Welcome to the December edition of Rail Express, and it’s a bumper 100-page magazine this month, with a free calendar (for UK readers) as an added bonus!
Our cover feature is an exclusive interview with Class 50 Alliance chairman Tony Middleton who explains how the Fifty Fund and C50A have been able to provide their locomotives for 100 tours, a milestone achieved back in September.
We also look at the age of the UK train fleets and assess how these could change again in the near future. Regarding UK train fleets, one of the most iconic, the High Speed Train, is certainly in the news this month and we round-up the latest moves including the export of both power cars and coaches to Nigeria!
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There are also reports from a behind-the-scenes tour of the Pendolino refurbishment project at Alstom’s Widnes facility while Rail Express was present for the launch of the Positive Traction battery-powered Class 08 at Barrow Hill.
In Headline News, we report on the government’s U-turn on planned ticket closures while TransPennine Express managing director Chris Jackson has explained the rationale behind the decision to remove services from the December timetable while retaining the Nova 3 fleet but not actually using them.
There are also reports on a possible new passenger operator between London and Paris, £43 billion for Britain’s railway and the sale of Arriva.
Power By The Hour, Coaches, Units, Shunters & Industrials, Irish Angle, Powerscene and Preservation bring you the latest unrivalled traction and rolling stock news while there are two pages of Reviews this month in the run-up to Christmas.
Rail Express Modeller reviews the Heljan Class 73/1 which looks to have raised the bar in ‘O’ gauge modelling. The Accurascale Class 37/6 is assessed, as is Heljan’s Class 25/9. There is a winter of content for modellers following the release of the latest Bachmann winter programme and Nigel Burkin provides modelling inspiration via an ‘EM’ gauge saloon conversion and tinkering with Bachmann Class 20s.
Finally, thanks to Avanti West Coast, you can win a limited edition first class lamp from Pendolino No. 390050 – details are in the magazine.
I hope you enjoy the issue.
Richard Clinnick
Editor, Rail Express
