From The RM Archives
YEARS AGO
MAY 1921 Line transferred
THE Minister of Transport has confirmed the Cambrian Railways (Tanat Valley Light Railway Transfer) Order 1921, transferring the Tanat Valley Light Railway to the Cambrian Railways Company. The Tanat Valley line is about 15 miles long and runs from the Shropshire border nearly to Bala.
Space for sale
A NEW departure has been made by the Great Northern Railway in regard to the letting of advertising spaces on stations, walls, fences, buildings and other property, which arrangements were for many years in the hands of W H Smith & Son.
From April 1, these spaces have been controlled and let direct to advertisers by the railway company.
This development is an extension of the scheme adopted some 10 years ago when it was decided to let direct the spaces in the booking halls and waiting rooms, which has proved very successful.
YEARS AGO
MAY 1971 End of the ‘Brighton Belle’
BRITAIN’S only all-Pullman EMU trains, the three ‘5-BEL’ sets used on the Brighton Belle service -between Victoria and Brighton, will be withdrawn in May 1972.
The Pullman cars are nearly life-expired and would be too expensive to replace.
Bletchley-Bedford closure is proposed
CLOSURE notices have been published for the line from Bletchley to Bedford St Johns, last truncated remainder of the LNWR Oxford-Bletchley-Cambridge line. If no objections are received to the proposals, passenger trains would cease to operate on and from October 4.
Crewe-Glasgow locomotives ordered
ORDERS have been placed by British Railways Board with British Rail Engineering Limited for 34 AC electric locomotives of Class 87, suitable for a maximum speed of 110 mph and rated at 5,000hp for use on the London Midland
Region electrified lines between London, Crewe, Liverpool and Manchester, and on the Crewe-Glasgow section, following its electrification in 1974.
Delivery of the locomotives is scheduled to begin next year, and the order will be complete by 1974.
YEARS AGO
MAY 2001 Heritage lines feel backlash of foot-and-mouth epidemic
HERITAGE railways are starting to feel the impact of the foot-and-mouth epidemic, with passenger numbers slumping by as much as 50%.
Many heritage lines either start at or run through large sections of countryside, and are also often used by passengers to gain access to footpaths for local or woodland walks. Since the start of the epidemic in mid-February and its spread around the country, the message being absorbed by the public is that rural tourist attractions are out of bounds, even though that is not the case in many locations.
Stowaways travel to England at 186mph under Eurostar
NINE illegal immigrants were discovered hidden underneath a Eurostar train from Paris after it arrived at Waterloo on March2. The group – all Romanians – had travelled at speeds of up to 186mph inside cramped equipment boxes between the bogies. They were discovered only after banging was heard by staff and passengers. If they had not been heard, they would have been on their way back to Paris!
Safety report wants ETCS within seven years
THE inquiry into rail safety, jointly chaired by Lord Cullen and Professor John Uff following the Ladbroke Grove crash in October 1999, has recommended that the ETCS (European Train Control System) method of automatically stopping trains passing red lights must be in place by 2008.
While acknowledging that the introduction of TPWS has a number of shortcomings and would not end concerns over catastrophic accidents, the report accepts that fitting it at major junctions must continue.