TRACTION 237

[steverabone]

 

 

TRACTION 237 the January/ February 2017 issue of TRACTION is published on Friday 2nd December.

 

In this issue Alex Fisher’s article ‘THORNABY DEPOT - THE RISE AND FALL OF A MAJOR DIESEL DEPOT’ looks in detail at the history of what was once one of the most important traction maintenance depots in Britain. Sadly, with the decline in heavy industry, it was inevitable that, like so many other TMDs, it was closed.

 

In ‘THE DREADFUL NORTH BRITISH TYPE 2s’ Neville Fickling puts forward his view that these diesel electric locomotives were doomed to fail as a result of the way their power units were built under licence in Britain, using different specifications to those used in their successful German counterparts.

 

Steve Randall and his friends decided to visit Humberside and York during the winter of 1980 and in ‘THE YORK OVERNIGHTER’ he takes us back to that cold weekend giving a vivid description of what he saw and experienced.

 

Colin Boocock’s professional experiences as a railway manager in Scotland form the basis of ‘ENGINEER IN SCOTLAND’. This fascinating account will appear in two parts.

Another area of Britain where the amount of freight traffic has declined noticeably is South Wales, but Gavin Morrison’s photographs remind us of those happier days of ‘FREIGHT IN SOUTH WALES’.

 

Moving to Cornwall, Ian McCart recalls some of his ‘WEST COUNTRY MEMORIES’ in the 1980s, whilst Nick Ross remembers a very interesting morning at Luton in ‘THE MAGIC OF THE CUP, APRIL 7TH 1973’.

 

‘THE DEUTSCHE BAHN 218 CLASS’ is, without any doubt, one of the most successful diesel locomotives ever to have been built in Europe. Ian Buck traces the development of the design and service history of these locomotives, which are now in their final years of front line service in Germany.

 

TRACTION MODELLING features a stunning O Gauge layout, ‘APETHORN JUNCTION’ built by Keith Harrison. Set in the early 1970s in the Manchester area, this popular layout on the exhibition circuit shows what can be achieved in this scale. 

 

Andy Gibbs continues his description of his new N gauge layout ‘KENSINGTON OLYMPIA’ with an explanation of how he constructed the main railway structures.

 

Traction 238 will be on sale on Friday 3rd February 2017.

[russ p]

The Thornaby article sounds good and on that basis alone I will probably buy it

Not overly excited about a train spotters article or the modelling but the rest sounds good

[steverabone]

The Thornaby article sounds good and on that basis alone I will probably buy it

Not overly excited about a train spotters article or the modelling but the rest sounds good

You might just be a little surprised by the contents of the article about York overnight - definitely a bit more than just a trainspotter's article! It reveals quite a few things that I bet most of us have forgotten....

[russ p]

I'll let you know tomorrow night Steve

I should get it at Smith's at Norwich, will be more atmospheric if I have my PN break in the blue and grey mk2 set!

[russ p]

Excellent edition Steve, Thornaby article superb ( it was a shell refinery though not Esso) the pictures especially the paxman (as Thornaby drivers referred to them) on Stockton bank is fantastic.

I haven't read it yet but the York article does look promising together with the NBL one and the one about Colin Boocock in Scotland

Well done mate

[caradoc]

I enjoyed this issue, personally I like 'trainspotter' type articles, and lists such as the Thornaby allocations over the years and the trains at Luton in 1973, perhaps because I no longer have my own records from those days. I also liked the DB Class 218 article. If I could make one plea it is for more coverage of the pre and early-TOPS eras, although this does of course depend on the material available.

[Guest Q663368]

I enjoyed this issue, personally I like 'trainspotter' type articles, and lists such as the Thornaby allocations over the years and the trains at Luton in 1973, perhaps because I no longer have my own records from those days. I also liked the DB Class 218 article. If I could make one plea it is for more coverage of the pre and early-TOPS eras, although this does of course depend on the material available.

The Thornaby article sounds good and on that basis alone I will probably buy it

Not overly excited about a train spotters article or the modelling but the rest sounds good

The Thornaby article should be nostalgia for you. Nice to get the numbers of the brake tenders.

[steverabone]

You can buy single issues of the digital edition by clicking on this page

 

https://www.world-of-railways.co.uk/traction/store/digital-issue/

 

Then click on one of the three icons under the words digital issue. The link below will take you to the pocket mags download but there are also links to Googleplay and Itunes

 

https://pocketmags.com/traction-magazine?utm_source=wor&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=warnersgroup#5243f79396678

[acg5324]

Good edition again as my complimentary copy arrived this week. Enjoyed the Thornaby article and the pictures arround Stockton, showed my Father in Laws former home at Railway Cottages. Night out in York was good too. Never did an all nighter but have had a few all dayers including a grim day on the sea wall at Dawlish in August.

[PM47079]

I bought this issue as a one off because I was interested in the Thornaby depot feature having been a semi regular visitor to Thornaby when we used to pick up our freightliner 47 where it had been fuelled and serviced overnight while we lodged up there. Was actually impressed by the magazine. Not so interested in the foreign loco stuff, but I would imagine that it can't always be easy to have lots of articles and features to put in.

[steverabone]

It's good to hear that many of you found this issue interesting. As I lived on Teesside since the 1970s I obviously found the article about Thornaby particularly interesting and it filled in a lot of gaps in my knowledge. There are lots more similar articles about depots around the country to come.

 

I notice that we have readers for and against "trainspotter" type articles and also overseas locomotives. The same for and against goes for virtually every type of article as everybody has their own area of interest. My email inbox and various forum posts do suggest that a significant number of readers find overseas articles of interest. One reader emailed me to say he'd never taken any interest in European before but was now converted! Another one emailed me to say he wouldn't buy it if there was no content about Lancashire....

 

I try to ensure that every issue has a good balance of articles to cater for all tastes - enthusiasts' tales, railwaymen's experiences, in depth historical articles, loco/ multiple unit perfomance, overseas subjects, modelling content, photo features, diesel preservation, freight and passenger train operations etc.

[dj_crisp]

I thought the York article was great and some excellent photos as well. Modelling section was also interesting too.

 

I've enjoyed this edition a lot. More of the same for the next issue

 

Cheers

Will

[russ p]

Best edition for years Steve, not overly keen on the modeling section though

[ColinK]

I bought this issue, very good. I liked the inclusion of the 218 article.

[steverabone]

As you can see from the last few posts everybody has their "pet" likes and dislikes. I'm exactly the same with every magazine I read. There will be some articles that I glance at or just skim read and others that I devour.

 

What I would say though is that our hobby - both model and prototype - is so enormously broad that I feel it's a pity to dismiss articles that are not of a great deal of interest to our own area of interest. For instance I've found some fascinating prototype information within model articles such as details of how the railways operated at the location modelled. There are often little bits of information in trainspotters' articles that fill in that missing bit of info that the historian might find of interest. Who would have thought that there was a North Eastern Railway platform trolley in use in the 1980s and where would you find precise details of sleeper train formations?

 

I'd encourage all readers to be really broad minded - it's certainly enriched my enjoyment of our fantastic hobby/ hobbies.

 

Stephen

[18B]

From my point of view, TRACTION was an education in broadening my interest of railways. Where once I was literally only interested in the length of line from Clay Cross junction to Pye Bridge Junction! I'm now actively interested from Penzance to Wick! but pretty much only 1960 onwards........  

[ruggedpeak]

Best edition for years Steve, not overly keen on the modeling section though

Having looked at Traction a few months ago when we were asked to look at it, I rejected as not for me. However whilst in WHS recently I perused this issue and immediately bought it. An excellent magazine with great articles.

 

I particularly enjoyed Colin Boocock's article and will no doubt buy the next issue shortly for his follow up. My favourite mag is Rail Express, and they have a long article by an ex-MGR driver, and much like Colin's article is full of interesting stories and anecdotes that don't make it into railway books. If Traction keeps this up I may have to drop a modelling mag.....

[russ p]

The MGR driver is on this forum