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TRACTION 230 and TRACTION MODELLING


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TRACTION issue 230 is published on Friday 2nd October. This issue's TRACTION MODELLING section contains a delightful 4mm Scottish terminus and a layout suggestion about modelling mail order parcels traffic from Bradord Forster Square in the 1970s and 1980s.

 

Welcome to issue 230 of TRACTION and another selection of articles covering a wide range of subjects. Whether you are interested in locomotives, freight trains, performance of passenger services, multiple units, railwayman’s experiences, railway modelling, or just being an enthusiast, there should be something for you in this edition.

 

David Mitchell returns with the second part of his article about freight traffic in the West Country, ‘RAILFREIGHT AROUND EXETER IN THE SPEEDLINK ERA PART 2 – THE SOUTHERN LINES’.

 

Today there is sadly very little freight action on the North Wales Coast Line but in Gavin Morrison’s photo feature ‘NORTH WALES FREIGHT’ we take a look back to when there was much of interest

 

Keith Widdowson, as many readers will remember from previous articles, was very much a ‘haulage enthusiast’. He recounts his quest to travel behind (or ‘catch’) as many Class 47s as possible in ‘BRUSHING AROUND BRITAIN’. His current total is 324 which far exceeds the editor’s much more miserly number of ‘catches’!

 

On the last day of BR train services between Eridge and Tunbridge Wells few would probably imagine that thirty years later it would again be possible to travel on a restored DEMU on the now preserved Spa Valley Line. Phil Barnes was there to photograph ‘THE LAST DAY OF THE ERIDGE TO TONBRIDGE SERVICE’.

 

For our locomotive performance article this issue Andrew James looks back to the early 1960s in ‘THE MIDLAND MAIN LINE IN THE EARLY DIESEL ERA’. Those were the days of the early batch of the ‘Peaks’, Metrovick Co-Bos and the recently introduced Bedford line DMUs.

 

There’s little doubt that, for many enthusiasts, the Class 50s were charismatic locomotives. They looked and sounded powerful and, of course, were all ‘namers’. One of TRACTION’s regular authors, Bob Dunn, has a particular soft spot for them. Whilst he may drive ‘Pendolinos’ and ‘Voyagers’ nowadays, the ‘50s’ remain a strong favourite. In ‘WORKING WITH THE CLASS 50s’ he reminiscences about his time driving these locomotives.

 


2015 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the entry into service of the last of the 309 English Electric Type 3s, perhaps better known nowadays as the Class 37s. To mark this event ‘ENGLISH ELECTRIC TYPE 3 – CLASS 37: THE AFTERTHOUGHT THAT OUTLIVED THEM ALL’ celebrates the life of what is arguably the most successful of all British diesel locomotives.


 


Colin Boocock concludes his series of articles about the Southern’s third rail EMUs with‘UPGRADING THE BOURNEMOUTH ELECTRIFICATION’. The article looks at the Mark 3 based Class 442s and the more modern 444 and 450 classes. In an interesting twist to this story, the invitation to tender for the Trans Pennine Express services appears to be recommending the transfer of at least some of the ‘442s’ to the north of England to be hauled by diesel locomotives!


 


TRACTION MODELLING features a delightful Scottish based terminal ‘CHARN MHOIR’ by Jeff Mann. Not only does it have some delightful modelling but it’s unusual as it breaks away from the standard rectangular baseboards, thus appearing to be much more natural in its shape.


 


Back in the days when the editor was a student teacher in the 1970s he spent many evenings watching the heavy parcels traffic out of Bradford Forster Square. These trains were run for the mail order firms of Empire Stores and Grattan. In the first part of ‘PARCELS TRAFFIC FOR THE MODELLER’ there is a suggestion for basing a layout on this relatively modest terminal station.


 


TRACTION 231 will be on sale on the 4th December.


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Thanks for continuing to publish this great mag. I'm sure that it provides inspiration for those wishing to model the modern era and it revives memories for those of us that started our railway hobby in the early 70's. I've bought every copy of the mag since it started. The modelling pages have been a welcome addition and the articles, especially by those who have worked on the railways have been great. It'd be great to see more photo features on works and depot visits, although I do enjoy the lineside shots that are often shown. One little niggle; there seems to be lots of great photos published, but as time has gone by, in an apparent effort to squeeze more in, they have become smaller and smaller. Is there any chance of going back to larger sized photo's?

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