TRACTION 260

[steverabone]

The latest issue of TRACTION has been published and the digital version is now available online at https://pocketmags.com

 

Content of TRACTION 260

Even today one of the best locations to watch freight trains has to be Barnetby in north Lincolnshire. In 1989 and 1990 Michael Vanns paid several visits to photograph trains against the backdrop of the wide variety of semaphore signals that then controlled operations.

In the last issue of TRACTION the editor described the night he spent on Stafford station in July 1975 and referred to Crewe being an equally interesting location to pass the hours of darkness. Earlier in the same year David Clough paid several visits to record night-time operations on film at this major junction. I don’t envy him on those cold January and February nights though!

David Hayes continues his study of the Midland Main Line using the photographs of Kevin Lane. In this issue he concentrates on the Luton area in the days before electrification.

Like many enthusiasts in the 1970s and 1980s Nick Edmunds was something of a loco haulage fan and spent much of his free time travelling behind ‘Westerns’ and ‘Peaks’ in the West Country. However he was also drawn to sample the many local trains that were powered by the smaller diesels such as Class 25 and 31. In his article about these local workings in Devon he relates his experiences.

Colin Boocock has written several articles about German locomotive types for TRACTION but it was on a visit to Dresden, in the former East Germany, in 2019 that he had several chance encounters with those same locomotive types now in their declining years.

History, as we know, begins yesterday and it doesn’t feel that long ago that EWS were running most of Britain’s freight services. David Ratcliffe recorded the variety of intermodal trains that EWS operated in the early years of the 21st century.

Gavin Morrison continues his series of feature about the Manchester to Leeds Trans Pennine route concentrating this time on the section east of Standedge Tunnel between Marsden and Huddersfield.

In TRACTION MODELLING we feature a superb N Gauge layout by Peter Latham called Wormhill which is based closely on the actual location of Peak Forest in the Peak District of Derbyshire. Heavy stone traffic is the main focus of this layoutwith close attention to the details found at this freight ‘HotSpot’.

And now some special news to look forward to. The next issue, TRACTION 261, will be a bumper special edition with the theme of ‘Rail Blue’. It will be larger than our normal issues and will cover just those years when Rail Blue dominated the railway scene. So whether it is the early years of plain all over blue or the later ‘Large Logo’ livery this is an issue not to be missed.

 

 

Edited September 24, 2020 by steverabone

[caradoc]

Looking forward to the Luton article in particular; Around 1977 I cycled there from Oxford to spot for a few hours (actually I cheated slightly, my parents dropped me and my bike off at Aylesbury on the way out !). Traction 261 looks very tasty too. 

 

[rob D2]

Looks good , just started it 

[rob D2]

Just finished it, good edition that , plenty of interest 

[Stevebr]

Not a bad month but a pity the articles on locomotive performance seem to have died away

[steverabone]

In the next issue TRA 261 there will be a detailed performance article about pairs of class 50s on the WCML in the 1970s.

 Hopefully this will please you!

Stephen