p29B) There has been no intermediate traffic on this freight only line for four years. On 6 Mar 2020 the last FGDG (Flue Gas Desulphurised Gypsum) train left Fiddlers Ferry Power Station for New Biggin British Gypsum (Kirkby Thore) on the Settle & Carlisle Line. Current traffic on the lines is light, trains to/from Halewood Jaguar and Ditton Foundry Lane - it would be possible for them to run via Runcorn, of course. In 2024 to date, fewer than one train per day has operated and all have to reverse in both directions by running round at Latchford. Trains are booked and run Mondays to Saturdays inclusive. To save £160,000 per year, from 1 Apr for two years, NR proposes to temporarily reduce the operating hours of three of the four boxes from 24 hours a day to 12 hours: Fiddlers Ferry Power Station Signal Box, Monks Sidings Signal Box and Littons Mill Crossing Box would be open 06.00-18.00 only, which would accommodate existing traffic. Arpley Junction Signal Box would remain open 24 hours a day. After two years, this could then be made permanent. At present they are open all week except 22.00 Saturday until 22.00 Sunday. However, Monks Sidings and Fiddlers Ferry have been temporarily opening at 18.00 SuO,at FHH expense to run a train. Interestingly, at Warrington, if Littons Mill gatebox is unstaffed the crossing gates are left closed to road traffic with no effect on rail traffic! A knowledgeable member appreciates why they would want to do this, of course, but similar actions in the past have backfired spectacularly elsewhere and actually led to boxes remaining long after they should have been swept away by resignalling. In costing up a resignalling scheme, it is necessary to show savings that will be made and the scheme has to return a certain percentage on the investment over five years. Staff costs are one of the major savings in resignalling schemes and if you can show you are saving 24 hours worth of manpower costs at boxes, plus the relief costs that that 24 hour manning needs, the saving is at a maximum. If boxes are only open certain days of the week, or closed at certain periods of each day, fewer staff are needed and consequently savings are much lower - so low that often they do not meet the investment criteria and resignalling cannot be authorised. This is why we see many instances of box hours not being reduced - management are playing the long game. Another problem is that night shift premium, and Sunday premium, makes up a significant proportion of a signaller's monthly salary. National minimum wages have risen again and again in recent years and signallers' wages have not kept pace. Grade 1 signallers are pretty close to the new minimum wage, so now not earning much more (again) than people with no skills and responsibility in retail jobs on minimum wage, who don't have to retain the knowledge signallers do and don't have to turn out to work at stupid o'clock. The lowest grades are increasingly unattractive and staff recruitment and retention for them is a problem. Cutting out the premium hours at a box makes the problem even worse and ending up being unable to staff them with regular staff, so relief staff on higher wages, sometimes on overtime too, have to be brought in. So, the savings can evaporate in reality but the staffing costs are still lower technically when you come to cost up resignalling - a lose / lose result. The other issue is that mechanical boxes have a habit of being vandalised so become unusable when the local scrotes find out that no one is there at night. This is why Longannet box is still staffed, despite no train being recorded as running past it since 3 Aug 2023. 581] Liverpool South Parkway: (BLN 1442.453) The stricken Merseyrail unit, 777028, that had blocked Hunts Cross West Jn on 2 Feb, was moved to Hunts Cross P3, clearing the line at 16.03. The 11.44, 12.44 & 13.44 Warrington Central to Liverpool Lime St started at Liverpool South Parkway instead, at 12.11, 13.10 & 14.10 from P1, P3 and P3 there respectively, routed to the Down Ditton Slow. 582] Tebay: A memorial service was held to mark the 20th anniversary of the tragedy, which claimed the lives of four men here on 15 Feb 2004. A faulty 16-tonne steel wagon broke free at Shap Summit and reached 40mph. Running almost silently in the dark and without any warnings, it struck and killed the four railway workers who were carrying out overnight work 3¼ miles further down the main line. Five other men were also injured. It continued to travel for almost four miles until stopping. In 2006 the owner of the rail maintenance company MAC Machinery Services and another man were tried at Newcastle Crown Court on charges of manslaughter by gross negligence. In the same year, a memorial plaque was installed next to the scene of the incident, inscribed with the names of those who died.

BELOW: Hydraulic buffer stops at Carlisle on the Up side, these a

are the Glasgow end, bays P7&8. (John Cameron, 24 Nov 2023.)

583] Bolton: ①Over £570k is being spent to make lifts more reliable at the station. ②A member travelled from Bolton to Stalybridge on Thur 15 Feb, during the Lostock Jn - Crow Nest Jn closure when Stalybridge to Bolton services(usually to Southport)turned back in the little used Bolton bay P2. They were mainly operated with Class 769 units. He also caught a train from Salford Central to Bolton at 12.12 - which turned back in Bolton P4; originally it was to go to Oxford Road but was diverted to Victoria due to signalling problems at Kearsley, which were delaying Manchester bound trains! 584] Rochdale: Northeast end bay P2 is currently out of use, apparently due to railhead rust causing the track circuit not to indicate when a train is in the platform. It is not known when this started. 585] Crewe: Most members will be familiar with Rail House near the station. Built in 1967, it was the largest of three buildings making up the headquarters of the London Midland Region of British Rail, as British Railways (BR) styled itself after 1964. An interesting article about it with photos has appeared on the '28 Days Later' urban explorer website, documenting a (presumably unofficial) exploration of the now empty 13-storey building. Designed by architect Roy (not Rob) Moorcroft, it was (and is still believed to still be) the tallest building in Cheshire. Rail House was connected by a footbridge to the smaller Nantwich House to the north (now converted into flats). Another smaller building to the south, originally housing the BR Computer Centre, made up the establishment. It remained as such until privatisation, when the office space was leased out to private companies. As occupancy dwindled, an application to convert Rail House into flats was rejected in 2016. The final tenants left in 2020, during the pandemic, and it has stood empty since (as has the Computer Centre building). A more recent application to convert the building into 168 apartments was also refused and so its future remains uncertain. Opinion is divided locally between those who see it as an ugly blot on the landscape and those who see it as a symbol of the town's railway heritage and appreciate its 1960s architecture. 586] Some boring news from Walkden: Surveys are taking place after old mine shafts were discovered during design work for a new lift, which will now be delayed as a result. Engineers are drilling beneath the surface of the station during planned closures on Suns 3 & 10 Mar to assess the ground conditions. 587] Blackpool Trams: The Blackpool Gazette reports that the Gateway Holiday Inn complex, around Blackpool North tram stop, is nearly complete and will open in March. However, online bookings are not being taken until 6 May! The tram stop sign has been installed and the Gazette speculates that this may mean that trams will start operating from it soon. However, BLN readers know that where the Blackpool North extension is concerned, chickens should not be counted until they have hatched. 588] Manchester Oxford Road: A £2.7M project starts in March to improve accessibility and passenger flow through the station building. New (with additional) ticket barriers are to be installed, with the ticket office moving to the front of the station building. A new accessible ticket barrier will assist those with a wheelchair or pram. Most work will be overnight and the station will remain open throughout. 589] Great Musgrave: (BLN 1431.1988) National Highways has confirmed that the work to remove the 1,600 tonnes of stone and concrete used to infill Great Musgrave bridge (Betwixt Kirkby Stephen East and Warcop) without permission cost £352,000. This is almost three times the £124,000 wasted on the original infill. The strengthening and disposal costs are not included; the material is stockpiled, blocking the trackbed just north of the bridge now. The agency was ordered by the local authority to remove the infill in Jun 2022 due to conflicts with transport, landscape and historic environment policies. A recent inspection of the bridge found that masonry damaged when the concrete was broken out was repaired using a 'restoration mortar'. This masks defects and seals in moisture, preventing stonework from breathing. According to conservation specialists, the products have a predicted life of 30 years or so but can then decay and take the stone with them. Several other damaged blocks in the arch of the bridge have been left untouched and are expected to deteriorate further. Incompetence or what? 590] Carnforth South Jn: From 06.43 on 15 Jan, trains from the south to Barrow and Skipton have again run via the Up & Down Goods Loops to reach Carnforth P2 due to a track defect at Carnforth North Jn (which is south of Carnforth station, of course). Up trains are unaffected and use the normal connection at Carnforth North Jn. Rectification work is expected to start during the week of 15 Apr.

591] Taking steps to solve escalating problems at Manchester Piccadilly: In a stroke of very bad luck, three of the busiest escalators developed separate faults simultaneously and have had to be closed. They are the escalator from Fairfield St to the mezzanine, from the mezzanine to the concourse; and from P14 to the overbridge. Two require the steps replacing, while the other has an 'internal issue'. 592] Carlisle buffer zone:(BLN 1442 419)To add to the great hydraulic buffer debate, there are two on Carlisle bay P7&8 although they now have ineffectual-looking 'temporary' buffers (markers?) in front. 593] Ordsall Lane Jn or is it? Returning to Manchester from Edinburgh, your Reg Editor was amused when the conductor announced: Ladies & Gentlemen, just to keep you updated, we are currently being held at a red signal outside Manchester Oxford Road at, I think, Water Street Jn. Hopefully we will be on our way again very shortly. Moments later as the train started to move, he further announced: Ladies & Gentlemen, I must apologise, I misinformed you; it was of course Ordsall Lane Jn. 594] Southport: From Sun 25 Feb, P1 buffer stop was replaced with a friction slide type 8yd nearer the Birkdale end of the platform. So, despite platform lengthening, the griceable section ended up shorter! 595] Morecambe: There has been a significant reduction in the number of cancellations on the branch in recent weeks. Services, particularly the Lancaster - Morecambe shuttles, have been badly affected by cancellations over months and years. Leeds services are less affected overall but are prone to being turned back at Lancaster if running late. The branch normally has 52 services (SSuX); 50 services (SO), and 24 SuO. Weeks ending 10 & 17 Feb saw just 22 cancellations each week, averaging three per day. 1443 SOUTH EAST - NORTH & EAST ANGLIA (Julian James) [email protected] 596] Ely - Norwich: The leading bogie of 2-car 158856 working the EMR 15.51 Liverpool Lime Street to Norwich was derailed on 6 Feb, at around 21.15 when it struck a fallen tree between Thetford and Harling Road. 31 passengers were on the service, one suffered minor injuries. The tree, on Forestry Commission land, remained rooted, despite toppling over. Initially NR staff were unable to remove it. This may have been in part due to unpredictability of what would happen with the lower end still secured outside the railway boundary and in part a matter of the tree's ownership. It is a matter of risk assessment whether there is knowledge of the number of places where this may be the case and, in turn, whether there are controls on tree condition and protocols for intervention before a tree falls in adverse weather. We wait to see which way the wind blows on this potential extra layer of vigilance. 597] Audley End: (TRACKmaps 2 p11B 2020) On Fri 9 Feb, due to a train held in Up P1, the 16.28 to Cambridge and 17.07 to Ely, both from Liverpool St, were routed via bidirectional Down P2. They thus did the Facing Crossover at the south end of the station, then the trailing one to the north, in service. 598] Oxford: (BLN 1440.204) A blockade of Oxford is expected from Sat 27 to Wed 31 Jul inclusive for the Botley Road bridge replacement and track renewals in the Hinksey and Didcot areas. The first part of this work involves removal of the footbridge over Botley Road, which will take place overnight between Sat 9 and Sun 10 Mar. For this, a compound will be set up in the Becket Street car park for siting the crane which will be needed. Planned completion of P5 is now Jul 2025. There is time for the approvals process to permit entry into service then or, in the worst case, up to three months later. 599] Beaulieu Park: (BLN 1439.69) NR has amended their recorded mileages at this new station: 30m 30ch Arbour Lane Crossovers 32m 03ch Beaulieu South Jn (was 32m 05ch in BLN 1439) 32m 30ch Beaulieu Park 32m 65ch Beaulieu North Jn (was 32m 60ch in BLN 1439). 600] Stanford-le-Hope(ful): Thurrock Council officers were to discuss two options for the local authority to fund 43% of the £35M costs for the new station and transport interchange, at a meeting of the South East Local Enterprise Partnership on 16 Feb. It is considering asking to borrow money through capital funding or trying to raise the funds itself through business rates from the local Thames Freeport. The proposed borrowing would require consent from both the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities and the Treasury. Thurrock Council has a deficit close to £500M, which is considered among the largest losses in local government history. It is now run by government appointed commissioners. VolkerFitzpatrick was originally signed up to build the new station but, after the frequent cost rises, the contract was rejected as non-compliant with procurement rules.

601] Bletchley - Bedford: (BLN 1437.2397) From Mon 19 Feb, LNwR resumed a full hourly train service (SuX), 17 each way, for the first time since 1 Dec 2022. For three months, any single journey between any two Marston Vale Line stations cost just £1 (50p children), including from Bedford to Bletchley. Each now refurbished 2-car Class 150 accommodates 173 passengers, is wheelchair accessible, with a universally accessible toilet, an upgraded passenger information system and USB charging points. One diagram did not operate on Fri 23 Feb due to staff shortage, which shift(s) was not clear. On Sat 24 Feb this applied from about 14.00 with buses running again. Screens warned of this the following week too. 602] Harwich Town: The station building, other surrounding buildings and two vans were damaged in a suspected arson attack just before 19.40 on 9 Feb. Essex Police believe a fire started at a business premises then spread to the railway building and the bus station. A 36 year old man was arrested. 603] Hertford North - Stevenage: The Great Northern Railway (GNR) was building the line north of Hertford during WWI. In 1917, with the war not going at all well, the War Department (WD) made a demand on all railway companies for a massive quantity of materials, including many miles of rails. Companies responded in different ways. For example, the GWR closed and lifted all track from lightly used branch lines (such as Lapworth,Rowington Jn to Henley-in-Arden Goods Jn and Alcester to Great Alne). The GNR had the partly completed Hertford Loop, so gave up a set of rails. The rest of the line was ready and the GNR naturally wanted it open for goods, if not for passengers. (Cuffley - Langley Jn OG 4 Mar 1918.) Tyer & Co had a version (No 5) of tablet instruments that could be used in permissive as well as absolute mode. The British Army was well aware of this and used these instruments during the Second South African War (the 'Boer War'). The WD made the No 5 its standard tablet instrument for this reason. So, the GNR had an option available using known equipment, although never applied in the UK previously. The apparatus was installed as one section. True permissive working was adopted, with no intermediate block sections. The very long Ponsbourne Tunnel (1m 924yd), between Cuffley and Bayford, was an obvious problem, and special arrangements were made to deal with that. Following trains were worked on sight (remember that GNR drivers were used to this - permissive working was widely used on GNR goods lines). All tablets taken out for one direction of travel had to be back in one or other of the instruments before the direction of travel could be reversed. After the war, the line was doubled and the instruments taken out of use. The instruments probably went into store and may have been reused (but no link has yet been proven) when permissive tablet working was introduced between Reedham Jn and Breydon Jn (Yarmouth). This latter was, so far as our correspondent knows, the only use of permissive tablets on a passenger railway in the UK. An intermediate block post at Berney Arms ensured space separation between following trains. At Langley Jn, on the four tracked main line south of Stevenage, the underpass for Down trains was completed and used. The points from the Up side connection into the Hertford Loop single line were simple spring points*, without signalling. Langley Jn box was on the Down side, so the signalman could easily collect tablets from Down trains. To pass tablets across four tracks to the drivers of Up trains, an overhead wire device was used. [*Points facing to Down moves, sprung biased for travel under the main line to the Down side of Stevenage station. Your Regional Ed has long experience of the slightly different spring points biased either side of centre on non-passenger lines and even loose points for trailing moves on passenger lines into recent years. The points at Langley would spring to 'normal' after traversal by each wheelset, centre bias sprung points traversed once for each train. Without detection, visual inspection was necessary for any obstruction, typically a single piece of ballast.] Some passenger trains were diverted via Cuffley on 20 Feb 1920, following a collision between two goods trains in Welwyn North Tunnel. The Hertford North loop line was subsequently doubled and signalled to passenger standards. From 2 Jun 1924, passenger trains ran between London and Hertford North, with a separate, very sparse shuttle service between Hertford North and Hitchin. 604] Shepperton branch: On Fri 9 Feb there were signalling issues between Shepperton and Fulwell. The 09.11 and 10.11 from Shepperton to Waterloo started from Fulwell P2 at their booked times of 09.24 and 10.24 respectively and crossed to the Up Shepperton at Fulwell Jn trailing crossover.

1443 SOUTH EAST - SOUTH (Julian James) [email protected] 605] Headcorn - Paddock Wood: On 8 Feb two Up trains were diverted to the Down Main at Headcorn following evacuation at Paddock Wood of the preceding 07.57 Sandwich to Charing Cross, with smoke entering one coach. The trains were the 09.11 Ramsgate to Charing Cross and 10.00 Dover Priory to Charing Cross. Both called at Headcorn P1, then crossed to the Down Main. After calling at Paddock Wood, they returned to the Up Main, terminating short at London Bridge and Orpington, respectively. 606] Wokingham: (BLN 1442.477) GWR originally planned to run trains east of Guildford during the week of 12 Feb when the line was closed but buses ran instead; stoppers Reading to Guildford and Guildford to Redhill plus fast Reading to Guildford and Gatwick only. Fuelling at Selhurst may have been difficult to arrange. Wokingham crossing was closed to traffic when seen on 16 Feb, as was the case for some weeks; what appeared to be new barriers were being tested, raised and lowered. It had reopened to road traffic by 19 Feb - and not an orange vest in sight. The trespass deterrent was then completed both sides of the track. Wokingham Jn, its trailing crossover and pointwork into the Down siding were all relaid earlier that week with a large crane. The Grade II Listed box now has a new sign on its front and another the other side of the line, 'Wokingham Level Crossing', reminding train drivers in case they forget where they are;signage is mandatory!The adjacent footbridge made of old rails was open; less able pedestrians were directed by signs to cross the line via the station footbridge with lifts. At Bracknell, Waterloo trains turned back in P2 during the recent line closure, then used the recently signalled trailing crossover.The signal (past the overbridge) is just visible from the edge of the platform. 607] Tonbridge:GBRf has cemented their domination of Tonbridge West Yard,opening a Maintenance Hub, presumably for wagon repairs. The large, very tall, bright blue building looks like a smaller version of the one that they recently opened at Peterborough. It is towards the north side of the yard, with road access. The yard is typically very full, especially at weekends, with up to 20 locos stabled together with RHTT units, plus loaded and empty aggregate wagons. Not unusually, NR test trains are present. 608] Gravesend - Tilbury Riverside: The once railway owned foot-ferry is under threat. Kent County Council (KCC) has conducted a recently closed consultation (results awaited). Both Kent County Council and Thurrock Council have sponsored it in the past. Thurrock is now unable to do so and KCC (under heavy financial pressures elsewhere) is questioning their continuance. KCC and Gravesham Borough Council have website entries about it. Wikipedia advises that some sort of ferry has existed since at least Tudor times; railway involvement began with the London, Tilbury & Southend Railway in 1852, then with the Midland, the LMS, and (BTC) BR London Midland Region from 1948 until 1959, when the Eastern Region took over. All Line Rover tickets used to be valid on it. BR involvement ceased in 1984. A vehicle ferry ran from 1924 to 1964, until the opening of the first Dartford Tunnel. After BR, the ferry was operated by White Horse Ferries and in recent years by Jetstream. Was Gravesend therefore the only town in Kent (from 1886 until 1899?) to be served by three competing railway companies? 609] IOW: (BLN 1441.343) Planned maintenance closes the Island Line from Fri 8 until Tue 12 Mar (inclusive). Of note, rail replacement buses (unusually) run to Pier Head, rather than requiring a change at Ryde Esplanade to/from a minibus along the pier. [Perhaps they are minibuses throughout to save on the hire cost?] The A3055, Avenue Road overbridge, on the northern edge of Sandown is closed at the same time, where it passes under the (once double track) railway, as track is being relaid. There will also be vegetation clearance, structural surveys and work to improve flood defences following flooding from severe rain in January. Between Shanklin and Lake, work also appears to have recently restarted on the A3055 Sandown Road bridge over the railway. This road was closed for weeks a year ago for work on the bridge but it seems they ran out of time approaching the summer season and had to reopen the road. Presumably, this is to complete it. 1443 SOUTH WEST (Samuel Taunton) [email protected] 610] St Austell: From Tue 27 Feb until Sun 3 Mar,Down trains turn back in St Austell Down P1,which is bidirectional. Returning towards Par, passenger trains start from the Down Main under position light signal SA6, when showing proceed, then use the Plymouth end trailing crossover in passenger service.

X.29] Exeter: Work took place at Exeter St Davids Jn (at one of the two Londobuses to/from Exeter Central. Stoneblower DR80302 is in action; the barThe crossing is mostly used when the lifts

on ends of the station!) on Sun 18 Feb 2024 until 14.35 with rail replacement row crossing has been temporarily taken up but would be replaced later. fail, which is quite often! (Mark Fishlock.)

611] Aish, nothing to be crossover: (BLN 1442.482) (TRACKmaps 3 p8C 2023) Once it was common for ground frames (GF) to be released by an Annett's Key*, which unlocked one of the levers allowing the rest to be used. Such a key would be housed in a lock on a lever in the signal box or inserted directly into the frame to operate the interlocking directly, ensuring that the signals protecting the GF were at danger when the key was removed. The Annett's Key would then be taken to the GF to allow operation. [*JE Annett (London, Brighton & South Coast Railway) patented his design in 1875; it was bought by Saxby & Farmer in 1881. An Annett's key is a form of trapped-key interlocking which locks levers, points or other signalling apparatus, so acts as a portable interlocking. Its purpose is (for example) to prevent access from sidings to the running line without authority. When not in use,the key is normally held in an Annett's lock that is fixed to the lever or concerned apparatus. In Britain the key may be held in a locked container in the signal box that can only be opened when the corresponding signal lever is at danger for traffic on the running line; that lever is then locked in position until the key is returned. Alternatively, the key may be attached to the train staff for the section of running line containing the entrance to the siding. At manually worked level crossings remote from signal boxes, the key to unlock the gates can only be removed for use when the signals for the running line are locked at danger.] When electrical control became possible, most areas of the country abandoned such practices and provided an electric lock on one of the GF levers, the unlocking current being sent by operation of a lever or switch etc in the signal box which interlocked with signals there as before. The Western Region of British Rail, as usual, had to be different! They chose to continue the use of Annett's Keys with said key now being locked in a Key Release Instrument (KRI), an electrical instrument at the GF. The release from the signal box allowed the key to be released from the KRI and then used to unlock the GF. So, back to Aish Emergency Crossovers (230m 37ch), between Totnes and Ivybridge. It turns out that it is a KRI installation. There is no GF or Ground Switch Panel at Aish to operate the points but, from the description of a local industry contact and close up photos, they are fitted with clamp lock motors - not connected up to any power source! Plymouth signal box does not work the points and has no direct Normal detection on them. However, the KRI release Normal indication (showing that the key is locked in and not released) is fed through the Normal contacts on the points. This ensures that the points are left Normal - otherwise it would be possible for the points to be left Reverse and the Annett's Key put back in the instrument, releasing the signals with disastrous consequences. If Normal detection is lost at any time, the KRI Normal indication will extinguish and the protecting signals will revert to danger. When left unattended, the points are clipped & padlocked (C&P in railway jargon); the key to these padlocks is attached to the Annett's Key held in the KRI. The releasing of the KRI by the box puts the protecting signals at Aish to danger; the points operator can then remove the Annett's Key from the instrument and use the padlock key attached to it to release the points needing to be operated. They are operated manually with a clamp lock pump handle and, as there is no actual detection of the individual points directly in the box, they have to be clipped and scotched in position before a train movement over them takes place. On completion, points are placed Normal, clipped & padlocked again and the Annett's Key put back in the KRI so Plymouth box can take back the release and clear signals. Our reporter calls it a classic money saving bodge job - safe but very inconvenient and all for, basically, saving connecting said motors up to a tiny panel with three switches on it and a few lamps, plus a few relays on site. Possibly there was/is insufficient electric power at the location? Then, they should have put in a conventional GF! He suspects that the points were due to be connected up to power initially and either the money ran out or they never got round to it. This explains why they are 'emergency' crossovers. After imminent resignalling, they will be worked and detected directly by Plymouth finally! 612] Cranmore clearance: (BLN 1421.904) (TRACKmaps 3 p13A 2023) Since 13.00 on 29 Mar 2023, Merehead West Jn (at 4m 47ch) to Cranmore East NR boundary (5m 48ch) has been out of use due to track condition. In a familiar theme on this line, vegetation clearance is taking place from Mon 26 Feb until Fri 29 Mar from Merehead W Jn (4m 57ch) to Cranmore East NR boundary (5m 48ch) to restore the line to operational use. A sleeper and Stop board are fixed to the rail by to W269 signal (4m 63ch).

613] Liskeard: From Mon 4 to Sat 9 Mar, Down trains turnback in Liskeard Down P1. On departure for Plymouth, passenger trains will start from P1 when shunting signal LD21 (outside Liskeard signal box) to the Up Main line shows proceed, then use the Plymouth end trailing crossover in passenger service. 614] Winfrith spent: (BLN 1430.1902) (TRACKmaps 5 p34C) The final train of radioactive waste from the Winfrith treated waste store left Winfrith Sidings at 16.14 on Tue 23 Jan 2024 for Drigg low level radioactive waste repository near Sellafield. 14 trains have run between 24 Mar 2022 and 23 Jan 2024. The two sidings join then trail into the Down Main at Winfrith Ground Frame 'B' (127m 69ch), between Wool and Moreton. The shipments have reduced the radioactive waste by about 70% at the Winfrith site, which is the only first generation nuclear power plant to be completely decommissioned so far. 1443 WEST MIDLANDS (Brian Schindler) [email protected] 615] A crafty PSUL: On Thur 8 Feb, 2Z71, a 10.30 Wolverhampton to Walsall direct (via Portobello Jn, Darlaston Jn and Pleck Jn) passenger train appeared in the system with 2Z72, a 10.53 return. The last such train ran on Sat 10 Dec 2022 but ECS runs are made which maintains crew route knowledge. A fairly local member decided to investigate, travelling to Wolverhampton to catch it. The train turned out to be the launch of the new Class 730 EMUs in the West Midlands for the press and invited VIPs. It started ECS from Wolverhampton bay P6 (with no regular booked passenger trains), then picked up passengers at P4. The trains showed up in Journey Planner as a passenger service but on arrival it was announced as 'not in public service' - being a BLS member he asked nicely and went to Walsall and back! The following week one entered service between Wolverhampton and Walsall via Birmingham. The 48 x 3-car new EMUs have 201 seats, replacing 4-car Class 350 EMUs with 270 seats. However, it is said that they are 'Metro style' and can accommodate another 345 standing (total capacity 546), compared with 117 standing on a Class 350 (total capacity 387) - this is trumpeted as progress!! This spring they are due to be rolled out on the Cross City Line, again with fewer seats than the 270 in the 3-car Class 323 EMUs they replace, 120 standing total 397; these tend to run as 6-cars nowadays. 616] Dudley: (TRACKmaps 4 p21A 2022) http://tinyurl.com/3s7u7856 (3min) is a trip along the Very Light Rail Innovation Centre test track, appropriately in the prototype Coventry Very Light Rail vehicle. 617] Aldridge: (BLN 1428.1647) The site of the new station is being cleared and secured by NR ready for construction to begin. The £30M project will have a single platform alongside the Up line (to Water Orton) with a 40-space car park and road access from Westfield Drive to the north. It is expected to open in 2027 with a half-hourly shuttle to Walsall and, eventually, electrification. The Wrexham, Shropshire & Midlands open access operator, planning a London service via Sutton Park, is looking at stopping at the new station (but, with just one platform, that could only be towards London). 618] Camp Hill Line: (BLN 1428.1651) An update issued by the West Midlands Combined Authority on Kings Heath, Pineapple Road and Moseley Village is that the new stations are now on target for completion during 2024 despite previous setbacks. Transport for West Midlands has now acquired the original former name board from Kings Heath Signal Box, which closed in 1969. The board has been purchased from the existing owner and it is intended to be displayed in the new station when it opens. 619] Grand Jn - Water Orton - Coleshill Parkway/Kingsbury Jn: From 10 Feb until 3 Mar inclusive, these lines closed at weekends after 10.30 Saturday. CrossCountry Nottingham and Leicester services, thinned out to hourly, turned back at Coleshill Parkway (buses to/from Birmingham). Sheffield to Birmingham long distance services, reduced to hourly, diverted via Lichfield Trent Valley high level. 620] Coleshill HS2: An 84m, 300 tonne steel viaduct section was moved into place at the Delta Jn over the weekend of 10-11 Feb, taking 11½ hours. It is the first section of two 158m viaducts to carry HS2 over the M42/M6 link roads and was moved into place over the westbound link road. This is the first of two moves to install the deck for the 'East Link Viaduct' - the second is in Apr to create the full 158m long deck over both sides of the road. Before the end of the year, a similar two stage operation will move the parallel 'West Link Viaduct'. This section of the Delta Jn carries the line between Birmingham Interchange and Birmingham Curzon Street (sometimes referred to as Birmingham Curzon) stations.

621] Duddeston Jn: (TRACKmaps 2 p20 2022) On the opposite side of the railway from the West Midlands Signalling Centre, changes are required to accommodate the new HS2 viaduct on the Curzon Street line over the Derby Lines. This includes realigning European Metal Recycling private sidings, temporary removal and (in 2026) reinstatement of Saltley Neck, adjusting signalling and changes to land boundaries. Several supporting piers for the viaduct conflict with the existing layout. The Down Derby Goods line and bidirectional Down Saltley Goods Loop will be realigned over about 506yd from 40m 671yd to 40m 1,177yd within the existing pointwork, which will be retained. 622] New Stations: Proposals are to be developed for three new stations on existing lines in areas of high deprivation where there are no fast public transport links. Coventry East is the Willenhall/ Binley area on the Coventry to Rugby line. Castle Bromwich would restore a station closed in 1968 between New St and Water Orton. The third is between Wolverhampton and Bilbrook (Shrewsbury line) in the Claregate and Pendeford areas. Foleshill and Balsall Heath stations will not be progressed. 623] The appalling spalling: (BLN 1439.83.2) At New Street, the £7.9M project to repair spalling of the 60 year old concrete roof and strengthen it, which began on 2 Apr 2023, was completed on Sat 3 Feb, P5&6 reopened on Sun 4th. All 12 platforms have been dealt with, requiring them to be closed in pairs for generally four weeks at a time. Over 500 repairs were made to the concrete, involving installation of more than 5,000 steel bolts into the concrete beams, followed by fixing nearly 900 steel plates. 624] Burton-on-Trent: On Thur 15 Feb your Reg Ed caught the 15.24 CrossCountry service from here to Tamworth. Unusually, it seems to have travelled directly from Sheet Stores Jn to Stenson Jn, missing out Derby, despite running to time from its origin at Nottingham. Does anyone know why, please? 625] Shrewsbury: It has been reported that the now solitary daily Avanti service 07.04 SuX, 11.14 SuO to Euston and 18.15 SX (18.16 SO) return is being withdrawn on direction of the DfT to save money. The service was never restored to its pre-pandemic frequency and requires 60 drivers to sign Oxley to Shrewsbury. There is also considerable unproductive ECS mileage from/to Central Rivers Depot for the Super Voyager DMUs. It is not shown in the new June timetable, so the last day seems to be Sat 1 Jun. However, what is shown in the Jun 2024 timetable is West Midlands Railway running twice hourly SuX between Shrewsbury and New Street. This has long been intended and enough new Class 196 DMUs were ordered but, with the present level of cancellations due to lack of train crew, it remains to be seen if they can staff the new service. Half-hourly with TfW 'fast' trains to Birmingham International, the new semi-fast trains will call at Wellington, Telford Central, Shifnal, Wolverhampton and then Smethwick Galton Bridge. Six minutes later, the 'all stations' to Wolverhampton WMR train departs Shrewsbury, then runs via Willenhall and Darlaston ready to serve them and calls at Tame Bridge Parkway; New Street is reached via Soho. We can see which might be cancelled with crew shortages! Ahead of the formal application, and quite unprecedented, the DfT has given its 'full support' (but no financial support, of course) to open access operator Wrexham Shropshire & Midlands Railway's new Wrexham to Euston service. If the ORR grants permission, it should start on Sun 17 May 2025. 1443 IRELAND (Martin Baumann) [email protected] 626] Non-strikes: (BLN 1442.494) The 27-29 Feb NIR strike was suspended for a ballot on a new offer. 627] Belfast Grand Central: (BLN 1439.102) The provisional opening date is now Sun 25 Aug 2024. 628] Attymon Junction - Loughrea: Ireland's final rural passenger branch (nine miles) closed in 1975. It opened on 1 Dec 1890 and generally had between two and four return trips per day, often worked as mixed trains. Trains, which ran SuX, were noted as mixed in the public timetable until the issue dated 14 Jun 1965. In the 1960s, freight traffic on the branch could still be heavy. On 17 Feb 1968, for example, there were 56 wagons at Loughrea station; the primary traffic was cattle and fertiliser. Cattle fairs resulted in extra trains on the branch. 32 wagons were allocated on 7 Mar 1968 for the cattle fair and these proved insufficient. A special working brought in 24 further cattle wagons in from Athlone. Trains remained loco hauled right up until closure, the loco running round the single coach each end of the 9-mile journey. The 08.50 from Attymon Junction was the final mixed train in Ireland. An ex-Great Northern diesel railcar was overhauled for use on the branch but never went into service on it.

PREVIOUS: (Item 632) Dublin MetroLink, with the proposed route and stops. X.30] ABOVE: (BLN 1442.497) Lisburn - Antrim: For many years, British Airways Trident G-AVFE was near the line where it passes the end of the runway of Belfast International Airport. The aircraft was used for Firefighter training (along with an Army Wessex helicopter). The Trident finished its 17 year career on 12 Feb 1985 when it was flown to Belfast and placed in the training area. It remained there until scrapping in Apr 2019. (Martin Baumann, from a MRSI special train on 22 May 2005.) BELOW: (Item 628) 1960 map; the nine mile long Attymon Junction to Loughrea branch is arrowed.

ABOVE: Loughrea terminus in steam days. The cattle bank at the bottom (pens right) is longer than the passenger platform above! The loco shed is top left accessed over the turntable, with the signal cabin below. The branch was single track; the lower line left is a siding for 100 wagons - the sidings are each marked with the number of wagons they could accommodate. (All thanks to member Michael Walsh.) ABOVE: Dunsandle where the siding accommodated 68 wagons; Loughrea is off to the right. BELOW: Attymon Junction; Dublin left, Galway right, Loughrea off the top. Note the turntable for the branch trains. The filled circles on both lines are Mileposts 107¼ (from Dublin Broadstone). Attymon Junction station had a loop with platforms on the Galway main line and a third branch platform curving away southwest. The main line connection was not used by timetabled passenger trains. The junction faced Dublin and the branch was miled from Dublin Broadstone. The 1975 final timetable (below) had the same number of trains as Apr 1910 Bradshaw's. The intermediate stop of Dunsandle mostly appeared as 'Dunsandle Halt' but in the final timetable the suffix had disappeared.

ABOVE: The 15.35 Loughrea to Attymon Junction mixethis was less than four weeks before closure. TheseBELOW LEFT: Attymon (as it was by then) the branch platform with signal

d train hauled by B232 near Dunsandle on 10 Oct 1975, e monochrome pictures are all by Johnathan Allen. arms removed, looking towards Galway. (Angus McDougall, 3 Apr 1979.) BELOW: B220 shunts at Loughrea on 26 Sep 1975 before forming the 10.20 to Attymon Junction (ahead) Photo © Albert Bridge (cc-by-sa/2.0).

BELOW: Attymon Junction branch platform; B209 is on the 11.40 to Loug

ghrea on 1 Nov 1975. The signal cabin is behind; Dublin is off to the right.

BELOW: Loughrea, towards Attymon Junction, the centre line is the engine r

release with the Cattle Bank left; the former loco shed behind the rear coach.

BELOW: Looking towards the end of line after running round, this is the 15.35

return. The Cattle Bank (right) to engine release crossover has been removed.

Loughrea 116m15ch 08.00 09.25 10.20 12.20 15.35 16.50 20.35 21.50 ─ Dunsandle 111m26ch 08.15 09.06 10.36 11.56 15.51 16.30 20.50 21.30 AttymonJ 107m20ch 08.33 08.50 10.58 11.40 16.10 16.18 21.08 21.15 From the timetable, it will be no surprise that crews were based at Loughrea which, in steam days, had its own shed with coal and water. The last steam loco on the branch ran on 2 Feb 1963. Diesel locos had to run to Galway to be refuelled but otherwise stabled overnight at Loughrea with the coach. Does anyone know if crews were permanently based on the branch or came from another depot? The final trains ran on Sat 1 Nov, powered by Metrovick Diesel B209, and the line was officially closed with effect from Mon 3 Nov 1975. However, some sugar beet trains ran on the branch after this date. The noted Cork enthusiast and photographer the late Joe St Ledger recorded one of them on cine film but, regrettably, he was notorious for not recording the dates of his films,so the date of the last train is uncertain. The last possible date is Sat 20 Dec 1975, as the points and signals on the branch were then disconnected with effect from Mon 22nd and beet trains did not run on Sundays. (The branch rarely had Sunday trains, although it did see Loughrea to Claremorris and return Knock pilgrimage special trains on some Sundays, the last being 25 May 1975; so it was possible to do the main line connection. Contrary to many online reports and photo captions, Attymon Junction station was renamed Attymon from Mon 3 Nov 1975 when the branch closed (not in the 1980s). The track was not lifted until 1988 when Attymon ceased to be a block post. There is also a policy in the Republic to keep track in situ for at least 10 years after a line closes. A previous Ireland Regional Editor, with professional experience of these matters, was consulted on asset condition for prospects of reopening; after inspection of the line, he was paid in Guinness in a local bar. There were plans for the branch to be revived as a heritage railway but this failed. Dunsandle has had some track restored and diesel loco 428 along with a coach and a tank wagon are on display there; our Society visited the station to see them on 5 May 2018. See: http://tinyurl.com/546b454x for details and photos. Loughrea branch memories welcome for BLN. 629] On the up: Irish Rail documented 46.1M passengers in 2023; up 29% on the 35.8M in 2022. 630] Cork: (BLN 1442.496) The station was completely closed from Fri 2 to Mon 5 Feb (St Brigid's Day Bank Holiday weekend) for removal of some pointwork, track remodelling and installation of new signalling for the additional P6 between existing P5 and the Cork Avoiding Line. Current plans will see P6 commissioned during Sep 2024, running alongside P5; it will be 220m long and have canopies. 631]The short and the long of it:The first extended 22000 class DMU entered service on 16 Feb 2024. 632] Dublin MetroLink: (BLN 1405.1832) This idea has been revived; it has acquired a capital 'L' and initial planning has started with a proposed opening date of 2035. From north to south, the proposed stops are: Estuary Seatown Swords Central Fosterstown Dublin Airport Dardistown Northwood Ballymun Collins Avenue Griffith Park Glasnevin Mater O'Connell Street Tara St Stephen's Green and Charlemont. The units will be driverless running every 90 seconds along, what RTE reports, would be a 19km long line see http://tinyurl.com/yrmffhy2 and e-BLN map. 633] DART: Assembly of the first new EMU has started at the Alstom factory in Katowice, Poland. 634] Belfast Lanyon Place - Yorkgate: On the Dargan Viaduct, the bidirectional Donegall Quay Loop (114m 15ch to 114m 31ch) was signed back into use on 21 Oct 2023 but has not been used since. As this was not in notices, many people, including some staff, were unaware of this. The rarely used loop was signed OOU from 15 Oct 2022 until further notice, for engineers to store plant and materials. 1443 ISLE OF MAN (Graeme Easton) [email protected] 635] MER: ❶(BLN 1442.499) Upgrading Halfway Level Crossing (3m 55ch) lights between Douglas and Laxey on the A2 is complete and road traffic is now controlled by 'normal' traffic lights (red, amber, green). Further north, the next crossing with lights (5m 27ch), just before Ballabeg, has similar traffic lights. A local member has recent experience of 'near misses' at these crossings (observed from trams and from the road). They are on a heavily trafficked main road and, outside motor racing events, neither is subject to a speed limit. Sight lines for road traffic at Halfway are not good.

X.31] BELOW: Port Erin, N o 4 'Loch' is back in the shed with Simplex No 24 'Betsy' and a runner. (Graeme Easton, 21 Feb 2024.)

BELOW: (Item 635) The new crossing lights at MER Halfway Level Crossing (n