FROM THE RAILWAY MAGAZINE ARCHIVES
YEARS AGO
JANUARY 1923
King’s Cross upgrades
MESSRS. SYMINGTON Son & Co of Glasgow have secured a contract with the Great Northern Railway for extensions and improvements at King’s Cross station.
The work involved includes the clearing of an area on the down side, at the south end of Gas Works Tunnel, on ground adjacent to the disused gas works premises, where it is intended to provide new engine sidings, including a turntable capable of taking the large 4-6-2 locomotives now in service. The area alongside the main station, at present given over to the locomotive department, is also to be cleared, and two additional platforms for suburban traffic provided.
Symington’s is concerned principally with the work of clearing and that involved in preparing the respective sites for their new purposes.
YEARS AGO
JANUARY 1973
Mk.2s to replace ‘Blue Pullmans’
BRISTOL and South Wales diesel
‘Blue Pullmans’, now nearly 13 years old, are to be replaced in May by airconditioned locomotive-hauled Mk.2e coaches. Schedules from May will be close to the present Pullman timings, and a high standard of on-train catering will be provided.
Motorail plans for 1973
THE longest Motorail journey in Britain under British Railways proposals for 1973 services will be 567 miles between London and lnverness, which will operate once a week – northbound on Mondays and southbound on Tuesdays.
Another new service, starting in January, will be nightly from Paddington to Carmarthen, supplemented in the summer by a day service. These will replace the present
Paddington-Swansea service.
Weekend services from Kensington Olympia to St Austell, discontinued last year because of a shortage of rolling stock, will be reinstated from May 26, and will operate until September 15.
Crewe is to be developed as the Motorail centre for north-west England, replacing Newton-le-Willows and Sutton Coldfield, with services to Scotland and the West Country. In the West Country, there will be a ‘beat the jams’ service between Bristol and St Austell with a Second Class single fare for car and driver of £10 and discounts for return bookings.
YEARS AGO
JANUARY 2003
First public ‘Pendolino’ run
THE first Virgin ‘Pendolino‘ to carry farepaying passengers will be the 06.58 Manchester-Euston and 16.20 return on January 27. From March, a second diagram will be switched to ‘Pendolinos’, with Wolverhampton seeing four trips a day from April.
Further diagrams to Manchester, Wolverhampton and Liverpool will follow in April and May, followed later in the year by the north-west of England and Scotland.
Out-of-gauge crane demolishes rail bridge on Whitby line
THE Esk Valley Line became the focus of a second serious incident in less than a year on November 12 when the jib of a rail-mounted crane operated by GrantRail smashed into a footbridge to the east of Grosmont station.
The bridge came down inches from a valuable LNER Gresley buffet coach owned by the neighbouring North Yorkshire Moors Railway, trapping it and other carriages in a siding.
In a classic touch of irony, the NYMR was playing host to a training day for 12 staff from the Railway Inspectorate, who found themselves with a live incident to handle.