Rail Express

RAIL EXPRESS is Britain's favourite modern rail enthusiast title. Undoubtedly the best for modern traction photography, the magazine keeps readers informed and entertained with undiluted coverage of Britain's railways in the diesel and electric era. First produced in 1996, RE has set a new standard for the hobby, with a clean design, high quality paper and the best reproduction. January 2008 saw the magazine relaunched in an innovative 'supersize' format, showing off the ground-breaking contents to the best advantage. Every issue includes news and analysis covering the present day railway scene, plus the latest preservation developments. Also inside: RAIL EXPRESS Modeler - Diesel & Electric era modeling magazine

Rail Express

Class 50 for Locomotive Services

GWR battery train trials begin

Cornish semaphores vanish in major resignalling scheme

Rail Express celebrates Class 50 Alliance milestone at Heritage Railway Association awards

‘Western’-themed livery and name for Class 69 • Iconic British Rail carriage maroon paint scheme carried by the popular hydraulics is theme for latest GB Railfreight Class 69 retro repaint.

British Steel trials Class 18 • One of the Clayton hybrids moves to Scunthorpe, with wider use on the horizon.

Class 777s into temporary store at Long Marston • Brand-new Merseyrail units placed in storage pending commissioning.

End of the line for the ‘Shenfield Shark’ • Having survived three-and-a-half decades dumped adjacent to Shenfield station, there is no happy ending for the 75-year-old ballast plough brake van.

Second Midland Pullman HST planned • Locomotive Services to create short set for West Highland specials

Powerscene • Our authoritative class-by-class review of newsworthy locomotive workings.

Dean Forest Class 31s find new home • One ‘Goyle’ will become a spares donor

New railtour company plans operations • Railtourers set to have more options if embryonic proposals materialise.

IE plans new stations and improved capacity to Limerick • New stations planned for Dublin and Limerick and a feasibility study for the Limerick to Athenry line.

‘50s’ on British Rail – the twilight years • It is 30 years since British Rail withdrew the last of its Class 50s from traffic, but it was almost two years earlier that their use on normal services came to an end. David Russell recalls the final years of regular fleet operation

PICTORIAL • Richard Clinnick presents a selection of images from around the rail network submitted to Rail Express this month.

“If it’s not right, it’s not going out” • Richard Clinnick visits Strawberry Hill, where a small team are returning a Mk.1 slam-door unit to main line condition.

80% of new Piccadilly Line trains to be built in Goole • Transport for London confirms more trains will be built in UK.

0 to 60! Just how nimble are today’s locos and units, and what’s the quickest off the mark? • John Heaton takes a ‘ticket to ride’ on the new Merseyrail Class 777 electric multiple units.

REVIEWS

Maroon Mk.1 subs

‘O’ gauge livery samples from Heljan

Cavalex’s debut diesel: The Class 56 • A first locomotive model is both an anxious and an exciting time for the manufacturer and the modeller alike. How well does the debut diesel from Cavalex Models measure up?

Closer to scale wheels for the Cavalex ‘Grid’

Remarkable Mark Twos • Another first for the hobby is the arrival of the first passenger carrying coaching stock from the Irish Railway Modelling label in the form of Northern Irish Railways (NIR) stock. The models will further whet the appetite for the forthcoming BR Mk.2b stock from Accurascale.

Hornby ‘TT:120’ TTA tank wagons

DB Cargo UK HRA wagons in...