August 24th 2023 to August 29th 2023

On Thursday 24^th August I made a lunchtime jaunt to North Dorset in order to catch a view of Colas Rail Class 43 High Speed Train (HST) power car No. 43277 which has been on my list of locomotives to see for a few months ever since it was outshopped in an attractive hybrid Colas/Network Rail (NR) livery, incorporating Colas’ deep orange paintwork on the majority of the power car, with NR’s bright yellow colours at the rear, separated by a thick black angled band over the radiator grilles. The major repair and repaint was carried out by South Devon Railway Engineering (SDRE), the contract engineering arm of the South Devon Railway over the course of a year and was the first such contract on an HST carried out by SDRE. As well as the full paint job the overhaul comprised bodywork repairs, underframe attention, electrical cubicle component repairs, mechanical and electrical cab equipment repairs.  The power car returned to service with Colas in March 2023 and named ‘Safety Task Force’ by Network Rail’s Safety Task Force director, Nick Millington MBE.

No. 43277 was previously in service on the East Coast Main Line with LNER until it was withdrawn when the operator stopped using HST’s on its services at the end of 2019. It was one of a number of power cars transferred for use with East Midlands Railway (EMR) on its HST services and was moved to Barrow Hill for storage. However, it was never revived for use with the Midland Main Line operator, and after EMR also ceased using HST’s, it was subsequently one of five Porterbrook-owned Class 43 power cars along with 43251/257/272/ and 274 to be moved to Arley on the Severn Valley Railway (SVR) in July 2021 for temporary storage. Now one of the power cars employed as part of the New Measurement Train (NMT) it’s been a patient wait for the locomotive to be allocated to a working heading to Dorset. I had originally contemplated an early morning excursion to see the train at Yeovil Junction on its way from Reading to Exeter New Yard but opted to see the return leg as No. 43277 would be leading. As the NMT has a scheduled 16 minute wait at Gillingham for pathing reasons, this was where I decided on seeing it – mostly for the opportunity to photograph the unique liveried Class 43 as it stood at the platform. 

Of the other formerly stored power cars now in operation with Colas No.’s 43251/257/272 all carry former Virgin Trains East Coast red and grey colours with Colas branding, while 43274 carries the unique East Midlands Railway aubergine livery that was applied for its final weeks in service with EMR in 2021. Colas Rail also operates No.’s 43013/014/062/290 and 299 on behalf of Network Rail on the New Measurement Train.

The first appearance of the Tangoed Class 43 power car in the region working 1Q23 0556 Reading to Salisbury attracted a number of other rail enthusiasts who came out and see her. Consequently, I was one of a number of photographers at Gillingham but I’m pleased to report everyone was thoughtful and courteous of each other and hopefully we all got the shots we wanted. It was also great to see the railway dog’s North Dorset correspondent, Scott, who had also arrived to see the NMT working. Watching the approach of 1Q23 on the Open Train Times (OTT) website map it appeared that the train was being held outside of Gillingham for no apparent reason, but eventually it arrived at platform 1 just three minutes late. After videoing the arrival from the station footbridge, Yoshi and I headed up the platform to get shots of No. 43277 and nameplate.

As I have previously filmed an NMT departure from the platforms of Gillingham station previously I decided this time I’d try the road bridge which carries the B3081 over the railway line east of the station. A footpath adjacent to track provides pedestrian access from platform 1 up to and from the road bridge and takes a minute or two to walk. There’s also grass and posts and other things for doggo’s to sniff on the way, so if you’re with a canine friend, perhaps allow a little longer! 

On Sunday we had a day trip to Lyme Regis, which was once the terminus of a branch line from Axminster. Once a small but busy harbour, Lyme had fallen into decline by the 17^thCentury as ships grew in size, but the town saw its fortunes reversed in the early 19^th Century when it became a holiday destination for the wealthy. Early tourism was boosted by a popular interest in geology and palaeontology. Jane Austen was delighted by the town and in her novel ‘Persuasion’ wrote “a very strange stranger it must be who does not see charms in the immediate environs of Lyme, to make him wish to know it better.” In the 1840’s a line running from Bridgwater to Lyme Regis was proposed but it was not until 1899 that the Axminster & Lyme Regis light railway order was made and Arthur C. Pain appointed as engineer. The branch line ran through the picturesque landscape of the Devon and Dorset border with steep gradients and sharp curves.

The route opened on 24^th August 1903 with the London & South Western Railway (LSWR) receiving 55% of the revenue due to their financial backing. The LSWR eventually took over the branch on 1^st January 1907. The line became part of the Southern Railway on 1^st January 1923 and in 1948 part of the Southern Region of British Railways, although it later transferred to the Western Region.  Goods services survived until 3^rd February 1964 with passenger trains running until complete closure of services on 29^th November 1965. There is no trace of where the railway station was once located in Lyme, although the physical timber building survives at Alresford on the Watercress Line.

The impressive Cannington Viaduct still stands however and on our way into the town, we took a slight diversion to view the structure, one of the earliest examples of a major concrete construction in the South of England and is comparable to those built by ‘Concrete Bob’ McAlpine, notably Glenfinnan (1901), on the West Highland Railway in Scotland. 

Monday evening saw the monthly run of the Plain Line Pattern Recognition (PLPR) test train running from Derby RTC to Eastleigh East Yard via Weymouth with GBRf Class 73 Electro-Diesel No.’s 73961 ‘Alison’ and 73965 ‘Des O’Brien’… again. For a change we popped into Poole to see the outward run.

For the record, the Network Rail Video Inspection Unit VIU2 formed of Class 153 No. 153376 was in operation in North Dorset on Bank Holiday Monday running as 2Q20 0913 Eastleigh to Reading via Yeovil.

The Minister of State for Rail and HS2, Huw Merriman MP, made an informal visit to the Swanage Railway, visiting the Dorset heritage line via its trial diesel train service from the main line at Wareham. The Minister was accompanied by South Dorset MP Richard Drax and Dorset Council transport portfolio holder Councillor Ray Bryan.

Paddington Bear is to appear on 10 special stamps to mark his 65th anniversary.  Released by the Royal Mail, six of the stamps feature images from animator Ivor Wood’s comic strip cartoons first published in the London Evening News in the 1970’s. The other four stamps capture moments from the BBC television series that Wood designed and directed from 1976.

The Peruvian bear first appeared in 1958 in Michael Bond’s book “A Bear Called Paddington”. It is the first time he has been dedicated his own stamp set having previously featured on stamps in 2014 to celebrate 60 years of children’s television, alongside Peppa Pig, Bob the Builder and Shaun the Sheep and in a stamp set released by Royal Mail in 1994. In the story, Paddington is adopted by the Brown family and named after the London railway station where he was found. More than 35m Paddington books have been sold worldwide, spawning toys and TV programmes. He has gone on to star in films in more recent years, with Ben Whishaw voicing the character. The movie version of the bear also appeared with the late Queen Elizabeth II in a sketch marking her Platinum Jubilee in 2022. Paddington will be seen alongside the profile of King Prince Charles on the new stamps which go on general sale on 5th September 2023.

For more information on Ivor Wood’s history with everyone’s favourite ursine refugee, visit here

There are only a few days left to have your say and give feedback on the closure of 974 ticket offices across England by completing the online form at: https://www.transportfocus.org.uk/ticket-office-consultation/  More than 460,000 responses have been submitted to date. 

It has been reported in the national press that South Western Railway (SWR) admitted the “potential of negative impact of [ticket] machines [as] not accessible for wheelchair users due to the height of the screen and card reader. No audio available so not accessible for visually impaired customers and those with reduced literacy. For customers with visual impairments the contrast on the screen is a challenge. There is a risk that some customers may feel like children if staff have to push buttons for them. Concerns have been raised about those who are in a vulnerable state and wish to end their lives.”

As part of Heritage Open Days, the Grade II listed former railway goods shed in Wareham is open to the public on Friday 15th September 2023 between 1000 and 1600, no booking is required. Now occupied by Morgan Carey Architects, this is a chance to see a working Architects Practice in full swing and visit their converted railway goods shed studio. For more details see here.

From the archive:

A look back to Saturday 15th May 2021 which saw the end of an era for the Midland Mainline, when East Midlands Railway (EMR) ran their final High Speed Train passenger services. 

For 39 years the Class 43 HST’s dominated the Midland Mainline running services from London St Pancras to destinations such as Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Sheffield and Leeds, plus occasionally making trips to Lincoln Central, Skegness, York and Scarborough.

To celebrate the retirement of their HST’s, EMR re-liveried two of their Class 43 power cars in special liveries, No. 43102, one of the two fastest diesel locomotives in the world (alongside No. 43159) being painted into InterCity Swallow livery and named ‘The Journey Shrinker’ with its speed record of 148.5mph noted underneath the nameplate, and No. 43274 which was turned out in East Midlands Railway purple livery, making this the only power car to run in these colours.

On 15th May 2021 Yoshi and I had journeyed to the Severn Valley Railway for the first post-Covid lockdown diesel gala. Unfortunately the weather was mostly awful, with constant drizzle and despite @dabuckley_967 popping to the nearby Tesco and purchasing towels to dry off a soggy cockapoo, by mid-afternoon we’d had enough and the plan of seeing the final two HST workings on the Midland Mainline began to form. Driving across country through some pretty heavy downpours we arrived at Bedford railway station and after waiting for the skies to clear we were very kindly allowed onto the platforms in time to see the final EMR HST services; 1D63 1834 London St. Pancras International to Leeds via Nottingham with No.’s 43309 & 43272 followed later by No.’s 43102 & 43274 working 1F70 2001 London St. Pancras International to Leeds via Derby. No. 43102 carried a special headboard marking the occasion inscribed “1982 – 2021 The Last HST From London”. Unfortunately for us, our view of the train passing through Bedford was partially blocked by the parallel arrival of a local service in the form of Class 700 EMU No. 700133 – as you can see in the video below – and we failed to get a clear view of No. 43274 at the rear of its train. For some, it is still too soon to talk of this diversion to Bedford.

No. 43102 ‘The Journey Shrinker’ is now preserved at Locomotion Shildon.

Thank you for reading. Be seeing you!