The Railway Magazine - April 2009

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Great Railway Adventures for 2009 The Railway Touring Company For further details and to order a brochure please contact us

The Heart of Midlothian

Steam in Tuscany

Sardinia and the Emerald Coast

Steve Pratt

Saturday 18th April ‘09

The Heart of Midlothian will provide an excellent opportunity to relax by taking a steam hauled excursion to the historic City of Edinburgh. The train wiil start at Huddersfield and pick-up at Dewsbury, Leeds and York. We will be steam hauled from York to Edinburgh by 6201 Princess Elizabeth. A diesel locomotive will return the train to the joining stations.

oining stations.

Saturday 25th April toSaturday 2nd May ‘09

Europe is indebted to Tuscany for its extraordinary contribution to our culture. So why not join us for a visually stunning tour across some of Italy’s most artistic and beautiful regions? And, of course, travel along some of Tuscany’s many delightful railways.

Tuesday 5th May to Thursday 14th May ‘09 Sunday 17th to Tuesday 26th May ‘09 Saturday 17th to Monday 26th October ‘09

D H Lawrence wrote that the Italian island of Sardinia had been left outside of time and history. Sardinia’s spectacular scenery, ancient roots, friendly locals and amazing little railways make this Italian island a truly magical place to visit. A mountainous place about the size of Wales, Sardinia has a beguiling coastline and, inland, narrow gauge railways run for more than 450 miles through beautiful countryside.

The Railway Touring Co.

Great Railway Adventures

The Railway Touring Company The New 2009-2010 Brochure is now available

2009

2010

OOur new 92 page brochure packed with all our latest UK, Europe and World steam rail tours is available now.

To order your printed copy please phone us or visit our web site. This year we have also made it available to view as an e-brochure, you’ll find the link to it on our web site.

All of the new tours will also be available to view on the web site and we’ll be adding even more very soon!

The Railway Touring Company, 14a Tuesday Market Place, King’s Lynn, Norfolk, PE30 1JN

Phone: 01553 661500 Fax: 01553 661800 E-mail: enquiries@railwaytouring.co.uk Web: www.railwaytouring.co.uk

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Editorial: 020 3148 4683 Editorial email: railway@ipcmedia.com Editorial fax: 020 3148 8521 Advertising: 020 3148 2578 Advertising email: michelle_carr@ipcmedia.com Advertising fax: 020 3148 8158

The Railway Magazine, IPC Media, Blue Fin Building, 110 Southwark Street, London SE1 0SU. www.railwaymagazine.co.uk © 2009 IPC Media ISSN 0033-8923

Editor: Nick Pigott Deputy editor: Chris Milner Chief correspondent: Phil Marsh Art editor: Paul Bickerdyke Editorial assistant: Brenda Brownjohn Production/sub editor: Jon Longman Steam News: Cliff Thomas Classic Traction: Peter Nicholson Operations News: Ashley Butlin Metro News: John Cormack World News: Colin Boocock Advertising Manager: Lee Morris Advertising Executive: Michelle Carr Associate Publisher: Lindsay Greatbatch Marketing: James Nicholson Loose insert adverts: Innovator 020 7261 7710

This issue was published on Wednesday March 4, 2009. The next will be on sale on Wednesday April 1, 2009.

The Railway Magazine is published by IPC Media Ltd (address above). Distributed by Marketforce. Printing by St Ives Ltd, Plymouth. Cover printing by Wyndeham Impact, Basingstoke, Hampshire.

Editorial contributions: Accepted photographs and articles will be paid for upon publication. Items we cannot use will be returned if accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope, and contributors wishing material returned by registered or recorded delivery must clearly state so and enclose suffi cient postage. In common with practice on other rail periodicals, all material is sent or returned at the contributor’s own risk and neither The Railway Magazine, the Editor, the staff nor IPC Media Ltd can be held responsible for loss or damage, howsoever caused.

The opinions expressed in The RM are not necessarily those of the Editor or staff. This periodical must not, without the written consent of the publishers fi rst being given, be lent, sold, hired out or otherwise disposed of in a mutilated condition or, in any unauthorised cover by way of trade or annexed to or as part of any publication or advertising, literary or pictorial matter whatsoever.

EditorialComment

New trains lead to bitter-sweet news

“It’s just a shame that so many of the positives in the UK have to be soured by a negative”

THE announcement that Britain’s railways are to receive an allnew fl eet of inter-city trains – the most valuable order ever – should have been a massive ‘good news’ story for the country’s national newspapers, but as is so often the case in the UK, it had to be tempered by a negative. On the one hand was the fantastic news that the Government has agreed to invest so heavily in our nation’s railways. On the other, disappointment that the main part of the IEP ‘Super Express’ contract is to go to a Japanese builder and not to one with a base in Derby. I don’t recall there being quite such a hue & cry when Hitachi won the ‘Javelin’ contract a few years ago, but the difference now, of course, is that the economy has slipped into recession and thousands of British workers are being thrown out of work, so it is understandable for the public to perceive February’s announcement as ‘bitter-sweet’. It would be stupid, bordering on churlish, to chide when such phenomenal and much-needed investment is being made in the rail system, so I’m not going to. I would merely point out that it seems a shame that our leaders also had within their grasp the power to support the last proper train-building factory in a nation once known as ‘the railway workshop of the world’ . . . yet chose not to seize it. Instead, they handed Bombardier a much smaller consolation prize. True, Hitachi is to erect a small assembly plant in England to bolt the new trains together, but the company itself says it may need only 300 or so people to do that work – a fi gure in stark contrast to the Government’s claim that 12,500 jobs will be “created or safeguarded”. Ministers evaded questions on how many would be British, but you can take it that much of the UK contingent will be created by the 20year maintenance deal that follows, not by the manufacturing process. As there was reportedly little to choose between the bids of the two rival consortia, the small print in them will bear some fascinating scrutiny one day. For the moment, the Government’s lack of transparency in these matters is disconcerting. AT the other extreme of the patriotism scale, I found my chest bursting with British pride on February 7 as I sped through ‘Christmas card’ scenes of snow and sunshine on the maiden public run of the fi rst express steam locomotive to be built in this country for more than half a century. A1 No. 60163 performed faultlessly on its fi rst-ever foray along the ‘Great Northern’ stamping ground of its East Coast ancestors, watched by tens of thousands of well-wishers – but it was at King’s Cross that the full impact of this magnifi cent project really hit home when a crowd estimated at more than 2,000 thronged the station to witness the engine’s arrival. This was truly history in the making. The RM takes its hat off to everyone who helped make it happen. WE have some excellent news of our own too. I am delighted to report that The Railway Magazine has won market leadership for a second year running and also increased its circulation. Our new audited sale of 35,100 copies per month (up from 34,661 last year) means that the gap between ourselves and our closest rival – which lost sales – has widened to almost 3,000. For this to happen in a recession really is remarkable, so a huge vote of thanks to you all for helping to make it happen.

NICK PIGOTT, Editor

April 2009 • The Railway Magazine • 3