platforms to be built for what is now the DS line, while the originals were still in use, on what was to become the Up Fast line. This is why there are large central gaps at Farnborough Main, Winchfield and Hook as, over time, the original platforms, now between the DF and UF, have been removed. The original and later styles of canopy on the Up and Down platforms at Hook and Winchfield are another reminder of quadrupling. Fleet station was a speculative development by the London & South Western Railway, looking to develop trade to the adjacent Fleet Pond. It OP 1848 as Fleetpond (sic) on the Basingstoke side of what was Minley Road, with a bridge over the two track railway. In 1869 the station was renamed Fleet; then, in 1904 it was resited to the London side of the Minley Road (now the A3013, Fleet Road) with quadrupling. Thus, there is no central gap here between the UF and DF. Four 40mph crossovers are now provided at each of Farnborough and Winchfield, for trains on the Fast Lines to serve the platforms on the Slow Lines, then rejoin the Fast Lines on departure. They are used regularly at Farnborough in normal times but not at Winchfield, where the crossovers only tend to see use during disruption. There is also a 15mph trailing crossover between the Up Fast and the Down Fast at each location. That at Farnborough is signalled for shunts between P2 on the DS and P1 on the US and also for departures from Up P1 to the west along the DF. In contrast, the trailing UF to DF Winchfield crossover is locally controlled and not signalled; so, it very rarely sees passenger use. Over the 14 & 15 Jan weekend, the four tracks were under possession to allow a section of the Down Fast line at Newnham (between Hook and Basingstoke) to be relaid. Around lunchtime on Sat 14th , staff involved in the possession noticed a potential landslip of the steep sided embankment supporting the DS at 41m 26ch about ¾ of a mile east of Hook station. Class 66 hauled engineers' train 6Y84 (08.10 Eastleigh East Yard to Pirbright Jn) had passed Pirbright Jn at 11.43 but was halted on the DS prior to the slip. It is not clear if it was this driver who first noted the problem. 6Y84 was therefore unable to access the worksite, two miles further west, and stayed there for much of the weekend. The embankment continued to slip; by 15.00 Sun 15th , the DS (with its third rail) and various cables were left hanging, unsupported, in the air. The slip then extended to 150ft (41m 24ch to 26ch); the DF was blocked as well, as the slip had undermined the sleeper ends. It is between the bridge over the River Whitewater and Down signal gantry east of Holt Lane underbridge (visible on satellite images). As described above, what looks like a four track embankment here is actually two separately built double track embankments resting against each other. Indeed, most of the bridges where roads pass under the line demonstrate this clearly, including some where there is even a change in direction of the road between the two halves of the bridge. Both embankments were built by primitive methods, largely utilising local clay extracted from the deep cuttings in the area. This has led to a succession of slips on the main line in this area over decades, in embankments and cutting sides, particularly after heavy rain. The slips tend to be on one half of the embankment or the other, thereby affecting either the Up or the Down lines but typically not both. On 27 Dec 1960, a slip in a very similar location on the north side of the line, possibly slightly closer to Hook, left the 'Up Local' (as then) hanging in mid-air and the'Up Through'(now UF) undermined. See Trains Illustrated & Railway Magazine, both Mar 1961. In 2022, extremes of weather were experienced in the area. Last summer Odiham (two miles south of the railway near Hook) was reported to be the driest place in the UK having had no rain in July and a BBC TV news item in mid-Jan 2023, prior to the slip, reported Odiham as having had rain on something like 24 of the previous 28 days. The combination of the two may have had some bearing on this slip. When the Newnham possession ended, only the UF and US lines were available, neither bidirectionally signalled. On Mon 16 Jan Single Line Working (SLW) was set up for Down trains over the UF line in the Down direction between Farnborough (Main) and Basingstoke. Up trains could run under normal signals on the US. To access the UF, Down trains first called at Farnborough (Main) P2 on the DS, before pulling forward on a single yellow with a 'feather' over the crossover onto the DF. Once clear of the ground signal protecting the crossovers in the Up direction, the driver changed ends by walking through the train. Then, after the ground signal had cleared, the train ran across the trailing crossover to the UF and across the facing crossover to the US, calling at Farnborough Up P1. The doors were released at both Farnborough platforms with travel from P2 to P1 possible (platform ticket? - joke)!
From there - typically after some delay - authority to enter the single line section was provided by the Pilot who, it is believed, initially despatched trains along the UF in the Down direction without the need to travel, as the line was blocked to trains in the Up direction. With authority received, Down trains crossed back to the UF, along which they proceeded to Basingstoke. It appears that a hand signaller was necessary on the approach to Basingstoke on this first day, though the precise method of working is unclear - further information is welcome. Out on the line, Down trains gradually put the Up direction automatic signals back in front of them as they approached them in the wrong direction - from green, to double yellow to yellow, then red - a rather weird sight to watch from the lineside! The plan was to run one of the two Weymouth trains an hour through the section, non-stop between Farnborough and Basingstoke. The other Weymouth train was to divert via the Portsmouth Direct. In the Down direction, intermediate stations could not be served with SLW as there are no platforms on the UF but it was less clear why Up trains could not stop. 'Do Not Travel' warnings were issued for passengers to/from Fleet, Winchfield and Hook and initially no replacement buses were provided. This caused particular problems for sixth form college students in the area; several hundred use the train from these stations to Farnborough to access the colleges. Hook and Winchfield at least have no local bus services to Farnborough and students were asked to reach the colleges however they could. The first train through seems to have been 1W53 06.30 Waterloo to Weymouth, reaching Woking on time at 06.55, but was then held for about 75 min. A further delay at Farnborough led to the train not departing until circa 09.30, just under 150 min late. The first Up train was 1Z06, a 10.04 Basingstoke to Waterloo extra, passing Hook just after 10.10 on the US. Progress of Down trains on the US was slow, with a heavy speed restriction - probably 20mph - wherever pointwork was encountered. There was also a 50mph restriction past the slip, although in practice, Down trains initially at least seemed to travel much slower than this. A complication was the cold temperatures in the area, so the local Snow and Ice Treatment Train traversed the lines in each direction mid-morning. It was clear by late morning that significant delays were building; this approach of running through trains was not working well. During the day it was reported that there would be problems for the hand signaller at the Basingstoke end if the UF was to be used in the Down direction during darkness. Thus, from late afternoon Mon, the mode of operation was swapped, with Up trains using the UF and Down trains using the US, right hand running. Trains continued to run through until well after midnight. This SLW caused problems for ECS from/to Barton Mill Carriage Sidings (on the Up side just after Basingstoke), which were resolved. No freight used the line on that Mon. NR's 6Y42 (14.05 Hoo Junction Up Yard to Eastleigh East Yard) network service diverted via Ascot and Reading. The return 7Y43 (19.56 Eastleigh East Yard to Hoo Junction Up Yard) went via Reading and Maidenhead. None of the other six regular freight trains ran. Away from the directly affected section, plans to operate SWR services from the Salisbury and Exeter line to Reading to connect with GWR fast services to Paddington could not be delivered effectively, seemingly due to lack of train crew knowledge, so were soon discontinued. There were reports of severe overcrowding of GWR services (3-car DMUs) between Basingstoke and Reading all week. On the Tue morning, 'right hand running' remained in place between Farnborough and Basingstoke but without through working. Instead, a Woking - Basingstoke shuttle service operated every 90 min in each direction. This worked better operationally but there were delays as it bedded in and there were no connections as such at either end. Although referred to as a 'shuttle', two sets were involved, both 12-car Class 450, booked to pass in the Brookwood area and then lay over at Woking for about 75 min. When a member travelled that day, the Pilot joined Down trains at Farnborough and returned as a passenger from Basingstoke, a pattern that was also observed to be in operation on Fri 20 Jan. In contrast to Monday, no attempt was made to divert services from Southampton via the Portsmouth Direct line from Tuesday, with just the normal service to Portsmouth operating. Weymouth, Poole, Portsmouth (via Eastleigh) and West of England trains all turned back at Basingstoke. This put Basingstoke station under some pressure and it has been reported that no attempt was made to hold trains for even very short periods to allow connections to be made to or from the shuttle services.
The shuttle service with right hand running continued until Friday and by Wednesday trains were running much more closely to planned time. Down trains were scheduled circa 60 min from Woking to Basingstoke, which included some slack at Farnborough during the double reversal there. In the Up direction, scheduled journey time was between 25 and 30 min. A couple of services were lost on the evening of Wed 18th to allow infrastructure monitoring train 1Q53 (18.05 Southampton Up Yard to Eastleigh East Yard) to operate to Farnborough, where it turned back in Up P1, returning west under the control of the Pilot. This periodic service normally runs to Wimbledon Park before retracing its tracks. However, in this case it was turned back early as the Farnborough shunt on its return would have been difficult or impossible, due the presence of the third rail which had to remain energised and the need to change ends. However, Fleet, Winchfield and Hook were still without any trains or bus replacements, the 'Do Not Travel' instruction in place 'until further notice'. There are national issues sourcing rail replacement buses at short notice. Coming up with timetables, particularly for the Mon in little over 24 hours, would be very challenging but locally it was felt to be a poor effort by SWR. From Wed 18 Jan, when they operated, freight services in the Up direction generally ran along the UF from Basingstoke to Woking but in the Down direction. The double reversal was impracticable for freight, including for the reasons applying to 1Q53 above. Most unusually, the four regular Down freight trains used the Portsmouth Direct line via Haslemere on the days that they operated, although they seemed to run less often than normal. Also on Wed came the first suggestions that the DF was to be temporarily slewed into the UF around the landslip site, to allow normal Up and Down operation on two tracks with left hand running. This would be a mirror of the temporary solution implemented for the 1960 slip when the UF was slewed into the DF and back past the slip on the Up side. A full line blockade between Pirbright Jn and Basingstoke was announced for Sat 21 & Sun 22 Jan and sure enough, a slew was put in over that weekend. While this was a rather slower reaction than in 1960 but the railway was neither electrified nor colour light signalled back then. It was still a hugely impressive achievement on the modern railway at a week's notice. Tribute should be paid to the teams who no doubt worked long shifts in an exposed location on top of the embankment in temperatures which were around zero during the day and fell to -6°C on at least two of the nights. The railway reopened on schedule on the morning of Mon 23 Jan and the first train through the slew was a 5Z51 01.30 Waterloo to Basingstoke, route proving ECS, which left Farnborough 02.46, reaching Basingstoke 35 min late at 03.22. It returned as 5Z52 03.00 Basingstoke to Waterloo but did not leave until 04.16. A GBRf operated Snow and Ice Treatment Train (SITT) went ahead of it, as 3Y89 03.20 Totton Yard to Totton Yard via Woking, because of the very low temperatures over the weekend. The passenger service then began, as booked, with the passage of 2L10, the 04.54 Basingstoke to Waterloo, PSUL which incidentally did travel via East Putney! The first passenger train over the slew appears to have been 1W51 05.30 Waterloo to Weymouth, preceded again by the returning SITT. The slew is short - the section of the UF used by Down trains is little longer than a 12-car Class 450 (240m) - but the connections themselves are quite long, allowing an impressive 50 mph line speed through the slew with a very good ride, Overall the whole experience only takes about 30 seconds! Trains were expected to be delayed by about two minutes passing through the slew and experience has shown this to be an accurate estimate. Officially, the slew is from 41m 09ch to 41m 40ch. Note that some NR literature refers to it as a slew (singular) but there are those who argue that it is really two, or possibly even technically four, slews. Here your scribe has gone with the singular for simplicity. Signal BE387, which normally applies to the DF, is adjacent to the west end of the slew and is still in use despite trains passing on the (normally) UF element of the slew at this point. The signal head has been realigned to aid signal sighting and the magnet transferred to the slew. All signals relating to the DS and the UF (OOU except at the slew) between Winchfield and Basingstoke have been showing red since and, in addition, signals BE133 and BE135 on the DS, approaching and at the slip are shrouded. With the line reopened as a nearly normal two track railway with full signalling, it has been possible to operate almost all of the normal Mon to Fri service from Mon 23 Jan, although some peak workings are omitted due to the reduced capacity.
BELOW: Winchfield looking towards Farnborough Main and Woking, a 12-c the last day of single line working. Note the different canopy styles on the origi is where the original Down platform was before 1904 quadrupling. (Andover h
ar shuttle service to Basingstoke passes on the Down Slow during Fri 20 Jan, inal Up (left) and later, Down (right), platforms. The gap between the fast lines has original shelters both sides.) Both Down lines (right) are under possession.
BELOW: Looking towards Basingstoke at Farnbrough North, a shuttle crosse
es from the DF (where it reversed) to UF to head for P1 for a second reversal.
BELOW: Slewing the Down Fast, late afternoon Sat 21 Jan, looking towar
rds Hook station and Basingstoke. On the right 66952 is on the Up Slow.
ABOVE: Another long distance view at 09.30 Sunday morning, 22 Jan, again from Totters Lane overbridge. BELOW: Early Sunday afternoon. The far left DS signal is bagged over and 66952 is again in both photos.
The main casualty is the 2Lxx Waterloo to Basingstoke stopping service and return, which is reduced from two trains per hour during the day to one. In the Up direction this train stops as usual at Hook, Winchfield, Fleet, Farnborough and Brookwood but in the Down direction, Hook is omitted due to the lack of platform on the DF. Fleet has a second stop per hour in the 1Txx Portsmouth services. An hourly minibus is provided for Hook passengers off Down services at Winchfield and a separate shuttle bus is operating between Hook and Basingstoke. Screens have also shown an extra hourly bus service calling at all stations between Basingstoke and Woking (but journey planners do not show it!). All services calling at Fleet or Winchfield have to take the normally rare DS to DF crossover after Winchfield. In the Up direction, the Winchfield US to UF facing crossover is available but is more hit and miss as non-stop trains are often left on the US at 90mph, rather than being checked to 40mph for the crossover. Trains not stopping at Farnborough Main will have a better chance of doing this latter crossover and in particular, anything following a Fleet and/or Farnborough stopping service. Experience at the end of the first week of the slew has been that services have operated reasonably well given the constrained infrastructure, with much close to on time running, few cancellations and delays generally less than 15 minutes, though obviously not universally. The buses have been an improvement on the previous week but less successful than the trains. Members of First staff have been deployed at Basingstoke and Hook at times to guide prospective passengers. However, when they were not present, there has been much confusion over where to wait for the buses- at the station forecourt, one side of Station Road or the other. The N o 13 service buses to Basingstoke (displaying this destination) stop on the west side of Station Road. In contrast, rail replacement services generally do not show a destination and seem to be supposed to stop on the east side of the road. Rail replacement vehicles do occasionally pass in the other direction with drivers showing no interest in the passengers waiting on the opposite side of the road. The tempting sight of four empty 53-seat or so coaches waiting patiently in Hook station car park is a mirage. They have been there almost constantly for the first week of the slew but only as a central location here on standby, in the case of further failure of the depleted infrastructure, rather than for a surge of unexpected punters at Hook! Hook passengers seem to be driving to Winchfield, based on the numbers of cars in the car park there during the week. The landslip is in a remote location and preparing for the repair, Volker Fitzpatrick engineers have built a 580m long temporary access road of reusable plastic sheeting along the foot of the embankment to move staff, materials and machinery to the site. Running along a muddy field, it is from the Hook end of the slip accessed through office building car parks adjacent to the railway at the end of Bartley Way! A temporary link from this car park has been installed to Holt Lane, avoiding the low bridge on the latter, and it will also cause much less nuisance to residents. Holt Lane is also narrow and twisting. Initially 1,000 tonnes of stone was laid along the toe of the slip at the foot of the embankment to hold it in place. Then a 60m retaining wall (made up of almost one hundred 12m long sheet steel piles, hammered vertically into the ground) would be installed part way up the embankment side to stabilise it and protect the railway from future landslips. The void beneath the tracks can then be filled with a further 8,000 tonnes of stone. Only then will it be possible to reinstate the normal railway layout and restore the full service. A Fri 27 Jan video update by Mark Killick, NR Wessex Route Director, showed sheet piling to be well underway. The steepness of the embankment slope is expected to be reduced as part of the works. There is no commitment to a full reopening date yet but the National Rail website has 22 Feb and another source 14 Feb. The last is particularly optimistic and neither is a Monday, so should be treated with caution - a full two-day closure will be required to reverse the slew. This embankment is of clay, as are many in Southern England; clay absorbs water instead of it draining, so the structure becomes vulnerable to prolonged very wet weather and freezing conditions. NR's Southern region has had over 200 earthworks failures in the past three years alone, 25 resulting in line closures that have disrupted passengers; they are becoming more frequent due to climate change. The Met Office says the UK has suffered 7 of its 10 wettest years on record since 1998, and more rain means more landslips, so this problem is not going away. Early railway companies often purchased the minimum amount of land required, resulting in steep earthworks which are more prone to slipping.
BELOW: A telephoto view of the slew with Hook station in the distance and a
a compressed view of the slip - left; an Up train is passing. (Tue 24 Jan 2023.)
BELOW: A Down train towards Basingstoke
e on the slew. (All photos by John Cowburn.)
BELOW: A Down freight on the slew from the other (Hook) end - ther
re are actually four overbridges visible ahead, the busy one is the M3.
BELOW: An atmospheric cold and frosty morning; 59205 heads towards Woking
g actually in the Up direction on the Up Slow! (John Cowburn, Mon 23 Jan 2023.)
354] Hurst Green - East Grinstead: An Up side landslip north of Lingfield at 25m 28ch mid-morning on 17 Jan led to troughed cables sagging and imposition of a 5mph restriction on that track. This is north of Lingfield trailing crossover at 26m 17ch but south of previous slip problems, where the Redhill to Tonbridge line passes over the East Grinstead line. By mid-morning services had to turn back at Hurst Green. Unfortunately there was a meeting at Lingfield Park Racecourse from 20-22 Jan. The slip was 6.5m high (the full height of the embankment) and 15m long with a further 10m of slip and 5m of cracked embankment either side of the main slip. Planned stabilisation by use of 70 piles was delayed by harder ground conditions than anticipated. Service remained suspended until 25 Jan. 355] Slough: (BLN 1409.2273) On Sun 29 Jan a member inspected the new anti-suicide fences along P2 and P3, where the gateline has moved into the station ticket hall off P2 (Down Main). The fences were complete. On P3 (Up Main) there are two gates at the country end and one near the base of the steps to the new London end footbridge. There is no easy access from the listed old country end footbridge, used by many to access Windsor services. Down P2 is better provided with five gates, two near the main gateline entrance, one near the old footbridge steps and two at the country end of the platform (one sliding in the opposite direction to all the others - you always get one!), moderately well suited to change into or out of a Windsor service currently. However, there isn't one near the new footbridge, a potential problem as the only access to the new footbridge lift is from the platform side. Our member understands that, from the May timetable, no trains will stop on P2 and P3 in normal traffic (so the gates will then normally be locked all the time) - the one remaining Oxford train each hour to stop will cross at Dolphin Jn and Slough West to use P4 and P5. This is partly a reaction to the eight potential suicides in the last 18 months. Other timetable changes intended from May mean that Didcot off peak services no longer serve Hayes & Harlington or West Drayton but run fast between Slough and Ealing Broadway. This loses a useful connection at Hayes & Harlington to/from Heathrow. 356] Didcot Newbury & Southampton (DN&SR): A member spent 13-16 Oct 2022 on an expedition to Hampshire, Wiltshire and West Sussex. On 13 Oct he visited Woodhay, ex-GWR (DN&SR). The building here is a two storey residence, hemmed in by trees, adjacent to the A34, down a very cluttered lane. The occupant was very hostile to photographers (this was our member's only bad experience, others he met were happy to allow photography, following polite requests). Highclere is a very large two storey 'des-res' down a minor lane. Burghclere is a very large two storey house up a long, straight approach road; it has some GWR signage. At Litchfield (Hants) the goods shed has been converted to a two storey house, with platforms in the back garden. Whitchurch is a large two storey residence; the platform is the garden and the brick built subway remains.At the site of Sutton Scotney,all traces have been obliterated by a new housing development on the site. A nearby overbridge was fenced off but is to be restored, with a footpath through it. There is no evidence of Burton Stacey Halt, an unadvertised WWII halt. It was by a brick built bridge which still stands and took the DN&SR under the A303. Worthy Down Platform (an island, it had an Up side too!) remains as a worthy monument, a grass covered structure with a brick built shelter where an information board has been provided. At Kings Worthy the site has been lost to a dual carriageway road junction. Winchester (Chesil) station site has been taken over by a multistorey car park but the goods shed and station master's house remain; the unoccupied house has been recently refurbished. The former railway tunnel is intact, locked and used as an equipment store by the local authority. Locally advertised walking tours sometimes visit, accessed via the trackbed which passes the goods shed. All the major DN&SR line station buildings, though varying in size, appear to have been designed by the same architect and those remaining, except Woodhay (hence the hostility to photos?) all look well cared for, and sympathetically restored. 357] …and, at a secret location in West Sussex: The second greater mouse eared bat (myotis myotis) discovered on British soil since it was declared extinct in the UK in 1992 has recently been found hibernating in a disused railway tunnel. In 2002 a single male was found in a 'network of tunnels in West Sussex', where it has been hibernating for the last 20 years (they can also hibernate in caves). A second bat found in the same tunnels last month is believed to be an immigrant from France which has an established population. It was found during the annual National Bat Monitoring programme.
358] Redcar Bulk Terminals (back in the North East): NEXT PAGE: Track plans at opening, thanks to Andy Overton & Martyn Brailsford, north is to the right - compare with TRACKmaps 2 p47B 2020. Note detail of the dashed area needs to be confirmed north (right) of the weighbridges, including layout, line names and any directionality etc. Can anyone help please? (Also numbering of the Ore Terminal Arrival Sidings and Departures Sidings.) The BSC (British Steel Corporation) signal box, shown twice for relative location, sat between the terminals. Our Sat 9 Jul 2022 Lackenby Looper railtour (reported in BLN 1406.1985) to, among other places, the much diminished Redcar Ore Terminal is a reminder of how much railway freight infrastructure has been lost. There were once far more extensive facilities here. The Ore Terminal (commissioned 2 Sep 1973) was provided first to enable iron ore imported by sea to be loaded into trains for distribution, both locally along BSC metals and further afield via the British Rail (BR) network. BR access was via a new double junction, Tod Point Jn, controlled by Grangetown signal box via an individual function switch (IFS) panel provided by the BR workshops at York, working in conjunction with the illuminated diagram also covering the frame area. This panel was already in the box, having been commissioned on 25 Mar 1973 in connection with alterations to signalling on the Beam Mill lines. It replaced an earlier IFS panel, both in conjunction with the lever frame, control Main Line colour light signals as well. A remote relay interlocking was at Tod Point, controlled by the IFS. Tod Point Jn (20m 50ch) was on the original main (passenger) line to Redcar Central, which route was replaced by another, further south, from Mon 19 Jun 1978 - shortening the route by 24ch to release land for steelworks expansion that never happened. The infamous British Steel Redcar OP that day on this cut off but has been 'temporarily' without service since 27 members joined the last train on Sat 14 Dec 2019. The BSC engaged Westinghouse Brake & Signal Co to fully signal the Ore Terminal layout itself. A new signal box named BSC Redcar was equipped with a Westinghouse M1 IFS panel, consisting of mosaic square tiles, working a free-wired relay interlocking. Operation of points and signals was via thumb switches, the former positioned in a row along the bottom of the panel and the latter geographically positioned on the track diagram. The layout was track circuited throughout. Grangetown box signalled trains on the Ore Arrival line to BSC35 signal, itself worked by BSC Redcar. It was a fixed red main aspect, from where they were admitted to one of three Arrival Sidings by subsidiary signals. BR locos uncoupled in these sidings, running via the Engine Line to the departure end of the Departure Sidings to pick up return traffic. All other movements in the Ore Terminal were performed by BSC locos, other signals being ground position lights (GPLs). No known external photograph exists of the now disused BSC Redcar box and, if any member has any, they would be of great interest. Unlike the Ore Terminal, the Mineral Terminal was provided for materials arriving by rail, namely coal and limestone. Preliminary work, as far as British Rail was concerned, was commissioned on 9 Nov 1975 in the form of an additional double line junction at Tod Point Jn leading to the terminal, the signalling for which was added to the existing IFS in Grangetown box and to the Tod Point interlocking. This time BSC engaged GEC-General Signals Ltd to provide their signalling, who supplied an Integra Domino IFS panel through their sub-contractor Henry Williams Ltd. This was in BSC Redcar box, the opposite side of the operating floor to the Ore Terminal panel, the former now being designated No 1 panel and the new one No 2. It was also a square-mosaic panel with the switch controls similarly located to No 1 panel.The lines associated with the Mineral Terminal ran on the opposite side of the box to the Ore Terminal lines, so the panels faced their respective layouts. A free-wired relay interlocking was provided. On 9 Aug 1976 BSC commissioned their signalling along with the Mineral Terminal. It differed from the Ore Terminal signalling in that all the running moves were controlled by main aspect signals displaying red or yellow, with GPLs only being used at the runround lines end of the layout or for shunts. These differences were because BR locos would be in charge of the unloading operations here, rather than depositing wagons for BSC locos to pick up. In addition to the panel in BSC Redcar box, two subsidiary IFS were located in the Coal 'A' Hopper and Limestone Hopper houses controlling unloading 'Toton signals'** and GPLs leading thereto but no further details of these panels are known. The layout was fully track circuited. As before, Grangetown box signalled trains up to the BSC Redcar first signal on the Mineral Arrival line, BSC201.
[BLN BELOW: (Item 358) Redcar Mineral and Ore Terminals as at opening (BSC Red (This item is thanks to Any Overton, it is in this section of BLN for formatting th
1417] dcar signal box is shown on both for relative positioning) north is to the right. he plans - which are thanks to Martyn Brailsford - as a centrefold in paper BLN.)
As earlier, over the 17-19 Jun 1978 weekend, the Main Lines towards Redcar Central were realigned further south. The junction between the lines to the Ore and Mineral Terminals and the new Main Lines was located a little further towards Grangetown at a new Ore Terminal Jn (20m 05ch), rather than as formerly at Tod Point Jn. The new signalling for Ore Terminal Jn was added to the Grangetown interlocking rather than the one at Tod Point but controlled by the existing IFS. This left Tod Point Jn as a single double junction leading to either the Ore or Mineral Terminals, as it remains today. Signalling developments in later years at Grangetown box are outside the scope of this item. The layouts and signalling at the two terminals then continued in use until around 1998, when BSC Redcar box was closed and the internal signalling decommissioned. BSC35 and BSC201 signals were replaced by stop boards; we know this took place sometime after 27 Mar 1997, as Grangetown panel fascia was redrawn on that date still showing the previous signalling fringe arrangements. Photo evidence suggests the closure had taken place by 11 Dec 1999. Track rationalisations included the Ore Arrival and Departure Lines merging into a single track after Tod Point Jn to lead to the terminal. TRACKmaps shows the later arrangements. By the date of 'The Lackenby Looper', the Mineral Terminal was completely out of use. Any further information to add to this article would be welcome. **The mechanisation of Toton Down Yard by the LMS in May 1939 included hump signals of the position light type, but these could display just three indications. Three white lights horizontally displayed meant 'stop humping', three white lights at 45o meant 'hump slow', and three white lights vertically displayed meant 'hump normal'. To ensure that drivers of the hump loco had good visibility of the instructions given by the main hump signal, a series of additional hump signals was installed along each of the arrival lines to repeat its indication, and these were located in such a way that the driver always had a clear view of at least one of them. The hump signals were only illuminated while a humping movement was being made. The same type of position light hump signals were provided at Toton Up Yard when it was mechanised in Sep 1950 and these became known as 'Toton signals'. 359] Crawley: Over the past year, NR has worked with Southern, Crawley Borough Council and Arora Group to improve the station and revamp the 1960s design in a £6M makeover, with a brighter look to the concourse and a new plaza. Crawley was designated as a new town 76 years ago on 9 Jan 1947. 360] Bognor Regis: NR has applied for listed building consent to replace the semaphore signals at the platform ends (LEFT) with colour light signals. NR does not consider the signals are within the curtilage of the listed station building but submitted the application at the request of Arun District Council. The signals are the four upper quadrant starter signals with rail built posts on the platform ramps, each pair in a 'T' formation with the post centrally between P1&P2 and P3&P4 tracks. They are the last mechanical running signals at Bognor Regis. Various points are still worked by rodding. Over the weekend of 14-15 Jan some of the points in the rather unusual layout were renewed on a like for like basis. So, if the new colour light signals facilitate later transfer of control to Barnham, it will be with the present layout. The application: http://bit.ly/3HFBsZp put BR/4/23/L in the reference search field. NR say that the signals need to be removed for public safety (they have only been there since 1936!). There has been one objection suggesting the signals be replaced like for like to maintain the aesthetics of the station - but admitting that colour lights are required for transfer of control to Barnham box. (Photo: Bognor Regis platform end semaphores on 25 Jul 2015, Angus McDougall.)
361] No more riding Down the Pier: (BLN 1416.232) Answering the query, a member has a note that the Down Ryde pier line (No 2 on TRACKmaps 5 p20A 2019) was not in regular use after Sat 12 Jan 1991, which appears to be the date the last shuttle train ran between Ryde Pier Head and Ryde Esplanade. At 32ch, was it our shortest timetabled complete passenger service, certainly in recent years? 362] Hythe: (MR p18) (BLNs 1374.1027 & 1404.MR134.) In late Dec the director of Hythe Ferry announced that there was 'no alternative' but to cease trading on 31 Dec 2022 after 135 years as commuter levels had not yet recovered and costs were rising. It has sadly got to a point where Hythe Ferry has reached a position whereby it is no longer financially viable to continue trading as a business, despite best efforts, cutbacks and voluntary assistance. Over £60,000 was raised in 2021 to finance a refit of the ferry and provide financial support to restart the service, including volunteer fundraising and council bail-outs. A member visited twice in 2022 and typically only saw 10 to 15 people on board. He thinks it may often run with a lot less than that. Members were warned of the closure via a 23 Dec Forum posting on our website, word spread and significant numbers visited before the end of year. It was discovered that the 2ft gauge originally 700yd pier railway is now operated separately from the ferry - believed to have happened during 2021. This originated when a local community group held a public meeting on 24 Nov 2016 to 'save Hythe Pier and ferry' by setting up a Charitable Community Benefit Society under the name of Hythe Pier Heritage Association. On 6 Feb 2019, 140 years after the original pier construction, Blue Funnel announced they intended to hand over the pier to the Hythe Pier Heritage Association. The unusual railway would continue to run even if the ferry ceased although would be deprived of a major source of passengers,affecting its viability.Another discovery was that at Esplanade station, trains are terminating at a temporary platform before the facing points in the single track. The track needs relaying but is included in the Grade II listing of the pier, which is causing difficulties. Hythe is said to be the seventh longest pier in the UK and the 250V DC third rail railway the longest (time) continuously operating electric pier railway in the world - it did stop during lockdown. The 1922 rolling stock has worked the line throughout its life, with its two locos built around 1912 in Loughborough by Brush. They ran at a mustard gas factory in Avonmouth, originally battery powered. Three locos were acquired; two were converted to third rail electric and the third for spares. During the Railway's Centenary weekend, 23 & 24 Jul 2022, trains also terminated short of the points as in late Dec. Similar Loco 3 (Brush 16303/1917, new to His Majesty's Explosive Factory, Queensferry, Flintshire), still battery powered and borrowed from Amberley Museum, was on display in the original platform. When quiet, passengers were invited to attempt to fit in the cab and see if they could drive it! One drove almost to the end [a BLS member perhaps?]. At the end of Dec, with Loco 2 stripped and under overhaul, Loco 1 with nameplate 'Gerald Yorke', was in action, with a 3-car stock set and a DVT. The three Councils in the area have ruled out any sort of support this time and the future Waterside line reopening on the Fawley branch may make the ferry a less attractive commercial proposition to potential buyers. However, a possible buyer has come forward who could save the Hythe Ferry. It has continued to run and on 29 Dec a reprieve was announced by Lee Rayment, MD of Blue Funnel Cruises Ltd, who himself bought the operation in 2016 when it last faced the threat of closure. No names have been given, with negotiations under way. Mr Rayment said: With the recent announcement of Hythe ferry ceasing operation, there have been several parties interested in taking on or purchasing the business and continuing the ferry service. At this moment in time, the ferry will continue to operate under Blue Funnel while discussions continue with a potential new owner/operator. In the latest development, lane closures on the A35 Redbridge Causeway (Jan until Nov) have led to delays of up to 90 min for motorists and boosted passenger numbers on the Hythe Ferry by 250% according to operator Lee Rayment. (SWR may benefit too.) He also stated that talks about the sale of the ferry were progressing and its future was 'positive'. Redbridge Causeway (A35) is the main crossing of the River Test south of the M27, other crossings south of Romsey are only dead ends or private. 1417 SOUTH WEST Robert Green [email protected] 363] Dartmoor Line: With the fast all day hourly daily trains, the Exeter to Okehampton bus has been cut to roughly every three hours and the Exeter to Bude bus now only runs to Okehampton station.
BELOW: (BLN 1416.X10) A random picture from Sydney down
under. (Well, actually it was from Greg Beecroft, 27 Dec 2012.)
THIS SERIES: (Item 365) Additional to BLN 1416.45 photos, all by Chris Totty Quarries, La Corbière on the southwest corner of Jersey. FIRST: Looking u here were set in concrete, but was it installed in 1983? BELOW: Le Main
y on 11 Jan 2023. La Rosière Desalination Plant winch railway near La Moye p to the top winding house. PREVIOUS: The sleepers of the previous track n is a common Jersey surname, were they one of the original workforce?
BELOW: This is the alternative access route to the seawater pumping st
tation, clearly unsuitable for transporting heavy equipment and tools…
BELOW: The low level seawater pumping station, moving equipment to/from here is the railway's raison d'être.
364] Where am I? (7): I might be confused with a heritage railway. Many of my branch trains ran on to another Station. My branch terminus was also reached from another junction. Answer: Chacewater between Truro and Penzance, not to be confused with Chasewater Heritage Railway in Staffordshire (which, incidentally, Jim Fergusson's Station List has done on our website UK GWR Sections 45 & 61). OP 25 Aug 1852 by the West Cornwall Railway, it later became the nominal junction station for the line via Perranporth (OP 6 Jul 1903) to Newquay (OP 2 Jan 1905), though most trains ran through to Truro. The actual junction was a little to the west, known as Blackwater East Jn. Once there was a triangle with Blackwater West & North Jns. Branch services to Newquay ceased 4 Feb 1963 and Chacewater CP 5 Oct 1964 although Blue Circle Cement depot traffic continued for many years. Newquay is, of course, reached from Par via Bugle and could also be reached from Burngullow Jn via Parkandillack, which was never used by regular passenger trains. [It would be a shorter, quicker route to Newquay.] 365] Jersey Part 2: (BLN 1416.45) In the abandoned quarry, Jersey Water built La Rosière Desalination Plant, commissioned in 1970. Seawater was pumped into a deep pond (old quarry pool), before being desalinated using a multi-stage flash (MSF) distillation process. However, by 1997 the MSF plant had reached the end of its operational life and was replaced with a modern Reverse Osmosis (RO) plant, with significant operational benefits. Opened in 1999, in 2016-17 the plant underwent a significant upgrade increasing output capacity from 6 million litres a day up to 10.8 million (requiring 45MW of electricity per day), about 50% of Jersey's daily demand for water. Desalination is a complicated process but, simply, seawater is pumped at all states of the tide, seaweed and other large matter is chopped up, and the water is stored and allowed to settle before it is filtered. The water is then pumped to the RO chambers which convert it to fresh water and any reject water returned to the sea. And the narrow gauge railway? The pumps need maintenance which cannot be handled at sea level or in the quarry pool, so the rails are there to enable the pumps and other items requiring maintenance to be winched to the cliff top. The track is on the line of the original quarry railway and, where rails still existed, it had become apparent that track needed to be replaced. This was carried out by Alan Keef. 366] Combe Down Tunnel: About a mile south of Bath on the former Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway and opened in 1874 and CA 7 Mar 1966, it was once the UK's longest without intermediate ventilation at 1,829yds. It is now part of the Two Tunnels Greenway (the other is Devonshire Tunnel) walking and cycling path opened on 6 Apr 2013 and is the longest cycling tunnel in Britain. Its ruling gradient is 1:100 down to Midford. Members looking for an alternative eccentricity to railway enthusiasm could enter this year's Tunnel Ultra on 31 Mar-2 Apr, when you will be allowed to run up to 200 times (100 Up/100 Down) through the tunnel within 55 hours. No outside support is permitted, headphones are banned and no double heading or banking is allowed. The Tunnel Ultra website will guide you through the process and BBC Sport has plenty of information. Your South West Ed regrets that he will not be able to meet anyone on this occasion, as he has a longstanding appointment with his sofa that day! 367] Levelling Up in Devon & Cornwall: In Devon, there is £13.5M for a new Okehampton Parkway Park & Ride station on the eastern edge of the town near the A30 - the West Devon Transport Hub - with high quality cycle facilities and EV charging points. A £50M grant will help create a new direct train service, linking four of Cornwall's largest urban areas with through trains: Newquay, St Austell (via Par), Truro, and Falmouth/Penryn. It is thought there won't be a new curve at Par. It will be particularly useful for students at the various college and university campuses at the towns. BBC Cornwall illustrated their report on this with a Class 444. We await further news of the improvements, including the required third rail electrification in Cornwall required to run these units. Newquay to Falmouth takes just under two hours at best by train with changes at Par and Truro, currently. Good old British Rail (BR) planned to reopen Parkandillack to St Dennis Jn which closed in 1965, the missing link is still only two miles, then run Newquay passenger services from Truro. As well as being a shorter,faster,route it could have served St Dennis. Par to St Dennis Jn was to close to passengers and be retained for freight from Par to Goonbarrow Jn. Another benefit was demolishing a low bridge that kept being bashed on the A30 (since bypassed). BR carried out detailed surveys of the section to be reinstated in Oct 1986 and Nov 1991; it wasn't until 1998 that it was finally said to be too expensive.
ABOVE: (Item 369) I've heard of going online but this is ridiculous… (Carbis Bay station is ahead.) BELOW: (Item 367) Parkandillack, the then traditional end of line walkabout on 4 May 1986 during our 'Cornishman' tour https://www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/80s/860504b2.htm (Angus McDougall).
368] LEFT: Where am I? Clue, it's not far from Beverley Hills. Answer in BLN 1418. (Photo Greg Beecroft, 29 Dec 2012.) 369] Car-missed Bay: On Sat 21 Jan at 23.20, Devon & Cornwall Police reported a car on the track in the Carbis Bay area, so the St Erth signaller blocked the branch. The Police were unable to do anything to assist as the car was on private land (!) and their advice was to move it to a highway, then notify them!! The car appeared to have veered from Beach Road, onto the railway 30 to 40ft below the road bridge, then 150ft along the track. There were no occupants (scarpered?). A vehicle recovery company couldn't assist as the embankment was too steep, so it was decided to use an RRV (Road Rail Vehicle or should that be a Road Recovery Vehicle?) under a possession. No trains ran that Sunday, ticket acceptance was arranged on local buses, and after 11.48 a half hourly rail replacement bus ran. After a day of toing and froing, sorting out legalities, a RRV with a trailer arrived from Par clearing the line by 23.40 for normal service Mon. The car, described as a Mercedes, was later found to be a BMW (Bayerische Motoren Werke GmbH = Bavarian Motor Works) - you can't get the spotters these days! 370] Strawberry Line: (BLN 1416.244) Somerset CC has committed to complete the trackbed path in small sections; one has now opened in Westbury-sub-Mendip, between Station Rd and Erlon Lane. 1417 WEST MIDLANDS (Brian Schindler) [email protected] 371] West Midlands Metro: ①(BLN 1394.382) Members need to know that some newer conductors are unaware that ANY West Midlands area PlusBus ticket is valid along the whole line (even Coventry and Walsall for example). During his grice on 14 Jan, your Wales Editor's Wolverhampton PlusBus ticket was readily accepted by two conductors (one said: You don't see many of those nowadays) but rejected by a third who was adamant that it is only valid on buses and collected a Zone 1 £2.00 single fare for the Edgbaston Village to Bull Street leg of the journey. This was then raised with the Metro's Customer Services whose agent advised: I can confirm that a PlusBus ticket is valid for travel on West Midlands Metro. I apologise that one of the conductors were unaware the ticket was valid. I have passed your comments on to our training department to ensure all members of staff are aware of this. Compensation offered in the form of a complimentary system day ticket has been accepted! All trams have cab radios; the best advice in this situation is to politely ask the conductor to check by radio. ②Completion of Eastside extension which passes below Curzon Street HS2 station has been deferred two years (and the rest…). Opening of the £227M extension was originally due to be in 2025 but now services from Bull Street to High Street Deritend will not begin until early 2027. Construction is due to start on Curzon Street station this year and Midland Metro Alliance plans to start work on the tram extension in Jan 2026. The HS2 station should be largely built by early 2027 but trams will pass through its stop without stopping until the station opens in 2029 (and the rest…). ③On the Dudley extension, reopening of Castle Hill in the town centre took place on 23 Jan after the completion of the main works here. Double track is laid with services due to begin in 2024 (and the rest…). The track now comes to a dead end on the more or less level section of Birmingham Street, at the foot of what will be the very steep, curved section to run round the east end of the Bus Station. 372] Coventry: (BLN 1412.2665) The West Midlands Combined Authority has agreed, subject to DfT approval, to release the first instalment of £36.8M from a possible £72M of funding from the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement towards the Coventry Very Light Rail (VLR) system and the VLR National Innovation Centre at Dudley. The funding will go towards building a demonstration track in Coventry City Centre and to help develop a business case for a fully operational system.
373] Pershore: Wychavon District Council has agreed £500k towards a new £1.5M 'flow footbridge' linking the station to land at Dawes Way in Pinvin on the other side of the line from the station (it is still single track here). In an effort to increase station patronage the council has also agreed to invest £1.5M into developing a car park with over 300 spaces at Dawes Way on completion of the bridge. Flow crossings are a recent innovation from NR made from fibre-reinforced polymer, making them lighter and cheaper than steel bridges. They are eye catching (one opened recently near Craven Arms). Target completion of the bridge is summer 2023, depending on third party supplementary funding being agreed. It is thought that a lack of parking has been a major deterrent to people using the station although it is only 4½ miles by road from Worcestershire Parkway station. Despite Covid this new station has been a big success with 315,000 passengers in 2020-21 and 49,132 people changing trains there. In comparison Pershore recorded 102,550 passengers in 2019-20 and 88,116 in 2020-21. 374] A curve ball: From 23 Jan until 20 Feb Warwickshire County Council is to consult on a proposed new Rugby Parkway station, ahead of an application for outline planning permission. The station will be on land next to the A428 Crick Road, southeast of Rugby on the Northampton Loop served by LNwR Birmingham New Street to Euston services. Plans for the station include parking for up 325 vehicles. 375] Nuneaton: On Tues 29 Aug 1972, the 16.25 Birmingham Landor Street to Harwich Parkeston Quay, Freightliner, 20 vehicles hauled by a Class 47 loco, was brought to a stand on the Up Slow line by a red signal, north of Nuneaton station, due to the signaller at Nuneaton Abbey Street box noticing smoke from under the first vehicle. The guard, in the rear loco cab, was also aware of the smoke so alighted and isolated the brakes of the wagon concerned. He considered it safe for the train to run into the Up Slow platform at Nuneaton after arranging for a Carriage & Wagon Examiner to attend. The train remained at the station for 45 minutes before departing on to the Up Fast line at 18.00. Subsequently, the 17.05 Euston to Barrow-in-Furness passenger train, 13 vacuum braked coaches and a Class 86 electric loco, arrived at Nuneaton station on the Down Main line where it was booked to stop, having experienced, according to the driver, an uneventful journey. He was thus very surprised to learn that superficial damage had been caused to the offside of the rear five coaches - panels and doors scraped with some windows broken. The guard, travelling in the rear coach, was made aware by the dining car staff as the train approached Nuneaton. Immediately following was the 17.25 Euston to Manchester passenger train, with Class 86 loco E3126. It was not booked to stop at Nuneaton, so was travelling on the Down Main line at about 98mph when the driver saw an obstruction ahead. The train shuddered as it came into contact with it and there was a loud bang. The driver made an emergency brake application. When the train came to a stand a twisted mass of steel was found to be wedged under the leading end of the loco, which, although not derailed, was immovable. Meanwhile the Freightliner had reached as far south as Brinklow, five miles north of Rugby, where it was stopped at a red signal controlled by Rugby signal box. The driver was asked to examine his train and, together with his guard, they found a door missing from a container loaded on the sixth vehicle. Fortunately no personal injuries were caused by either incident. An Inquiry, conducted by Lieutenant Colonel I K A McNaughton on behalf of the Railway Inspectorate, (published 17 Sep 1973), did not provide any information on when and how services were restored to normal, but concentrated solely on establishing the reason for the door falling off. First thoughts were that the container had been tampered with while the train was standing at Nuneaton station but this was quickly discounted as the guard, who had not left the platform, saw nobody approach or interfere with any of the containers. This container had begun its journey by road, empty, from Cradley Heath to a firm at Market Drayton for loading. The Road Motor driver waited until it was loaded before taking it to Landor Street terminal for transfer to rail. Although he was aware that the safety catches were missing, he considered this did not constitute a problem as the operating handles were secure in the latches. The Terminal Overseer and Fitter, the latter whose responsibility it was to inspect each wagon to ensure the train was safe to travel and to carry out a brake test before departure, did not notice anything wrong. Various tests were carried out on the container but no definite conclusion was reached as to whether the absence of the safety catches contributed to the incident.
The Landor Street Terminal Manager was of the opinion that, in his own experience, provided the operating handles were properly in their latches, the absence of safety catches was not vital. The Inspecting Officer believed that the aerodynamic force of the non-stop Euston to Manchester train, running at nearly 100mph, caused the operating handles to jump out of the latches, leading to the container door swinging out violently against the passenger trains passing on the adjacent line. He did not feel that any blame should be apportioned to the Terminal Manager or his subordinates. The report praised Freightliners Ltd for acting with commendable speed in drawing attention to its terminals of the need to ensure that existing instructions about the security of containers were strictly adhered to, specifically the condition of door fastenings. (Thanks to Charles Allenby for these reports.) 1415 ISLE OF MAN (Graeme Easton) [email protected] 376] Electric Railway: On 19 Jan a buffer stop was installed on each of the two tracks in place of the moveable large planters before Ramsey Parsonage Road Level crossing. Each base of the four black metal triangular side supports is fixed to its track rail by three bolts (which could be removed). A red wooden beam joins each pair of these, extending beyond the rails either side. It is understood that the former Ramsey Plaza terminus will no longer be used to stable ECS at busy times (TT etc). Learned opinion is that final ECS use of the old site was Tue 7 Jun 2022, on Ramsey Sprint day during TT week. 377] 2023 Season: Services start: IOMSR 10 Mar; MER 14 Mar; Mountain Railway 18 Mar; Horse Tram 6Apr. All run until 29 Oct, but not daily in the shoulder season; timetables are on our website e-BLN. 378] Port Erin Museum: Woodworm was discovered in some of the sleepers in the museum tracks. Given the exhibits (particularly the intention to display Manx Northern Railway Cleminson coach N6), this has had to be eradicated. Some exhibits were moved from the museum to the carriage shed before the work was carried out, resulting in the unusual sight of Royal Coach F36 out of the museum. 379] Steam Railway: Although not unique to the IOM but coal prices are having a serious impact on the economics of steam railways. A return trip from Douglas to Port Erin uses about a tonne of coal. A couple of years ago, coal delivered to the Island was £150 a tonne. It is now £650 a tonne. At the 2022 fares, 50 full priced adult returns would be required just to pay for the coal. 1417 IRELAND (Martin Baumann) [email protected] 380] Kishogue/Kishoge:(BLN 1405.1834) This four platform station, built in 2008 for €6.35M but never opened, is 5m 55ch from Heuston on the Kildare line between Clondalkin/Fonthill and Adamstown. Irish Rail now says that it is now due to open in Dec 2023 - it will be interesting to see which variation of the name is used (the place is Kishoge). The station cladding and glazing has been badly vandalised and tenders in the region of €3.8M are being sought by 24 Feb for a contractor to design and install a façade cladding system to replace the existing protective metal sheeting (approximately 350m²) with tensioned wire mesh. Weather protection canopies are also required and some finishing off work. 381] Look (at this) before you Leap: It must be a Leap Year in Ireland as a 'Leap +1' offer entitles a TFI Leap Card user to bring 'someone' on eligible TFI train, tram and bus services over the 4-6 Feb (incl) Bank Holiday weekend free of charge. This is for the same journey on participating services. Gatelines will be staffed or left open (!!) to allow the '+1' through. Passengers simply present their TFI Leap Card (Transport For Ireland, before your ask) to pay for their journey, or validate a preloaded ticket as normal and bring someone with them. Over 6M cards have been sold and 1bn journeys recorded (an average of 450,000 daily). Between Jul 2022 and the end of the year, 80,000 Young (19-23) Adult Leap Cards were sold. Leap cards themselves are valid on DART, Cork Commuter Rail, Dublin Bus, Go-Ahead Ireland, Luas, Bus Éireann, most TFI Local Link services and some TFI bus services throughout Ireland. 382] Complaints: Irish Rail received over 10,400 complaints in the first 11 months of 2022. Some were serious matters such as alleged racism or disabled passengers being unable to access services. Others were verging on daft, such as suggesting a driver was sightseeing rather than driving at the proper speed to get people to work. A train was reported leaving Bray 4 min early leaving passengers behind and overheated Dart coaches like an oven were complained about. However, independent passenger surveys showed 94% of passengers were fairly or very satisfied with their overall Irish Rail experience.
BELOW: (Item 376) New buffer stops at Ramsey MER; the line on to Ramsey
y Plaza terminus can be consider to be 'closed'. (George Hobbs, 19 Jan 2023.)
BELOW: (Item 378) Port Erin (Douglas right), Royal Coach F36 is unusually out o
of the Museum in the open by the carriage shed. (Graeme Easton, 26 Jan 2023.)
X.15] BELOW: 3007 at Belfast Botanic on 21 Jan 2023 working the 14.
25 Larne Harbour to Belfast Great Victoria Street. (Martin Baumann.)
383] Noel Playfair: NIR's senior driver, Noel Playfair, sadly died on duty on 16 Jan after becoming ill at Portadown. He had been with NIR since 1979, driving since 1982. He was well known as the regular RPSI steam train driver - having been firing since 1987 and driving since 1996. Noel was universally popular with colleagues and friends; he had time for everyone. Our Ireland Editor had personally known him for nearly 30 years and it was a great shock to hear of his death. Only two days before, Noel had driven Martin's train home and he was talking to him at Londonderry. 384] A moving experience at Cullybackey: (BLN 1371.595) On 20 Feb 2023 level crossing and platform works in the area are due to be commissioned. The three crossings will be converted to CCTV and the platform shortened by 40m at the Coleraine end and lengthened 40m at the Ballymena end. Then the station will be 2ch closer to Ballymena at 36m 35ch. For this and some other works, there will be no trains between Antrim to Coleraine 11 to 19 Feb (incl) extending to Lagan Jn (Belfast) on 11 & 12 Feb. 385] Lisburn: (BLN 1416.254) Removal of the facing crossover at the Dublin end from Sun 8 Jan means that P1 is no longer a bidirectional through platform. However, there is a Belfast end trailing crossover with signals at both ends of P1, so it could be used for passenger turnbacks from the Belfast direction. It remains to be seen if that situation continues with the ongoing pre-resignalling rationalisation. 386] Waterford: The iconic gantry crane at Waterford Sally Park Container Terminal, after Waterford West Cabin on the Down (north) side of the line, before the station, was dismantled during Dec. It is more operationally efficient and economical to use reach stacker vehicles to load and unload wagons. 1417 SCOTLAND (Greg Beecroft) [email protected] 387] Dingwall: (TRACKmaps 1 p21A 2021) A keen member recently visited to check the layout; the Down Siding, shown as OOU, has been fettled up and is entirely usable. Piles of rails, ballast and new sleepers on the loading platform suggest that the siding is used in connection with track maintenance. 388] Fearn: (LEFT: 25'' map of 1904) Our keen member visited recently. The station is two miles northwest of the village so, had it been on the original GWR, it might have been Fearn Road! As shown, a small goods yard on the Up side had four sidings. Only the two longer sidings either side of the loading bank remain, disconnected and overgrown, with substantial trees between the rails of the outermost siding. The siding nearest the running line ran through a small goods shed, which is no longer there. Fearn OP 1 Jun 1864 with the section of line from Invergordon to Bonar Bridge now Ardgay (from 2 May 1977). From 1910 to 1966, the station had a passing loop,second platform and footbridge. The attractive station building survives, apparently in residential use. Portable steps are provided on the very low platform to assist passengers boarding and alighting from trains. The station was used by just 2,980 passengers in 2021-22, a reduction from 4,304 in 2018-19, but it can look forward to being served by electric trains within the next 25 years. 389] Cameron Bridge: On the Levenmouth branch, work has started on building the new Cameron Bridge station, quite a bit east of the original station. It will have two platforms 196m long, linked by a footbridge with lifts. There is to be a 125 space car park. Fife Council has not yet granted planning permission but NR considers that current work is within its permitted development rights.