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  • Hitachi wins £350million order for new West Coast trains

    Hitachi wins £350million order for new West Coast trains

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    Hitachi’s Newton Aycliffe factory will deliver a new fleet of 23 trains for Avanti West Coast in 2022.  The completion of Intercity Express Programme (IEP) and ScotRail Class 385 EMU orders are on the horizon, and the £350million deal is a further boost for the County Durham facility after securing the contract to supply bi-mode…

  • Tornado’s 2020 tour diary takes shape

    Tornado’s 2020 tour diary takes shape

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    PEPPERCORN ‘A1’ Pacific No. 60163 Tornado looks set to have another busy year on the national network in 2020 as more dates are added to the locomotive’s main line calendar. The first confirmed booking is the ‘Fen & Fells Flyer’ on April 4, which starts diesel-hauled in Cambridge, running via Ely, March and Peterborough, and down…

  • Canadian National celebrates centenary

    Canadian National celebrates centenary

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    CANADA’s largest rail operator – Canadian National (CN) – celebrated its centenary in 2019 and gave some of its locos a special ‘CN100’ livery. Here, ‘CN100’ livery GE ET44AC No. 3217 leads another GE-built loco (No. 3811) with an eastbound intermodal train north of Kamloops on September 28.  CN is the only truly national, transcontinental…

  • Retro livery for rebuilt Canadian Pacific locos

    Retro livery for rebuilt Canadian Pacific locos

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    CANADIAN Pacific (CP) has given several recently rebuilt locomotives its original original Tuscan red, grey, and gold livery, the first locos appearing in mid-October. The ‘new’ SD70ACU locos are rebuilds of earlier EMD SD9043MAC locos, retaining an overhauled EMD 16-cylinder 710 engine, uprated to 4,500hp, but with new electronics, cabs, positive train control and Tier…

  • British-built steam centenary celebrated in southern France

    British-built steam centenary celebrated in southern France

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    Former SNCF 2-8-0 No. 140C38 is seen at Bugeat, on the line between Limoges and Meymac, on September 8, complete with headboard for the loco’s centenary (it was built by Vulcan Foundry in 1919 [works number 3237]). Preserved ex-SNCF diesel BB 63895 is behind the steam loco as emergency back up in the event of failure.…

  • New GE and EMD locos for FCAB in Chile

    New GE and EMD locos for FCAB in Chile

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    CHILEAN mining railway Ferrocarril de Antofagasta (FCAB) has received the first of five new General Electric (GE) C23 EMP locos, having already taken delivery of seven brand new ‘EMD’ GT42 locos (numbered 3201 -3207) built by Progress Rail in Muncie, Indiana.     The ‘GE’ locos, ordered before GE sold its Transportation business to Wabtec,…

  • Unique Austrian line to lose passenger services

    Unique Austrian line to lose passenger services

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    THE 21.2km-long Feldbach to Bad Gleichenberg line, east of Graz, in south-eastern Austria, is closing in December 2020.  The line is owned and operated by regional rail operator Steiermärkische Landesbahnen (STLB) and has used 1,800V DC electrification since it opened in 1931.  The two single-car EMUs used to operate services are the original vehicles, albeit…

  • Last few months for Polish scheduled steam?

    Last few months for Polish scheduled steam?

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    SCHEDULED steam passenger trains on the Polish main line may cease completely from mid-2020.  The last remaining public passenger mainline steam services anywhere in the world are in Poland, operating from the famous museum depot at Wolsztyn, west of Poznan.  The end of Polish steam has been reported previously, but it does appear to be…

  • Rare Peckett diesel arrives at the Gwili Railway

    Rare Peckett diesel arrives at the Gwili Railway

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    THE only 0-6-0D built by Peckett – No. 5014 of 1959 – was delivered to the Gwili Railway on October 24.  The Bristol company was well known for its large number of small steam locos supplied to industry in the UK, but completed just five diesel locos in the late 1950s. No. 5014 survived at its former…

  • HS2 costs ‘completely out of control’

    HS2 costs ‘completely out of control’

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    Those in charge of the HS2 project have been been accused of “fiddling the figures” by the deputy chairman of the project’s review panel.

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