Class 195 Civity

The Class 195 diesel multiple unit, part of CAF's Civity family, is being built alongside the similar Class 331 electric multiple unit to replace British Rail built units like the Class 156 for Northern [1]. Deliveries of the Class 195 began in June 2018 and the units entered service in July 2019. The Class 195 was initially being used on services between Manchester Airport and Liverpool Lime Street or Barrow-in-Furness. Other routes followed as more sets entered service.

Northern 185 114 at Liverpool Lime Street

Information
Number built:	116 (58 2 or 3-car sets)
Built:	2017-2020
Builder:	CAF
Motor:	Rolls-Royce MTU 6H1800R85L diesel per car
Power:	(195/0) 1, 046 hp (780 kW) / (195/1) 1, 569 hp (1, 170 kW)
Formation:	(195/0) DMSO (Driving Motor Standard Open)+ DMSOL (Driving Motor Standard Open Lavatory) (195/1) DMSO+MS (Motor Standard) + DMSOL

Fifty eight sets, a mixture of two (195/0) and three cars (195/1), were built by CAF at it's facilities in Irun Spain and Newport in Wales. More sets could be ordered at a later stage. Similar DMUs, part of the Civity family, are being built for the West Midlands (Class 196) and Wales (Class 197).

 

The original plan was for the Class 195 to enter service at the end of 2018 but problems with the couplers delayed it. The Class 195 finally entered service at the start of July 2019.

Northern 195 113 heads through Hartford

Northern 195 118 at Liverpool Lime Street

Sideview of 195 111 on a test run at Crewe

195 111 approaches Crewe

195 118 at Liverpool Lime Street

[1] "New trains for the North", Modern Railways (June 2019) p.15

Kerr Stuart 4415

Kerr Stuart built 4415, one of the earliest purpose-built diesel locomotives in the world, in 1928 for trials on the Welsh Highland Railway. The locomotive was fitted with a McLaren-Benz diesel engine with mechanical transmission and chain drive. The locomotive was tested on a number of narrow gauge lines in Wales and Northern Ireland before heading to a sugar plantation in Mauritius in 1934.

Manufacturer's photo [1]

Information
Number built:	1
Built:	1928
Builder:	Kerr Stuart
Motor:	McLaren-Benz 4-cylinder diesel
Power:	60 hp (45 kW)
Wheel arrangementr:	6wDM

The locomotive was fitted with a more powerful McLaren MR4 engine in 1945 and remained in service until 1962, though in latter years mainly as a reserve locomotive. The locomotive was preserved and plinthed in 1971. In 1997 it was repatriated to the UK and work is ongoing to restore it to working order at the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railway, the railways 4415 was first used on in 1928.

Cutaway diagram showing the chain drive [1]

View of the chain drive [1]

[1] "Locomotives of the future", Meccano Magazine (January 1929) p. 32

London Underground 2009 Tube Stock

The 2009 Tube Stock was built to replace the life expired 1967 Tube Stock on the Victoria Line, and entered service in 2010 [1]. The trains are part of Bombardier's Movia family along like the S Stock though reduced in dimensions to fit in a deep-level tube tunnel. They were built as part of a major upgrade of the Victoria Line reducing journey times by being faster and having better acceleration than the 1967 Tube Stock, and increasing capacity. They can carry nearly twenty percent more passengers per train - and there are also six more trains in service compared to the 1967 fleet. The trains are slightly wider (forty millimetres) than the 1967s to take advantage of the wider tunnels on the Victoria Line, however this does mean they cannot travel on the other deep tube lines. The trains are also longer than the 1967 Tube Stock and indeed are the longest deep tube stock in service.

Victoria Line 11062 arrives at Stockwell

Information
Number built:	376 (47 8-car sets)
Built:	2007-11
Builder:	Bombardier Derby
Motor:	Bombardier MITRAC DR1000 traction package (630v DC fourth rail)
Power:	2, 400 hp (1, 800 kW)
Formation:	Driving Motor (DM)+Trailer (T)+Non-Driving Motor (NDM) +Uncoupling Non-Driving Motor (UNDM)+UNDM+NDM+T+DM

The 2009 Tube Stock has an IGBT traction package [2] similar to that used on the Electrostar family (such as the Class 377 and 387). They are the first tube stock designed to take into account the Rail Vehicle Accessibility Regulations 2010 (RVAR 2010) with facilities for people with impaired mobility such as tip-up seats, off-set grab poles and space for wheel chairs [3]. They have dot-matrix displays inside the car showing passenger information and service updates. As with the 1967s they are equipped for Automatic Train Operation (ATO), though the 2009 uses the more advanced Invensys DTG-R system [4].

The 2009 Tube Stock took over the Victoria Line completely from the 1967 Tube Stock in mid-2011. There have been some teething troubles, the door sensors being over sensitive for example but they serve daily moving huge numbers of people on the incredibly busy Victoria Line.

11042 arrives at Oxford Circus

Preparing to go

11052 at Oxford Circus

Train standing at Pimlico

2009ts departing from Warren Street

[1] Ben Muldoon, London Underground Rolling Stock Guide (Ian Allan, 2014) p.64
[2] Piers Connor, The London Underground Electric Train (Crowood Press, 2015) p. 175
[3] Paul Moss, London Underground 1863 Onwards (Haynes, 2014) p. 173
[4] Jason Cross, London Underground Guide 2017 (Train Crazy, 2017) p. 60

Liverpool Tramways Company Single-Decker Car

The Liverpool Tramways Company began in 1869, operating horse drawn trams until it's take over by the Liverpool Corporation in 1898. In the company's final decade it began to look at alternatives to horse power, including considering hiring steam trams from Birmingham and also looking at compressed air and battery propulsion [1]. Eventually they settled on standard electric trams and began electric operations in 1898 just before the takeover. Thirty tram cars were bought from abroad including these single-decker trams from J.G. Brill in the USA [2].

Car on delivery [3]

Information
Number built:	12
Built:	1898
Builder:	J.G. Brill

The trams were unusual for a British system. They were forty seat trams with a central entrance and ran on a couple of Eureka Maximum Traction bogies.

Car interior [3]

[1] Charles Knapper, The Golden Age of Tramways (David & CHarles, 1974) p. 87

[2] A. Alastair Munro, Tramway Companies of Liverpool 1859-1897, p. 212

[3] "New cars for Liverpool, England", Street Railway Journal (Vol XIV No. 11 November 1898) p. 727

Class 710 Aventra

The Class 710 is a member of Bombardier's Aventra family of EMUs (like the Class 345) that has been procured for London Overground to augment it's fleet of Class 378s. The Class 710 was built for the electrification of London Overground's remaining diesel route, the Gospel Oak to Barking line. After some delays the Class 710s finally entered service on this route in May 2019 [1][2] with full take over of the route in August.

LO 710 268 at Upper Holloway

Information
Number built:	222 (54 4 or 6-car sets)
Built:	2017-21
Builder:	Bombardier Derby
Motor:	Bombardier traction system (25kV AC OHLE or 750v DC third-rail)

Class 710s were next deployed to the Watford DC route out of London Euston allowing Class 378s to be cascaded to other London Overground routes, to enable increased frequencies. The Class 710 will also be used on London Overground's services into West Anglia.

The Class 710 comes in three variants. The 710/1 (thirty sets) is AC only and will be used on West Anglia services, eighteen sets are the 710/2 which are dual AC and DC third rail in four car sets. The 710/3 is also dual voltage and in six car sets.

710 106 at Seven Sisters

710 269 at Harringay Green Lanes

710 265 at South Tottenham

710 265 at Blackhorse Road

710 271 at Wembley Central

[1] Underground News No. 691 (July 2019) p. 352
[2] Underground News No. 692 (August 2019) p. 435

LMS 1831

In 1931 the LMS, at it's Derby Works, rebuilt a steam locomotive as a diesel shunter, the first of a number of experimental diesel shunters built by the "Big 4" railway companies in the 1930s. The original steam locomotive was a Midland Railway 1377 class steam locomotive. The locomotive was rebuilt and fitted with a Paxman diesel engine and Haslam & Newton hydraulic transmission [1].

1831 after construction [3]

Information
Number built:	1
Built:	1932 (rebuild)
Builder:	LMS Derby Works
Motor:	Paxman 6-cyl diesel
Power:	400 hp (298 kW)
Wheel arrangement:	0-6-0

The locomotive had a very box-like body with small cab windows. The locomotive was not a great success. It was withdrawn from service in 1939 after a number of years in storage. It was converted into a mobile power unit [2] and survived in this guise until 1951.

[1] Brian Haresnape, Diesel Shunters (Ian Allan, 1984) p. 4

[2] Colin J Marsden, Diesel & Electric Locomotive Recognition Guide (Ian Allan, 2011) p. 8

[3] "A heavy oil shunting locomotive, Meccano Magazine (July 1933) p. 525

Hunslet Engine Company 8975

Hunslet 8975 is typical of the kind of narrow gauge diesel shunters which were built for colliery use by the Hunslet Engine Company in the late 1970s. The diesel-hydraulic locomotive worked at the 762mm gauge surface stockyard at Parkside Colliery, Newton-le-Willows and was withdrawn in 1993 with the closure of the colliery.

8675 at the Statfold Barn Railway

Information
Number built:	1
Built:	1979
Builder:	Hunslet Engine Company
Motor:	Perkins 4-cyl diesel
Power:	52 hp / 39 kW
Wheel arrangement:	4wDH

The locomotive was preserved at the Lancashire Mining Museum at Astley Green and has helped with the building of a line at the museum, and now hauls passenger trains. During preservation it has been converted to 610mm gauge at the Statfold Barn Railway.

The locomotive carries the name Newton

Another view of 8975