Railways Blog

Visiting my local model railway emporium (Waltons of Altrincham) on Saturday, I noticed a new item I hadn’t expected to see; a beautiful-looking N gauge Fleischmann model of the Zurich S-Bahn Re450 push-pull locomotive with matching driving trailer. And they also had the two intermediate coaches in stock. Naturally, with a price tag to match. The whole train would cost about as much as my recent weekend in Edinburgh!

But when modelling Swiss outline, I’m into the trans-Alpine main-lines, not the Zurich commuter belt.

But part of me keeps saying “It’s a superb model, you know you want it”. I’ve already got a 4-car NPZ set, and those two trains could form the basis of a Swiss suburban terminus, a sort of continental version of ‘Minories’. I’ve even got as far as sketching a a track plan; it would all fit quite nicely on a 6′ by 18″ plank. A nice contrast to the British “Restormel” layout that’s beginning to take shape on the old baseboards from “Wöminsee”.

I managed to avoid temptation so far. All I bought was a Bachmann 04, which is itself a nice model, and not much more than a tenth of the price I’d pay for the Zurich S-Bahn set.

But, as Mr Walton said, it’s the last one they’ve got left in stock, and he doesn’t know if he’s going to get any more…

Steven Karlson of Cold Spring Shops visits the far West of England, taking in the St Ives Branch, Penzance, and the wonderfully intact Great Western junction station of St Erth, complete with a full set of semaphore signalling

Every so often, there’s a twanging of the control wires and a semaphore clatters to “clear” (which is pulling “off” there and “on” here.)

Travelling west of the Tamar is like travelling back in time; there’s an awful lot of Victorian infrastructure still in use. When I first visited the area more than 20 years ago I never expected the semaphores at St Erth, Par, Lostwithiel and Liskeard would still be in use in 2007, with no plans for modernisation.

I suspect one reason for this is that modern colour light signalling systems have a finite life expectancy before insulation starts to decay, and the whole lot needs replacement. Meanwhile the life of Victorian mechanical interlocking systems can be extended indefinitely by replacing worn parts on a piecemeal basis. The resignalling budget year after year has to be spent on replacing life-expired colour light systems dating from the fifties and sixties. There’s never enough to replace the surviving pockets of semaphores.

I’m not so sure of Steven’s description of the 57/6 at the head of the Penzance sleeper.

Down the line at Penzance, the evening sleeper train to London Paddington has been placed at the station. Although that diesel has a very British number 57 605 and name Totnes Castle, inside it is an Electro-Motive diesel. It sounds like a train ought to.

The antiseptic whine of the EMD power unit can’t replace the throaty roar of the original Sulzer engines which gave 40 years of service in these locomotives, especially when it’s deadened by the massive silencer demanded in these more environmentally-friendly times.

It wasn’t long ago since you were able to see four locomotive-hauled trains occupying all four platform roads at Penzance at one point in the morning; the 08:20 Paddington and 08:48 Manchester, the inbound sleeper from Paddington, and the Travelling Post Office, which departed empty to St.Blazey for servicing.

The government have taken some of Richard Branson’s toys away.  Virgin Trains have, as most people expected, lost the Cross-Country franchise.  The franchise winner is Arriva Trains, who will take over the existing Penzance/Bournmouth – Manchester/Aberdeen routes, along with a couple of other long-distance east-west routes currently operated by Central Trains.

Not sure about their proposed livery, which looks rather dull compared with the striking Virgin Trains red and silver.  The Voyagers are allegedly going to be refurbished with more luggage space (about bloody time) and more seats (where?), and a few superannuated HST sets will be resurrected to augment the fleet.

Bad news for passengers is the likelyhood of substantial above-inflation fare rises over the life of the franchise.  No change from Virgin there, then…

Dapol have put up some pictures of their N gauge Habfis2 in Cargowaggon livery.

I always associate these wagons with Guinness. As part of my first job, I visited the Park Royal brewery on a number of occasions in the mid 80s. At the time a lot of the black stuff was distributed by rail, in these wagons. Despite the ‘Great Britain <-> Continent’ branding, I think all the rail-borne traffic was internal to Britain. They even had a pair of ex-BR 08 locomotives painted in Guinness livery named “Lion” and “Unicorn” shunting them around the brewery. The place is closed now, and all the Guinness drunk in England comes from the one true Guinness brewery in Dublin.

At the time, I didn’t actually drink the stuff.