Rail (Enthusiast) Magazine - No.273 Mar 1996

Rail (Enthusiast) March 1996. Issue No.273

- Front Cover:  The second Class 60 to be be painted in Mainline colours, No.60078, passes Barrow-on-Trent on February 8 1996 with a Willington-Toton MGR.

- Comment:  Freight has a good future and already there are encouraging signs of growth says Managing Editor Nigel Harris.

- News:  The most up-to-date and in-depth news about Britain's railways. Top stories include: Midland Main Line blocked by landslide; 30 dead in fake collision staged by Railtrack and a possible return for milk trains.

- Whiteout at Whitehaven!  The recent snowfalls caused severe  disruption along the exposed Cumbrian coast line. Dave McAlone recorded the freezing scenes.

- Around the Regions:  Redevelopment at Nottingham Victoria and a new line at Argyll are some of the items in Howard Johnston's regional news roundup.

- Wolmar:  Incisive comment about the LTS ticket fraud allegations from the Independent's transport correspondent.

- Preservation:  All the news about heritage railways and traction, including news about the D9000 Group's 'Deltics' being given notice to quit from Old Oak Common.

- Second Coming for Marshalling Yards?  Can we expect a revival for wagonload freight - and if so, how could such a system work today? Michael Rhodes surveys the opportunities.

- Open Access:  Your views and comments. Following our interview with Wisconsin;s president Ed Burkhardt we've had a huge postbag!

- Ancient and Modern at Carnforth:  David Allen visits Carnforth to find there is much more than memories of declining steam in the 1960s.

- Modern Images:  Each and every issue our brand new feature presents the very best in railway photography - we start with a striking selection of colour images.

- Rail Blue:  Recalling the days of locomotive-hauled passenger, parcels and freight trains, David Wilcosk presents and outstanding collection of evocative pictures.

- Coats of Many Colours:  BR's first specific heavy freight diesel locomotive - the Class 56 - is the subject of this survey of current liveries.
 Philip Sutton and Mel Holley found no less than 11 different colour schemes.

- Locomotive Review:  A Foster Yeoman Class 59 on railtour duty, Glasgow diversions and Class 31s continuing on top-link passenger work along the North Wales coast are just some of the stories in our class-by-class roundup.

- Stock Changes:  The latest official records of rolling stock pool changes, reallocations, depot to depot transfers, storages, reinstatements and withdrawals plus our regular 'End of the Line' summary.

- Rolling Stock News:  The very latest coaching stock and multiple unit news, compiled by David Russell, plus a scrapyard update from MC Metals and Gwent Demolition.

- RAILFile Insider:  'Insider' asks whether new road-rail concepts will be any more effective than the Freightliner service, which has yet to live up to expectations.

- Giving Britain's rail freight a 'Piggyback':  Steven Knight reports on the announcement that full-height 'Piggyback' trains could be running in Britain by 1999. The Piggyback consortium's plans for the route from the Channel Tunnel to Scotland are revealed in full.

- Roger Salmon - Why I think Railway Privatisation WILL Work:  Roger Salmon, the director of rail franchising, recently presented his views on railway privatisation in the Chartered Institute of Transport's annual Sir Robert Reid lecture. He outlines why he thinks the franchising system will be an effective measure.

- Freight and Engineering:  Roger Butcher analyses the concept, design and use of long welded rail trains, including details about the current location of all vehicles.

- Main Line Points:  Free tickets on the East Lancashire Railway is just one of the great money-saving offers in our exclusive coupon collection scheme.

- Classified:  For the best variety of products turn to our classified section now! This issue includes details of places to stay, plus books and pictures for sale.

- Stop and Examine:  Managing Editor Nigel Harris trawls through this issue's broad cross-section of bizarre offerings in print and photographs.