Coal Decline- Steam to end at Fuxin?

Shift change can still bring up to 6 SY locomotives together in Fuxin- but for how much longer?

Lines to the spoil tip will need upgrading before diesels can
start. SY1195 sits precariously at the top of the tip.

Two years ago I made one of those 'trips of a lifetime' to China to experience the worlds last bastion of standard gauge steam. Many die-hard steam enthusiasts had been visiting this far off land for years but this was my one chance to see 'real' steam in action- at least what was left of it. It was clear then that steam was in its final stages of terminal decline but nobody was sure quite how long it would cling on. Now, in 2016 it is still clinging on. But only just- there are just two large steam operations left in China which use more than 5 locomotives each day- the huge opencast coal mine at Sandaoling, and the mining railway of Fuxin. Both railways were anticipated to use steam for several more years but the declining price of coal has put this under threat. Sandaoling is currently likely to use steam until the pit is planned to close in a few years time, while Fuxin was still overhauling steam locomotives early this year. Times are changing however and the falling price of coal is forcing the closure of mines all over China.

SY1460 begins its descent from the tip back to Fuxin in January 2014.

Half way up the spoil tip in typical SY1395 is seen in typical
Chinese gloomy conditions with an empty train.

Steam driving is hard and dirty work- but these 'livng, breathing'
 machines are loved by may of the crews here. 

News has emerged in the last couple of weeks that several mines close to Fuxin are to close imminently. Suddenly an end to steam operations here is on the cards- seven diesels will be released which are to directly replace the SY loco's which currently operate at the complex. The change over could be very quick- track upgrades will be required but subject to being completed in time Fuxin could be dieselised as soon as June 2016- Steam really could have less than 2 months left. Of course the authorities will be pleased, they have long been concerned about the visible pollution from steam locomotives running through the city, but for the steam enthusiast this is a massive blow. Fuxin was the last site where SY locomotives could be seen in any number, and wasn't too far from Beijing either. I took some of my favorite photographs here when I visited in 2014 and had never totally ruled out the idea that one day, just maybe, I might have gone back. We should really be grateful that steam has lasted so long, and that it's swansong has been so glorious.
Sandaoling will remain as the steamiest site on earth for, perhaps, a few years longer using it's fleet of JS locomotives. These really are the dying days of 'real' steam.

Bluebell Diesel Gala 2016

20905 leads 73119 away from Horstead Keynes with a train for East Grinstead on the Saturday 16th April.

Over the weekend of the 15-17th April 2016 the Bluebell Railway in Sussex held only its second ever diesel gala. Following the success of its almost unprecedented 'Double Deltic' event last year this once 'steam only' line invited an impressive line up of seven loco's from the GBRf fleet to company it's own class 09 shunter for three days of diesel frolics. Present at the railway were 09018, 20901, 20905, 47739, 66770, 73107, 73119, 73136 and 73964  (since the GBRf handed back their class 47's to Rivera trains a Colas example instead filled in in the shape of 47739).

For many the Colas 47739 'Robin of Templecombe' was a draw.

The Bluebell railway has enjoyed a close working relationship with GBRf since the companies first came together to remove spoil by rail from the former Imberhorn Tip, a key task in the railways recent extension to East Grinstead.  Now that the extension is complete- and the Bluebell has a mainline connection GBRf have continued to be involved with the line with stock moves and this gala- tying in with the 15th birthday celebrations at GBRf was the prefect way to continue the relationship.

The pair of class 20's arrive at Horstead Keynes for the first
and final time at Saturday 16th April as 20901 was declared a
failure on arrival with wheelset issues. 

Despite some less than agreeable weather on the Saturday of my visit the line seemed to be very busy- indeed it is reported that the queue for tickets before the first train form East Grinsted was so long that not everybody made the first train- a lesson for the future perhaps despite more than 20 minutes to transfer between Southern and Bluebell trains. Trains continued to be well loaded throughout the day with three sets of stock in use including the London Underground owned 4-TC. Later on there was the added highlight of the Beer-ex train running later into the night. Loco swaps were all carried out at Horstead Keynes on Sheffield Park bound services and for those who wanted it rides were available with the 09 on either the observation coach of the 'Queen Mary' brake van.

The failure of 20901 left 20905 performing several trains on its
own giving the unusual view of a GBRf 20 running bonnet first.

Unfortunately both class 20's failed during the course of the Saturday with 20901 being removed from it's first up working leaving 20905 to soldier on alone- and also causing a 48 minute delay to trains. While the 'failed' 20901 did make a brief re-appearance on an evening train it was with regret that neither class 20 was in operation on the Sunday of the gala- the day where the weather was by far the best for the photographers.

With the weekend of diesel delights over it will now be back to the usual program of 100% steam running for the remainder of the season- but who knows what next year may bring on this line that now seems to be full of surprises?

Another byproduct of the class 20's failure was the opportunity to enjoy double headed class 73's with 73107 and 73136 filling in for one round trip. The class 73/1's had only been intended for use as translator vehicles for the other visiting locomotives.

Tube deliveries drawing to a close

Running in its usual path as 7X09 heritages liveried 20107 and 20132 lead a new S7 train for the District line past East Goscote (between Melton Mowbray and Leicester). The locos are owned by Harry Needle Railway Company who lease them to GBRf who are operating the S-Stock transfers.

Since late 2009 the delivery runs of new S-Stock trains for London Underground have become a regular feature between Derby, Old Dalby and Neasden depot in London. The S8 and S7 trains which have been built at Bombardiers works in Derby are each moved to the Old Dalby test track for shake down running and mileage accumulation before then continuing their delivery run to Neasden for acceptance by London Underground. The trips have been popular with photographers as due to a weak bridge in the London area the axle weight of the trains has had to be limited- meaning traction has come in the form of veteran class 20's which top and tail the new tube sets along with some former tank wagons converted to barrier vehicles.

20314 and 20096 lead 7X09 after a reversal south of Leicester. The ensemble
are seen here at Castle Gresley on the Freight only Coalville line on 13/04/2016.

The delivery runs are now on their final push with the final sets of tubes for the District Line and those ordered additionally for the Croxley Link now being dispatched from Derby. It is entirely possible that by late spring the last of these interesting trains will have taken it's slow and circuitous route from Derby to London to join its sisters in front line LUL service. The days of the remaining D-Stock on the district line are now very much numbered.
I traveled to the Midlands on 13th April 2016 to catch up with some of the last of the stock movements (something I had been meaning to do since they started running more than half a decade ago!). Due to the slow nature of the train, and the routing to keep it out of the way of faster services, it is possible to reach more than one location on the trains route south. Fortunately after a long drive both the train and weather rewarded me!

SNCF Trip report 2-4 April 2016

A very shabby BB67626 passes Larronville, north of Rue with the 14:46 Boulogne Ville - Paris which it will work to Amiens.

Friday 1st April
No trains today, but still the start of the trip.
Today was very much a positioning move, leaving home to drive down to Dover for the boat across to France and then on to Amiens. Fortunately the Easter holidays permitted the roads to be kind to us and our rather tight timings to get to Dover proved to be no problem at all. P&O were not doing quite so well and the 'Pride of Kent' was over 30 minutes late by the time it left on the 20:15 sailing to Calais. By the time we reached Calais it was gone 23:00 French time. Arrival at the Holiday Inn Amiens was shortly after 01:00. I've always had a good stay here in the past though there was a bit of confusion over my booking- I had booked a double? I don't think so... some sort of discrepancy between what the booking agency had booked and what I actually had booked. Anyway- it was sort of solved by separating beds and some extra sheets!

Saturday 2nd April

BB15048 pauses at Longeau with the 09:10 Amiens - Paris Nord.

Given the arrival time the previous night it was decided to have a more leisurely start to the day, enjoying the available breakfast and then picking up a quick move on the Boulogne line before taking the train into Paris. Tickets were purchased on FIP for Amiens-Longeau-Abbeville-Paris-Amiens (which the ticket clerk managed without too much questioning our sanity) however there was instant concern that the train out to Boulogne was showing 10 minutes late. It should be a +20 connection into the next train back to Paris so wasn't too much of a concern yet.
15048 was taken on a quick hop down to Longeau on the 09:10 Amiens - Paris.

The crew change over the light filters on 64634 while as it
reverses back to wards Longeau depot.

By arrival time at Longeau the Boulogne train has manged to become 15 late... still, should be fine for a +20, and plenty of time to make some of that up in the loco change at Amiens we thought. 22346 sure enough arrived with the 08:28 from Paris, around 15 down. We took this to Amiens still with full intention of continuing to Abbeville. Winner 67408 was sitting next to the train on arrival and all we need was a speedy loco swap to get us up the line for our connection back onto the Paris train- it wasn't to be. It looked like the electric was ready to come straight off the train, but then 5 minutes later the staff actually decided to uncouple it. When the loco eventually pulled off the train it was the slowest move I have EVER seen taking several minutes to clear the points at the end of the platform. If it was less than 20 minutes late leaving we should still make the connection... the diesel backed on, and the train still didn't have the road to proceed. At 19 minutes late we disembarked the +20 having reduced to a +1 (with a very long fester at Abeville if it missed). Eventually the train did leave, but again at less than walking pace taking a whole 4 minutes to clear the end of the platform (I guess there must have been some sort of traffic with a speed restriction). By the time the train had actually left the station it was 24 minutes late. Congratulations to SNCF for managing to turn our first +20 connection into a -4 and causing us to abandon our only diesel hauled move of the trip! Ah well... Plan B it was then, taking the 10:38 Intercity in to Paris, with now dud 22346! Cheers! We took this to Creil for a go at the 17000's on the line to Pontoise. Quing to buy our tickts for the hop to Persan-Beaumont took most of our 20 minute connection here, but we did make it onto 17069. We had just time to buy our 1-5 mobilis tickets at Persan Beaumont before hopping back on the train to continue our plan to get 4 of the loco's in. Only there wasn't a train advertised forward to Pontoise... and ours was shown going back to Creil. Ah- the train to Pontoise would be that bus. Excellent. We hadn't checked this route for digging! Plan C it was then. Back to Boran-sur-Oise to pick up 17055, the only other loco out (they were at least both winners). With a 2 hour gap until the next train back to Creil the only option was a fast unit into Nord while we worked on another new plan.

Although much of the line was shut for engineering works
BB17069 was still one of two locos out between Creil and
Persan-Beaumont. Seen here at Boran-sur-Oise.

Much work has taken place at Versailles Chantiers since my
last visit, including a new northern footbridge. BB7608 calls
with a northbound working in gloomy conditions.

Down to Gare de Lyon to have a go on the 7200's out to Melun (we might as well get some use out of our Mobilis tickets!). This produced 7236 on the 14:49 for 7241 (my first dud loco of the day) on the 15:46 back from Melun. At Gare de Lyon was a long rake of older coaches forming some sort of 'Euro 2016' exhibition train. We couldn't get anywhere near it as the platform was fenced off, but it was something different.
Next move was to get across to Nogent le Perreaux for some CC72100's on the viaduct- however once we had got to Val de Fontenay to change trains it became apparent that the weather had now descended so much that it really wasn't worth the effort anymore. CC72177 was seen here with the 16:42 Paris - Belfort and CC72121 was seen shortly after with the 13:20 Belfort - Paris. Really it hadn't been worth bothering the light was now so poor.
There is now only one BB8500 booked out of Paris on a Saturday, on the 18:09 to Chartres so we thought we'd give this a go. Fortunately it was another winner with 8596 which was taken to Versailles. The station here has been completely refurbished since my last visit, and I must say looks superp (it certainly needed it). A new footbridge has been constructed separately at the country end of the station and looks to be almost finished (but not open yet). It hadn't been an awful day despite the weather and the failure of both plans A and B. We just needed to find a winner to get back to Paris now. 7606 should have been the answer but having sat on the train for a few minutes it appeared to be going nowhere... so we hopped off for a phot- during which time with no warning the doors closed and off it went! Fortunately it wasn't too long to wait for 27325 which also required the red pen.

'Concrete' locos side by side at Paris Nord. Less 'ghosts' were seen on this trip.

Dinner was taken close to the Sacre Cour (I do like to be a tourist for at least a short time on this trips to Paris!) before 15041 was taken on the last train to Amiens, the 22:28. There was a bit of a flap at the ticket barrier where there were about 20 police and SNCF officials who seemed to have erected a barrier line preventing people from boarding the train. We watched somebody being forcibly ejected from the platform. Slightly concerned we approached one of the officials, tickets in hand and 'Amiens' in tongue to be let through with no problems. The train was right on time (as was everything else except the Boulogne train in the morning) and we were back in the Holiday Inn by midnight- earlier than the previous day at least!

BB22229 nears Longeau with the 08:04 Paris Nord - Amiens.

Sunday 3rd April

BB67609 passes near Conde-Folie (between Abeville and Amiens)
with the 09:34 Boulogne - Paris finally in some good light.

Hoping for some better weather we were slightly put out to wake again to overcast skies. Still- the show must go on as they say and to our amazement just minutes before we arrived in the car at our morning location just south of Dammatin on the line to Paris. We have three trains to watch here, BB22200's on the 08:38 Amiens - Paris (BB22342), the 08:04 Paris - Ameins 22229 and then 150059 on the 09:17 Amiens Paris. Some good photos ensued (except the one my camera didn't focus on) and we were certainly glad to have made the effort. Next the main purpose of the trip would begin- chasing the Boulogne diesels. BB67609 was photographed near Conde-Folie with the 09:34 Boulogne - Amiens. The sun was still shining as we then started to drive up to Noyelles for a run on the Baie de Somme railway (this nicely filling in the long gap until the next Southbound train). Unfortunately Plan A failed us again as there simply wasn't time to get to Noyelles for the steam! Even if we hadn't got stuck behind a slow ambulance and been stopped for an organised walk to cross the road I still don't think we'd have made it. We diverted to St Valerie to photograph the train we should have been on, and then attempted to park- which proved somewhat difficult as the town was absolutely heaving. Finally parked the next issue was paying... I had no coins. Fortunately I managed to buy some sweets for a nearby shop to get a few coins- but the shopkeeper kindly refused to give me my 5 euro change in anything other than a note. Cheers!
Fortuitously we just made the 12:20 diesel run down to Cayeux with 351. It wasn't the plan but was quite enjoyable. Lunch in Cayeux before the return trip. We had expected this to connect into the steam train back to Noyelles- but the connection wasn't held (I'm sure if it had been essential to get it we could have shouted a bit as it only missed by 30 seconds!). Still- the car wasn't in Noyelles so no problem.

Tank loco 101 on the Baie du Somme railway approaches
St Valerie with the 11:30 departure from Noyelles

Diesel loco 351 has just arrived at Cayeax-sur-mer with the
branch train from St Valerie

Back to the big diesels and an extremely shabby BB67626 was photographed just north of Rue on the 14:46 from Boulogne with BB67609 passing shortly after on the 14:51 Amiens - Boulogne.
The next train was BB67408 on the 16:33 from Boulogne photographed near Ponthoile (north of Noyelles), before this 66228 was photographed with a southbound stone working.

The sunshine has not held out for BB67408, photographed at
Ponthoile (north of Noyelles) with the 16:33 Boulogne - Paris

Another stone train followed with an ECR 66 (not identified) before our final photo of the trip with BB67431 on the 17:33 (18:01 on the diagrams) Boulogne - Amiens North of Noyelles. The full sun had gone for the last two trains but we were still happy with our helpings for the day.
All that was left now was to get back to Calis for the 20:25 sailing back to Dover with the 'Pride of Canterbury'.

66228 with a Sunday stone train was a bonus shot for us as we
waited for the diesels just north of Noyelles.

In conclusion the trip certainly had its frustrations, the missed connection, digging, and weather (well, I can't blame that one on SNCF!). However the Boulogne line is still great for photographers and like I said after my previous driving trip to the line two years ago I wouldn't rule out another visit, especially as the Regiolis units have been banished (for now). There are some great locations you can get to very easily with a car, Again I found some new ones in the Noyelles area and there are still many I've yet to explore between Abbeville and Amiens. There are some 'new' locos currently working out of Longeau with several of the examples we saw having recently moved up from Bordeaux or Chambery. On another note *almost* all the locos we saw in Paris on this trip were in actual liveries- the previous trip was plagued by most of them being 'ghosts'- particularly on the Paris - Amiens route only two 'ghost' BB22000's were seen with all others being in the original 'concrete' scheme. Also for the first time the Boulogne line failed to produce all three common BB67400 liveries with no appearance of 'En Voyage'. Security was more noticeable than on my previous trip with armed police and army at several stations- however there was never any problem with photography at all.


Thanks to Rhys again for the company and persuading me that we needed a trip of less than 48 hours to France!

Introducing the class 707

On Wednesday 23rd March the South West Trains class 707 mock up was introduced to the public at Waterloo station. The mock up of the cab and an area of passenger seating gave commuters their first chance to see the what they could expect from the 120 new Siemens 'Desiro City' trains which will be launched on South West Trains routes from 2017.
The 5-coach trains will provide 275 seats and have a total capacity (including standing room) for over 1000 passengers enabling them to reduce overcrowding on some of the busiest routes in South West London. While the trains, which are largely intended for inner suburban work, will not be fitted with toilets they will feature WiFi and a new more intelligent Passenger Information System.
The trains are similar in style and build to the class 700's which are due to enter traffic imminently on the Thameslink route (the mock up was converted from a 700 model) however the interior specification is different. The class 707 will provide a massive increase in capacity and while not replacing any existing trains will allow stock cascades to other routes so that many more services can be increased in length.
The 30 x 5 coach trains will be maintained at Wimbledon depot in South West London and all will be delivered in the red suburban South West Trains livery.
Also last week an upgrade scheme for Waterloo station was launched to the public- the scheme which will see platforms 1-4 lengthened and full use of the former international platforms will be completed by 2018 and will allow full utilisation of the class 707 fleet as well as 10 car working of suburban trains by the older class 455 and 456 fleet.

East Lancs Diesel Gala

D1501 at Ramsbottom with a shuttle train from Bury.

A very SR feel here- 33109 and 50015 pass at Ramsbottom.

Class 14 'Teddy Bear' D9537 approaches Irwell Vale

50015 'Valient' climbs away from Irwell Vale to Rawtenstall

Back in February there was time to pop in to the East Lancashire Railway on my way back from Scotland (well, it was sort of on the way!). While the weather on the day was not really the best the traction on offer from the ELR's home fleet certainly didn't disappoint, a particular highlight being the Bury Diesel groups Hymek D7076 which was on top form and looking splendid. Overall on offer on the day was a strong line up of: D9531 (class 14), D9537 (class 14), 31466, 33109, D7076 (class 35) 37109, 37418, D345 (class 40), D1501 (class 47), 50015 and 73001.

33109 is ready to depart Irwell Vale with a Ramsbottom train.

The East Lancashire railway runs for twelve miles between Rawtenstall and Heywood in Lancashire with its base at Bury Bolton Street, a short hop from central Manchester on the Metrolink tram service.

Hymek D7076 awaits its departure from Ramsbottom back to Bury and Heywood.

Comment- Crossrail 2 is go

It will be all change at Raynes Park in the 2030's if the Crossrail 2 scheme has gone ahead. Many trains such as this one will have their origin switched from Waterloo station to new destinations north of London via a tunnel which will emerge at Wimbledon. It may also be the perfect time to replace the train fleet with the current class 455's which will be between 45 and 50 years old.  

Discussing the outcome of the 2016 UK budget is quite beyond the realms of this blog- but the fact that funding has been secured to give the go-ahead for London's next super infrastructure project cannot be ignored. Crossrail 2 will link parts of the West Anglia Main Line and Great Northern Main Line with the South West Main Line via a new tunnel under the capital from Seven Sisters/Tottenham Hale in the north through to Wimbledon in the south west. It will form the third heavy rail route through London after Crossrail [now to be known as the Elizabeth Line] and Thameslink.
The project is much needed and will provide extra capacity on the routes it serves as well as freeing up space at several busy London terminals; Kings Cross, Liverpool Street and Waterloo. By providing direct links into the heart of the city the route will also alleviate congestion on underground routes, most notably the busy Victoria Line.

The West Anglia Main Line will form the northern part of the
Crossrail 2 link

The 80 million committed to the project in the latest budget is of course a drop in the ocean when put next to the 27 billion (at today's prices) to build the complete route. This funding will allow studies to push forward to allow planning to continue on the scheme. There are of course many milestones yet to reach before any work can start on the ground. Hopefully this new funding will allow the project to press forward, and if done quickly we may not be too late to utilise the pool of skilled workers which have been working on the current crossrail scheme.

Snow and Ice Treatment Train- with class 20's!

20905 leads the SITT through the reverse curve into Coulsdon Town on the return run from Tattenham Corner.

20901 leads the SITT through Kingswood.

Keeping rails clear and trains running can be a constant battle for Network Rail. Following the heavy snowfall during the winter of 2010 Network Rail invested in some new kit- the 'Snow and Ice Treatment Trains' or SITT. These vehicles treat the rails with hot de-icing fluid and are also fitted with hot air blowers and brushes to scrub and clear snow from the tracks quickly. In addition fixed snow ploughs can be added to the front of the trains to clear larger drifts from the track. Since their comissioning in 2011 the SITT trains have seen little use in anger as a series of particularly cold winters have been followed by some of an unseasonably mild nature. Nether the less it has still been cold enough for frost and ice to build up on rails on occasions and the Kent and Sussex regions of the fromer SR have seen their rails treated with de-icing fluid from the SITT trains. Running as a pair of locos, supplied and crewed by GBRailfreight, sandwiching two SITT wagons the trains have been touring various locations around the network determined by track and weather conditions. The usual traction for the trains has been class 73's of both the original and re-built variety from GBRf's fleet. On occasions Tonbridge based 20901 and 20905 have also got in on the action and it was this pairing that I caught up with on the Tattenham Corner branch on 29th February.

20905 brings up the rear as the SITT approaches Coulsdon South on the final leg of it's duties bound for base at Tonbridge.

New traction for the Gatwick Express

387203 and 387201 call at Harpenden with a service to Bedford on 16th February. The new Gatwick Express trains had yet to enter service on airport express services from Victoria and are still awaiting the details of their branding to be applied. The trains will seldom get to use their 25kv AC capacity once in full service on the Victoria - Gatwick Airport - Brighton route.

This week the new order on the Gatwick Express worked its first services on the premium London-Gatwick Airport-Brighton route with deployment of the first class 387/2 trains. The latest 'Electrostars' built by Bombadier at Derby have been delivered from late 2015 and will over the coming months replace the class 442 trains which are currently working the airport express services. Prior to their deployment on the Gatwick Express several 387/1's have seen use on Thameslink services from Bedford to Brighton, where your author was able to catch up with a pair of these brand new trains in their striking red livery.

Standard class on the 387/2 showing the luggage space, 2+2
seating and red/blue colour scheme.

The 1st class section on the new Gatwick Express. The 1st
class supplement may buy privacy but it doesn't seem to
entitle the passenger to any enhanced comfort!

The 387/2's will be the second dedicated fleet of trains built for the airport express service since it commenced in 1984- the first being the class 460 Junipers which worked trains to the airport until 2012 when they were all withdrawn to be amalgamated into the South West Trains fleet as part of the class 458/5's. The most famous trains of the airport service were undoubtedly the original express fleet of class 73's hauling Mk2 coaches with a GLV driving trailor on the country end of the set.
The new Electrostars will bring wi-fi and power points to the airport service and be more friendly to those with disabilities. The future of the undoubtedly more comfortable class 442 fleet is currently unknown although there are indications that Southern may keep a small number of the trains in the short-medium term.

Introducing the class 73/9

On a dull 20th February 2016 73968 prepares to leave Oban returning the empty sleeper stock to Polmadie depot. This was
 the second weekend which had seen class 73/9's (and the Caledonian Sleeper) reach the town following the
classes passenger debut the previous week- which by all accounts was in far better weather conditions!

First appearing in 1962 the Southern Region's class 73 have become known as a reliable workhorse on the 3rd rail electric systems of South-East England. The locomotives run well on the electric current and their supplementary diesel engines have proved versatile, taking them off the juice on many occasions, but rarely far from their home territory. In the early to mid 2000's as the class lost their passenger work on the Gatwick Express and had all but been consigned to history on freight workings it appeared that the class 73 was reaching the natural end of it's life. GBRf then took on four locomotives for infrastructure work and have grown their fleet ever since, the versatility and reliability of the electro-diesels once again proving itself.

On 18th March 2015 GB Railfreight liveried 73963 'Janice' is pictured at
Clapham Junction on a deliver run from Loughbrough to Tonbridge. 

In 2013 something unexpected was announced; the class 73 was going to receive a major life-extension. A complete re-build with a new engine and traction package would give this ageing workhorse a new lease of life. The first locomotives to begin their re-build, by RVEL at Derby and fitted with Cummins engines will shortly begin working for Network Rail, however the larger and more 'standard' class 73/9 design is undoubtedly the MTU engined version which has been re-built by Brush at Loughbrough. A fleet of more than 10 locomotives will be outshopped from Loughbrough split between infrastructure operations in the South-East of England and in a surprising move, operating the diesel portions of the Caledonian Sleeper train in Scotland. Far from their original area of operation the upgraded 1600hp class 73's will be able to meet the haulage capacities required of them on the routes from Edinburgh to Aberdeen, Inverness and Fort William while also providing train supply to Serco's new fleet of CAF built 'Mk5' sleeper coaches from 2018.

73967 prepares to work the 04:50 Edinburgh - Oban diverted Caledonian
Sleeper service on February 20th 2016.

The first passenger working north of the border was on Saturday 13th February when 73967 worked the 04:50 Edinburgh - Oban portion of the Highland Sleeper with 73968 dead on the rear for the return trip. The train itself was diverted to Oban as engineering works were blocking the line to Fort William, the 73/9's route availability of 5 making the diversion possible as heavier locomotives are banned on this line. While the locomotives look, and most certainly sound, different they do still retain much of their 'class 73' character with all locomotives retaining their option of electrical working from the 3rd rail and with the Southern based locos also retaining their 27-way multi-working cables (though re-positioned to allow the provision of new lighting clusters). GBRf have signed a 10 year deal with Network Rail to use the locomotives in Southern England and following the significant investment it is likely that the re-built class 73/9's will now be with us for a significant time to come.

OBB Austria 4th-7th February 2016 Vienna and Semmering

RailJet Sandwich. 1216-234 is sandwiched between two RailJet sets. I took this train to Wien Hauptbahnhof from the airport.
Upon arrival the RailJet set atattched to another for the onward journey.

A short trip to Austria because I could and because I had not visited properly before. Having worked now for a year on the railways it was also time to celebrate the arrival of my first set of FIP coupons. The aim was not necesarilly to score lots and lots of locos in Vienna but to have a few good runs on the Austrian network and hopefully come home with a few decent photos as well.

Thursday 4th February-

One of the main purposes of the trip was to catch up with some of OBB's fairly elderly class 1142's. Here 1142-661 is seen at Wagram-Grafenegg with the 15:04 from Wien Franz Josefs Bahnhof to Krems an der Donau.

1063-029 shunts in the station at Krems an der Donau.

It was an early start for the first train to Gatwick- My EasyJet flight at 08:20 potentially cut it slightly fine but was made with ease- I was even able to enjoy a Gatwick 442 from Clapham Junction to East Croydon (perversely it didn't stop at the airport!). In another first for me I went for a big carry-on bag (as I got a suitable one for Christmas) and this turned out not to be too much faf on the plane and did ensure I was out of the airport at Vienna with the minimum of fuss.
On arrival at Vienna you are very much pointed in the direction of the CAT (city airport train) to reach the centre of town, but at 13 euros single (and no FIB discount) I elected to take an equally comfortable RailJet with 1116 234 to Vienna Hauptbahnhof for an S-Bahn on to Mitte, which was near where I was staying. Had I not been bothered about traveling in comfort an S-Bahn would also have done the trip for 2.20 euro (or on FIP). Passing a large yard en-route to the city I passed the only old liveried orange loco I would see for the whole trip- a class 1142.
Having dropped my bags off it was off to search for some 1142's which was the primary purpose of the trip. The line with the largest concentration of workings in the Vienna area was that to Krems an der Donau so I set off to Franz Josefs Bahnhof for the 14:05 to Krems. The station can hardly be described as nice, and certainly not photogenic! It did however provide me with some lunch and then the somewhat unexpected sight of MAV 370006 sitting on some OBB double deck stock.

2016-030 at Krems an der Donau with the 16:23 to St Polten.

Shortly before departure time 1142 624 rolled in with the 14:05 to Krems which I took as far as Wagram-Grafenegg as this looked like a reasonable place to get a photo and drop back to the next train. The following train into Vienna produced 1144-059 vice a 1142 and as I didn't run fast enough back to the station from my photo spot I missed it- 50 minutes to explore this tiny village then before the next 1142 to Krems! Fortunately this all worked well as the sun re-appeared just in time for a nice picture of 1142-611 arriving- and I managed to get on the train this time for the short run to Krems. It was a quick connection, but with just enough time to photograph a railcar and 1063-029 shunting before I boarded 2016-030 on the 16:23 to St Polten. Shortly after leaving Krems diesel 2143-037 was seen on shed. I wasn't aware that these locos were still in use with OBB but it certainly looked serviceable and I also saw another example later in the week parked in the Vienna area. I'm a big fan of OBB intercity loco hauled trains, and it was one of these with 1116-093 which took me on from St Polten to Linz for dinner and a few 1142 night shots.

1142-658 at Linz Hauptbahnhof.

I had a great dinner in a cafe in Linz, where the very astute waiter weirdly wished me a pleasant stay in Austria but also warned me to 'be careful- Austria is famous for it's sausage' (not quite sure what to make of that!!!). By the time I was back at Linz Hauptbahnhof for a RailJet back to my Vienna hotel it was starting to get a bit late. CD 380015 arrived shortly after I did into Vienna Hauptbhanhof with the overnight to Prague/Warsaw- it's really difficult to take photos under those LED lights!






Friday 5th February-

The famous 'Twenty Schilling' view over the Semmering pass. A pair of OBB 1144 locos can be seen with a freight train.

I hadn't really had many thoughts on where I was going to go around Vienna photographically in advance of the trip, and it was only a few days before flying that I started looking into locations. The Semmering pass shone out as being both close to Vienna and an area with spectacular scenery, as well as being busy for both passenger and freight trains. The only problem was the fairly infrequent local train service.

My smart Czeck RailJet train at Wiener Neustadt. The weather
was not looking great for a day of photography in the mountains!

After breakfast it was off to Wien Mitte to take 1144-125 the short hop to Miedling. I had woken to see some sunshine in the sky, but by the time of arrival at Miedling this was very much rain, which shortly turned to sleet. Conditions were far from ideal for photography but at least I had a small glimmer of hope that there may be some snow up in the mountains. 1216-236 was my next train with a Czeck RailJet (no wifi on these ones at the moment) to Wiener Neustadt Hbf, here I picked up a suburban train again (which I could have taken all the way on a slower journey) with 1144-106. As we started to climb into the mountains a thin layer of snow started to appear on the ground and by the time of reaching Payerbach-Reichnenua, to change onto a Talent EMU, it was clear that there would definitely be snow over Semmering. I got off the train at Breitenstien and immediately regretted my lack of planning. I hadn't seen any particularly viable photo location up to this point (or passed any freight trains) and I didn't really know where to go looking. I probably wasted an hour aimlessly wandering trying to find somewhere to shoot the trains (and throwing the occasional snowball at trees), before I headed off on a somewhat blind walk down towards the Katle-Rinne viaduct. This didn't turn out to be too far to walk (30 mins tops) and after a scramble up the mountainside I found myself level with the viaduct. What's more some freight trains started to appear and the sun even made an appearance for a few of them!

1142-664 leads 1144-065 across the Katle-Rinne Viaduct in a patch of sunshine.

I spent a good hour or so here and saw around 7 trains by which time I really felt cold. Having clambered back down the mountain I was pleased to find a path up to the Krauselklause Viaduct where I spent another hour and a half. Traffic initially had dropped off somewhat, but picked up again before I left with a total of 12 trains in this time.

2016-006 crosses the Viaduct with some sort of test/special
coach. These locos may not be particularly noisy but it could
certainly be heard making it's way up the Semmering pass!

There wasn't another train at Breitenstein for a little while, and having realised that the RailJets stopped at Semmering I decided to commence the scenic walk there. Signposts said this was around 2:35 hours and I reckoned I could do it quicker than that, the map didn't seem to show it as much further than I had walked already. I was prepared to ignore the fact that I had found nowhere for lunch and a had just a bar of chocolate and some lemon cake left from my emergency rations from the Spar in Vienna. The walk was spectacular- especially with several inches of snow on the ground and I barely saw another soul as I went. It quickly became apparent however that the walk was going to take that full 2 1/2 hours, especially if I stopped occasionally when I found a nice view of the railway to wait for a train. Some two hours into the walk, from high up in the mountains you reach the '20 schilling' viewpoint looking right across the Semmering valley. It is a spectacular view an I clearly had to wait for a few trains here, despite becoming increasingly concerned that it would be dark before I reached Semmering! Eventually the path began to descend and I saw a welcome 'OBB' sign. This however wasn't Semmering, it was the infrequently served station before, Wolfsburgkogel, and it was definitely getting dark. Fortuitously I found a timetable and there was a train in 15 minutes- that'll save the final 30 minute walk to Semmering I thought. Sadly not. I was using UK time on my camera so of course the train had been and gone! It was definitely getting dark now and there was just enough light to get me through to Semmering, where I then had a 45 minute wait for a RailJet back to Vienna. The walk had taken me just short of 3 hours with some photo stops- but was well worth doing.
The plan was to have traveled over the entire Semmering route to finish the day, but given it was dark, I had still not had lunch, and that it required a tight connection to get the last train back to Vienna I did the sensible thing and went straight back by RailJet, OBB liveried 1216-210 being provided on another Czech set. I headed to the restaurant car for some slightly disappointing sausage with ketchup and mustard- I had decided that the full meals were a bit on the pricey side unless you happened to be eating during 'happy hour'.

An unidentified class 1144 banks a steel train on the
'Fleischmann Bruck' viaduct.

Back in Vienna I waited for a Regional train back to Mitte, which produced 1144-125, just as the day had begun. It was then off to a very nice restaurant near the guesthouse for some well-earned Vienna Schnitzel.
Passenger traffic over the Semmering route was almost exclusively RailJets (both CD and OBB examples), though I did see one northbound IC and the Talent unit which was providing the local service.
Freight traffic was more varied with a mix of Taurus, 1142 and 1144 locos in use in various combinations, usually double headed, 1144's probably being the most common traction. Loco movements were common and a very small handful of trains also had banking locos on the rear.



Saturday 6th February-

One of the older style trams on the Vienna 'inner loop'.

A morning for some finishing off before heading back to the airport.
I went off to explore Vienna on the trams- finding the nice 'old' style trains quite hard to come by. I completed most of the inner city 'loop' and then headed off on a route '1' tram down towards Wien Miedling, because it was an old one and I wanted a ride on it. 1116-165 took me back to Mitte for a quick dash round the city centre with my camera and a hunt to find some chocolate, having missed a photograph with orange and cream liveried 1144-117 at Wien Miedling. I had to settle for an EMU for my final journey to Hauptbahnhof (they are at least loud with opening windows) before taking my final Austrian train, an IC behind 1116-226 where I enjoyed a compartment to myself for the run to Flughaven. On the flight home I got luck in having a seat on possibly the only row of 3 in the whole plane which didn't have a middle occupant. Even better the young lady sitting in the other seat was one of the rare variety that actually spoke so we had a nice chat about Vienna and London.

1144-074 and 1116-254 lead a long PKP coal train across the Krauselklause Viaduct. On the rear of the train were two further banking locomotives 1144-258 and 1144-290. 

Conclusions- 
An excellent trip but obviously too short. I would like to spend some more time in Austria when not limited quite so much by the short days. Having said that seeing some snow up in the Semmering pass was fantastic and I would definitely like to re-visit this line again. There is plenty of loco-hauled action in this country and while I didn't see a lot away from Semmering must be a fair quantity of freight traffic also.

1144-087 leads 1116 -088 through the snow with an attractive front load over the Katle-Rinne Viaduct.