The Railway Magazine

The Railway Magazine has been published since 1897 and is now the UK's best-selling general interest rail title. Every month, The RM provides enthusiasts and professionals with authoritative and informed news coverage of the following:<br><br> - Network Rail and the train operating companies<br>- Locomotives, multiple units, carriages and wagons<br>- Steam, heritage and the preservation world, inc narrow gauge<br>- Metro and underground systems<br>- In addition, the magazine carries frequent items of overseas interest.<br><br>The Railway Magazine is also renowned for its wide-ranging and innovative feature coverage, encompassing up-to-the-minute developments as well as historical, nostalgic and foreign subjects. The magazine is also renowned for its award-winning photographic content.

The Railway Magazine

Cutbacks then and now

Significant setback for Lynton & Barnstaple revival • Planning permission for a line extension within National Park boundaries has expired after conditions were not met.

Ukrainian Railways mark first year of war

Massive blow to HS2 • Further cutbacks and delays means the route will not reach central London until 2041.

SIDELINES

Legislation next step for GBR • Following February’s Bradshaw address by Transport Secretary Mark Harper, that effectively relaunched the GBR project, Network Rail chief Andrew Haines briefed The RM on progress.

SIDELINES

HRA Awards celebrate preservation year • The Heritage Railway Association’s annual ‘Oscars’ were awarded in Birmingham in March.

Bid to secure Darjeeling tank

Scotsman’s special year starts with a trip to Scotland • ‘A3’ No. 60103 visited Waverley station as the first in a year-long series of events to mark the loco’s 100th anniversary.

Scotsman stamp set

Luton DART replaces bus link • New people mover connects Luton Airport Parkway station with the nearby airport.

Regulator approves management buyout of Abellio UK

Action urged to enable more rail freight • A new study finds Government support could triple rail freight by 2050 as well as reducing transport’s contribution to greenhouse gases.

UKRL to build new £1.5 million depot for bi-mode locos

Freight terminal plan withdrawn

Balsall Common Viaduct plans submitted • Project to build 10 metre-high bridge also aims to improve local woodland, wildlife habitats and flood resilience.

Railways in Parliament

10 MINUTES 10 QUESTIONS • Steven Knight meets Direct Rail Services’s senior operations planning manager, Sam Dixon, for this month’s grilling.

The bad, the ugly and the good • The many miles of line closures were bad, the sweeping changes to a long-established way of life were ugly, but did Dr Richard Beeching’s report of 60 years ago in fact sow the seeds for what’s good in the current railway age? Mike Jones investigates.

The Doctor’s last dozen

TRAINS OF THE DESERT • Saudi Arabia is investing in its railway network with modern passenger trains and the first high speed rail line in the Middle East – and, with an economic plan to move away from solely depending on the oil industry, it is now opening up to tourist visits.

CLASS 87 GOLDEN JUBILEE • Class 87s ruled the West Coast Main Line from the early 1970s, being the first locomotives to really flatten the climbs of Shap and Beattock, but – as John Heaton FCILT describes – their full potential was perhaps let down by ageing infrastructure and network constraints.

Farewell to ‘Kings’, reprised • Sixty years ago in April 1963, and four months after the class had been withdrawn, there was to be one last ‘King’-hauled railtour until the main line preservation era began in the 1970s. John Heaton...